Back to the drawing board for Gundersen Health Systems helicopter hangar

The Decorah City Council has rejected bids on construction of a new hangar at the Decorah Airport to house the Gundersen Health System medical helicopter.

The action was taken after the low bid on the project came in at $1,488,000.  Gundersen Health Systems had hoped for a $1 million price tag.

The sticking point on the bids was not the hangar itself--the bid for that portion of the project came in at around $550,000--but on the bid for housing the staff of the Medlink helicopter.  Code requirements pushed that price tag to around $750,000.

That led the city's Finance Committee and Gundersen representatives to study other options, such as a separate building for the staff--one that would not have to meet so many code requirements.  Gundersen representative Michael Richards says his organization wants to keep the cost of the project--which will be repaid through rent payments by Gundersen--to around $1 million, so city officials rejected the bids Monday.