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Council gives staff direction to pursue relocation of $7M behavioral-health grant to WellSpace Health site
Summary
City staff and WellSpace Health pitched relocating a $7 million B-CHIP outpatient behavioral-health award from the stalled Mills Crossing site to WellSpace Health’s 10423 Old Placerville Road location; DHCS is amenable and council directed staff to proceed pending an amended funding agreement and allocation of a roughly $600k local match.
City staff asked the Rancho Cordova City Council to provide direction on reallocating a $7 million Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (B-CHIP) award from the stalled Mills Crossing development to a WellSpace Health facility at 10423 Old Placerville Road.
Housing manager Stephan Heisler summarized the proposal: Mills Crossing has paused and the state grant requires a local match (described in the presentation as a local funding match roughly calculated at $600,000–$650,000). Staff said the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has told the city it is amenable to relocating the grant and is preparing an amended project funding agreement (PFA) to effectuate the change.
WellSpace Health representatives Ben Avey and Christy Gonzales described the site and service model. WellSpace currently operates primary medical, dental and a call center at the Old Placerville Road location; the plan would relocate the call center, renovate existing space to create three group rooms and 12 individual rooms for outpatient behavioral health, and integrate behavioral health with existing primary and supportive services. WellSpace said the move would reduce travel times for local patients (staff noted many current outpatient behavioral-health facilities are a 60–90 minute transit trip away).
Staff presented two alternatives: relocate the local match and prepare an amended PFA for council approval (staff would then work with WellSpace and DHCS to expedite design and construction); or decline to reallocate the match, which staff said would likely result in terminating the grant for Rancho Cordova.
Council asked whether services would be limited to city residents (WellSpace: no; as an FQHC they serve anyone who needs care) and how patients would be referred. Multiple council members expressed support for keeping the funding and services in Rancho Cordova; the council gave staff direction to proceed with the grant relocation and to return with a formal amended PFA for council approval in the next one to two months. Staff said, if they proceed, services could be available in early 2027 and WellSpace indicated it would assume remaining construction costs if expenditures extended into 2027.
