LifeWays Likely to Solicit County Board Again for a Bond at Tuesday's Meeting

The county would be liable for the building and bond if LifeWays were to default on its payments

LifeWays CEO Maribeth Leonard will attend the Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners meeting on 25 March, likely to try to solicit the county’s backing a third time for a building bond for their 28,000 square-foot facility in Hillsdale.

Tuesday morning’s meeting is scheduled to include a quarterly report from LifeWays CEO Maribeth Leonard. According to the agenda from LifeWays’ own board meeting on 19 March, Leonard “will be attending the Hillsdale Board of County Commissioners (HBOCC) meeting on March 25, 2025, to explore bond approval.”

Despite the bond vote not being explicitly listed on the County’s meeting agenda, the board would be able to vote on the bond—consistent with Leonard’s comments at LifeWays’ March meeting—if one commissioner voted to do so and received a second.

LifeWays has already attempted to get the commissioners to back the bond on two occasions, the April 23, 2024, meeting and again at the November 12, 2024, meeting. On both occasions, Commissioners Doug Ingles, Brad Benzing, and Steve Lanius voted against it. Lanius, formerly the District 2 commissioner, has since been replaced by Kevin Collins, who will likely be the swing vote.

The $15.5 million bond request would be for the construction of LifeWays’ new facility at the corner of Beck and Industrial. If backed by the county, it would cost $18.2 million over 20 years. Meanwhile, LifeWays plans to bring in approximately $2 billion in revenue across that span—more than $100 million per year.

Yet if federal programs and state grants—the former of which account for over 90 percent of LifeWays’ annual revenue—were pulled, or if LifeWays otherwise defaulted, Hillsdale County would be on the hook for the remainder of the bond, as well as the facility itself.

District 1 County Commissioner Doug Ingles told the Hillsdalian that he is “concerned about the potential burden” that the taxpayers of Hillsdale County might face if changes in the federal government affected LifeWays’ funding.

For additional details regarding the bond proposal, see the Hillsdalian’s prior report.

Jacob Bruns

You can follow the Hillsdalian on Facebook and Twitter.

Related stories:

LifeWays to Solicit $15.5 Million Bond from Hillsdale County Commissioners

Appendix: