The Lee County Board of Supervisors agreed to use a combination of federal funding and money from the county’s general fund to pay for construction of a new health department facility.
The board had talked about asking voters to approve a $6 million bond.
But Supervisor Garry Seyb said that would have delayed progress on the project until after election day in November.
“So rather than wait an entire year to have that issue put on the ballot, and then either have it fail or pass, the board decided that, hey, we believe that there are other potential funding options,” he said.
The board had secured enough signatures to force an election for the bond issue, but during its meeting on March 4, members elected to forgo that plan.
Seyb said the county has $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, another $947,000 from the USDA, and $600,000 in community block grants.
The county also anticipates receiving another $2.1 million from a Congressional agriculture bill that could help pay for the new facility.
Seyb said the rest could come from fundraising or from money the county has collected in fines from drivers caught speeding on camera along Highway 27.
“We decided we'd already put it out for bid. We already had a contractor selected. We did not want to have to go through that entire process again, and so the board decided that we're just going to go ahead, and that's with the money in our general fund,” Seyb said.
“We're going to go ahead and pay for them and then, that way, it just took the whole bonding out of the equation.”
Seyb said the county board hopes this new plan will help get construction of the new health department building started sometime this year.
The building near Fort Madison will include new offices for the county health department and ambulance bays for the county’s Emergency Medical Service.
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