To the Editor:
I am writing to inform your readers that on Nov. 6, 2012, the County of Two Hills council will hear concerns from ratepayers regarding its borrowing bylaw to borrow $750,000, to match a similar loan for the same amount procured by the Town of Two Hills. The sum of these two loans, $1.5 million, is to match a Community Spirit Provincial Grant of $1.5 million to pay for the building of a new medical centre in Two Hills which will also house a fitness centre, locum doctor suite, indoor parking for four domestic vehicles and three service vehicles, doctors’ offices, reception and patient waiting area. The amount of space required for this building is just short of 14,000 sq. ft.
Both the Town of Two Hills and the County of Two Hills have agreed to split the yearly operating costs of the new medical facility. It is to be located across from GO’s Drive-In on Highway 36 on the old hospital site.
My concerns are these: a) many ratepayers in the County of Two Hills do not use the medical facilities of Two Hills; b) in consulting with professional building contractors, the $3 million budgeted for this building is “very, very low” (I will have more concrete figures when I make my presentation to council). It is budgeted to pay a personal fitness trainer $20,000 per year. A certified personal fitness trainer costs minimum $60/hour; even at 10 hours per week, that is $30,000 for a 50-week work year.
The Two Hills Mall sits empty since the Fields’ Store closed and the Mennonite Store closed. It has 7,700 square feet of space, with the current Two Hills Medical Centre housed in about 2,100 sq. ft.
I am assured that renovations for the mall and the existing space in the medical clinic could be renovated to fit the needs for a new medical clinic and exercise facility for far less than $3 million (the projected very low cost for construction of the new facility.) As for indoor parking, I suggest that any doctor serving in Two Hills be supplied with an automatic car starter.
By keeping the new medical facility and fitness centre in the downtown area, those employees who would like to utilize the facility can easily walk; and, patients can park in one location and walk to other amenities, the drug store, grocery store, banks, restaurants, registries office and library, without having to start their vehicles and drive to these places.
I hope many ratepayers show up at the Nov. 6 public meeting. It’s going to be debentured money taxed from our own pockets for a medical facility many do not use. Once the project starts, we are going to be at the mercy of whatever amount the completed project exceeds $3 million.
Nancy Mereska,
Two Hills
