BERRIEN COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners handled a variety of matters at their Committee of the Whole and Board of Commissioners meetings last week. More details were given as to where broadband service is still missing in the county and the county board went on record in opposition to proposed short term rental legislation in Lansing.
With broadband, the news coming out of last week’s meetings included the county extending the deadline for area townships to submit grant applications to Oct. 31 and the announcement that it could take between $48.5 million and $84.5 million to bring broadband services to all unserved parts of the county.
The county board set aside $6 million earlier this year to fund broadband matching grants from the nearly $30 million the county is getting in American Rescue Plan Act funds. So far, two townships: Bainbridge and Oronoko have applied for and received funding.
Chris Scharrer of DCS Technology Design outlined the results of the mapping survey his company conducted over the summer to map actual broadband availability. They traveled throughout the county’s 2,322 road miles to document how many of the county’s 86,000 plus property parcels currently have broadband.
Having accurate information is important, not only in light of the inaccurate Federal Communications Commission maps produced two years ago but also to make sure the data is correct as the county and local townships apply for new federal and state broadband grants.
He said the work his company has outlined shows that 11,500 or so property parcels in the county still need to be reached by broadband service. He estimated that it could cost between $48.5 million and $84.5 million to fill in all the service gaps, with much of that money coming from those new grant programs.
That point was echoed by County Commissioner Ezra Scott. He noted that grant funding beyond the ARPA funds is available from federal and state sources that will cut into those figures.
Scharrer noted that two companies, Midwest Energy and Mercury Wireless, are already working to bridge the digital divide in the county. They have received federal Rural Digital Opportunity Funds to expand broadband internet access in the eastern and southern parts of Berrien County and will take care of nearly 2,700 of the 11,500 parcels.
He and County Administrator Brian Dissette said the maps created by DCS are being disseminated to townships in the county so they can better know what and how much to apply for from the county’s matching grant program. Townships are encouraged to apply for as much money as they think they need and include how much they themselves can pay.
Dissette said the county board will be asked next week to approve an extension of the county’s contract with the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission to work on the broadband grants. The contract extension will be for additional time, now until the end of 2024, and money, $70,000 instead of $20,000, to help the county and townships.
Dissette told commissioners to expect a busy week of meetings this week. The county board is scheduled to hold a workshop on the 2023 budget on Wednesday, Oct. 19 starting at 9 a.m. followed by an administration committee meeting on the draft county trail policy later that day.
The county board’s regular meetings on Thursday, Oct. 20 include a committee of the whole meeting at 8:35 a.m. on the annual county equalization report, committee meetings at 9:15 a.m., the regular board meeting at 10:30 a.m. and the BC Bit taskforce meeting at 12:30 p.m. that day.
Last week’s county board meeting also featured action on a resolution opposing short term rental legislation taking away local control. The board first went on record opposing the legislation last year and are doing so again now as proposed legislation is making its way through the legislature in Lansing.
The resolution approved last week noted that House Bill 4722 takes away local control of short term rentals in their communities and also is in opposition to a Michigan Supreme Court ruling from a few years ago that said short term rentals cannot be banned but can be regulated.
County Board Chairman McKinley Elliott noted two weeks ago that the issue is important to many communities including communities along Lake Michigan and communities around inland lakes as well as elsewhere.
Also last week, commissioners confirmed the hiring of Ashley Herr as the Berrien County Animal Shelter Manager. She had been in that position on an interim basis previously. Her annual salary will be $63,416 effective Oct. 23.
County commissioners approved a reorganization of the animal control department earlier this year. The enforcement side of the department is now under the jurisdiction of the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.
In other news, County Commissioner and Administration Committee Chairman Jim Curran said that road department officials are reporting that three bridge projects in the county should be done this year. The Walton Road Bridge should be done by the end of October and the Napier Avenue and Hill Road bridges should be done by the end of November.