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Rezone makes room for parking at North Putnam Family Health Care
BAINBRIDGE — The success of the Putnam County Hospital clinic in Bainbridge is evident, and now the office needs to find a way to better serve its patients.
During its June meeting on Thursday, the Bainbridge Town Council approved the rezone of the lot adjacent to North Putnam Family Health Care to allow the grassy area to be converted into a parking lot for employees.
PCH relocated its Bainbridge-based family practice to the former Family Dollar building at 209 E. Pat Rady Way in December 2017. In doing so, PCH partnered with Cloverdale Drugs, which opened Crossroads Care Pharmacy in the building to offer integrated health care services.
Thursday’s move indicates the partnership has been a successful one so far.
“We underestimated the demand of the patients we’re serving,” Putnam County Hospital CEO Dennis Weatherford told the Banner Graphic. “We’re very pleased with the number of patients we serve but growing pains come with that and we’re just trying to get our staff out of that lot.”
PCH actually filed the rezone petition on behalf of property owner Tri-County Bank and Trust, as the parcel in question lies immediately behind the Bainbridge branch of the Roachdale-based bank.
Councilmen Jeff Kiger and Robert Hensley approved the request. Councilman Brent Foltz was not present.
The matter still needs to go before the Bainbridge Board of Zoning Appeals for a use variance.
The council also approved the rezone of the parcel on which the practice itself sits. The parking lot and building are on separate parcels and apparently when the health care facility first relocated to the building, the second parcel was not property rezoned.
In other business:
• A neighboring resident asked that the town take a serious look at the property at 414 W. Main St.
“We’ve got a serious eyesore next to me. That house needs to be condemned,” resident Cory Johnson said.
He went on to say that he has seen rats, mice, snakes, skunks, raccoons and feral cats on the property and in the building, as well as now on his own property.
“We have just about everything you can think of coming from that house,” Johnson said.
Town Marshal Ronnie Campbell said the owners, who are listed as Tom Tomlinson and Trinity Noelle, have been issued three citations regarding the length of their grass, though the problems seem to go further. Fines should follow soon.
As for possibly condemning the building, Kiger said it would be a question to take up with both Town Attorney Jim Ensley, who was not present, as well as the Putnam County Health Department.
If the process goes very far, Johnson said he might be interested in the property.
“I’d like to have it torn down so I could buy the property, actually,” he said.
• In his monthly report to the Council, Campbell said in time the town will be in need of new police radios.
The models currently in use will no longer be able to be upgraded to new versions of the dispatching system. They eventually also won’t be able to be re-banded.
All together, eight new radios will eventually be needed, but Campbell said for now the department could get by with four new models.
The four Kenwood radios, which are quite a bit cheaper than the Motorola models, come with a total price tag of $6,800.
• Kiger more than once emphasized the need to meet with Campbell on a number of issues.
These included the radios, the possible addition of a second full-time officer, the addition of reserves who have applied to be on the department as well as the department clothing allowance.
“We will have some decisions as soon as we can get together and see some numbers broken down,” Kiger said. “There will be some decisions made.”
• The town fireworks display is set for Saturday, June 26.
Coinciding with the town’s early Independence Day celebration will be the annual Bainbridge High School alumni reunion and a possible concert sponsored by Northview Church.
• Both Clerk-Treasurer Bobbi Boller and Utilities Superintendent Eric Gibson expressed concern over the state of the town shelter house following the recent Jonah fish fry.
“The shelter house needs a cleaning bad,” Boller said.
Boller and Gibson said there was a mess of the grease used to fry the fish.
• Gibson said there has been a problem with the town water tower lights.
The lights had formerly been programmed to a red, white and blue pattern, but there has been a problem with them staying on for longer than from dusk to dawn.
More recently, six lights started flashing in a rainbow pattern. Those have now gone to a shade of blue.
Gibson said a programmer should be taking care of the problem.
• Kiger requested that the July meeting be moved forward one night. The council normally meets on the Thursday after the second Wednesday, or one day after the Bainbridge Utility Board.
However, in July the utility board will meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 14, with the council on the same evening at 7 p.m.