BERRIEN COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners addressed a variety of topics at their regular meeting last week, ranging from court services to salary studies and from broadband to trails.
County Administration Committee Chairman Jim Curran and County Administrator Brian Dissette reported on a number of court related matters including work that has started on designing a new juvenile center, court personnel vacancies and the upcoming search for a new Public Defender.
Curran reported that the juvenile center kicked off last Monday with three days of sessions designed to detail the scope of the proposed juvenile center project as well as what a new center might look like. The current juvenile center building in Berrien Center has reached the end of its life and a new center is being proposed for county land off Napier Avenue.
He said Berrien County Trial Court Family Division Administrator Elvin Gonzalez talked to administration committee members about not only the proposed new juvenile center but also other programs the Family Court is using to help youth.
“He told us that they’re developing a program to divert youth away from the court system and to intervene before youth become offenders,” Curran said. “He said they’ve contracted with a family empowerment services organization to help in the effort.”
Gonzalez also informed commissioners that the Family Court has 17 staff vacancies currently and is in a similar situation to other county departments. As for juvenile center services, he said six youth are currently placed in residential facilities in other parts of the country and noted that the problem is not so much a lack of beds but a lack of staff.
Dissette said the new salary classification and compensation recommendations approved last week should help to address some of the county’s chronic staffing problems. The salary classification and compensation study is the first of its kind in 20 years and has been in the works for a few years with full implementation delayed by the pandemic.
“The resolution approved in 2018 stated that the purpose was to control costs by providing accurate and timely information about the labor market, to attract, retain and motivate employees and to ensure the county remains fair and consistent in its compensation decisions,” he said.
The study compared Berrien County government wages and benefits with those provided to county employees in 11 other Michigan counties. It did not include data comparing county salaries to those paid by local governments and local businesses in Berrien County.
Dissette told commissioners that the study’s recommendations have been already been implemented in the county’s collective bargaining agreements with county union employees and now will be implemented for 111 county non-union employees. He said the impact on the county budget will be $80,876 for the rest of this year and $382,322 in 2023.
“That equates to $382,322 in expenses out of total expenditures of $161 million,” he said. “The resolution today puts in place the same thing for non-union employees that has already occurred for union employees.”
When asked by commissioners, he said that the study implementation which will likely result in grade and step salary increases for non-union employees will help the county keep employees. “It helps but I’m not sure it will prevent people from leaving,” he said.
“It will help with retention and recruitment but it’s not necessarily a silver bullet,” he added. “… Over 100 people are being impacted positively. It’s not a silver bullet to stop people from leaving but it sends a message to well over 700 people that this board is very aware of the situation.”
He pointed out that county staff continues to be actively recruited by other counties, noting that the public defender’s office and the sheriff’s department have lost staff to other counties. He also admitted that some county departments are losing staff to other departments within the county and said he will focus on that situation in coming weeks and months.
Relative to trails, Community Development Director Dan Fette reported on the recent opening of the mountainview trail on Whirlpool property near the M-63 corridor as well as the overall lakeview trail master plan. He told commissioners that three entities: Whirlpool, Cornerstone and Harbor Shores are asking the county for help in writing grant applications.
Fette said the three parties are working on a project to connect M-63, the new bike trail and the lakeview trail to existing trails in Harbor Shores, Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. He noted that Harbor Shores and Whirlpool have already invested over $3 million in trails. “The goal is to get all the trails connected so there is one unified trail system,” he said.
He pointed out that a variety of grant funding sources are available for trail projects such as the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and state and federal pandemic funds. He estimated that it could cost up to $3 million to connect the existing trails in the Twin Cities area.
Fette said that in the county’s view, the key to having them support these trail projects is for the trail developers to show they have funding plans in place for future trail maintenance. A new county policy on trail development and maintenance is expected to come to the county board in coming months.
He said that trails have been found to be an important community amenity, especially when it comes to attracting a young workforce. “In Berrien County, 90 percent of residents think it’s important or extremely important to provide outdoor recreation and more than 80 percent strongly or moderately support trail development,” he noted.
Broadband is coming back to the front burner in county board discussions. Dissette said that the BC Bit Taskforce has scheduled a meeting for Sept. 29 with local municipal leaders. A mapping survey contracted by the board earlier this summer is done and will give local leaders a clear idea of where broadband is missing.
He anticipates submitting applications to the state and federal governments to fund those projects by the end of the year to help local governments get the funding they need to expand broadband and fill in gaps where the service is missing.