Vital Salud, a telecom healthcare provider focused on the serving the Hispanic community, received a conditional no from the Krugerville City Council when they asked for a special use permit to build their clinic in the city.
Council took no issue with the teleclinic itself, though said the location which sports several suites all on the same limited aerobic septic system, would likely not be able to support the load between clinic staff and customers.
“The capacity of that system is 15 people,” Assistant City Administrator Sandy Frantz said. “We don’t know how many people are in each spot or how many are vacant. Based on some emails that have gone back and forth, ... if they are approved, there are two more [businesses there]. The property owner is seriously considering redoing that system.”
In addition to the staff and customers at State Farm and H&R Block, Vital Salud would add three staff of its own and expect 15-20 visitors a day.
“That’s eight employees for a 15-person capacity, and there’s still two more empty spaces,” Mayor Pro Tem Kristen Kromer said. “I’m just very concerned it's going to tax the system.”
Council member Rodney Cagle and Mayor Jeff Parrent went into greater detail on the septic load any clinic, even a small one with limited traffic, might add as well as the limited capacity for upgrade at the site thanks to its location near the road and lack of surrounding field space for additional leech sprayers.
Vital Salud representative Guadalupe Calderon shared the council’s concerns and wishes with the rest of the group in the meeting.
“This is the first one under that name,” Calderon said. “We already work for another four clinics, but they have different names. If we change location, still in the city of Krugerville, can we do it?”
The majority of council spoke favorably of hosting the clinic in town, should they find a more suitable location.
“I would love to see you here,” Cagle said. “I think the location is not a great idea.”
Council voted no on the special use permit in question for the clinic, though urged Vital Salud to come back.
Later in the meeting, Parrent updated the room on the prospective city hall expansion.
“Just to bring you up to speed, we’ve talked about this for three months in a row,” Parrent said, moving to the far southwest corner of the council chamber. “We’re going to start at this far outside corner and go to the other side where the hallway is with the bathroom, which is about 48 feet and we’re going to go about 40 feet [west], so that gives you about a 19,000 square foot addition.”
He continued, explaining that between current staff and court needs, the municipality has outgrown its current lodging.
“It started with safety concerns because we have jurors and defendants going back and forth with city employees, and we need to shut that off for security reasons,” Parrent said. “Just this quarter and in part of the second quarter, we’ve had two serious problems and a third potential problem where it’s left employees in full-blown tears and startled because you’ve got people who come in here and have no couth about them.”
Parrent said he’ll present the final plans at the council’s next meeting and urged council to come prepared with tweaks.
