The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday.

The Board met with a team of individuals led by Brenda Rose, a nurse care manager from Des Moines, who is interested in turning the former Country View Estates location, on Redwood Avenue east of Guthrie Center, into a unique retirement community.

Rose was joined in her presentation by Panora contractor Mike Pothoff, loan officer Mike Carey from Charter West Bank and consumer consultant Eileen Goodrich, of Panora.

Rose says her idea is that the community should fill a void in the middle ground of pricing and quality in residences for the large amounts of retiring baby boomers. “What I’ve seen is that there are a lot of people falling between the cracks. They make too much money to be on elderly waiver, but not enough to really support themselves. A lot of people can’t afford the high-end retirement facilities and unless they have family to take of them, they may not have anywhere to go.”

She adds the community would be perfect for residents wanting to get lots of activity in a rural setting. “Basically, we would be providing meals, oversight for health and wellbeing, plus activities and being able to walk on the farm. Each person would wear a GPS safety device while out walking and that would allow them to have greater mobility and do more things.”

Goodrich, who serves as an elderly resident consultant to Rose says many of her peers would enjoy the rural environment of the proposed facility. “When they are in town, they are kind of limited to what they can do, but at a farm you can walk anywhere.”

Pothoff, who specializes in building retirement communities, says Rose’s idea is something unique to the area, and cheaper. “She had my idea at the same time I did. Let’s do something different. I’ve built plenty of facilities that are really nice, and I would live in one of them in a second. Elderly people sometimes don’t understand that nice means a lot of money. Some of these communities cost upwards of $5,000/month.”

Rose says she has big plans for the facility once she gets it running. “I’ve got somebody interested in helping me with a Sunday morning brunch, plus I would like to see small cottages on the property that would be patient-centered medical homes individualized to each person.”

Board Chairman Mike Dickson says he is more interested in selling the facility than leasing it out short term, but the Board was interested in meeting further with Rose.

Carey told the Board after the initial pitch that dollars and cents are the next things needing to be discussed. “We need to secure the facility first and figure out what it is that we want to do. We need to understand what the Board’s interest is and whether you’ll do a rent or lease type deal, or want to sell it. If you have an interest in what she’s proposing, then we need to sit down and figure out whether it’s best to lease or own.”

Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information once it becomes official.