(Lander, WY) – The Lander City Council heard a report this week about the apparent “demise” of the local Table Mountain assisted living project.
The report came from Lander Housing Authority Member Judy Legerski, who mentioned two major issues that have stymied the plan for now.
For one thing, Legerski said, the LHA is “$14 million short” of their budget for the project.
But the main problem, she said, is that the LHA apparently has “no legal ability to do what it was doing.”
“We were midway through a meeting with a bond attorney (when that) became obvious,” Legerski recalled.
She was referring to a state statute that “very clearly says” that entities like the LHA “can only do things for indigent people” – and the planned Table Mountain Living Community, “while it would accept Medicare and Medicaid, also accepted private pay.”
“The fact that it accepted private pay (took) it out from our ability to do what we were doing,” Legerski said, calling the situation “painful.”
“This is a good project, and it’s something the community really needs,” she said.
Moving forward
The LHA has looked into several options that could be pursued in order to resurrect the Table Mountain project, Legerski said.
A Joint Powers Board could be formed to oversee the project, for example, or a nonprofit entity or private operator could take over – though Legerski noted that a private entity might not be willing to accept Medicare and Medicaid, and “that wouldn’t work in Fremont County.”
Another idea, she said, is for the city to take on the Table Mountain project as one of its municipal enterprise funds.
“(That’s) sort of an interesting concept,” Legerski said, citing research that showed other cities in Wyoming operate golf courses, event centers and other amenities as enterprise funds. “If you consider that, that means this project would land in your laps and move forward from there.”
If the city moves forward with the enterprise fund option, Legerski said the LHA would “do what we can to share some responsibility with you.”
For now, she said, the LHA is working through the process associated with returning the money local residents and other supporters have donated to the project.
“There will need to be research done about what money … can be given back,” she said, explaining that the LHA has already spent some of the money on design plans and other expenses.
Some donors have said they don’t want their money back, Legerski said, but “I don’t know about the earlier individual donors from the community and how that will be handled.”
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” she said.
The LHA also has to review the rules associated with the American Rescue Plan Act funding the project was granted, Legerski said, and “we undoubtedly will be asking (the city) to un-lease the land from us.”
“We’re sorry it didn’t work out,” she said. “We wish we’d known it sooner.”
Council response
When Councilmember John Larsen asked how much “infrastructure” the city has “invested” in the project so far, Public Works Director Lance Hopkin said “nothing has been installed,” but “there is a design for infrastructure,” and “there is still a grant to put in and extend water and sewer to that parcel.”
“We’d have to talk about what that looks like, if we’re continuing to install infrastructure to that parcel for (the) future, or if that could be done without having the project moving forward,” Hopkin said.
Councilmember Missy White said she would “like to see something be able to be revived from this” effort, and Councilmember Julia Stuble agreed.
“I’m not ready to walk away from the concept yet,” Stuble said, wondering whether the city enterprise fund option “could be the answer,” at least for the construction portion of the project and “maybe the first couple years” of operation.
After that, Stuble said, the city could “look at transferring” the assisted living center “to a private operator or a nonprofit.”
“We don’t want the city, in 50 years, to have to own (the) facility,” Stuble said. “But we can get over this hump right now with that option, and then look at other ownership models.”
The city could also approach the Fremont County Commission about the possibility of setting up a Joint Powers Board, Stuble said, noting that “we’re losing an assisted living facility in Dubois,” and “the county will not have one moving forward.”
“Maybe that’s a compelling point, to talk about building one that (serves) the county residents here in Lander,” she said.
Mayor Monte Richardson suggested the council schedule a work session to discuss the issue further, and staff said they would research the situation and present more information at that time.
For more information call the City of Lander at 332-2870.