OTTAWA — The Neosho County Community College campus at Second and Beech could become a new county juvenile detention center. The county has been negotiating to buy the campus, which will be vacated when construction on a new campus on K-68 is done. The county needs to move its juvenile detention center, which is next to the Franklin County jail. The county had planned to buy land next to the Elizabeth Layton Center southwest of Ottawa, contingent upon the availability of utility service. However, county administrator Lisa Johnson said the rural water district that serves the area can’t guarantee water to the site for at least a year. The campus site could be used for a detention center and for administrative offices and other purposes for the sheriff’s office, and at lower cost than if the county built a new facility, she said. Commissioners agreed to the change this morning and will have a work session on the new site Monday morning.
Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2:30 p.m.
