There’s good news and bad news for the Jefferson County Public Health Department. The good news is the department has found a potential location for a county wellness center, which could expand not only its space but its services. The bad news is the building in mind – Cottage Five on the South Campus of the former Montana Developmental Center – needs years of preparation and a lot of funding before it’s move-in ready.
This being the case, Jefferson County Commissioners have continued discussions with River Building owner Greg Hughes, who says he recently received another bid to remodel the building for $500,000 to $750,000, substantially less than the original $1.5 million estimate.
According to Commission Chair Cory Kirsch, there is potential for a lease agreement with Hughes for space that could house the Public Health Department until Building Five is ready. That lease, Kirsch says, could be affordable with assistance from a low-interest government loan.
For almost 20 years, the health department has operated out of 214 S. Main Street in Boulder, where it leases 1,000 square feet from Elkhorn Mountain Health Services (EMHS), an organization that rents space both to the health department and the SCL clinic The building on Main Street is enough to house three nurses, a clinic coordinator and a part-time emergency preparedness coordinator. But it’s tight, Public Health Supervisor Pam Hanna said, adding that her office used to be a storage closet. There is no room for growth, but expanding is a necessity, especially when it comes to providing more access to services such as chronic disease prevention, home visiting and other family engagement activities.
This is why Hanna believes a wellness center is what the community needs. She has evidence to support it, as the 2019 community health assessment emphasized that one of the biggest challenges in Jefferson County is access to health care. It’s Hanna’s dream to pull the other public health entities into one location, including prevention, possibly environmental health and others in the public health umbrella.
In order to make this a reality, Hanna said the Public Health Department would need at least eight office spaces, a counseling room, a break room, an immunization room, a larger reception area that could accommodate up to eight people and a conference room that could hold somewhere between 12-15 people. The latter would allow for meetings, training, educational opportunities, workshops and larger vaccination clinics.
Ideally, Hanna said Cottage Five on the South Campus would provide adequate space and allow public health to accommodate the growing needs of the aging communities in Jefferson County. Instead of looking to the River building, Hanna encouraged Commissioners at their March 21 meeting to wait for the Cottage Five feasibility study and hazardous materials cleanup to be completed before making a decision. A request for proposals is out, and, according to Jefferson Local Development Corporation Project Officer Leah Lewis, several interested architects have responded. Lewis also shared that the feasibility study should wrap up by Sept. 1. In addition, the state Department of Environmental Quality is expected to wrap up phase one of hazardous materials cleanup by Oct. 1. DEQ is using Brownfields funds to cover the cleanup, Lewis added, and she is currently applying for a grant to pay for the feasibility study. American Rescue Plan Act funds will cover the remainder of the study.
Hanna said she strongly believes Cottage Five would be worth the wait.
“Some of the opportunities we have in Cottage Five would fulfill some of these long-term goals and a bigger vision for our county and our community in more ways than the River building allows for,” she said.
Jefferson County Commissioner Bob Mullen said during the March 21 meeting that he understands the interest of Cottage Five and also understands it could take years before it opens for public use. He asked Hanna if she’d be interested in leasing the River building on an interim basis.
Hanna, however, said she doesn’t feel urgency to move the health department.
“We’ve survived what we’ve been through at the building we’re in,” she said. “Right now we are trying to look at the bigger vision. I would hate to see us dismiss Cottage Five as an option and not have the chance to use it later.”
EMHS Board Chair Kathy Rux was also in attendance at the meeting, and she let people know the health department can stay at its current location as long as it wants, adding there is no truth to a recent rumor regarding the EMHS evicting the health department.
“They have a five-year contract and we are not making them move,” Rux said.
Fellow EMHS board member Christina Binkowski added that if the public health department were to relocate it would be a “win-win situation all the way around.”
“If the health department finds another space for health then SCL [which operates the adjoining clinic] could move into the health department’s current location,” Binkowski said. “They could bring in physical therapy, mental health and other providers and services to fill up that space.”
Commissioner Kirsch said he understands Hanna may not have a sense of urgency to relocate but reminded her that Hughes does, as his building won’t be vacant for long, and a marijuana dispensary is once again expressing interest, according to Hughes.
“We’ve got a 5,000 square-foot building just sitting there that could get us through the interim,” Kirsch said. “That’s why we’re having this discussion.”
The best way forward, Kirsch said, is to hear from the public on this matter. On this note, a public meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Volunteer Hall (Jefferson County Fairgrounds).
