The Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center in Lima has been closed since March 2021.
On Feb. 24, water flooded the facility, leading to a water shutdown to the adjacent 911 Center for 24 hours, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.
County Executive Director Barbara O’Malley explained that although it is no longer operational, staff do make security checks at the facility.
“With the weather, it was a pipe that leaked,” O’Malley said. “Unfortunately, it was a very large pipe, so it was a significant amount of water.”
The excess water has been pumped out, and the main pipeline has been separated, so the 911 Center will no longer be affected.
The juvenile detention center flooding does revise discussion of what to do with the building.
When it closed, the county contracted with other counties and facilities to place juveniles who should be detained.
There were calls to demolish the building in 2024, but that didn’t happen.
Now the county is looking to see if it makes financial and economic sense to maintain its own facility for court-supervised youth, or contract out to other locations.
Read more about the status of Delaware County’s empty juvenile detention center in the Daily Times.
