Health unit wants to move to Citi Plaza but its current landlord says no

Londoners could be visiting CitiPlaza for services provided by the Middlesex London Health Unit, if the organization gets the green light from its board members Wednesday to go ahead with a hotly contested move.

CBC News has learned the proposedsite is the second storey on the south side of the downtown mall, including aground-level entrance off ofClarence Street.

The MLHU has been actively looking for a new homesince 2015, with staff and services currently spread between twobuildings.

Stalled

But themove is uncertain. Apartial funder of the MLHU, and current landlord is saying no to the suggested site.

MiddlesexCounty, which currently collects approximately $1-million in rent from the MLHU's King Street location, blocked the proposed move toCitiPlaza.

At a meeting Tuesday, the countyvoted 6-4against supporting the move and called on the province to appoint an assessor to investigatedecision-making at the MLHU.

The county has a say in relocation plans as it funds 15 per cent of the municipal contribution to the health unit's budget in a cost-share with the City of London.The contribution amounts to about three pre cent of MLHU's total budget.

3 options

London's Chief Medical Officerof Health said the decision on how to move forward now rests with the board, scheduled to meet Wednesday morning.

"I'm still confused about why they didn't want us to move," said Dr. Chris Mackie, who wouldnot confirm the CitiPlaza location.

"The move is not far though, we'd still be staying in downtown, in basically the same location we're in now. Plus, we'd be able to use better business models for our service."

Mackiesuggests the board now has three options to consider:

• Move forward with relocation to CitiPlaza
• Stop the process
• Defer and seek more information

CBCNews has reached out to MiddlesexCounty for comment but it has yet to respond.