County May Donate Vacant Ambulance Garage to Hospital

In a measure of good faith, the county may terminate its lease with the Door County Medical Center (DCMC) and give away the building that served as the former ambulance garage on 18th Street. The county owns the building but DCMC owns the land, which it leases to the county under the condition that it only be used for emergency services.

“We’ve got 30 years of use out of the building and we now have a central ambulance station we’re making use of,” said corporation counsel Grant Thomas to the Facilities and Parks committee.

The lease is scheduled to last until 2030, but committee members directed Thomas to work with DCMC to propose a termination of the lease that will include relinquishing the building on the property.

Committee chair Dan Austad said he had a change of heart from his original position of wanting to negotiate the sale of the old garage for its market price. He now believes the building served the county well for nearly 30 years and wanted to support its future use by the DCMC.

Thomas said DCMC is talking with Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) to use the building for a health care- or emergency services-related curriculum.

“If the hospital can put the building to a use and allow NWTC to use it for health education purposes, that seems to me to further everyone’s interest,” Thomas said.

The county board will have the ultimate say in termination of the lease and the sale or donation of the building.