BERRIEN COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT

ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners received a COVID-19 pandemic update last week and learned how it’s still affecting life in Southwest Michigan. Berrien County Trial Court officials have reinstituted some restrictions and area school districts are still debating whether to require masks when school starts in late August.

Acting Berrien County Health Officer Courtney Davis gave commissioners an update on the pandemic at the commission’s Committee of the Whole meeting last week prior to the regular county board meeting. Davis is heading the department after Nicki Britten resigned to take a position with Spectrum Lakeland Health.

Davis told commissioners that transmission rates have gone up in recent weeks with the spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant even though hospitalization rates and deaths have not risen. The rolling seven day average transmission rate has put the county in the “substantial” category which is the third of four stages the health department has set out.

The health department’s four categories range from low to moderate to substantial to high. In the substantial and high categories, the department is recommending more precautions be taken including wearing masks indoors.

“Vaccination and masking are the best lines of defense to slow the spread,” Davis told commissioners. “The health department is strongly recommending masking in indoor spaces. We also recommend other measures such as washing hands, social distancing, staying home when you’re sick and isolating if you test positive.”

The increase in transmission rates have also caused Berrien County Trial Court officials to make some changes. Commissioner Julie Wuerfel told fellow commissioners that Chief Trial Judge Mabel Mayfield and Court Administrator Carrie Smietanka-Haney reported on the situation at the administration committee meeting earlier Thursday.

While there’s no shutdown on the horizon, Judge Mayfield said new protocols would be put in place Monday, Aug. 16. They will remain in place until transmission rates goes back to the moderate level.

Jurors will be required to wear masks in the courtroom although masks will be optional in the jury deliberation room. Social distancing will be practiced throughout both courthouses regardless of anyone’s vaccination status. Members of the public sitting in the courtroom will be required to be masked or do social distancing,” Wuerfel said.

In other trial court news, she said that Judges Gary Bruce and Dennis Wiley are stepping back a little with their caseload. Judges Art Cotter and Donna Howard will be stepping in to take on more cases as a result.

Wuerfel noted that the trial court is also putting an emphasis on expungements. She said Smietanka-Haney told committee members that there are a lot of potential expungements in the county and that Trial Judge Gary Bruce will be exclusively in charge of handling them.

Wuerfel and fellow County Commissioner Don Meeks reported on the trial court changes as well as an update on the efforts of Berrien County Prosecutor Steve Pierangeli.

Meeks said Pierangeli pledged his office’s support in efforts to stop the violence occurring in the Benton Harbor area this summer. Pierangeli told administration committee members that his office will prosecute any kind of illegal gun violence or activities, Meeks said.

Pierangeli also said he’s continuing to work with the community on expungement reforms that went into effect earlier this year after the passage of new state laws. The Michigan Clean Slate legislation expands people’s ability to get convictions off their record. People now can apply to get up to three felonies and unlimited misdemeanors off their record.

Also last week, commissioners approved a resolution adding staff to the Berrien County Public Defender’s Office. The additional staffing has been approved and funded by the state and will include two more attorneys and a social worker. In addition, the office supervisor position will change to an office administrator position.

Last week’s Committee of the Whole session featured a report on the most recent audit of the county’s senior centers. Auditor Lynda Elie said senior centers in the county have made great strides in the five years that she has been conducting the audits.

She noted that centers have made steady and consistent progress toward goals set down by the county. They include having policies and procedures in place for everything from retaining records and avoiding conflicts of interest to strengthening internal controls in order to avoid fraudulent activity.

Commissioners also voted on their meeting calendar for the next month and a half. county board meeting also featured action on the board’s meeting calendar. The board’s meeting on Sept. 2 will be canceled. Commissioners had talked about meeting instead on Sept. 30 which is a fifth Thursday but learned last week that the board room would not be available that day.

The county board will be having two extra meetings in September to hold budget hearings for the 2022 budget. Those hearings are scheduled for Sept. 13 and 14.

The county board will be going on the road for their first and only night meeting of the year this week. The board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19 at the Chikaming Township Fire Department on Red Arrow Highway. There will not be committee meetings that day and no livestream will be available of the meeting.

Commissioners and County Administrator Brian Dissette said a commissioner tour of Red Arrow Highway before the meeting would not violate the Open Meetings Act. Commissioner Jon Hinkelman said commissioners have always made the promise not to discuss county business when at informational gatherings.

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