It’s official: Mt. Vernon’s VA has left the building

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs, more commonly known as the VA, is no longer operating in Mt. Vernon. Wanda Shull, public affairs officer for the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, a branch of the VA that oversees the Joplin area, confirmed that all of the VA’s operations have been moved to new locations in Springfield and Joplin.
“We are recently moved from Mt. Vernon into our Springfield Clinic, and over the past week have been moving the remaining programs into our Joplin Clinic,” she said.
The VA announced during a town meeting at the MARC on Sept. 5, 2017 that it would be moving its operations to its new Springfield and Joplin facilities, and City Administrator Max Springer announced during the Mt. Vernon Board of Aldermen meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 8 that the VA had given its 90-day notice to the city.
Now that its operations have ceased, the VA is now focused on finalizing its move from the hospital building in Mt. Vernon.
“We are in the process of decommissioning all space we occupied at Mt. Vernon, which will take some time,” said Shull. “There is a walk through scheduled on April 18 with VA officials and the City of Mt. Vernon. If all is found acceptable, we will return the building to the city. Our final lease payment is April 30, 2019, in accordance with lease terms.”
The hospital building is currently being listed as for sale or for lease by Clemmons Real Estate; the city currently has a contract with Clemmons to continue listing the building through February of 2020.