Money from East Lansing's General Fund might be set aside to help local social service agencies establish a regional sobering center.

"From the testimony we've heard, it's evident there is a growing need for a sobering center," Mayor Sam Singh said, during the council's Tuesday work session.

A sobering center is a facility where authorities could take intoxicated persons and give them a chance to sleep, as an alternative to transporting them to a homeless shelter, hospital or jail. People also could receive other resources there, such as counseling or alcohol treatment.

Discussions of creating a sobering center stem from the council's consideration of an ordinance that would ban people from taking shelter in the city's parking facilities. The topic surfaced again Tuesday during the council's review of the annual budget proposal for human services.

The council didn't determine a specific amount of money for the sobering center because members said they first wanted research done to determine what the appropriate amount would be. But the council did mention possible amounts ranging from $25,000 to $50,000.

"It may take time before we decide what to do and how to do it," Council member Beverly Baten said.

The funds would be taken from East Lansing's General Fund, estimated to be $33 million for the 2008 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The region does not have a sobering center, and council members said they felt more comfortable with giving funds to a local social service agency — such as Volunteers of America or Lansing's City Rescue Mission — for the creation of one, rather than establishing a center themselves.

"If we can sweeten the pot and provide an incentive (to the agencies), we could do good business there," Council member Kevin Beard said. "It would put ourselves in a good position to help down the road."

Local agencies would be better equipped with the knowledge and experience to operate such a center, but still would need the funding to do so, Singh said.

"If you created some kind of sobering center, it's not just that you sleep it off," he said. "You have to provide medical treatment and other resources."

Council member Diane Goddeeris stressed that if the council were to set aside funds, it would need to establish a long-term commitment to see the sobering center continues to operate.

"You hate to have something there and you can't fund it," she said. "If we're going to put money toward it, I want to make sure it'll be sustainable."

The council has discussed the proposed ordinance to ban homeless people from the city's parking structures for the past six months. Council members want to make sure that, if passed, the ordinance could be implemented with the proper resources.

"You can call them homeless, you can call them vagrant, but they're still people — people in our community," Singh said. "We can't turn our back and pretend it's going to go away."

Kristen Daum can be reached at daumkris@msu.edu.