Linn County to seek new Public Health building

Space is definitely tight at the Linn County Public Health building.

Conference rooms have been converted into office space, the attic is filled with filing cabinets, and most hallways are too narrow for two people to walk down them side by side.

'The maximum capacity for our conference room is 44 people - we have 50 employees,” said Larry Hlavacek, Linn County Public Health administration and finance manager, during a tour of the building on Monday.

And that number of workers will continue to climb as the county's population grows. According to county projections, the Public Health Department will employ 61 people by 2018 and 69 by 2023.

But finding the Public Health Building more space would come with a price tag to county tax payers.

Linn County first began looking into expansion of the Public Health's space in 2013, explained Darrin Gage, Linn County director of policy and administration, during Monday morning's Board of Supervisors meeting. The county conducted a space-needs analysis that found the building was lacking current and future space needs, had safety issues - including not having sprinkler system - and was not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Gage presented a list of options during the supervisors meeting Monday, ranging from remodeling and expanding the building to constructing a new facility that would house Public Health with either a private entity such as a clinic or another county department.

The proposal that garnered the most support during the meeting was to construct a new 45,000- to 50,000-square-foot building that would be home to both Public Health and the county's Child and Youth Development Services.

'This could be a benefit for the neighborhood,” board Chairman Ben Rogers said. 'It would make sense to talk with community, if we were to build on this space.”

The projected $10 million building would sit on a 90,000-square-foot county-owned plot at 1019 Seventh St. SE, which had been flooded in 2008.

Gage said the project would be funded through a general obligation bond. An Iowa law passed to aid in recovery after the 2008 floods allows the supervisors to move forward without a vote, he added.

The county would pay $650,000 over 20 years to repay the bond. This would equal a levy of 6 cents per $1,000, Gage said, or about $7 on a $200,000 home.

But county residents can petition if they want the project to go to a vote, Gage said. That petition would need about 23,000 signatures - or 20 percent of the more than 118,000 people who voted in the last general election.

'Early intervention will save money over the long-term,” said Chris Carman, director of the county's Child and Youth Development Services, the department that would share space with Public Health. 'We'll either have to move to a new building or renovate this one - either is fine with me as long as it's safe.”

The county would have to make 'substantival investments” to keep Child and Youth Development Services in its current space, the former Filmore Elementary School, 520 11th St. NW, which was built in 1962, Carmen said.

The building needs a new roof, which could cost $700,000 to $1 million, he said. Meanwhile, updating and renovating the Linn County Public Health building could cost up to $3.8 million, according to county projections.

Child and Youth Development Services works with several hundred lower-income families and children with special needs each year, Carmen noted. The proposed location is closer to the Oak Hill Jackson and Wellington Heights neighborhoods, where a large portion of those seeking services from both county departments live, and is close to social services and a bus line, he said.

Carmen said he's discussed the two departments sharing a location with Public Health officials and believes they have a compatible mission.

'Our mission is to give children a good start in life,” he said, 'whether its through (Public Health's) immunization clinics or our human services-oriented programs.”

The county will issue a request for proposal for architectural services soon, Gage said, with plans to have renderings later this year. The board then will request construction bids, with an aim to break ground in 2017 and complete the project by spring 2018.