Van Buren Moves Forward With Advocacy Center Lease

The Van Buren County Commission approved a motion Tuesday night to sign a lease with the Child Advocacy Center, giving the Burritt College Alumni Association until December 31 to vacate the building.

County Mayor David Sullivan said he was contacted by a family with connections to the building that threatened legal action if they are forced to remove the historical items kept there. Sullivan said he held off on signing the lease with the Child Advocacy Center so this issue could be worked out first.

Commissioner Tabitha Denney said the county could end up getting sued but they should still move forward with the lease.

“This is why Van Buren County cannot progress,” Denney said. “Is because people continue to want to voice their opinion when they don’t even live here or they don’t want to pay anything.”

Denney said the county’s Historical and Heritage Museum is willing and able to store the items still in the Burritt College building. Commissioner Terry Hickey said they are well within their rights to lease the building out now that they own it.

“The title changed back to the county,” Hickey said. “And the county still owns it and we’re only leasing it to the Child Advocacy Center.”

Denney said they are a small enough community that all of their history should be featured in one place anyways.

“You should be able to walk into a building and see all the lineage from year to year just pass through,” Denney said. “They said the building’s not big enough. It’s two-story, I don’t know how it’s not big enough. How long did we have (a) whole court in it? So it’s big enough.”

Children’s Advocacy Center Executive Director Cassell Galligan-Davis spoke to the commission about the importance of using this building for her organization.

“I’ve worked in this job since 2003,” Galligan-Davis said. “Van Buren County’s never had an advocacy center here, a satellite office. It’s been talked about, it’s almost gotten there, then it went backwards and now here we are. And I just think that it would be so good for children and the families that live here ’cause we can provide services in such a better way.”

In other business, the commission approved a motion to change the speed limit on Harper Road from forty-five miles per hour to twenty-five. Commissioners also approved the lone bid of $200 to purchase a 2004 GMC Sierra from the county.