HILLSDALE, Mich — Some neighbors in Hillsdale don't want the County issuing a $15.5 million County bond to fund a new building for community mental health provider LifeWays. There's now legal action and a petition drive to block the bond measure in Hillsdale.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A DETAILED UPDATE ON THIS CONTENTIOUS BOND MEASURE:
"The biggest thing is just the financial liability that it causes to the County," says petition coordinator Ashley Risher. For her, one concern about the bond measure is potential cuts to Medicaid. "If LifeWays can't make the payment, then that falls on the County to make that."
According to LifeWays CEO Maribeth Leonard, the vast majority of LifeWays clients are Medicaid patients.
Leonard says the need in Hillsdale is so great, a bigger building is needed than this one.
"From LifeWays' perspective, this is about expanding access for this community around behavioral health services," says Leonard.
Opposition to the bond was vocal as County Commissioners approved the bond in May. Since then, one opponent — Mary Meints — has challenged it in court. Her complaint will be heard July 16th.
Meints told Commissioners Tuesday: "You can bond for a County building. This is not a County building, and it even states in your notes of intent that this is a building for LifeWays."
Meanwhile, a group called Citizens for Hillsdale County is gathering signatures to put the bond measure on a ballot. Risher says they have two more weeks to reach their goal of over 3700 signatures.
"I don't have any issues with LifeWays as a company, and what they're doing. Access to mental health care is incredibly important," says Risher. "But this is simply a financial question."
Leonard was not inclined to comment on the opposition, other than to say:
"I think it's a right of the citizens, and so I'm not going to take a position on that. I just want to be able to do what I need to do for this community, which is to provide excellent behavioral health services and be able to expand that for this community. It's very much needed."
