Star-Journbal Editor
The vacant property across the street from Hillsboro city hall was a cavity that needed to be filled, and after some nifty negotiations by Mayor Delores Dalke and the city's Public Building Commission, there soon will be new dentists in town to do the filling.
Groundbreaking is expected any day for the construction of a state-of-the art dental facility at 101 S. Washington (at the southwest corner of Washington and Grand Avenue).
McPherson Dental Care dentists Jon Julian, Brian Kynaston, and others, should be drilling and filling at the new satellite office by May.
The Hillsboro office will not be called McPherson Dental Care, but Kynaston says they have yet to come up with the right name.
"We want Hillsboro to find ownership and feel like its part of their community," Kynaston said. "So the name will be something that Hillsboro can embrace."
The 2,500 square-foot dentist's office will have "the same bells and whistles" as the McPherson facility, he added. "We really stay up with technology."
Members of the Hillsboro City Council have been hoping that a new dentist would come to Hillsboro ever since it was announced that Dr. R.J. Tippin was leaving.
Dalke announced the property deal and the new dentist office at the council meeting Dec. 5.
The property was purchased by the Hillsboro Public Building Commission from the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church, and includes six 150X300-foot lots.
It's uncertain how many lots will be needed for the dental facility. Unused lots will be used for other projects or re-sold by the city.
In addition to buying the lots the public building commission will pay for the building, and the dental group will lease the building over a 10-year purchase agreement.
"The best way for the building to be financed was for the commission to apply," Dalke said. "To get lower, municipal interest rates on the loan.
"The good news is that we will be using a local bank, and the money will stay right here in Hillsboro."
The building commission was created to facilitate the construction of facilities needed to improve the general welfare of the town, including Hillsboro Community Medical Center and the Hillsboro Family Aquatic Center.
"We made it a commission project because there is a real shortage of dentists in our area and felt it was in the betterment of our community to do this," she said.
Dalke, a real estate agent, represented the city's interests in talks with the dental group, but was acting as mayor and not as a real estate agent.
Asked if she'd benefited financially from her role in the property deal, Dalke replied, "Absolutely not!
"But I'm really glad you asked that question. People always think I'm doing this when I'm not."
The property was listed with Fast Realty of Hillsboro, and although Dalke was involved with the deal, she declined to take any commission.
"The asking price the church had it listed for was $48,000, and the city paid three percent less than that [$46,560]," Dalke said, which would mean that $1,440 was reduced from the asking price.
The new dental facility itself will cost "somewhere in the $300,000 range," Dalke added, but said, "I hate to quote a number this early."
The commission will approve contracts during the construction, but the dentists themselves will be involved in designing the facility, using their own architects and builders for the project, she said.
"We're very excited to go over there," he said. "We want to provide the same kind of dentistry as we offer here, so people won't have to travel. I know I always like to have work done in my own town."
While Dalke is no doubt pleased that the new dental facility will be equipped with the latest, greatest equipment and techniques for dental implants, orthodontics, root canals, and pulling wisdom teeth, she confessed that going to McPherson to negotiate were by far the most enjoyable trips to the dentist she's ever had.
"I hate going to the dentist," Dalke said. "But we need them. And this is something that our community really needs. They will be a great asset to Hillsboro and the surrounding area."
