The Livingston County Veterans Committee discussed the possibilities of a one-stop-for-all-needs campus coming to the area.

Last year, Veterans Committee Chair Joe Riker said he began reaching out to see if a Community-Based Outpatient Clinic, or CBOC, for veterans was a possibility for Livingston County. Riker said there is a CBOC in every direction outside of Livingston County, but nothing inside it for the roughly 12,000 veterans who live there. At Wednesday night’s Committee meeting, Riker said Livingston County is now number 1 or 2 on the list to get one. Additionally the state has approved a couple retirement homes for veterans, and while Livingston County was passed up on the first go-around, Riker believes they are likely to be chosen in the second.

While meeting with the Ann Arbor VA’s homeless outreach earlier in the day, he and Veterans Services Director Mary Durst began contemplating the possibility of partnering with the community to create a veterans campus. The campus would potentially include the CBOC, the retirement home, the veterans services office, and possibly low income housing so that vets who want to stay in Livingston County can do so.

Riker said that if that’s not possible, because maybe the CBOC goes in one place and the veterans’ home in another, then another option would be to move into a new facility. He said it would be nice to have an office that veterans can come to that has some sunlight, larger rooms that aren’t crowded, some computers for them to use and more.

Neither of these options, Riker assured, would cost the taxpayers any additional dollars. He said they have the money to do so, and the goal is provide an all-around service to vets, making sure they are being taken care of. (MK)