Clinic negotiators to start talks; no to small animal barn

The Wahkiakum County board of commissioners outlined the fundamental process they want to follow as they work with Cowlitz Family Health Center to change ownership of the Wahkiakum Family Practice Clinic.

The health center board of directors agreed last week to pursue acquisition and operation of the family practice clinic.

Commissioner Lisa Marsyla reported she would be forming a transition team to meet with health center officials to work out the details.

Commissioner Blair Brady interrupted to tell Marsyla that the three commissioners need to agree on goals and details before Marsyla starts any talks.

A variety of issues will be on the table, Marsyla said. Among others, these include:

--Staffing level and how many of the clinic's current employees move into jobs with the family health center;

--The relationship with and involvement in the county's emergency medical services, and

--The ownership and disposal of the clinic property, furnishings and equipment.

Marsyla added that health center administrators will have a booth at the county fair this week to introduce their program. They'll also schedule meetings in the community.

In other business, the commissioners rejected a request from Bill Coons, president of the Wahkiakum Fair Board, to allow the fair association to spend disaster relief funds on a temporary barn for small animals.

Coons said a contractor was ready install the frame of a pole building that will eventually be the small animal barn. Because of time and money constraints, the frame would be covered with tarps this year, and the fair association would raise funds to complete the construction next year.

Commissioners rejected the proposal. An incomplete, exposed wooden structure could be damaged by the winter weather, they said, and there's no guarantee the association could find money to complete it next year. They also wondered if the disaster funds could be spent on a structure not connected with the newly built arena.

Without their own building, the small animals will be housed in temporary pens in the back of the arena, Coons said.

The arena collapsed in last winter's heavy snowfall, taking with it the attached Commercial Building and Small Animal Barn and the Exotics Building.

A variety of factors have prevented the complete restoration by fair time. First, the county had to obtain federal disaster funds and collect from its insurance company. Then the project was designed and put to bid. During construction, the contractor encountered poor foundation soils, so a new design had to be made for stronger footings, which delayed construction and ate up funds intended for the small animal barn and other items related to the arena.