BERRIEN COUNTY COMMISISON UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT

BCR Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH – Infrastructure has been a major topic of discussion in recent weeks at both the county and state level. Berrien County officials have earmarked over two-thirds of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds on infrastructure related projects. Meanwhile, state officials have unveiled plans for infrastructure plans around the state.

Berrien County Commissioners voted in mid-March to set aside $15.8 million of the nearly $30 million ARPA funds the county is getting for county facility improvements. They also approved setting aside another $6 million to expand rural broadband opportunities around the county.

County Commissioners will next meet April 7 at the Berrien County Administration Center in St. Joseph. The March 24 meeting was not held due to a lack of a quorum and there was no March 31 meeting as it was the fifth Thursday of the month.

Commissioners spent much of February and March hammering out the details of what they want to spend on facility improvements after hearing the results of a study of all county facilities. Consultants from Abonmarche engineering and Pearson Construction studied all county facilities and gave their advice on how to repair or replace each one.

The facility study of county-owned buildings completed in March outlined spending needs totalling $63.2 million over the next 15 years, including $41.4 million for public safety and courts alone.

A list of recommendations prepared by Abonmarche and approved by the county board included $4 million set aside for repairs to the St. Joseph Courthouse, $5.5 million for work at the Berrien County Jail, $2 million for repairs at the South County Building in Niles and $900,000 for work at the Administration Center in St. Joseph.

Other facilities that could see improvements include the Legal Aid building in St. Joseph getting $100,000, the 2100 Empire building housing the Emergency Operations Center in Benton Harbor getting $1.3 million and the 100 Church Street building in St. Joseph getting $250,000.

Also, the Health Department and Animal Control buildings in Benton Township would get $1.6 million and the MSU Extension office near Benton Harbor would get $150,000 worth of repairs.

Commissioners also talked at their March 17 meeting about other capital improvement needs and the other possible funding available to pay for them.

Berrien County Administrator Brian Dissette said the county still has ARPA dollars available for other projects. One project he mentioned specifically was more work at the Emergency Operations Center/911 Dispatch facility on Empire in Benton Harbor. The facility study put repairs for that building at a total of $2.55 million over the next 15 years.

Dissette noted that his goal is to hold back $1 million to $1.5 million of the ARPA funds for contingencies. The county has a total of just under $8 million left that’s not earmarked after the March 17 county board vote.

“We could spend all the money and still have projects and needs, but this is a good first start,” Dissette said. “This allows us to work with Abonmarche and Pearson to get bids out and contracts signed. This reduces the anxiety of spending the ARPA money in time.”

Dissette told commissioners that work on the county’s new strategic plan is nearly done and will be presented to the county board in April. He emphasized that the purpose of the plan is to provide guidance to commissioners, staff and the public. “You are not committed to specific projects, it doesn’t handcuff you,” he said.

The question of how to spend the ARPA funds has sparked the on and off debate on the future of the St. Joseph Courthouse and the County Jail is on again. There has been discussion over the years of relocating the courthouse and jail to county owned land on Napier in Benton Township or to a central location in Berrien Springs.

“We’ve been talking about bonding, sinking funds, ARPA and how they can relate to each other,” County Board Chairman McKinley Elliott said. “It might be timely to move back a few inches from the canvas and take a look at the whole painting.”

He suggested tasking County Corporate Counsel Thaddeus Hackworth with finding out financing options for larger projects and how the rest of the ARPA funds can be used. “I’d rather know more about our options and how to best go about funding things,” he said. “ARPA provides us an opportunity that likely won’t come back again.”

As for broadband, that discussion goes back a number of years with county officials and local leaders seeking ways to expand internet service into rural parts of the county. Commissioners informally agreed to set aside $6 million of the ARPA funds for grants to local townships last summer and made it official March 17.

The county board’s BC Bit taskforce held two workshop sessions with local leaders on the subject in March, the first on March 17 and the second on March 31. The goal of the workshops is to inform local leaders about what information they should provide the county in order to apply for a rural broadband construction grant.

Broadband is just one of several areas where Michigan residents can expect to see more state dollars spent. Dissette reported late last week on the state budget agreement to fund $4.7 billion worth of infrastructure improvements using ARPA, other pandemic related funds and state monies.

He and four county commissioners attended the Michigan Association of Counties conference last week in Lansing which allowed them to connect with area legislators to talk about the need for state help in completing capital improvement projects. Commissioners met with Sen. Aric Nesbitt, Sen. Kim LaSata, Rep. Brad Paquette and Rep. Pauline Wendzel during the their time in Lansing.

Highlights of the $4.7 billion infrastructure spending package include funding for local governments to hold them harmless for the loss of revenue sharing, water infrastructure projects, housing, broadband, parks and recreation as well as funds for roads, bridges, transit and mobility.