By Billy Davis
Panola County supervisors have voted to seek a grant for constructing a new county health department.

The county board, when it met last week, was faced with a decision: renovate the existing building or seek matching grant money for a new one.

The approximate cost of the renovation, $454,750, is identical to the approximate cost if the county can win a Community Development Block Grant.

The CDBG requires a 50-percent match. The cost of a new health department building is $828,000, supervisors learned.

The Miss. Development Authority hands out CDBG money that comes to Mississippi from Housing and Urban Development, a federal agency.  

Panola’s health department operates from a brick building located in south Batesville, at 821 Highway 51. The building was constructed in 1972.

In a long-standing partnership, county health departments are operated by the Miss. Department of Health. Employees, such as nurses and office staff, are state employees.

The building is owned by Panola County government, which also appropriates money to the state agency each year to contribute to the clinic.

Panola County has allocated $72,000 for the current fiscal year, said County Administrator Kelley Magee.  

Panola County government began seeking help for the aging building when district health officer Dr. Alfio Rausa asked for help, Magee told The Panolian.  

Panola County government is seeking the CDBG through North Delta Planning and Development, the non-profit agency that operates an office in Batesville.

North Delta Planning employee Trey Hamby was working against a May 26 deadline when the board met last week, Magee said.  

Hamby told the county board that the competitive grants most often go to water and sewer projects, with grants for public buildings following second.

“Below that is roads,” he said.

Hamby said North Delta Planning won grant funds for a new Health Department building in Tate County – six years after the first application was submitted.

The grant mandates that the applicant describe the parcel of land for the proposed building. Panola County government, after searching for a location, asked North Delta Planning to include county-owned property in Batesville’s W.H. Harmon industrial park, according to Magee.

The land is located near Magnolia Tool and Dye, she told The Panolian.  

Magee said county officials looked at land near Tri-Lakes Medical Center, hoping at the time that it was owned by the City of Batesville. But the property is owned by a private developer, meaning cash-strapped county government would likely pay handsomely for the site.

A tract that held the former health department, located on Turner Street in Batesville, was not considered because it is too small.  

Magee downplayed locating a new building in the industrial park, saying North Delta Planning “had to have a piece of ground” for the deadlining application.

“It’s still a long way off,” she said, recalling Tate County’s wait to win the grant. “We’ve still got some time.”