BELLAIRE – Antrim County leaders were considering building a new public safety center, but voters rejected the proposal last Tuesday.

The facility would have included the sheriff’s office, jail, highway patrol, administration, a drug counseling area and several other services under one roof. But with Tuesday’s vote, they will remain scattered across the county.

“Our current facility dates back essentially to 1955. It’s aging, but as far as we can tell, it’s the oldest operating prison in the state of Michigan. It is not tenable to continue to move forward with this structure, to continue to repair. It’s just not a wise use of taxpayer dollars and it’s not well designed and it’s really not very functional and certainly not safe for state employees or inmates. Something really needs to be done,” shares Antrim County Deputy Administrator Janet Koch.

Antrim County leaders say with voters’ rejection of the Public Safety Center, they find themselves in a difficult situation with the more than $30 million project abandoned.

“It’s not an easy place to be in right now, that’s why we’re all tired. But it’s a problem facing many counties and rural areas. Prisons are very expensive and not a popular millage option for obvious reasons. But it is the statutory duty of counties to provide prisons. And we have to find a way to make something work for the county,” says Koch.

Antrim County government has a few options, but each always comes with a cost.

“Another possibility would be to build what they call a small detention center that would just be temporary, holding up to 72 hours for prisoners who would then have to be transported to other counties. Other counties are doing this, and it’s a possibility. But then you have to bear transport costs, practically forever,” explains Koch.

The county could build a new small jail or figure out how to make the current one work, but it’s open to talking with people in the community about why it wasn’t adopted in the first place.

“We would love to hear people explain why they voted for or against it. We are always happy to hear the public’s opinion. And if they can contact the administration or their local, their own commissioners, it would be wonderful to hear people explain how and why they voted yes or no. That would be very good to hear,” says Koch.

There is no specific timeline for the decision, but the Antrim County Commission continues to discuss how to resolve this issue.