By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – As has been the case for the last several months, COVID and the government’s response to the pandemic were on the minds of people attending last week’s Berrien County Board of Commissioners meeting.
For their part, county commissioners asked residents for patience as state guidelines relative to school quarantines and mask mandates are expected to change in coming weeks. Commissioners also approved a resolution of support for a state road map to spending pandemic relief monies.
The bulk of the regular county board meeting again featured citizen concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and how the Berrien County Health Department and area schools are responding to it. Residents have been concerned primarily about how the pandemic restrictions are affecting school children and their ability to learn.
Aimee Foster of Berrien County Parents for School Freedom was among those raising questions about actions by the health department in recent months to work behind the scenes with area school districts to keep mask mandates and quarantines in place even after they were officially rescinded.
Several said they have had “good dialogue” with new Interim Berrien County Health Officer Guy Miller but have not seen any follow up on the issues they’ve raised. They asked commissioners to call on Miller to answer people’s concerns in an open forum for more transparency.
Berrien County Administrator Brian Dissette suggested that the county board meeting wasn’t necessarily the place to get answers. “My recommendation is to have these conversations with staff, doing it in this environment doesn’t seem appropriate,” he said.
“I don’t feel comfortable as someone not trained in medical issues to comment,” he added. “I am not even close to being an expert in public health issues and would refer you to those who are.”
“Major changes are coming from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the local staff is making sure they understand it backwards and forwards before they communicate the changes to school boards,” he said.
Dissette said Miller has been waiting for a response from state officials before getting back to parents. He said that the state is expected to be relaxing its quarantine rules in coming days and weeks.
He noted that decisions are mask mandates are up to local school districts. As for the quarantine rule changes, he asked residents to give Miller time to get “his arms around” the new changes and talk about them to school districts.
County Board Chairman McKinley Elliott had a similar message for residents. “I’m hopeful that there will be a new protocol in place after the Christmas break and when the new semester starts,” he said.
The regular county board meeting was held an hour early last Thursday to give commissioners time to conduct the corporate counsel interviews. Besides the public comments, commissioners took action to support the Michigan Prosperity Roadmap Plan proposed by the Michigan Association of Counties and others to guide state pandemic funds.
Commissioners had delayed action supporting the roadmap Dec. 2 after concerns were raised that it did not include anything related to agricultural issues. The purpose of the roadmap is to offer guidance to state leaders as to how American Rescue Plan Act and other pandemic funds should be spent.
The resolution approved last week added information about the importance of agriculture, mentioning the fact that Michigan leads the nation in the production of several crops and is home to nearly 10 million acres of farmland as well as contributing $104.7 billion annual to the state economy.
Commissioners held a special meeting after the regular weekly meeting to interview two corporate counsel candidates. They ended agreeing to start negotiations to hire one of the two, Thaddeus Hackworth, who has spent most of his legal career in New York City. Geoffrey Fields, a Grand Rapids area attorney, was also interviewed by the county board.
The county board was expected to finalize the contract at their meeting this week. The county has been without a permanent corporate counsel in place since James McGovern resigned in March, 2020. The most recent interim corporate counsel, retired Judge John Dewane, died earlier this fall.
Hackworth is a St. Joseph native and moved back to the city in the last few years. He spent most of his career in New York City after graduating from Alma College for his undergraduate degree and Georgetown University for his law and public policy degrees.
He told commissioners that he spent the majority of his career in the New York City legal department which serves as the corporate counsel for the city. He said he handled matters for different city departments including the mayor’s office and also worked for the city’s redistricting and Hurricane Sandy commissions.
In recent years, he has continued to work in the disaster recovery area and is a consultant to state governments including a current position assisting the state of Texas. “All the work I’m doing is remote right now,” he said. “I thought it was a good time to stop and think if there’s something else I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
He described himself as a quick learner who is able to brush up on areas of the law he’s not familiar with when required.
Commissioners agreed that they had two well qualified people applying for the job. A secret ballot vote by the 10 commissioners in attendance found a “solid majority” in favor of hiring Hackworth, Dissette said. Commissioners then took a voice vote to enter employment negotiations with Hackworth.
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