BERRIEN COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH – A new software program Berrien County officials are considering purchasing could be a game changer not only for area assessors but also for developers and emergency services personnel.

Berrien County Commissioners heard about the new Oblique Imagery software program at a recent county board meeting. County Equalization Director Warren Parrish told commissioners that the software will be useful not only to his department but to other county departments and local municipalities.

The new software is one of the new items expected to be in the 2024 proposed budget. County Administrator Brian Dissette said staff is currently working on the new budget and will be bringing it to the board in the next month or two. The county’s fiscal year starts Jan. 1 and the county board usually approves it in late fall.

“This is a piece of software that has value for his (Parrish’s) department and also to all local units of government for their assessing departments,” Dissette said.

“This is something we’ve been interested in for a while,” Parrish told commissioners. “We’re used to seeing ‘ortho’ images which ware widely used, but the oblique shot is from a 45 degree angle rather than from the top down. It can show multiple angles.”

“What we have now with the ortho image is the ability to zoom in and get other layers like roads and property lines,” he added. “With the new oblique shot, we can see from at 45 degree angle and rotate views as it zooms in closer. We can also toggle on all the other layers such as knowing what property a building is sitting on.”

“It can also measure building heights,” he said. “It’s super accurate. I’ve used this product before and done tests of accuracy comparing this to the actual. The height measuring is really neat. It’s been held up in numerous court cases.”

He said the software is expected to cost as low as $122,500 or as much as $305,000 for a six year contract. It will be closer to the lower figure if local municipalities and other counties go in on the project. The contract would pay for two flights over properties during the six years.

The plan is to acquire it through the Michigan Statewide Authoritative Imagery program. He said the county won’t have to go through the bidding process itself and that a price has already been negotiated.

Parrish said the new software will be useful for not only his department but also other county departments and local assessors. He said the software will save time for his staff and local assessors who are now required to visit 20 percent of properties every year.

“It’s not intended to completely replace field work outright, but it’s a powerful tool,” he said. “It will reduce travel time and associated costs. To have this tool reduces our interactions with property owners.”

“There’s also the matter of fairness and accuracy, it provides information about properties that can’t be physically accessed,” he added. “It helps us reconcile and correct existing records and reveal property improvements not currently assessed.”

“Why it’s a big deal is that it’s useful not just for the equalization department and local assessors but community development, public safety, hazard mitigation and even the Berrien County Health Department,” he said.

With community development, it will help in site development, blight mapping and providing before and after images. He noted that it will be helpful in addressing flooding and shoreline erosion, bio hazards and infrastructure needs as well as for utilities after storms. “We see it as the next technological step,” he said.

It could be especially helpful in emergency situations such as fires where dispatch can pull up building images and direct firefighters to building exits. “It can be integrated with the software that Dispatch currently uses,” he said. “If a building is on fire, they can pull this up and see where there’s an exit.”

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