Medical Clinic Plaza Building

Yes. The motion to approve:

313-2020   that County Council approves the purchase of the Medical Clinic Plaza for $680,000.00, plus associated fees with funding to be a short-term five-year loan.

Carried

Yes. This agenda item and discussion were held at a regularly scheduled Council meeting on June 3, 2020, that was fully accessible to the public.

The loan is a five-year loan, through the Alberta Capital Finance Authority. No public notice was required due to the loan being five years or under, per the Municipal Government Act (Alberta).

The rate of interest is 1.135%.

Owning the Medical Clinic Plaza will provide long-term stability for the communities served by the Clinic and pharmacy. The pharmacy is in a long-term lease, and the County is the majority shareholder in the Clinic operation (the other tenant). The ability to expand and attract new doctors to the community will provide medical access for all.

With the expansion of the Clinic, the County is working with AHS and the Primary Care Network to add services to the Clinic. In addition to these activities, the County has specialists who are utilizing the Clinic for appointments.

The Clinic is open for new patients. The County is also in the process of adding a physician who will be accepting new patients in 2020.

No. This is another function of the County and there are no additional monies used to own the Medical Clinic Plaza, or to compensate elected or non-elected personnel.

Yes. The current physician at the Clinic has initiated contact and is working toward adding health care professionals to the current operation.

The Clinic will be able to house three physicians at the Clinic once fully built-out.  The catchment area for the Clinic, according to AHS, can sustain three to four physicians.

The County is a partner of the Clinic operation (separate from the Medical Clinic Plaza purchase) and receives overhead funding from the physicians. The overhead funding is used to operate the Clinic and provide staffing. The pharmacy is also a tenant of the Medical Clinic Plaza and is under a current lease arrangement. The lease payments from the pharmacy will go directly to the loan payback

No. The initial recommendation was to borrow the money for the Medical Clinic Plaza purchase for a longer term; now that the term is five years, additional tax dollars will be used to top-up the loan payments. The expected top-up amount is $90,000 per year for five years. Once paid back, the future years’ lease revenue will cover off the overage amounts in the first five years.

Anyone in the region can call and book an appointment.  The physicians are accepting new patients currently.  The new physician will begin work in the fall and will be accepting patients.