BUTLER TWP — U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, is inviting military veterans and the public to an Aug. 10 meeting on the future of VA Butler Healthcare.

The meeting will be from from 12:30 to 2 p.m., at the VA’s auditorium on New Castle Road.

Kelly, Butler VA director John Genaro and Mike Moreland, director of VISN 4, which oversees regional VA health care in most of Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware, New York, Ohio and West Virginia, will talk about the VA’s plans to build an off-campus health care center for the Butler VA, as well as the future of Building 1 on the VA campus.

In June, the VA announced it had awarded the health care center construction and management project to Westar Development of Aurora, Ohio.

Westar will buy property, complete construction and then lease the new facility to the VA for $124 million during a 20-year contract. The annual lease will be $6.2 million.

Kelly called for the town hall meeting in response to the cost of the contract with Westar, as well as the VA’s plans to demolish Building 1 after the new facility is built.

Westar’s proposal includes buying the almost 16-acre Deshon Woods site from Butler Township on Route 68, and an additional 6 acres from Butler County Memorial Park and Mausoleum.

Westar has an option to buy Deshon Woods from the township for $2.38 million. It is unknown how much the cemetery property is worth.

Westar will build a 168,000-square-foot, three-story building that will include primary care, speciality care, dental, diagnostic, laboratory, mental health, pathology, podiatry, optometry, pharmacy, physical rehabilitation, women’s health, radiology and ancillary services.

It will have more than 1,300 parking spaces.

VA Butler Healthcare’s 400 VA employees will move to the new facility when it opens, officials say.

Construction is to begin this fall and be done in 2014.