The Audrain Community Hospital has seen its fair share of owners throughout its tumultuous history. The building stands abandoned, many of its assets having been auctioned off on Nov. 7 2024. A total of 1,267 lots were listed including medical beds, imaging equipment, patient monitors and more.

“Audrain county in cooperation with the city agreed to jointly purchase this facility back in July under the foreclosure,” says Bruce Slagle, city manager. “We did that in order to control the facility from an urban life point of view, control it for future development, and possibly locate the new hospital there.”

At least, that had been the hope. Boone Health signed their letter of intent to establish a critical access hospital in October 2024. During which time, Brady Dubois, Boone Hospital administrator, made it clear they had no intentions to use the existing structure.

“The current hospital doesn’t meet any current codes, and it’s way too large,” said Dubois in a press conference in October.

While it ultimately failed as a medical facility, the city is considering ways to potentially breathe new life into the structure for the betterment of Mexico.

The department of public works had reached out to one of the city’s on-call consultant’s, Bartlett and West, to determine if the cancer wing of the hospital could be separated from the rest of the facility prior to demolition.

“The intent was to have a firm do an assessment of the site to determine how the cancer wing could be saved,” says Andrew Williford, public works director and city engineer.

The cancer center is the newest addition to the century-old hospital, having been built in 1998.

Their plan, as it stands, is to utilize the structure for a new city hall.

“The city building is not well set up to serve the public,” says Williford who cites the narrow halls and staircase immediately upon entry.

Over a century ago, city hall was a small, two-story building built in 1885 at the southwest corner of Jefferson and Promenade. In 1969, the city purchased the Kaiser office building at 300 N. Coal and had it renovated.

City hall moved to the building we recognize today in June 1970 with the public safety addition only five years behind.

“It’s becoming outdated as far as trying to do any modern things with it,” says Slagle who struggles with cold offices in freezing months and trying to deal with modern technology. “It’s not uncommon that we overload circuits and have some electrical issues.”

All of these concerns extend to MPSD which operated out of the basement of the building.

While on the surface, the newer building seems like a great place for city hall, some aspects such as the addition of the public safety department and a “fire base” are also in the conversation according to Slagle.

“As all of this develops, there are still some things in limbo,” Williford

Plans for demolition are projected to begin in the second quarter of this fiscal year, with a tentative date for the finalization of bid packages March 1.

“My part is to try to get these plans put into reality and get things moving forward,” Williford

“No plans have been made,” says Dillon Feely, project manager of Bartlett and West’s Jefferson City office. “It was really to determine if it was attainable and worth the cost.”

The bottom line, as presented in the Jan. 13 city council meeting was that sectioning off the cancer center before demolishing other parts of the facility was a possibility and the department of public works will proceed “cautiously and optimistically”.