BERRIEN COUNTY PRIORITIZES CUTTING EXPENSES, UPDATING OUTDATED POLICIES

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – Last week’s Berrien County Board of Commissioners meeting featured the first of what is expected to be several actions updating county policies.
Personnel and Human Services Committee Chairman Robert Harrison told fellow commissioners that his committee is combing through county policies to seek outdated ones.
The policy revisions approved Thursday included ones for employee exit interviews, daily time records, pay periods and holidays. The exit interview resolution approved by the county board indicated that fewer people are asking for an in-person exit interview and that other options are available to talk to people before they leave county employment.
The resolution on the new daily time records policy noted that the payroll function has been moved from the Clerk’s Office to the Human Resources Department in the intervening years since the policy was last updated in 2003.
The fee schedule resolution notes that various county departments have fee schedules detailing what they charge the public for different services as allowed. There had not been a policy providing the procedures for maintaining and updating fee schedules until now. The development of the new policy was requested by the board’s Administration Committee. In addition, a new policy is being established to provide a master fee schedule for county services.
Other policies updated concerned holiday pay and pay periods. The resolution on the holiday pay policy noted that the policy had not been updated to reflect technology changes or the move of the payroll function from the County Clerk’s Office to Human Resources. With holidays, the new policy clarifies how employees are compensated if they work holidays.
Commissioners can expect to see more policy updates in coming weeks and months. Most of the policies being amended and updated had not been looked at since the early 2000s, Harrison said.
Commissioners also heard from residents about taxes and the importance of cutting government spending. Two area residents spoke during public comments about taxes and budgets. Hagar Township resident Adolph Peltzer questioned why taxes are going up and spoke about what it means for people like him who are on fixed incomes.
St. Joseph resident Shawn Hill asked commissioners to follow the example of the federal government and cut their budget. He specifically took time to thank new County Commissioner Sharon Tyler for her recent vote against renewing a contract with a Lansing political consultant.
Tyler represents the city of Niles on the county board. She was the only commissioner to vote against the renewal of the county’s contract with Midwest Strategies. The contract was renewed for the 2025 year at an estimated cost of $49,000. Midwest Strategies advocates for the county in Lansing.
“I was here a couple of weeks ago, and I will give Sharon credit where credit’s due,” Hill said. “I felt like she was looking out for our taxpayer money in voting against the proposal to keep the consulting group.”
He added that he thinks there’s someone in the county administrator’s office who could find out about grants and write them. “I know it’s about having influence in Lansing, but we have influence through our politicians. I think [hiring a consultant is] a waste of money.”
Hill asked county commissioners to follow the example of the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and see where they can cut costs. “When we see the stuff coming out with DOGE at the federal government, I think that’s something that Berrien County needs to actually consider too. A lot of money is out there being spent on crazy things.”
County Commissioner Jim Curran reported on the morning’s administration committee meeting. He said he has asked Berrien County Trial Court Chief Judge Mabel Mayfield and Trial Court Administrator Carrie Smietanka-Haney to provide an update to the full board on the trial court’s new Jworks software.
The switch to the new software system took place last spring and has been problematic since then. Concerns have included difficulties of the Jworks system interfacing with other software systems used by the County Prosecutor’s Office, the Berrien County Jail, and other entities.