(Photo from The Ranch on Facebook)
- Closure of The Ranch, a daycare center that has taught generations of children in Madison County, has parents struggling to find alternative daycare options.
A special request exception for a popular Madison daycare facility was denied Tuesday night by the city’s board of aldermen out of concern for the safety of the children, forcing it the center to permanently close.
During an emotional public comment section, parents told the board how special The Ranch is to the community. However, in the end, the safety of the children trumped emotions for the city officials.
“The bottom line is The Ranch doesn’t meet the [fire] codes to keep our children safe,” said Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler, adding that the owner had more than half a year to come into compliance.
While city officials engaged in a heated debate with the daycare center’s owner, Austen O’Kelly, and the 50 or so supporters of The Ranch in attendance, the one point all agreed on was the importance of the facility to the community.
Parent Katie Royston said losing The Ranch is very hard on parents and children.
“This was a place where they learned about God and not absconded into the technology world,” she said, noting she wishes the owner and city officials had communicated better before the center was closed last month.
Before the meeting, parent Kate Risenen said parents are struggling to find alternative daycare options.
“It’s devastating to a lot of families,” she said.
Some parents are slowly finding open daycare spots, while others said they are dependent on friends, families, and neighbors.
Parents said The Ranch was special because of the number of animals on the Madison property, including horses, pigs and goats, as well as after-school care and summer programs. The 74-acre daycare was the first incorporated business in Madison and perhaps the first private daycare in the Magnolia State, one parent said.
Problems for the 46-year-old daycare center stem from a zoning change. In 2023, the founder sold the property to her son. Before the sale, the property was zoned residential/commercial and did not require a fire inspection because it was a residence where someone lived. After the sale, the son continued to live in a house off of the property, meaning The Ranch fell under commercial zoning rules, including fire inspections.
The city contends it repeatedly told O’Kelly he needed a fire hydrant closer to the property as well as an alarm, suppression, and sprinkler systems installed at the facility. The city suggested O’Kelly hire an architect to help bring it up to code. The city contends that O’Kelly prolonged the process, and when he provided Madison with a letter from an architect, it did not include plans to install the needed systems.
In September, the Mississippi Department of Health found several issues with The Ranch’s record keeping, ranging from no FBI background checks for employees to lack of insurance for vehicles used to transport children, as well as no records of vet visits for the animals, and a lack of cleanliness, the city’s attorney told the audience.
O’Kelly maintains that the city is wrong. He has quotes for the equipment needed to install the suppression, sprinkler, and alarm systems. As for insurance, it was dropped when the daycare center’s bus was in an accident. He said the Mississippi Department of Health did not find the daycare system failed in obtaining the proper paperwork and found the place clean and pest-free. The animals were seen regularly by a veterinarian, he said.
All that he needs, O’Kelly said, is a green light from the city to reopen. The city’s attorney asked if the fire systems had been installed yet. O’Kelly said no, it would cost $300,000 to purchase and install the fire systems, and he wants a promise by the city that if he spends that kind of money, The Ranch will be allowed to reopen.
“Who is going to build a house that they may or may not be able to live in?” O’Kelly asked in frustration.
He said since 1980, when the daycare center opened, there has only been one fire there. He also asked why the daycare center failed inspections in 2025, when it had passed since 1980.
O’Kelly said he is already losing his own house over the ordeal, asking the board and the city attorney if moving back into the house where his mother lived would cause the property to revert back to residential/commercial. Nobody on the dais answered his question.
As of Tuesday, O’Kelly was unsure what the future of The Ranch, a daycare center that has taught generations of children in Madison County, would be, he said.
