The 2B District Court is still searching for a new building. Gemma Flores | Collegian
The resolution would have let voters weigh in on an up to $15.5 million loan
Hillsdale County voters won’t consider a mental health program’s requested loan this August, after the Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 this week against a resolution that would have put a bond for LifeWays on the ballot.
LifeWays has requested a bond of up to $15.5 million to build a new facility on Industrial Drive, Commissioner Doug Ingles told The Collegian. The resolution would let the county borrow money and issue municipal securities — bonds intended to finance civic improvements — to LifeWays. Previous boards did not approve two earlier bond requests.
Commissioners Kevin Collins, Brent Leininger, and Mark Wiley voted against the resolution to include bond language on August ballots at the Feb. 10 meeting. They cited procedure as their primary concern. County citizens had the chance to collect signatures to request the bond be on the ballot but didn’t collect enough.
“I feel that for the statute — there were petitions submitted — it did not meet the number of signatures that would require a vote on this issue, and this is something that should have been handled by this body without having to take it to the electors,” Leininger said during the meeting.
The vote comes as the board tries to find a new building to house the 2B District Court. The board previously discussed renovating the building at 25 Care Drive, which LifeWays currently occupies and leases from the county.
Last year, the board voted to extend LifeWays’s lease to 2030, although the lease includes a termination clause that allows the county or LifeWays to opt out with 180 days’ written notice. The court’s lease in a building owned by Hillsdale Renaissance, a real estate development and property management firm, will expire in 2028, The Collegian reported.
At the Jan. 27 meeting, the budget committee presented seven different funding options for the renovation, all of which involved either tax increases or expenditure cuts. Instead of those options, the committee recommended the board find a new location to use for the court.
“As a result, the facilities committee did begin a search,” Ingles said.
Collins supported a previous resolution to put the LifeWays bond before voters. But at the Feb. 10 meeting, he expressed concerns over the resolution’s language.
“The thing I don’t like is that what would be going on the ballot is down near the end, where the taxpayers will not be responsible for any of the money,” Collins said. “But it’s down near the end, where people probably will not read.”
Commissioners Brad Benzing and Ingles voted for the resolution.
“It’s a $15.5 million bond request,” Ingles said. “And this body of five, while it could approve or not approve that request, I feel that the magnitude of the request justifies and, in my mind, requires the vote of the people.”
The resolution would not have levied any additional taxes on Hillsdale County citizens.
“Procedurally, this issue, especially since it’s a zero-millage issue, is something that we can do ourselves,” Wiley said before the vote. “So I’m not sure that I can support it.”
Still, Benzing said voters should decide whether or not the county borrows money to loan to LifeWays.
“I am not saying that we should or should not do this. I am not encouraging anyone on how they should vote on it,” Benzing said. “I believe that they should do their research and vote as to what is most appropriate following that.”
LifeWays requested the bond from the county because the interest rates would be lower than those for a commercial loan, Ingles told The Collegian.
“They were trying to be fiscally responsible,” Ingles said.
County citizens have expressed concerns that, should LifeWays default, the county would be responsible for the loan’s repayment.
“Federal funding is in question,” Ingles said of county finances. “Cuts are everywhere, and money received from federal and state sources is less than what had been previously appropriated.”
Leininger told the board during the Feb. 10 meeting he intends to bring forward a motion at the next meeting to rescind the original resolution to put the bond before voters. It remains unclear, Ingles told The Collegian, if the commissioners will vote on the bond themselves.
“I’m not sure what the request will be from LifeWays,” Ingles said. “We’ve been told in our meetings that LifeWays is reconsidering the scope of their project, and they may do it in phases.”
