By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted 6-1 on Tuesday to approve plans for a $1.47-million expansion to the county’s medical and dental clinic in Hillsborough.
Last week, the board postponed the decision, citing a need for more clarity in how the project would be funded.
The commissioners voted in September to close the county dental clinic at Carr Mill Mall and consolidate dental services at the Hillsborough clinic, which county officials said would yield $113,000 in annual savings and provide increased access to care through extended operating hours. The $1.47-million renovation of the dental and health clinics will be funded with Medicaid Maximization and Dental Equipment capital project funds, which can only be used for programs that have provided care to Medicaid patients.
The county operates a dental clinic at Carr Mill Mall two days a week and one at the Whitted Human Services Center on West Tryon Street in Hillsborough three days a week. Under the approved plan, the Hillsborough dental clinic will serve patients five days a week when the Carrboro clinic closes. County officials have said they will offer vouchers to qualifying dental patients for transportation to the Hillsborough clinic.
Commissioners stressed that they would like to develop a long-term plan for dental services that would include a clinic in the southern part of the county.
“I do think the time has passed that we seriously talk strategically about how we’re going to provide a dual model for dental clinic services, particularly in southern Orange County. I think that it’s going to be clear to us soon that the needs are not going to diminish – they’re going to be greater,†Commissioner Valerie Foushee said.
Commissioner Alice Gordon agreed.
“That’s the problem – not that there isn’t a need for something better at the Hillsborough location,†Gordon said. “There are going to be needs for the citizens in Chapel Hill and Carrboro and it’s not clear how they’re going to manage to travel to Hillsborough and so forth.â€
The vote to close the Carrboro clinic has drawn criticism from Carrboro and Chapel Hill officials, who have expressed concern that residents of the southern part of the county would forego care if that clinic were closed.
The clinic redesign, intended to serve county health and dental clinic needs for seven to 10 years, includes structural improvements to the building. If commissioners open bidding and award a bid in January, the project is estimated to be completed in June.
In other action, the board voted unanimously to approve a timeline for the county’s Unified Development Ordinance that continues the public hearing on the ordinance until Feb. 28, with adoption of the ordinance scheduled for April 5.
Also on Tuesday, the board voted to approve 91 percent of the Orange County/Alamance County line, with the remaining 9 percent of the line to be determined by the end of 2012. The counties are attempting to deliver a plat of the boundary for incorporation into a 2011 General Assembly local bill that resolves the disputed boundary.