Tony London
County officials are moving forward with plans to buy an existing building to serve as the new home for the youth services center.
The Bartholomew County commissioners on Monday enlisted Taylor Brothers and atelierRISTING, an architecture and design company, to each conduct a feasibility study on the unnamed new building to see if it is suitable for a youth services center and all the state and federal regulations that encompass the designation.
The nearly 60-year-old building at 2350 Illinois Ave. is used to house juvenile offenders, provides temporary shelter for abused and neglected children and offers various programs, including counseling, among other services.
County officials over the past three years have been weighing whether to renovate the existing building or build a new one on the existing site, along with other proposals, including moving to a smaller building and potentially cutting services at the center. One proposal would have cost upwards of $20 million.
The county is paying Taylor Brothers and atelierRISTING $19,000 and $42,000 respectively to do the studies, which will be done by March 2. Both firms were involved in the construction of the new county court services building at 555 First St. in downtown Columbus.
“Our youth services center is kaput. It’s served its life,” said Commissioner Tony London, R-District 3. “… It’s no longer serving its purpose and it’s no longer worth maintaining, so we’re looking at options on how best to serve the community and provide those services.”
Bartholomew County Council members have budgeted $14.5 million for the project.
The commissioners said they didn’t want to say what or where the building is in part to not invite any counteroffers and have the price escalate, but also because the county did not have permission of the property owner to disclose that the property is for sale.
“We’re not trying to be coy here,” London. “We’re trying to sort of preserve the process to make sure that the taxpayers get the biggest bang for their buck.”
London said the plan is not for any services to be cut at a new youth services center, saying a new building would “broaden the potential for services, broaden the potential for accepting out of county shelter recipients as well as out of county detention recipients.”
The unnamed building also would provide additional office space needed because the courthouse has such little remaining space.
“We do feel like it’s going to work, but we just need to make sure before we commit fully,” London said.
County officials said they have not settled on what will become of the existing youth services center building.
The current Bartholomew County Youth Services Center was originally constructed as the Bartholomew County Children’s Home. It was built to replace the Frances Comfort Thomas Children’s Home built at 141 S. Cherry St. in 1892.
Built at a cost of $396,000, the children’s home opened on Aug 1, 1967. It wasn’t until October, 1992, that the facility became the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center. In January 2013, the youth services center came under the umbrella of court services.
