Hospice Executive Director Marlene Kurowski made a presentation to the board Tuesday morning.
This June Hospice will mark its 27th year of service to Lake County, Kurowski said.
Kurowski reported that Hospice was exploring an agreement for a 50-year lease at Sutter Lakeside Hospital's Wellness Campus, where a new building – which would range in size between 16,000 and 32,000 square feet – would be located.
“This is a very generous offer from Sutter, as they will incur the cost of developing the site,” said Kurowski.
Kelly Mather, CEO of Sutter Lakeside Hospital, told Lake County News that the hospital has submitted a plan to build three new buildings on its expanded campus; that plan, she added, hasn't yet been approved by the county.
“The buildings would be phased over time with the first medical office building scheduled for completion in 2008,” Mather explained. “The other two buildings are being considered for partnership with community health care and community education organizations in Lake County. Hospice is very interested in being considered for a land-lease on the expanded campus. Sutter Lakeside Hospital Board of Directors will consider their interest at the April meeting."
Kurowski said Hospice's new building would house administration, training space for volunteers, counseling space for the bereaved and an inpatient care unit, the latter an amenity the organization doesn't currently offer.
The facility's estimated cost would be $4 million, Kurowski said, and groundbreaking could take place within five years if funding and agreements were in place.
That would then allow Hospice to expand its current thrift store on Main Street in Lakeport, Kurowski added, and allow them to increase revenue by as much as 25 percent. Too little space currently, she explained, has caused them to turn away some donations.
Kurowski said Hospice plans to work with a firm that has experience with other hospice groups to do a functional analysis of the facility and prospective size.
Eventually, she said, Hospice would hire a local architect to handle the design.
Hospice originally had been on the agenda as part of a discussion regarding a 16-acre, county-owned property in Clearlake. But with the possibility of a location for a new facility at Sutter, Hospice instead asked the board to consider giving the organization financial support for its initial building analysis.
The funding discussion, the board decided, needed to be reagendized for a future meeting. Supervisor Tony Farrington, who originally asked for Hospice to be put on Tuesday's agenda, said after the meeting Tuesday that he hopes to have Hospice put back on the board agenda in the next few weeks to discuss the funding request.
The issue of the county owned property, however, gave rise to another discussion entirely by board members, who agreed that a closer look should be taken with regard to that land's potential.
Supervisor Ed Robey noted that the land is located near Redbud Hospital, Yuba College and county offices, and currently is zoned for office space. The property, he added, is within the Clearlake city limits.
“I think that before we get too far ahead we need to take a look at the potential for this land,” Robey said.
Clearlake City Councilmember Joyce Overton was at the meeting, and she and Board Chair Jeff Smith agreed that it would be a good idea for the council and board to get together to discuss the property.
Smith said after the meeting he and Overton discussed the issue further. He said he's interested in finding out how much property in Clearlake that the county owns, and Overton would like to know how much property the city holds in county jurisdiction.
Smith added that he wants to know the highest and best use for the property, which the county has held for many years.
He said the property is one of the largest pieces still left undeveloped in Clearlake. It could eventually be useful for expanding the county courts, the college or even the hospital, he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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