The Freeborn County Board of Commissioners dug deeper Tuesday into the proposed plans for a new MercyOne clinic in Albert Lea as the commissioners consider whether the county should contribute money to the project.

Brad Arends and Craig Ludtke, two of the officers with the Albert Lea Healthcare Coalition, which is partnering with MercyOne for the clinic, presented to the board about the project and took questions from the commissioners.

The coalition and officials from MercyOne signed a letter of intent last month for the clinic, which is slated to open in early summer 2020. Plans for the new clinic will be delivered in five phases, starting with a primary care clinic with enough space for visiting specialists and extended hours for urgent care. Future phases planned include additional specialists, including two OB-GYN specialists, an imaging center and an ambulatory surgery center.

The two men emphasized Tuesday that each phase will be implemented as goals for patient loads are achieved.

Arends said there are presently two options for a location for the clinic, the second of which the owner only recently came to the coalition with as an option. He said the clinic will need to have at least 40,000 square feet — with the first two phases requiring a total of about 15,500 square feet. He estimated the cost of the buildout will be about $3.2 million for the first two phases, of which MercyOne has committed $2 million.

The Albert Lea Healthcare Coalition would purchase and own the building to house the clinic and lease it to MercyOne.

Arends said for the project to get up and running and be a success, it needs community support. The coalition hopes to get commitments for $1.8 million from local businesses over the next three years — of which it already has commitments for about $1.2 million.

It also is hoping for $470,000 between the city of Albert Lea and Freeborn County and about $230,000 a year from local citizens. He said local citizens have already pledged $38,000, and an anonymous donor who graduated from Albert Lea and lives in Wayzata has committed $1 million. The coalition is also reaching out to another foundation for support.

Arends and Ludtke said much of the patient load comes from businesses essentially “pushing” employees to MercyOne by offering health insurance options that would consider Mayo to be out of network.

Ludtke said he offered options for his employees to have Mayo either as in-network or out of network for their health insurance, and after seeing the savings in the premiums to choose Mayo as out of network, all of his employees chose the out-of-network option.

Arends said his employees have two options with Mayo and two without and noted that businesses could save roughly 30 percent by switching to a plan with Mayo out of the network.

The money these businesses saved on health insurance premiums could in turn initially support the clinic.

Arends said MercyOne has agreed to take on all of the employees from the worksite clinic for Mrs. Gerry’s, Zumbro River Brand, Innovance, Select Foods and intellicents, which will bring with it many patients.

The two men talked about the cost of health insurance being higher in the area because there is only one provider. Arends said presently, an Albert Lea family pays almost $6,000 more in Albert Lea for health insurance than what it would cost to have the same policy in Minneapolis.

Belshan asked whether the Albert Lea school district has considered a contribution to the project or whether to offer different types of health insurance plans to its employees.

Arends said it is unclear what the school district plans to do with its worksite clinic at Brookside Education Center and noted the school district renews its insurance plans in July.

Belshan talked about the importance of labor and delivery services for young couples moving to the area and for economic development.

Arends talked about the benefits of having health insurance rates 20 to 30% cheaper than neighboring towns and that this could be attractive to businesses.

Ludtke said the longer-term goal is to bring in a birthing center, but that can’t be completed without an ambulatory surgery center, which would take place in the fifth phase.

He said to contemplate a sixth phase at this time is too early, but that is the goal for the coalition. He noted adding inpatient services would require statutory changes at the state level.

Belshan asked the two men if they had thought about unintended consequences of opening up the clinic and whether Mayo Clinic Health System could pull more services from the community.

Arends said when they have talked with MercyOne officials, they are anxious to bring back services that have been moved.

“Their attitude has been to bring services to Albert Lea,” Ludtke said.

Board Chairman Chris Shoff asked Arends and Ludtke if they had gone out to the smaller school districts in the county or other big employers in the county.

Arends said so far they’ve collected “the low-hanging fruit” but would like to have another meeting once the coalition purchases the building to invite more to join.

Another commissioner asked about whether MercyOne could at any time increase its reimbursement rates, and Arends said that was included in the letter of intent that their rates would be fixed.

“We’ve done everything we can to retain control,” he said.

They also briefly discussed emergency services.

The board did not take a vote about contributing funds toward the project.

In other action, the board:

• Approved repairs to the draining system.

• Approved amendments to Harmony Parks’s conditional use permit.

Changes included increasing the number of events allowed with over 800 attendees from five to six and increasing the total days for the events from 14 to 24.

Language was also taken out about planting two sound breaks of trees because of the growth of trees already in place, and another change was made regarding the use of campaign-style signs. Trevor Bordelon with Freeborn County Environmental Services said the park is considering a different type of signs.

• Approved a master grant contract between the Freeborn County Community Health Board and the Minnesota Department of Health. The contract streamlines the process of individual grant project agreements received from the Department of Health.

• Approved writing off $903 and $795 from uncollectible accounts.

• Placed Sara Engelby, a public health nurse, on full-time status.

• Accepted the resignation of Dawn Nelson, a License Center specialist, effective Dec. 27. Nelson plans to retire. The board also voted to fill her position.

• Named new Department of Human Services Director Suzi Nerison as a voting member on a joint powers board of the South Central Community-Based Initiative. Mark Kossman will serve as alternate.

• Approved the biennial service agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to receive consolidated funds to administer the Minnesota Family Investment Program.

• Renewed a contract with Serenity Services to provide guardianship and conservator services for residents of the county, for whom the Department of Human Services refers.