The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors approved with a 14-2 vote at their meeting Tuesday, August 25, referendum language that would ask county constituents to approve building a new Lafayette Manor with estimated construction costs not to exceed $45.5 million. In addition, a second question will be asked to exceed the levy limit by $500,000 for 5 years (2027-2031) for maintenance and operation of Lafayette Manor. That resolution passed 13-3.
More from the meeting will be in the next edition, September 3, of the Pecatonica Valley Leader.
At the informational meeting held on Monday night, August 24, over 60 Lafayette County residents came to give their feedback on and learn more about the options being presented to the county board.
Allison Taylor, Lafayette County’s Economic Development and Tourism Director gave a brief presentation from the August 11 informational meeting. Kyle Kraemer from Kraemer Brothers presented budget estimates for the two options being presented to the county board. The two options included building a new Manor facility on the former Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County (MHLC) site, which would require demolition of the MHLC building, site development, general construction, owner soft costs, a 10 percent contingency and a six percent inflation factor, adding up to a roughly estimated $45 million. The demolition of the MHLC building was approximately $1 million, which was an increase over the previously estimated $500,000. Taylor stated the previous estimate was from last year. The new $1 million cost was due to inflation over the year.
The second option to build a new facility on a green site, which was being looked at as the Greg White property, included everything previously discussed in the first option plus land purchase allowances and utility extensions, which Kraemer estimated the total cost to be just over $45 million. He did not include the $1 million for demolishing the MHLC building in this estimated cost.
For the first option, the county is looking at the entire MHLC lot, which is roughly two acres. They have discussed not using the area the Health Department sits on. In a study done by EUA, they created test fit options for how a skilled nursing facility would look on the MHLČ site. It found that a two story option would fit best. They also presented housing options for the site if the county board were to go with the second option. They showed that 12 to 44 affordable housing units could be built on the site. The county does not intend to build or manage the housing directly but see it as a potential benefit for developers.
For the housing option, Lafayette County Board Chairman Jack Sauer stated the county would likely be the ones to raze the MHLC building because it would give the developers a clean slate to work. They also don’t want a blighted building left if it were that someone were to say they were to tear it down and did not fulfill that promise.
Kay Austin from Belmont questioned how the price for both options could be almost the same.
Kraemer stated that the building on both sites was kept the same. The demolition of the MHLC building in option one was around $1 million and kept off the second option. The land acquisition was estimated at $500,000 (which the White property was estimated around $400,000) and the utilities extensions were estimated at around $1 million, which made the second option just over $45 million.
Lafayette County Board District #13 Supervisor Scott Pedley commented that after some research he understood that getting utilities and fiber to the Greg White property, they would be extending them from the Darlington Elementary/Middle School and the cost could be closer to $4 million. He added that the land south of Lafayette Hospital + Clinics could be a potentially better place as the utilities would come from the hospital. The second option wouldn’t have a specific place tied to it but stating the option to build on a new site. A specific location would be discussed at a later meeting, if the county board were to choose the second option.
There were originally four options that were being considered before the Executive, Rules, and Legislative Committee narrowed it down to the two options. They were considering remodeling the current Lafayette Manor and remodeling the old MHLC building. Both were deemed not feasible or fiscally responsible due to lack of space at the current Manor and the footprint of the MHLC hospital not being adequate. A comment was made that working with existing buildings and running into unknowns within those buildings, the contingency could be much higher, an estimated 20 percent or more, making the option for using the old MHLC for a Manor less logical for long-term functionality compared to new construction.
Kristen Fish-Peterson from Redevelopment Resources, the independent presenters at the meeting, commented that if the county were to build something brand new, it would not serve 50 people but it would serve hundreds of people over its lifetime.
“It’s going to serve as many people as it possibly can for the next 50 to 60 years, because you’re starting fresh and you’re going to have turnover. You’re serving future generations with a new facility,” Fish-Peterson said.
Mary Knellwolf, Manor Committee member, commented that building on the old MHLC site would leave the county landlocked, leaving them with no potential to grow. With having a new facility on a new site, the potential for a whole continuum of services for aging persons would be more likely.
“The new site outside of town is definitely going to be more appealing than the old [hospital] site because of the closeness to the hospital,” Peggy Stegger, home health nurse and former employee at Lafayette Manor stated. She felt the new site could also be a place to build a community-based residential facility or a resident care apartment complexes or even memory care, which there aren’t many of in the area. “There are many different avenues that we can look at with that and it would give us the benefit of being able to do that.”
Pedley explained that locating the Lafayette Manor on the same site as Lafayette Hospital + Clinics would be financially devastating for the Manor due to the Medicare reimbursement rates being greatly reduced. If the Manor were to be located on the same parcel, the reimbursement rates could decrease 40-60 percent.
Julie Chikowski, a consultant for Lafayette Manor and former CEO of MHLC and Lafayette Manor administrator, stated that it is all due to Lafayette Hospital + Clinics being a critical access hospital and receiving special funding from Medicare patients. That is the reason why Upland Hills Health is replacing their skilled nursing facility model to a senior living campus focusing on assisted living and memory care. Lafayette Manor could be placed close to the hospital but would have to be on a separate parcel.
Lafayette County Board District #8 Supervisor Jed Gant commented on a conversation he had with Sen. Tammy Baldwin on her encouraging the county board to get this issue to a referendum in the fall because the federal government does their budgeting in February. Sen. Baldwin stated that she can make sure the county has money in the budget to help with the financing of the project.
“It is very important to all of us that a politician of that stature would think of us in this small area for a facility such as we are talking today,” Gant said.
Taylor added that she is working with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to see if there are funding available.
With the discussions mainly toward the new facility, questions were raised about what to do with the old facility. The land that the Lafayette Manor sits on is owned by the city of Darlington. If the county proceeds with building a new skilled nursing facility, they could develop a formal request for proposal (RFP) and try to sell the building to a private developer to see about transitioning it into apartments if necessary, to try and get the building back on the tax roll. The county plans on working with the city to see what is the best outcome for the building.
The county board members present thanked all those who came to the meeting to show support for the Lafayette Manor and for the support of the elderly now and in the future.