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County to sell former Rogers Group Home

The county is selling the former Rogers Group Home, which closed last October. (Photo by Tom Giambroni)

LISBON — The former Rogers Group Home is being put up for sale by Columbiana County commissioners.

Commissioners voted 2-0 at Wednesday’s meeting to begin the process of trying to sell the 16-bed group home for wayward boys, which closed in October after 47 years of existence.

Commissioner Tim Weigle said they have kept the facility heated and the electric on for security reasons while deciding what to do with it.

“We really don’t have a need for it,” he said. “If we lease it out, we still have to be responsible for it … This way we are able to get out of any further responsibility.”

Commissioners received some inquiries initially from parties interested in using the group home to open a residential drug rehabilitation facility, but that never materialized.

“The ones that showed interest … never recontacted me,” Weigle said.

The building and 17 acres are appraised at $295,000. Commissioners reserve the right to reject any bids.

Weigle sits on the Multi-County Juvenile Attention System board, which provides state-mandated residential juvenile detention and treatment services for the five member counties –Columbiana, Carroll, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne. Juvenile court judges in the counties can sentence youths 12 to 17 years old to these facilities when found to be delinquent.

The Rogers Group Home was operated by the MCJAS, which recommended it be closed due to declining usage because of sentencing-alternative programs and as part of a larger effort to save money. The facility was averaging less than two boys per day when it closed.

The MCJAS also operates the Louis Tobin Center, a juvenile detention facility located west of Lisbon. While commissioners own the Rogers Group Home, the MCJAS owns the Tobin Center.

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