The Berrien County Board of Commissioners is studying its options for the use of the county’s recently purchased building at 500 Circle Drive in Buchanan Township.

The county purchased the building from American Electric Power in 2022 so it could be used as a 911 and emergency operations center. Speaking to colleagues Thursday, Commissioner Jim Curran said the administration committee has been talking about what else the facility could be used for.

“One of the things that was identified is the amount of space that’s available in that building,” Curran said. “So if you guys have any ideas on who you would like to see occupy that building, we’ve got a majority of the first floor and all of the second floor. So that second floor is 30,000 square feet all by itself. So if you know or you have any ideas, that’s one of the first things we need to kick around is who’s going to occupy that building?”

The county commission this month accepted a $3 million grant from FEMA to help prepare the building for its new uses. For now, the plan is for the building to house Berrien County Central Dispatch and Cook plant offices. The idea is the facility would be used to coordinate the I&M and county response to an emergency at the plant.

Curran told commissioners to feed him any other ideas they might have. The county has until June of 2027 to complete the new center and move in.