The Berrien County Board of Commissioners has authorized a $1.14 million project to install a new well and do other water system improvements at the Berrien County Juvenile Center.
The aging building is in need of a long list of repairs, and the water project is intended to give the center its own dedicated source of water instead of relying on Corewell Health, which owns the current supply system. However, the board’s Thursday vote to approve the project was opposed by Commissioner Julie Wuerfel, who said with 16 open beds, the juvenile center isn’t being used enough to justify a major project.
“We’ve got to start utilizing that facility if we’re investing in it,” Wuerfel said. “And so for that reason, I will be voting no today on that resolution, just because I want to see a plan to get that facility fully open before we continue to invest more dollars in it.”
Commissioner Chokwe Pitchford agreed there should be more programming at the center, but said the project must still move forward. Commissioner Jim Curran concurred, adding the well work will also improve the building’s fire suppression system.
“We still have a facility,” Curran said. “We still have kids in that facility. We have staff in that facility. And I still think we need to provide the best facility that we can in the meantime.”
As Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center plans to move out of the adjacent hospital property, commissioners said the juvenile center has to get its own source of water. County Administrator Brian Dissette said the well could presumably be used for something like a parks facility in the future if a new juvenile center is built elsewhere.
Commissioners approved a contract with Peerless Midwest for the work with only Wuerfel voting no.
