By DEBRA HAIGHT
ST. JOSEPH – Action last week to help a local township is the first of what Berrien County officials hope is a series of agreements with townships to help fire departments buy new emergency radios.
County Administrator Brian Dissette reported that Chikaming Township is the first township in the county to buy the new radios and licenses with help from a low interest loan with the county and using the county’s vendor.
He said Chikaning is borrowing just over $9,700 from the county at an interest rate of 1.85 percent. They will be able to pay it off in 84 monthly payments.
Diskette noted that the county board previously made clear their intentions to switch from the VHF system to the 800 MHz system by the end of 2022. “This has been in the works for two decades,” he said.
Right now, many departments are using both the VHF and 800 MHz systems and work is underway to get everyone who wants to be switched over to the 800 MHz system as well as to build or update new transmission towers. Only the city of Niles has indicated they want to stay on the VHF system.
The switch to the 800 MHz frequency means that local departments need to buy new equipment including updated mobile units, portable radios and pagers at a total cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Funding for the new equipment will come from a variety of local, state and federal sources.
While some townships have set aside money or already gotten grants to fund the new radios and pagers, Diskette said other departments don’t have the means to do so by themselves.
“In addition to technical assistance in going for grants, we’re also offering up financing to townships struggling with conversions,” he said. “I encourage all of you to touch base with your local fire departments and let us know if they’re interested in assistance. The purchase agreement we did with Chicaning is something easy for us to reproduce.”
County 9-1-1 Director Caitlin Sampsell updated the county board earlier this year on the status of the county’s public safety radio systems. She reported that besides departments buying the new radios, the county is enhancing infrastructure including enhancing the tower at the Watervliet Spectrum Hospital to improve signal coverage.
She noted that work has started on adding a new tower in the south county to replace the one at Bertrand Crossing which includes partnering with Indiana to increase coverage at the state line.
Last week’s county board meeting also featured a presentation on the 2021 millage rates for the county and more discussion about a return to in-person meetings. The millage rate presentation came weeks after County Equalization Director Warren Parrish told commissioners about equalization and assessment rolls.
Last week, Parrish was back to report on the millage rates being levied this year. As was the case in April, he had good news for the county board with millage rates not being reduced as much as anticipated. Last month, he said the county unexpectedly saw the highest growth in taxable property values since 2014.
He noted that if taxable values increase too much, millage rates have to be rolled back under Headlee and Truth-in-Taxation rules. Causes for that can include a number of factors such as inflation, new construction and transfers of ownership which uncap property assessments. Parrish said the culprit this year is transfers of ownership.
He said the county can’t prevent the Headlee millage rollback and called it good news that the actual millage rates will end up slightly higher than the numbers used in budget preparations.
For 2021, the county will levy 4.760 mills for general operations, .4495 mill for 911 service, .3496 mill for law enforcement, .2997 mill for senior citizens and .0999 mill for parks. “It’s good news for taxpayers with slightly less millage levied,” he said.
Dissette praised Parrish and his team for their work. “He and his team did an impressive job of accurately estimating revenue,” he said. “I view this as a good thing and not a bad thing with values continuing to go up. If it’s a headache, it’s a good headache to have. It’s not a bad situation.”
As for going back to in-person meetings, Dissette said he and other county staff are waiting to get more definitive answers from state officials on mask and gathering size guidance before making a recommendation to the county board.
“MI OSHA has said they’re comfortable with looser enforcement of the rules but until there is an official change, I recommend a holding pattern,” he said. “We’re still in a gray area. When we get answers, we will engage the administration committee and work to get our COVID response plan updated.”
Commissioners have met virtually for more than a year, with only a few commissioners and county staff at the Administration Center in St. Joseph and other commissioners appearing via Zoom. The meetings are also available to the public via the county’s YouTube Channel.
Commissioners have talked about getting back to meeting in person while still keeping the virtual option for residents.
Another topic that will likely come up again is the county board’s policy on appointing people to boards, commissions and committees. Commissioner Julie Wuerfel suggested last week that the county board consider term limits on the appointed boards and committees in an effort to be more inclusive and allowing more people to participate.
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