Time to make decision on juvenile center

Cape Girardeau County is creeping up on a year since a new juvenile detention center became an issue. Since then, there have been countless meetings and communications between these groups.

Figures have been presented and mulled over. The case was taken to the Missouri Judicial Finance Commission. And still, the issue drags on. County commissioners apparently haven't backed off the idea of hiring a consultant to decide the matter for them. At least, they haven't voted to reject a contract with the consultant.

The issue: Juvenile authorities and circuit judges want a new detention center for the judicial circuit's troubled youths. They say the one on Merriwether Street in Cape Girardeau is a 27-year-old, antiquated building, and renovations after a fire last fall weren't enough to bring it up to their standards.

They would like the county to build a new one on Progress Street where the county commission purchased property for that purpose. And while the juvenile folks say they're not married to a $4.3 million plan presented by an architect, they believe something new definitely is in order.

The county commission isn't so sure. Members are pretty convinced that the Merriwether Street facility is filling the circuit's needs adequately. They point to figures that show it isn't always filled. And if it were, they say, there are juvenile centers in the area that would house young offenders. It might even be a better bargain to put them elsewhere, they say.

Against this backdrop, the Missouri Judicial Finance Commission's ruling should have been a welcome one, in some aspects, for both sides.

The judicial finance commission is charged with settling finance disputes between counties and their respective judicial circuits. In this case, the ruling was clear:

The county commissions that finance juvenile operations in this circuit -- Cape Girardeau to the largest extent and also Bollinger and Perry -- should increase funding to $470,726 from $157,100.

Any unused money would roll back into the counties' general funds at the end of the fiscal year. It wouldn't be carried over to the following year's juvenile operations.

However, no convincing case was made for a new juvenile center, the commission ruled.

Circuit Judge John Grimm, an advocate for a new juvenile center, said the judges never asked the state commission to review the need for a new juvenile center. Thus, he wasn't surprised the group ruled there wasn't a need.

So the main issue -- will there be a new juvenile center? -- doesn't seem much closer to being resolved. The county commission still has the option of hiring a $61,000 consultant to assess the current and future needs of the detention center.

However, with the finance commission's ruling on their side, it would seem to be an unnecessary expense. It is time to bring the matter to a conclusion.