Commissioners seek new building to house Public Health Department

COLFAX — In several past meetings, Commissioner Tom Handy had mentioned attempts to acquire a new building for Whitman County Public Health, located in Pullman at 1205 Southeast Professional Mall Boulevard in suite 203.

In the Monday, Sept. 25 meeting, Handy reported that he’d sent a letter of interest for a property in Pullman to the building’s owner.

The building housed Unify Family Dental, located at 1095 Southeast Bishop Boulevard, is currently up for sale.

Handy said that the building owners are negotiating with someone else. “We put in a letter of interest to let the owner know that if they don’t come to an agreement with the current party, we would like to start a dialogue with them,” Handy said.

The Health Department’s current building is located in the professional mall, which Handy said is getting old and needs to meet the standards of Accessible Design or ADA compliant. Hence, it is physically accessible to people with disabilities. “One of the things that the county has to do for all of their properties is have plans to make it ADA compliant to receive federal funds,” he said, adding that this is a federal government requirement.

Handy said the current building requires a lot of ADA upgrades, noting that it would cost a lot of money to do so. “One of the options is moving out of it and into another property,” he said.

That building we are currently in would require a lot of ADA upgrades.

“We haven’t got a signed copy back,” he said, noting that he’d have more on the subject once the property owner was ready to talk.