The County Commission on Wednesday took the unusual step of holding an impromtu committee meeting in the middle of the regular session for discussion on the planned new Health Department.
Several commissioners said they wanted more input on the facility, which is slated to close at its site next to Erlanger Hospital and move into brand new quarters at the Engel Stadium site.
Some commissioners wanted to skip the committee meeting and go ahead with a vote on a proposal to hire H&K Architects to design and build the project.
There was a 6-5 vote to hold the committee session.
David Roddy, county COO, said he agrees that as much input as possible is needed before giving guidance to the architects on what type facility to build.
He said he held a recent meeting with Health Department employees , who had concerns about all the changes planned and who wanted to know what "right sizing" means for the operation.
Mr. Roddy said the current Health Department is "a maze" with as much as 100,000 square feet of space. He said, "The building was given to us, and they said, 'Go fill it up' so they filled it up."
He said, "We have restrooms with 300 square feet and a couch in them that are within eyesight of another restroom. The hallways are massively large, and there are 300 to 400 square foot offices."
The pharmacy is in the loading dock and is "20 degrees colder than the rest of the building," he said.
Mr. Roddy said the architects needed to be brought on board "to help us figure out what we need to do next." He said they would be asking questions like how much space was needed and how many employees.
Commissioner Chip Baker said he wanted to learn what services the Health Department is mandated by law to perform. He said, "We need to design for what we have to do and what we should be doing." Mr. Roddy said a preliminary list shows eight mandated items out of some 30 services.
Concerning a $20 million cost estimate for the new building, Commissioner Baker said, "I bet my bottom dollar it ends up $40 million." He said the county was out of construction bond funds for additional projects for the next 4-5 years with the $260 million in bonds for the schools recently issued.
Commissioners also discussed a need to convert to digital health records. Mr. Roddy said a huge room at the Health Department holds paper records.
Commissioner David Sharpe brought up the idea of having a Board of Health, saying other large counties in the state do.
The commissioners were told that the county is putting $9.6 million of local funds into the Health Department annually. There are 275 fulltime employees and 20 parttime as well as some contracted workers.
The facility last year had 28,119 patients and 42,650 visits.
Commissioner Baker said the facility had grown through "mission creep" with the acceptance of grants and then keeping the programs after the grants run out.
Commissioner Baker said the county needs to hold open the possibility of anotther site other than the Erlanger tract. Officials said the land swap from its owner, UTC, would need to go through the university process, taking some 3-4 months from a January start.
Dr. Shannon Burger, Cempa Community Care CEO, said that agency had held costs way down by remodeling and expanding on existing buildings. She said the resulting facility is "state of the art."
She said Cempa is in final negotiations to purchase additional buildings across from Erlanger including an old neurology center and the Fortwood building, which would give them the entire block."
She said there should be more than enough room for a Health Department building there if the county wanted to explore that site.
She said one example of Health Department duplication is a TB clinic inside the department and another a mile away at Riverside Drive.
On the Health Department operation, she said, "You need to consider what are you getting for that $9 million."
She noted that most of the Health Department patients "come from the city."
Commissioner Baker said, "We're talking about a lot of data, but when we get that we can make some quick decisions."
After the committee session, the panel voted in favor of going ahead with hiring the architects.