The Municipality of Bluewater is in the very early stages of attempting to bring a medical clinic to Bayfield, and the first step raised some alarm with residents.
Council declared the building that the Bayfield Lions Club leases from the Municipality surplus at the November 4 meeting.
A doctor recently approached staff about setting up a practice in the space, and in order to do that, council has to open requests for proposal on the building.
Councillor Bill Whetstone says the municipality wanted to get the word out before the RFP process gets underway.
"In all honesty, we're in the very early stages, there hasn't been a whole lot going on," he said. "Council wanted to make sure that the public was aware that there was some interest in that building being potentially purchased and run as a medical clinic. So that was one of the things to make sure we're being as transparent as possible."
Whetstone added that this doesn't mean the Municipal Road 6 property will go to the highest bidder.
"This isn't about kicking people to the street just to make a buck. We weren't soliciting for any doctors to come... it was just that this particular doctor reached out. But part of the process is this goes public, so anybody could bid on it," he said. "Then (council) would have to make the decision what's in the best interest for the Municipality, and that could be zero, that means no, we're deciding to take it off the market."
Bluewater has a family health team in Zurich and a health centre in Hensall, but nothing established in Bayfield.
“If this proposal for a medical clinic is viable in the long-term, it could be a real asset for the community. But there are many important questions to be answered," said Lions President Ian Matthews in a statement.
Whetstone held his monthly Councillors Corner meeting on Wednesday to hear resident concerns, and while there was a lot of positive response to the clinic, the main worry was what would happen to the local food bank which operates out of the Lions Club.
"The food bank, for sure, they're a big part of this community," said the councillor. "We've got to make sure that we find a home for them because they're unfortunately, very well used. I wish I could say otherwise that we don't really need them, but we absolutely need to have them in this area, so we have to look at helping them out where we can."
Whetstone reiterated that it's very early in the process, as staff haven't even issued a call for letters of intent to kick off the RFP process.
Any determination on the future of the building won't come until 2025.