BERRIEN COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County officials began 2024 with an organizational meeting of the Board of Commissioners last week and the announcement of new leadership at the Sheriff’s Department.

County Commissioner McKinley Elliott presided over the organizational meeting, having been elected to a two-year term as chairman a year ago. Commissioner Teri Freehling was re-elected unanimously as vice-chair with no one else nominated for the one-year post.

Elliott has been the board chairman for the last five years. Elliott represents the 10th district on the board which covers the Buchanan area. Elliott also served as board chairman more than three decades ago, from 1991-92. He served on the board from 1984 to 1994 and then from 2011 to the present.

Freehling represents the 8th district covering Baroda and Berrien Springs. She has been on the county board since 2015 and has been elected to four terms since then.

With committee assignments, Elliott said he was going to keep committee assignments and committee chairs the same as last year. Jim Curran remains the chairman of the administration committee, Mamie Yarbrough the chairman of the finance committee and Robert Harrison the chairman of the personnel and human services committee.

Administration committee members are Curran, Dave Vollrath, Julie Wuerfel and Alex Ott. Finance committee members are Yarbrough, Jon Hinkelman, Freehling and Rayonte Bell. Personnel and human services committee members are Harrison, Michael Majerek and Chokwe Pitchford.

Curran will continue as the sergeant-at-arms, Freehling as the parliamentarian and Yarbrough as the chaplain.

Commissioners discussed but did not approve a final 2024 meeting schedule. They did agree not to meet on fifth Thursdays unless there is a reason to and also not to meet the day after Christmas on Dec. 26. There are five Thursdays in February, May, August and October.

As for night meetings, Elliott said the matter would be discussed over the next few weeks to set a schedule for those meetings. The county board traditionally has night meetings at 6 p.m. once a month from May through September at locations around the county.

Commissioners got input about night meetings as well as the total number of meetings each month from resident Melissa Clapper of St. Joseph during public comments.

“I’m going to put in the plug for six night meetings and maybe add committee of the whole,” she said. “I’ve always found the committee of the whole meetings to be so informational and important. Maybe we could do a 15 to 20 minute committee of the whole meeting at the night meetings about a local issue or give more insight about what the county is doing.”

Clapper also asked the board to think about going from four to two meetings a month as county commissioners transition next year from two to four year terms. She suggested that reducing the number of meetings each month would help to attract younger people to participate in county government.

Legislation signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2021 changes the length of county commissioners’ terms from two to four years. That change takes effect with the 2024 election cycle, with commissioners elected in November 2022 still having two year terms.

The only other action from Thursday’s meeting was the approval of weekly bills, road payables and requisitions.

Commissioners will return to their regular schedule next week with a committee of the whole at 8:35 a.m., committee meetings at 9:15 a.m. and the regular board meeting at 10:30 a.m. The committee of the whole and regular board meetings are also broadcast on the county’s YouTube page.

According to published reports, Interim Sheriff Chuck Heit rounded out his administrative team at the sheriff’s department. Greg Sanders is the new Undersheriff and Sean Soulard has been named the new Chief Deputy.

Sanders has been with the sheriff’s department since January 1996. He has held a number of positions with the department over the years and was promoted to Undersheriff from his chief deputy position. Soulard was appointed the new chief deputy chosen from a field of seven applicants. He has been with the department since 1999.

Heit was chosen to be interim sheriff in late November and assumed his new duties Jan. 1. He succeeds Paul Bailey who retired at the end of 2023. Heit is a 22 year veteran of the department and has been in law enforcement for over three decades. He plans to run in November for a full four-year term as sheriff.

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