This story will be updated.
Bangor is moving forward with the purchase of a building from Penobscot Community Health Care, with plans to relocate the city’s public health department to the property.
The City Council’s decision to exercise Bangor’s right of first refusal on the property at 103 Maine Ave. disrupts the struggling healthcare provider’s plan to quickly sell it during a time of financial crisis, and it goes against the advice of the Maine Medical Association.
PCHC, which is Maine’s largest federally qualified health center, announced in late August that it needed $3 million in the next 30 to 60 days to avoid drastically cutting services or declaring bankruptcy. It’s been 34 days since then, and the healthcare provider has already laid off staff and announced the possible closure of some services.
Bangor retains a right of first refusal on the property because of terms built in when the city sold it to PCHC in 2009.
The building currently houses PCHC administrative offices. The organization planned to sell it to Northeast Pain Management for $1.375 million. A closing date for the deal between the two medical providers was previously set for Aug. 27, Dr. Eric Wise, Northeast Pain Management president, told the Bangor Daily News earlier this month.
The deal could have given PCHC funds to quickly address its financial crisis.
“Completing this sale as originally planned would allow PCHC to direct proceeds toward immediate operational needs now,” Lori Dwyer, PCHC president and CEO, said in a previous statement to the BDN. “Timely access to these funds is an important part of the work we are doing to strengthen PCHC’s financial position.”
PCHC did not immediately respond to a request for comment through a spokesperson Monday night.
The organization provides care regardless of insurance or ability to pay for about 50,000 patients in Bangor, Brewer, Old Town, Belfast and Jackman.
The council voted 7-1 to issue a bond order to purchase the property Monday night, with City Councilor Joe Leonard the lone holdout. Council Chair Susan Hawes was absent from the meeting.
“I’m very disappointed, as I know most of the citizens of Bangor are,” Wise told the BDN Monday night.
The city’s public health department currently leases space at 103 Texas Ave. Purchasing its own space instead of continuing to pay rent would save the city money in yearly costs, city spokesperson David Warren previously told the BDN.
The council’s decision comes in spite of pleas from community members and the legislative delegation representing the city.
In a letter sent to the council earlier this month, Rep. Sean Faircloth (D-Bangor), Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Bangor), Rep. Amy Roeder (D-Bangor), Rep. Ambureen Rana (D-Bangor) and Rep. Laura Supica (D-Bangor), along with several other state lawmakers, urged the city to waive its right of first refusal on the sale.
Pushing back the date of a sale would mean PCHC getting the proceeds “well past the window that matters,” they wrote, noting that both PCHC and Northeast Pain Management provide services the region depends on. “Every week of delay is a week PCHC can’t pay vendors, partners, and payroll with money it already has a buyer for,” they added.
Baldacci said Monday night that he was concerned by the council’s decision amid efforts to raise funds that PCHC urgently needs.
“One of the things that bothers me is that the council should have taken this as a moment to exercise leadership and [try] to help PCHC stay in business and maybe find other, more innovative places for the public health department,” Baldacci said.
The Maine Medical Association and the Maine Osteopathic Association also sent a letter to the council urging them to reconsider, Wise noted at the Sept. 14 City Council meeting. Several community members also spoke against the city’s decision to buy the property at that meeting.
PCHC’s financial situation aside, the council’s plan to buy the property could also interrupt Northeast Pain Management’s services, which have filled a gap since Northern Light Health closed its chronic pain center in Bangor last year.
Northeast Pain Management focuses on interventional, non-opioid pain management, Wise has said. He previously estimated that his practice provides 90% of those services for a population spanning half the state and noted it’s the only one in the region who provides them to MaineCare and Medicare patients.
He worried that putting the purchase on hold could disrupt services for his patients. Northeast Pain Management doesn’t own its current building, and the owner started moving toward a sale after the practice decided to move, he said.
Several councilors described the decision as a difficult one during their Monday meeting. They hadn’t said much publicly about the decision until now.
“We’ve spent a lot of time talking about this, and unfortunately, a lot of it has been in executive session,” City Councilor Susan Faloon said.
Leonard noted that while having the space for public health “would be a very good thing for the city,” he couldn’t support the measure because of the chaos he believed would ensue for people receiving medical care in the city.
City Councilor Carolyn Fish said she didn’t feel good about disrupting the two healthcare providers, but “at the end of the day, I feel I have to do what’s right for Bangor and Bangor’s future.”
The council “made it very clear they had already come to this decision prior to tonight’s meeting,” Wise said. “This is all very much in alignment with how they have behaved during their tenures, so I am not surprised.”