April 1, 2008

Columbia Basin wins court’s praise
Care facility board gives county $40,000

By ED COX
of The Dalles Chronicle

     Wasco County commissioners are “thrilled” with how a private, non-profit organization has administered Columbia Basin Care Facility for the past decade and will work together with its directors as they eye expansion.
     That was the consensus at a special county court session held Wednesday at Columbia Basin in The Dalles. The facility was the last county-owned-and-operated nursing home in the state — and a major money-loser — at the time its administration was turned over to the four-person board in June 1997.
     But on Wednesday, board chair John Byers handed Wasco County Judge Dan Ericksen a check for $40,000 as partial repayment of $200,000 in support the county extended to the board at the time of the handover.
     “We would like to do that every year,” said Byers, “but we can’t guarantee it.”
     “I really needed this money,” smiled Ericksen, who has struggled to balance next year’s budget in the face of a shortfall of multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars.
     The fact that Columbia Basin is now giving back to the county represents a stunning turnaround for a facility that was losing its owners and former operators more than $200,000 per year in the late 1990s.
     Ericksen, who was junior commissioner on a court that was severely criticized for “giving away” the facility, called the payment “another vindication that we made the right choices and got the right people.”
     Indeed, after five years of struggle to turn the finances around and five years of extensive refurbishing, the home is now reliably in the black and free of debt — in a word, thriving, and looking to grow.
     Possible visions for change include devoting one wing to mostly Medicare-funded residents and adding an apartment complex for spouses or elderly couples.
     “We really don’t know where we’re headed on this,” Byers said. “We’ve just got to find out what’s feasible and what we can afford.”
     Board members Mike Courtney and Linda Omeg said the group nearly retained an architect to sketch out some visions, but wanted to first be reassured of the county’s long-term plans for the site.
     “Keep the money rolling in here, and keep making improvements, and I’m pretty happy,” Ericksen pronounced.
     Still, the judge has been publicly stating he will not seek re-election, and as the only member of the court who participated in the entire handover process, he suggested recording its history to provide perspective for future commissioners.
He also indicated that the contract with the operating organization could be revisited to include some extra “locks and security.”
     Since the county owns the land and building, the board cannot use them as collateral to borrow and fund an expansion. And while the board banks between $40,000 and $100,000 a year for upgrades and repairs, Courtney said they may need $1 million or more to grow as they’d like.
     Given county ownership of the physical assets, the clearest revenue-raising option would be a bond, Ericksen said. A public bond would face stiff competition, notably from the school district, but a revenue bond, such as the one for the Discovery Center, might be more feasible, he said.
     Still, both commissioners and Columbia Basin board members were quick to point out the differences between the two cases.
     Unlike the Discovery Center at the time, the care home has an identified revenue source and a clear track record, noted commissioner Bill Lennox.
     “We’re in the black,” Omeg said simply, crediting a board full of businesspeople and the husband-and-wife on-site management team of Ron and Monica Bell with the turnaround.
     But strong as the track record may be, the income is not guaranteed, as board member Carla Chamberlain pointed out. It fluctuates based on numbers of residents, the census, and what the federal government decides to pay per unit of population served.
     Another possibility mentioned at the meeting was an ownership transfer to the non-profit, though Ericksen said it “might be a difficult political sell” given the criticism the court faced before.
     Still, commissioner Sherry Holliday said she feels community perceptions about Columbia Basin have changed as a result of its success and the many improvements, which include a roof replacement, generator, and remodeling of the whole upstairs and half the downstairs.
     “People have said nothing but good things about this place since it’s been [in the non-profit’s hands],” she said.
     It was not clear under what circumstances the court might consider an ownership transfer, and Lennox questioned whether it was fair to expect the county to do so and give up possible benefits to itself of this “losing proposition [turned] shining proposition.”
     But Holliday said she couldn’t imagine going backwards and then having to bring in a private operator, under whom “there would be no comparison to how this facility is run.” Commissioners had already stressed the importance of both local control and a system of quality elder care available to all members of the community — not just those with assets.
     Omeg noted, “We really are serving the community, just in a different way.”      That, she said, includes not just elder care but opportunities for extended recovery from accidents among the younger population.
     She also said the passion of the board and staff could be diminished if the facility were considered just as a revenue source for the county.
     Lennox stressed that he had only posed the question from a stewardship perspective and had no desire to “kill the golden goose” or take away from the board’s energy and success.
     Still, Ericksen noted that “responsible use of a public asset” would indeed require more input, including public hearings if anything was done to change the ownership of the facility.
     Meanwhile, the county would like to see a vision and plan for Columbia Basin’s future — even as it gives shape to the guarantees the board seeks so that it can, in Omeg’s words, preserve a “top-notch facility.”
     “Warehousing people is not enough,” Omeg noted, to general agreement from the court.
     Ericksen said a facility in tip-top shape is what the court is interested in, so long as it’s not costing the county any money.
     “We want to keep movin’ forward, and we’ll work with you,” he told the facility’s board. “You’re making the court look good, so we’re proud of you.”