County narrows remaining capital funds; $3.5 million set aside for juvenile center utility separation

Berrien County officials told commissioners they have roughly $7.6 million remaining from a previously appropriated $15 million capital fund, and recommended reserving about $3.5 million of that to address utility separation and life-safety upgrades at the county juvenile center.

Don Trail presented a spreadsheet to the board that lists completed projects, projects in progress, projects out to bid, and projects on hold. Trail told commissioners the county prioritized projects 1 through 5, with No. 1 reflecting life-safety needs that have largely been completed. With the remaining balance from the $15 million appropriation, Trail and others advised setting aside $3.5 million to separate the juvenile center from a companion water and sewer connection with the hospital so the juvenile center has its own independent systems.

Commissioners discussed the recommendation and directed Brian (last name not specified in the meeting record) and Don Trail to proceed with work to ensure the juvenile center’s utilities and identified life-safety items (fire suppression, alarm system and employee-impacting items) are addressed. That direction, as recorded in the meeting, would reduce the pool of funds available for other projects to roughly $2.5 million and may postpone lower-priority or “cosmetic” projects currently on hold.

Road department updates were also reported: the Coloma Road bridge is open and crews are shifting from cold patching to hot patching as asphalt plants come back online. The board did not take a separate formal vote on reallocating capital funds at the full-board meeting; staff said they had “the go-ahead” to proceed with the juvenile-center work and will bring project specifics and any required formal resolutions to future meetings.