04/17/13 Pastor Ron Liechty, President of the Board of the Community Resource Center appeared before the Plymouth Common Council Monday night to seek a $100,000 grant and up to a $75,000 loan from the city to fund acquisition and construction of an additional parking area at the CRC for Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center’s new clinic.
Liechty gave council members a brief history of the Community Resource Center which was the vision of the late Dr. Kent Guild and Liechty. In 1985 they had a vision of creating a common facility to house the diverse county social service and caring agencies so those in need of assistance wouldn’t have far to travel. They also thought agencies could share resources and information on those seeking assistance. Liechty said, “The T-Squared Initiative was created and got the ball rolling.” In 2008 the group set up a corporation, received a long-term loan of $2.7 million for construction and raised $800,000 in local gifts for the project.
The 24,000 square foot CRC opened in April 2012 and currently there are six agencies in the building.
The Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center envisions a new and greatly expanded health care clinic to replace their current facility on East Washington Street. SJRMC will invest $350,000 to $400,000 in construction the 6,000 square foot health care clinic and health exchange. The clinic will require significant parking due to the flow of patients and their families, as well as staff parking.
To accommodate this parking requirement a residential home north of the CRC would need to be acquired and then a new parking lot created. An estimate of the site improvements including acquisition, demolition and construction is $175,000 to $200,000.
The $100,000 grant would not be repaid but the up to $75,000 loan would be repaid beginning 24 months after the clinic is open, which they estimate would be in October of this year.
City Council members listened to all the information presented but had some questions. Although some were answered Monday night the City Council took no action on the request.
A committee made up of the city attorney, clerk treasurer, Council members Duane Culp and Shawn Grobe will review the request and bring a recommendation to the council at their next meeting.
Pastor Liechty did stress some urgency in moving forward with the request so the hospital can sign a lease for the first floor of the CRC and begin the renovations needed to create the health center.
