HOW WE SEE IT Health Plan A Must For County

It sure is taking a long time for the Benton County Quorum Court to decide on whether to move the Health Department from Bentonville to Rogers.

The Center for Nonprofits in Rogers is offering the county enough space to accommodate the Health Department’s needs. Under the offer, the county would pay $1.96 million for a 15-year lease, plus about $105,000 per year for maintenance and utilities. Alternatively, the county could lease a smaller space for $1.79 million with annual costs of about $91,000. In either case, after 15 years, the county would pay rent of just $1 per year.

Either option - depending on how much space the Health Department needs - would be a sweet deal.

Last month, the Quorum Court’s Committee of 13 decided in favor of leasing the larger space at theCenter for Nonprofits and converting the current Health Department building (on Southeast 14th Street in Bentonville) into office space for the Road Department, the coroner, the Election Commission and the Drug Task Force.

The latter part of this plan would save the county about $133,000 in rent that is currently being paid for those offices. County Judge Dave Bisbee suggested this plan, and all 13 justices of the peace agreed to pass it along to the Finance Committee for consideration.

But when the Finance Committee met last week, members balked at the plan. They cited a lack of financial information, particularly as it related to the remodeling of the current Health Department.

County Comptroller Richard McComas estimated that the remodeling would cost a relatively modest $100,000 to $200,000.

Considering what the county would save in rent, this move would pay for itself in a matter of a few years.

We appreciate that justices of the peace are interested in knowing all the facts before making any decisions. An exact figure for remodeling the Health Department should have been made available to them by now. But if McComas’ estimate is on target, the Quorum Court should have no problem going forward with the plan.

The Center for Nonprofits, housed at the former St. Mary’s Hospital on West Walnut Street, is an ideal place for the Health Department.

It’s a central location in the county’s largest city, so the Health Department would be more accessible to more of the people who need it most.

Moreover, the Center for Nonprofits is already a hub of basic services where people can take care of multiple needs in one stop. The Health Department would be a natural fit.

This is a kind gesture that the Center for Nonprofits has made, offering the county a lot of space at a bargain price.

Both the county and the center seem to want to make it work, yet the county has been shy about pulling the trigger. Meanwhile, the center is left hanging.

The county can dither only so long before this generous offer gets yanked from the table. Betsy Reithemeyer, director of the Center for Nonprofits, made that much clear at Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting. As the pitchmen on television like to say, this is a limited-time offer.

Someone on the side of county government, whether a justice of the peace or the county judge, needs to show some leadership and seize this opportunity - before it’s too late.