County hits price on health office

Whitman County health department’s Pullman office will remain open in its current location as the county closes a deal to purchase the building from the Pullman Regional Hospital Foundation.

Pullman Regional Hospital Foundation owns the building and has been leasing it to the health department.

Once the sale is finalized, the county will own the office, which consists of two suites in a condominium style office building in the Professional Mall off Bishop Blvd. The Pullman health department office occupies 2,034 square feet of the building.

County commissioner Pat O’Neill told colleagues Michael Largent and Greg Partch during a workshop session Monday that the foundation agreed to accept the county’s latest $100,000 offer.

The $100,000 price is $6,000 more than the county’s initial offer of $94,000 and $15,000 below the foundation’s counter of $115,000.

County officials floated the $100,000 offer last week, and O’Neill reported Monday the foundation accepted.

Board members of the foundation told the county in the fall the group wanted out of the landlord business. That left county officials with the choice of buying the space, moving the office elsewhere or shutting it down completely.

Commissioners and Fran Martin, health department director, decided closing the branch was not an option because a majority of health department clients use the Pullman branch.

The county health department currently leases the building from the foundation for $1,200 per month. That lease expires July 31.

The health department will borrow the $100,000 at the current prime interest rate from the solid waste fund.

The solid waste fund derives from fees charged at the county landfill. For the past several years, county officials have tried to build up the fund to pay for future capital expenses at the landfill.

Storey said the landfill is closing in on capacity, and the county will likely have to float revenue bonds to pay for construction of a new facility or expansion of the existing site.

The account currently totals close to $4 million.

O’Neill said the health department will try to structure the loan on terms that would cost no more than the $1,200 monthly lease payment.