04/30/13 Monday night the Plymouth Common Council considered the request of the Community Resource Center (CRC) and Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center to provide them a grant in the amount of $100,000 and a loan up to $75,000. At the April 15th City meeting Dr. Ron Liechty, President of the Board of Directors for the CRC explained the project with the hospital that will require additional parking, thus the need for additional funding.
Saint Joe Health Clinic on East Washington Street would be relocated to the CRC with a much larger space. With the Federal Affordable Care Act more people will be qualifying for Medicaid so the hospital plans to expand services in the CRC.
During the prior meeting it was explained that enlarging the parking lot would include the purchase of a home that is occupied on West Jefferson. The proposal is to relocate the homeowner into another property in the city in exchange for acquiring the land needed. The CRC doesn’t have the money to purchase the additional lot so the grant from the city could be used for the relocation. It has been suggested that in-kind services from the city and county could help the project become a reality.
SJRMC is also involved in the equation. They will invest $350,000 to $400,000 in construction costs for the new 6,000 square foot health care clinic and health exchange.
A committee made up of the City Clerk Treasurer, City Attorney, and Councilmen Duane Culp and Shawn Grobie researched the request and made a recommendation to the common council Monday night. By a unanimous vote the city council approved a $100,000 grant for the project but declined on the loan of up to $75,000 with Grobie saying, “I feel the loan is not within the bounds for us to do. A direct donation is the correct use of funds but should be limited to $100,000.”
Pastor Ron Liechty left the meeting smiling and saying, “We can leverage this to do a lot more.”
