Ellsworth City Administrator Rusty Varnado had major news Monday about a landmark at Monday’s meeting of the Ellsworth County commissioners.

Varnado said the city received the environmental study back on the old Ellsworth County Hospital and no asbestos was found in the places the study checked. As a result, he said the city plans to start the condemnation procedure July 12. He noted the city will never recoup its money from demolishing the structure. He also said the work is going to limit what the city can do financially moving forward.

Of particular interest to the county, there is a 95 percent chance the debris from the old hospital is going to end up in the Ellsworth County landfill and it will probably take up a majority of the new pit the county dug this year, Varnado said. He promised to keep commissioners informed. In other business:

In other business:

• Kerianne Ehrlich, supervisor of the county health department, requested a budget for 2022 of $386,597 — up 2.6 percent from the $376,764 she requested for 2021.

• Members of the Ellsworth County Historical Society requested a $42,000 budget for 2022 — up $2,500 from their 2021 request.

• Members of the Ellsworth Senior Citizens Center requested a 2022 budget of $40,000 — $10,000 more than the senior center requested for 2021.

• Dale Houston, superintendent of the county road and bridge department, requested a total of $2,387,441.96 for his 2022 budget. That is a 3.9 percent increase from the $2,297.599 budget he asked for in 2021.

Houston said the cost of fuel is up 50 percent, along with oil and other commodities.

• Stacie Schmidt, executive director of the Ellsworth County Economic Development, said several people have asked her about Rescue America Act funds. She asked commissioners to start thinking of some broad categories they want to spend the funds on. Schmidt will present a plan to commissioners next Tuesday with ways the public can provide input on distribution and application.

Varnado, former Ellsworth County commissioner Terry Kueser and Bob Frederickson of rural Ellsworth all advocated that some of the money be spent on securing good, quality, rural broadband access.

“There are some opportunities coming down the pike,” Frederickson said. “You need to be ready when they come.”

“I think it’s a real economic plus for Ellsworth County if that were to happen,” Kueser added, noting rural broadband access would draw many young families who want to live in rural Ellsworth County but work from home.

• Alex Winters, county EMS employee, showed commissioners several medical items available on ambulances, but can’t be used because the service doesn’t have a paramedic — except for a parttimer who works once a month.

Commissioner Greg Bender said he is interviewing two EMS director candidates this week. A third candidate removed himself from consideration to take a job out of state.

• No action was taken after a 10-minute executive session with Winters and EMS employee Gaye Woods to discuss non-elected personnel (the current situation of uncertainty at EMS).

At a previous commission meeting, the consensus of commissioners was to approve changing the assistant director’s job from Stacey Jordan, a paramedic, to Tim Korbe as requested by EMS director Jeremiah Brown. The EMS employees did not like that change. Brown has resigned as EMS director. His last day was June 18. Korbe is interim director until a permanent one can be selected.