Corbin applying for $583,000 block grant to provide infrastructure to new health care center

The Corbin City Commission took steps at its monthly meeting Monday to secure nearly $600,000 in grant money that will be used to provide infrastructure so a new $8 – 10 million community health center can be built off the Corbin Bypass.

The commission voted Monday to authorize Mayor Willard McBurney to sign the necessary documents so the city can apply for a $583,000 community development block grant to build a new access road and extend water and sewer lines to the site for the new Grace Community Health Center campus.

Construction is expected to start soon on the 12,000 square foot facility that is expected to take about a year to build, Community & Economic Development Associates Inc. President Bryan Kirby told the commission.

The new healthcare center is expected to create 30 fulltime jobs within its first two years of operations.

In order for the city to qualify for funding under the federal community development block grant program at least 51 percent of the newly created jobs have to be for people who are low to moderate income. For Knox County, this would be a gross salary of about $36,000, Kirby said.

The healthcare center will offer mental health services, primary care, urgent care, OBGYN services and dental services all in one location.

Michael Stanley, CEO of Grace Community Health Center, said last year that the federal qualified health center (FQHC) receives federal funding annually to help defray the cost of treating uninsured and underinsured patients. Also, the group’s doctors are not required to have malpractice insurance coverage since it is also covered by the federal government.

Stanley said Grace Community Health Center also qualifies for "enhanced reimbursement" for Medicaid patients, a privilege many primary care centers are losing because of changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act.

The group has received a grant for $4.2 million to start the project. Stanley said through the use of "new market tax credit" Grace hopes to have between $8 and $10 million for the project.

"We are excited about it and we are very thankful. God has really blessed us," Stanley said. "What makes us most proud is, from an economic standpoint, that we will bring many new jobs to the area with our sustainable health care model."

Grace plans to partner with other medical groups, like private doctors and Baptist Health Corbin, at the medical campus once it is complete.

The new healthcare facility will be built on a 10-acre site in the Corbin Southeastern Kentucky Regional Business Park, which is located off the Woodbine Connector Road.

Corbin City Attorney Bob Hammons said the community development block grant would be similar to what the city did to provide infrastructure for the KOWA plant.

Grace Community Health Center was founded in 2008 as a non-profit organization. Its mission statement is "to show the love and share the truth of Jesus Christ to southeastern Kentucky, through access to compassionate, high quality, primary health care for the whole person."

In other business Monday, the commission:

• Authorized the Corbin Downtown Program to work with Carman Architects to draw up a master plan for streetscape work on Depot, Main and Kentucky Street.

Corbin Downtown Manager Andy Salmons said the city commission had authorized the Downtown program to put out a request for qualifications from pre-approved transportation department landscape firms about one year ago.

"The intent is to help redesign the streetscape for Main Street, Kentucky Street, Fourth and Fifth Street and Depot Street," Salmons said. "Really it is designed in such a way for cars to go really, really quickly.

"We want to by design slow everything down, especially on Kentucky Street. Kentucky Street is really the emphasis because right now you have a 25-foot lane you can drive through down there."

Salmons said that before any changes can be made to a state street, there has to be a plan and Carman Architects can do all the planning and engineering schematics for that. In addition, the company will help the city pursue grant money and other funds to help pay for any work done to the streets.

Salmons said that Carman had the best proposal that was submitted.

He added that it would be years before any actual work can be done because of limited funds.

Carman is the same group that did the city’s Corbin Bikeway Master Plan.

• Held the first reading of ordinance number 15-2009, which will remove motor vehicle speed bumps on Bolton Avenue.
Commissioner Joe Shelton asked why the speed bumps had been installed there in the first place. City Manager Marlon Sams said Bolton Avenue residents had requested the speed bumps in 2009 but now want them removed.

• Set trick or treat hours for residents in Corbin on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 6 – 8 p.m., and for downtown merchants on Oct. 30 from 3 – 5 p.m.

• Granted permission for Baptist Health to use the Depot Street parking lot and the closed portion of Monroe Street on Saturday, Oct. 3 for March of Dimes events, and for Immanuel Baptist Church to use the same parking lot on Friday, Oct. 30 from 5 – 8 p.m. for a fall festival. Both organizations will be required to have event insurance.

• Appointed David Walters as a resident member of the Corbin Housing Authority Board.

• Re-appointed Tania Marcum and Jackie Willis to the Corbin Tourism Board. Their new terms will expire on Sept. 3, 2018.

• Accepted the resignation of assistant mechanic Charles Pebley from the Corbin Public Works Department effective Sept. 7. Pebley’s resignation letter stated he needed more money and was leaving to pursue a better job in Virginia.

Sams noted this is the third or fourth time in a year that position has been vacant and said he wanted the full personnel board to interview the next round of applicants, which prompted Commissioner Suzy Razmus to ask if that was really necessary. "I’m on the personnel board," she noted.

The commission authorized advertising for a full-time assistant mechanic for public works. "I guess so," Razmus responded jokingly when asked to approve the measure.

• Accepted the resignation of firefighter Anthony Horton effective Oct. 2, and authorized the city manager to interview from the fire roster for one full-time firefighter position.

• Approved a request from public works to purchase a dump bed and salt spreader because a previous salt spreader had rusted out. Shelton noted this has been a problem since he has been on the commission.

dump bed will be plastic and the spreader will be electric. The total price tag for the new equipment will be nearly $15,000.

• Agreed to refund $623 to Randy and Lori Worley for payment they made to the city for a claim of lien release order. The Corbin Code Enforcement Board recommended the refund by a vote of two to one.

• Authorized the purchase of a $3,761 new sound system for the upstairs meeting room at city hall. Sams noted he had Hamblin and Kersey check out the old system and they determined it was pretty well shot.

• Directed Building Inspector Frank Burke to send documents into the state to take two local residents’ property out of the city limits and off the city tax rolls because a survey indicated the property wasn’t actually inside the city limits.

Shelton asked the residents if they wanted to be annexed into the city.

"We have awesome police and fire," added Razmus.

City officials didn’t identify the property owners by their last names during the meeting, and the man refused to give his name to a reporter after the meeting.

• Heard from local resident Andrea Mayne, who complimented the city on its work recently limiting the number of chickens city residents can own. She also suggested that the city consider putting limits on the quantity of other animals city residents can own, such as a limit on the number of dogs.

Mayne also told the commission she would love for them to move the speed bumps which are going to be removed from Bolton Avenue, onto her street, South Kentucky, which is located near the high school.