BERRIEN COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH – Topics ranging from short term rentals to continuing salary concerns were addressed at last week’s Berrien County Board of Commissioners meeting. In addition, commissioners heard reports about broadband and the future of the juvenile center in Berrien Township.

The short term rental topic came up during a report from consultant Mike Krombeen of Midwest Strategy. The board hired that firm earlier this year to help promote the county’s interests in Lansing, especially in terms of getting grant dollars to fund county projects.

One of the big issues that could be addressed in the lameduck session could be short term rentals. The issue has been a controversial one over the last two years with a bill to limit local control over short term rentals passed the state house last December but failed to get through the state senate.

He said a similar bill currently going through the legislature is being pushed by realtor groups, Air BNB and similar businesses and would pre-empt any local zoning control on short term rentals. On the other side are organizations like the Michigan Townships Association and the Michigan Municipal League as well as the hotel industry.

He reported that an alternative compromise bill is also being floated which would tell local governments that can’t ban short term rentals but would set up goal posts of what they can and can’t do. There’s also been talk about a short term rental registry and a bed tax for short term rentals.

County Board Chairman McKinley Elliott and other commissioners noted that they went on the record in June 2021 against removing local control over short term rentals and said they planned to do so again this year. Berrien County Administrator Brian Dissette said he would prepare a new letter as well as a resolution for the county board to vote on this week.

Elliott pointed out that the Michigan Supreme Court ruled a few years ago that short term rentals cannot be banned but can be regulated. “The pre-emption of local control is a bad, bad thing for the state to start since the locals are the best ones to deal with it,” he said. “They live there, they know the neighborhoods. A lot of short term rental owners don’t live there.”

He noted that the issue isn’t just one that’s important to communities along Lake Michigan, but also for communities on inland lakes such as parts of Cass County. He said he was disappointed to hear that State Rep. Pauline Wendzel of Coloma voted for the legislation removing local controls but was glad that State Rep. Brad Paquette of Niles voted against it.

Krombeen said that he expects legislators to be in Lansing only 11 more days before the end of the year, a number that includes possibly 3 days next week and eight in a lameduck session after the Nov. 8 election.

Two Berrien County Trial Court employees from the Niles courthouse also spoke out during public comments about the county’s new salary and compensation study. The county board approved that study last month which is the first of its kind in 20 years and which had been delayed due to the pandemic.

Marsha Gorbitz and Lisa Hernandez are longterm trial court employees at the Niles courthouse. Both said that the new study doesn’t take into consideration the work done in Niles. They said that the Niles trial court employees do many more tasks than their counterparts in St. Joseph and have not been fully compensated.

Gorbitz said job titles for the Niles employees should be reclassified in order for them to get the compensation they are due and also asked for retroactive pay. “We need to get something to say that we are appreciated as employees,” she said. “… I feel deeply unappreciated and devalued, I would like to be appreciated.”

County Commissioner Ezra Scott of New Buffalo said the problems highlighted by the study and by the two women need to be addressed by the county board. “It’s a sad state of affairs that we have to have people take off work to come here to make comments,” he said. “We should be supporting our employees.”

Elliott also spoke about the study and the need to do more. “The effort a couple of weeks ago could be likened to constructing a bridge but the bridge hasn’t gotten to the other side,” he said. “It won’t do a whole lot for you until you get to the other side.”

”What we’ve done so far is the start of the process from my perspective and not the end,” he added. “I’m mindful of Commissioner (Jim) Curran’s comment that all employees are essential. When all is done, the point is to be fair and we’re not at the point where fairness has been achieved.”

The broadband topic was touched on briefly with a report on the roundtable discussion with local leaders held the previous week. County commissioners will hear a presentation about the mapping survey results unveiled at the roundtable at their Committee of the Whole meeting this Thursday, Oct. 13 at 8:35 a.m.

As for the existing juvenile center, Curran who chairs the administration committee told fellow commissioners that the Berrien Township facility will likely stay open for at least the next few years despite talk about building a new center on Napier Avenue in Benton Township.

Efforts to find a new site for the juvenile center have kicked into high gear recently with the county hiring two firms to do site planning and design for a new center. Wightman & Associates and the DLR firm spent several days in September looking over the Napier Avenue site in Benton Township and meeting with staff and others on design details.

Last week, Curran said the county has expanded its contract with Wightman to have the firm also look at the infrastructure in place at the current juvenile center on Dean’s Hill Road. They want to see what short-term projects can be done to extend the current center’s life.