TO MOVE OR NOT TO MOVE

I attended a special meeting of the Commissioners Court on Tuesday April 16 addressing the idea of moving county offices to the vacant hospital in Cameron.  It was a very informative meeting.  Judge Young did a great job outlining the proposal.

As most of you know by now both Milam County hospitals have shut down.  Milam County is not the only rural county that has been affected by medical facility closures.  According to Judge Young over 20 rural county hospitals have closed in Texas during the past year..The reality is that rural counties simply do not have the population to support a full service hospital.  We were lucky to have full service hospitals for as long as we did.

So now we have a 30,000 plus square foot building that is vacant and could potentially house a majority of the county offices located in downtown Cameron.  Relocating county offices would accomplish several positive things for Milam County and the city of Cameron.

In the current proposal the county would swap eight downtown properties for the hospital building.  These eight properties would then be put up for sale and eventually get back on the tax roles which would help the city and the county.  By getting rid of eight buildings the county would rid itself of the costs of utilities and maintenance for these buildings.

Further economic development  could occur as these former county owned  buildings house new businesses in the downtown area.  Currently a majority of the downtown square is occupied by county offices.  As new businesses come to the downtown area we would see increased traffic which theoretically would mean increased business for the city and increased sales tax collection for the city and county. 

Another positive for the county is that individuals needing county services would have access to a one stop shop.  All county services being located in a central location would make taking care of county business easier for the general public.  One of the major benefits to the county is that if the deal is done it will not cost the county any cash for the transfer.

However, there will be costs to the county for the renovation of the hospital facilities to make them compatible for housing county offices and county business.  These costs have been estimated to be somewhere in the vicinity of 865,000 dollars.  The real costs will not be known until county officials get together with an architect and determine what will be needed to make the building workable.  Once the required building changes are decided on the county would go out for bids for renovation to get an idea of the real costs.

One of the issues I have heard raised by some folks is that if county offices are moved into the old hospital building then Cameron will never get another hospital.  Let's face it folks Cameron will never get another hospital until population makes it a profitable business proposition.

Another point that has been raised is that perhaps the county and the city could come together to maintain an Emergency Room or Urgent Care center in the old emergency room facilities.  While this idea may sound far fetched to some it just might be workable if the city and county cooperate on the idea.  Hopefully the Commissioners Court will hold a public meeting sometime in the future to discuss this project and get public input.

Bottom line is that there is still a lot to be decided, and as Judge Young stated during the meeting not a done deal just yet.  However, it does have its pros which I personally believe outweigh the cons.  This is definitely a work in progress and the final decision is still down the road a good way.  If it is doable it would be a win win for the city and county.