BLUE EARTH - Sloppy weather has slowed United Hospital District's construction projects.

Administrator Jeff Lang said Tuesday that both sites - Blue Earth and Winnebago - are about four weeks behind schedule.

Lang noted that city street construction next to the hospital in Blue Earth is going well, but is also behind because of the weather.

UHD board member Norm Hall said at the most recent Blue Earth City Council meeting, the city engineer discussed the need for more materials for the project because of soggy conditions. He asked if costs would rise for the hospital projects.

"Not a dramatic increase," Lang said. "We have had change orders for gravel so workers can get into the site. I think the more significant (cost will be) when they start pouring concrete and it gets cold - the heat and cover. We did plan some expense for heat and cover in the budget, although we didn't plan on being four weeks behind."

The Winnebago treatment center is moving along. Half the geothermal wells are in,as well as about half of the underground plumbing. Lang said they have begun to pour the floors as well.

"I'm hoping within the next month to see that building start to go up," Lang said. "We have to continue to ask Mother Nature for days without rain."

He wrote in his report to the board that he is concerned about the city Planning and Zoning committee. He believes UHD is facing a more stringent process than others requesting variances.

The hospital asked for five variances recently. Three of five were approved. The ones denied dealt with parking lot screening. Lang noted two city ordinances are in conflict, so the district worked with neighbors to come up with suitable and aesthetically pleasing screening. The denial of the variances means the hospital has to build two fences around one parking lot to satisfy two city codes.

In other business, Cande Arends updated the board on the status of the H1N1 flu as it relates to the hospital.

"We have seen a lot of sick kids," she said, adding that it wasn't necessarily H1N1 affecting the children. "We're just now getting the H1N1 vaccine in, and deciding how we are going to (administer) it."

There are flyers on each of the entry doors into the hospital requesting patients wear a mask.

"We don't have staff getting sick with it yet," Arends noted.

The board asked if more people are coming in now.

"We had one week where there was just a lot of sick kids," Arends responded. "That seems to have settled down."