MOUNT VERNON — Knox Public Health will open its new location on West Vine Street by the end of the month, providing it passes inspections as expected.
KPH will close its Community Health Center office at Moore Family Practice, 206 S. Mulberry St., and move services to 202 W. Vine, the former Strang Glass site.
“The plan is to move in on the afternoon of the 26th and be operational Monday morning,” Health Commissioner Zach Green told the county commissioners on Thursday.
Both locations feature 4,000 square-feet of space. Yet the West Vine space is more usable and allows for five additional treatment rooms. It also allows for a full lab area.
“Reconfiguring the space made it a whole lot more worthwhile,” Green said.
KPH bought several properties on the 200 block of West Vine in December 2022.
Green, the finance department, and the Knox County Community Health Center’s operations staff relocated to the former Strang family home at 201 W. Vine in March 2023.
KPH is partnering with the Knox County Land Bank to demolish the house at 205 W. Vine St. Preliminary plans call for it become a parking lot.
Plans also call for building a new structure on the west side of the renovated health center on what is now a parking lot.
Before moving forward, Green said KPH will work with Sol Harris Day architects to get a better vision of how to use all of the properties, especially in light of the city’s proposed State Route 13 traffic relocation project.
KPH will celebrate a ribbon cutting on March 28.
Miscellaneous
The Knox County commissioners took the following actions between Jan. 2 and Jan. 11:
• Voted to deny Jefferson Township trustees’ request to vacate Kay Road.
• Appointed Commissioner Teresa Bemiller as board president and Commissioner Bill Pursel vice president.
• Reappointed Penny Doyle as board clerk/administrative assistant and Robin Santo deputy clerk.
• Reappointed Eric Simpson as apiary inspector.
• Appointed William “Bill” Hanna to the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
• Reappointed Don R. Mann, DVM, Mark Fritz, and Joe Ziegman to the Knox County Regional Airport Authority Board.
• Applied for real property tax exemption for 601 W. Chestnut St. and 17635 Coshocton Road.
• Appointed Pursel as the county’s representative to the Ohio Power Siting Board.
