Millions of dollars from Tennessee state programming and federal relief funds could soon be used to reshape one of Blount County’s major public health institutions.
About $8 million could offer the Blount County Health Department either a major makeover or a new site. Any changes to the health department depend on whether proposals to appropriate part of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds and join a grant contract with the Tennessee Department of Health net approval from the Blount County Board of Commissioners this week.
If commissioners sign off during their Thursday, May 16, meeting, Blount would join other Tennessee counties in using some state program funds to replace or renovate local health department facilities. Past that approval, officials would take their next step: deciding whether to move forward with upgrades at the current building in Maryville or look for a new site.
Structure
Located in the former Blount County Public Library building on McGhee Street, the health department offers services including dental care, immunization and birth control. But the facility also presents some issues for staff and patients. County health department Director Carissa Blackwell told The Daily Times that some of those challenges stem from the building’s structure.
While most health departments are single-story buildings, Blackwell said, the county’s facility is split into two levels.
“(The staff) are all spread out,” she noted, and sometimes that dispersion can affect response speed or coordination. And for patients who use wheelchairs or have certain other disabilities, the building setup can be difficult to navigate. There’s an elevator in the health department, but “Sometimes the lift gets stuck,” she commented.
A rising number of patients, and a corresponding growth in staff, are also topics of interest to the health department, according to Blackwell. “There has been growth in the number of patients we see and our staff,” she said.
She said she hopes to fill some positions and increase staffing. With the funding possibilities, there’s also an opportunity to expand some offerings on the dental side of the health department, she noted.
High priority
Blackwell told the newspaper that between state and county contributions, the cost of the project would be covered.
The project is “a high priority,” for the state, county Director of Accounts and Budgets Brian Baldwin wrote in a recent memo to commissioners. The commission Thursday is set to consider appropriating no more than $480,000 for architectural services for the project, as well as whether to enter a state grant contract.
Baldwin explained in the memo that the state would take in $6 million from the Tennessee Department of Health’s Local Health Department Capital Investment Grant Program for the project. Funds for such programming come from a federal award through the U.S. Department of the Treasury State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, he noted.
In addition to those dollars, the county would provide $2 million for the project; that $2 million would flow into the health department project from Blount’s portion of “directly allocated” ARPA money.
The project, Baldwin wrote, must be finished by June 30, 2026.
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