Henry County has chosen the site of the new law enforcement center and jail after a lawsuit was threatened against the City of Mount Pleasant.

The county was initially eyeing six acres of county-owned land near South Iris Street and East Washington Street until Pleasant Manor Care Center’s owner Linda Juckette filed a lawsuit against the city for giving the county permission to put the jail near the nursing home’s new facility. According to the county auditor’s office, the city and Juckett then cooperated to help the county acquire six acres of state-owned land north of the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute on South Grand Avenue. The county supervisors approved this as the jail’s site at their October 17 meeting. Mike Adkins of Midwest Construction Consultants gave the supervisors an update on the project at their November 9 meeting. Adkins says the plans are close to being finalized, and as of now it is 24,238 square feet, holding 60 beds which is expandable to 90 with plumbing and electricity accessible for expansion, and is still estimated to be under budget. Henry County citizens passed a $9.1 million bond in August to build this center.