By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
St. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners were on the giving and receiving ends of award presentations at their meeting last week. Commissioners applauded the lifesaving awards to Berrien County Sheriff’s Deputies and received an award from the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission.
Marcy Hamilton of the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission announced that the county board was receiving her organization’s Graham Woodhouse Intergovernmental Effort Award for their support of the Berrien County Trails master plan which was completed last year.
“We did really extensive public input and received over 2,000 responses to our public survey,” she said. “We had 100 percent participation from all 39 municipalities in contribution to the plan; that was a really remarkable feat to get that kind of participation and interest in developing a countywide document that really does reflect the desires of the community here in Berrien County.”
“We’ve also gone around to get resolutions in support of the plan,” she added. “You (the county board) passed a resolution in support and 31 of 39 communities have also passed a resolution. We’re pretty confident that we will be able to get all on aboard.”
Hamilton noted that the Woodhouse Award is given every year to individuals, organizations or governmental entities involved in projects promoting intergovernmental cooperation. The award is named for a former Dowagiac mayor.
The county also received the Woodhouse Award in 2020 when the Berrien County Road Department was recognized. In that instance, it was one of several entities involved with the Paw Paw River Water Trail Project. Other entities include nine townships, seven cities and villages, a federally recognized tribe and Van Buren County.
In this instance, Hamilton noted that there is a whole list of partners who are receiving the award along with Berrien County Board of Commissioners. Those partners include the road department, the Berrien County Community Foundation, the Pokagon Fund, Be Healthy Berrien and all the cities and townships and villages that contributed to the plan.
“This was a true intergovernmental effort,” she said.
Hamilton presented the award to Commissioner Julie Wuerfel who is the board’s representative to the SWMPC.
Hamilton is also helping the county apply for a grant from the Michigan Infrastructure Office. The grant would provide funds for technical assistance for trail building efforts. Additionally, it could lead to accessibility of funding for the actual construction of trails.
Commissioners then received praise from Friends of Berrien County Trails President Gary Wood of New Buffalo. He thanked them for their support of the trails master plan and being the first governmental body to pass a support resolution. “You set the tone and we were able to take that and get support from local municipalities,” he said.
Wood also thanked the county board for their efforts to expand broadband service in the county. “It’s been really extraordinary. You’ve been an example for the entire state of what a county can do,” he said. “You started out with a committee that really dug into the issue and invested time and resources to get the data.”
Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit, Undersheriff Greg Sanders and Chief Deputy Sean Soulard presented lifesaving awards to three sheriff’s deputies. The deputies were instrumental in helping citizens in life threatening incidents in October and November in the south county.
The deputies honored were Nathan Withington, Jonathan Cluster and Micah Carlson. Their fast action and teamwork helped save two lives. Sheriff Heit, and staff, presented the three deputies with the agencies “Lifesaving Award” and thanked them for their actions.
In the October incident, Carlson and Cluster responded to a 911 call on Oct. 22 of a full arrest at an address in Buchanan. The person in this incident was a member of the Buchanan Fire Department and a fellow first responder.
The two deputies worked with Officer Cory Reed of the Buchanan Police Department and members of SMCAS to provide CPR and administer an AED to save the person’s life. In addition, they drove the ambulance to the hospital so that the SMCAS personnel could continue to monitor the patient.
In the other incident, Withington was at the Niles courthouse Nov. 9 and was alerted to a medical emergency in the jury assembly room while walking through the lobby. He found a female choking and unable to breathe. He performed the Heimlich maneuver several times and was able to dislodge the obstruction.
The female then had a panic attack that affected her ability to breathe. He located her medication and helped administer it while waiting for SMCAS to arrive for follow up care.
Earlier this month, County Board Chairman 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 has served on 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 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 agreed 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 once a month from May through September at locations around the county.
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