BARODA AREA NEWS

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

BARODA – Baroda Area Business Association members are working together to promote agri-tourism economic development this year. Baroda is located in the center of the county in the heart of the area’s bountiful agricultural resources.

Association members are also gathering to hear from area government leaders. A recent gathering at Lemon Creek Winery brought out more than half of the association’s 50 members to hear from Berrien County Board Vice-Chair Teri Freehling. Future gatherings are scheduled to have State Sen. Kim LaSata and State Rep. Brad Paquette as speakers.

Baroda Area Business Association President Steve Salisbury said one of the association’s objectives for 2022 is to have gatherings throughout the year to hear from governmental leaders like LaSata and Paquette as well as representatives of area business organizations.

Besides hearing Freehling’s presentation, members heard from Jeff and Tim Lemon of Lemon Creek Winery and had a brief trivia contest on Baroda area history. The Lemons credited the Baroda and Berrien Springs communities for making them successful. They noted that they support other local businesses who in turn support them.

In her presentation, Freehling reported on county activities and priorities including efforts to

expand broadband internet services to rural parts of the county. She acknowledged that she’s been called the “Broadband Queen of Berrien County” as she chairs the BC Bit taskforce which the county board created in 2019 to address rural broadband needs.

As she told those gathered, people’s experiences during the pandemic brought home the importance of broadband as adults worked remotely and children and teens studied from home for months at a time. “Two years ago people thought broadband was a luxury and not a utility but now they realize that it is a utility,” she said.

BC Bit stands for the Berrien County Broadband Internet Task Force. Membership includes two other county commissioners, Jim Curran and Ezra Scott, County Administrator Brian Dissette, John Egelhaaf of the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission and Dan Fette and Kim Fedison of the Berrien County Community Development Department.

One of the highlights of the taskforce’s work over the last three years has been to conduct a survey of Berrien County residents to get an accurate idea of the actual broadband needs. The survey provided the information needed to refute Federal Communications Commission data that nearly 90 percent of county residents have access to broadband.

The taskforce held two workshops in March to assist local leaders in applying for county matching grants to fund rural broadband projects. County commissioners have set side $6 million of the nearly $30 million the county is getting in American Rescue Plan Act funds for rural broadband.

Freehling reported that the two workshops held on March 17 and 31 were well attended. She said 15 or 16 municipal leaders attended in person and another five tuned in virtually to the presentation.

She said taskforce members haven’t set the maximum amount to be awarded to municipalities from the ARPA funds. She added that they are also mindful of the need to be equitable in how grants are distributed so that early and late applicants are considered equally. “We want to make sure all who apply get something,” she said.

“We put the application out there earlier this year,” she added. “We’re asking municipalities to use some of their ARPA funds and apply for a share of the county funds. It doesn’t have to be 50-50, we just want to get it done and bridge the digital divide.”

She urged those gathered to support for Baroda Township’s grant application. “We’re looking at the applications on a rolling basis and doing our due diligence,” she said. “I know Baroda Township wants to fill out an application and I encourage you as business owners to write letters of support. That’s a component of the application.”

She said another big unknown when it comes to broadband is how much other money will be available through other new state and federal initiatives to fund broadband projects. “State and federal funding for broadband projects is also coming fast and furious,” she said. “We have to figure out how to fit that funding into what we want to do.”

“The state has set aside $250 million for broadband projects,” she added. “The federal infrastructure bill has also set aside money for broadband. $1.3 billion has been appropriated for Michigan from the Broadband Equity Access Development and we want to be ready and first in line with shovel ready projects.”

People can see all that BC Bit has done on the taskforce’s page on the www.berriencounty.org website, including the results of the survey and study completed last year.

Besides talking about broadband, Freehling talked about current county priorities and the highlights of the last few years from before the pandemic to the present. “My philosophy has always been that leadership is not a title but action,” she said. “What gets measured is what gets done and we want to be good stewards of taxpayers’ money.”

She said the operational objectives approved by the board of commissioners in 2019 remain relevant three years later with the focus on being a safe and resilient county. “We try to utilize asset management so we know what we have and apply fixes at the right time to save taxpayers money,” she said.

She noted that the county board is working on a new strategic plan to guide not only how the county will spend the $30 million in ARPA funds but also addressing other county needs. She said the goal with ARPA funds is to create enduring assets for the county.