By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – The Berrien County Board of Commissioners have set the dates for their schedule of night meetings this year. The night meetings are designed to give residents a greater chance to attend a county board meeting as well as give commissioners the chance to visit other parts of the county.
Holding night meetings once a month from spring through early fall has been a practice of the county board for several years and is one that new County Board Chairman Mac Elliott said earlier this year that he planned to continue.
The first of the night meetings will be held April 4 at the 1839 Historic Courthouse, 313 N. Cass St. in Berrien Springs. That meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. that evening.
The May night meeting is set for May 2 at the St. Joseph-Lincoln Senior Center, 3271 Lincoln Ave. in St. Joseph. June 6 is the date for the June night meeting at the Michigan State University Extension Office, 1737 Hillandale, Benton Harbor.
The county board’s night meetings move to the south county for their July and August meetings. The July night meeting will be held July 11 at the Niles District Library, 620 E. Main St. in Niles, while the August meeting is set for Aug. 1 at the Buchanan Area Senior Center, 810 Rynearson in Buchanan.
The final two night meetings of the year will be back in the Twin Cities. The September night meeting is set for Sept. 5 at the County Conference Center, 2149 E. Napier Ave. in Benton Harbor, while the October night meeting will be Oct. 3 at the Berrien County Administration Center, 701 Main St. in St. Joseph.
In addition to publishing the dates of the night meetings, the county board also announced they will not meet on the fifth Thursdays of May, August and October as well as July 4 and Nov. 28 which are holidays.
In other county action, board members approved a pay raise for County Administrator William Wolf as well as a number of grant-related actions.
Wolf has been the county administrator since January, 2005. The board’s recent action extended his current contract by one year through the end of 2020 and gave him a two percent pay raise. His new salary, effective Jan. 1, 2019, is $135,515.
Also recently, the county board agreed to participate in the Sustainable Harbors Initiative sponsored by the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes. The goal of the initiative is to promote new recreational and commercial access to the St. Joseph Harbor to stimulate new business growth.
The project to install four watercraft access points along the St. Joseph River is being spearheaded by the Cornerstone Alliance, the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, Abonmarche Consultants and the Berrien County Community Development Department.
The project is expected to cost $350,000 with Cornerstone Alliance committing to contribute $150,000. The county is applying for a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Waterways Grant for the remaining $200,000.
The county board also accepted a County Veteran Service Fund Grant from the state’s Michigan Veterans Affair Agency. The county is receiving $89,073 from the state to fund veterans services.
The county board approved applying for a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grant. The grant is available to local emergency planning committees throughout the state.
Board members took action to expand the Paw Paw River County Park through the purchase of adjacent land from a private property owner. The acquisition of the land is expected to protect the land from future development and add to the offerings of the park which has proved to be one of the county’s popular attractions.
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