The county's public-health agency broke ground Monday on an $8.5 million building that will allow all of its services to be located on one campus.

The four-story, 43,000-square-foot structure will sit to the east of RiverStone Health's existing building on South 27th Street in an area that is now a parking lot.

It is set to be completed in September 2010.

RiverStone, formerly called the Yellowstone City-County Health Department, has been providing services from four locations around Billings. The agency moved into its office on South 27th Street site in 1995.

"Given the growth of the organization and the need to establish our services in one location, the board decided to embark on this major building project to bring everything back to our campus again," said RiverStone CEO Lil Anderson.

"This is a place that needs to be open and accessible to all," Anderson said.

Having services spread across the city prevents some people from accessing them, said chief operating officer John Felton.

Patients at RiverStone's community health center who need WIC, a supplemental food program for Women, Infants and Children, must travel almost two miles from South 27th Street to the WIC office on the 700 block of Central Avenue.

"For people without transportation, it might as well be 100 miles away," Felton said.

The new building was designed by CTA Architects Engineers and will be built by High Tech Construction. Using local companies helps the local economy, said Yellowstone County Commissioner Bill Kennedy. "It's putting dollars back into our community," he said.

Yellowstone County helped RiverStone obtain funding for the project, which will include a renovation of the agency's existing building. In all, $11.8 million in bonds were secured under the county's bonding authority.

The county will not be responsible for the debt, and money generated from a public-health mill levy passed by voters in 2002 will not be used to pay it off, officials said. Instead, revenue from RiverStone's clinic and other services will service the debt.

RiverStone touches 1 percent of Yellowstone County's population on any given day through its many services, which include restaurant and pool inspections, disease surveillance, primary and end-of-life care, and emergency preparedness.

Its community health center serves 20,000 patients a year. RiverStone also oversees community health centers in Bridger, Joliet and Worden.

"The RiverStone Health clinic has been a major provider of primary-care services for the people of Billings and Yellowstone County," said Dr. Lionel Tapia, chairman of the clinic's board of directors. "Many of our clients otherwise would have a difficult time accessing care if not for our clinic."

RiverStone employs 320 people and has an annual budget of $31 million.

Contact Diane Cochran at dcochran@billingsgazette.com or 657-1287.