By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – The results are in and they aren’t surprising: many Berrien County residents don’t have adequate access to high speed internet. Berrien County Commissioners heard a presentation on the results of a countywide survey conducted earlier this year at their meeting last week.
News also came on other fronts such as the status of this year’s property foreclosures and the possibility of the county board returning to in person meetings. Meetings have been virtual since the start of the pandemic more than a year ago.
Improving people’s access to high speed internet service has been a top issue on the county board’s radar for more than a year. Over that time, County Commissioners Jim Curran, Teri Freehling and Ezra Scott have been working with John Egelhaaf of the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission to figure out the best way to address the problem.
The high speed internet access problem became even more important to address with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. With people forced to stay home, they had to rely on the internet for work and in the case of students, for school and lessons.
Those concerns led the county board to hire the non-profit Merit Network last fall to conduct a study to document the actual status of high speed internet access in the county. That study including a survey of residents was done earlier this year and the results were reported at last week’s county board meeting.
Freehling, Egelhaaf and Merit representatives made the presentation which showed that much of the county does not have rural broadband access. That conclusion is in direct opposition to the studies done by the Federal Communications Commission whose maps show most Berrien County households have that access.
As speakers told commissioners, data was needed refuting the FCC claims in order for the county and local municipalities to be able to apply for grants for broadband expansion projects.
For their part, commissioners and County Administrator Brian Disette noted that American Recovery Act funds can be used for rural broadband infrastructure projects. The county board has already heard proposals from at least two companies with plans for projects in the county.
“What we’re seeing today is hot off the press, the board and the taskforce are looking at this fresh together,” Freehling said. “This is just the beginning steps of a long journey and hopefully we can build people’s confidence in what we’re doing.”
She said her hope is that she and other county officials can hold some townhalls around the county to relay the results of the study and survey to communities and gain people’s support for figuring out the next steps. “The goal is to find what kind of services are the best fit and how to facilitate that to make it a reality in the county,” she said.
The survey results presented to commissioners showed that 52 percent fewer homes have access to broadband internet speeds than what was represented on the FCC map, 21 percent fewer homes have some connectivity at speeds lower than broadband and 31 percent more homes have no internet connectivity at all.
The survey also showed that only 37 percent of residents were satisfied with the internet service they have. In addition, the majority of residents who don’t have internet service said they would pay for it if it was available.
Presenters noted that there is a long-term impact of not having broadband service on school age children and youth. Those lacking broadband internet have lower grade point averages, lower SAT scores and are less likely to go to college.
Also last week, county commissioners learned about this year’s property tax foreclosures from County Treasurer Shelly Weich. Weich said that the number of property parcels going to foreclosure in 2021 are drastically down from past years. Last year, the number of properties foreclosed on and auctioned was 190.
She said only 123 parcels are going to foreclosure, of which most are vacant parcels. She noted that three are occupied homes, three are unoccupied homes, two are unoccupied business properties, one is an unoccupied apartment building and one is a boat slip.
“I took the extra step to specifically post structures to give a final notice and cards to people who owe for taxes 2018 and prior,” she said.
As was the case last year during the height of the pandemic, the auction of foreclosed properties will be online only. Last year, the online auction ended up happening in the fall rather than the traditional May date.
This year, the online auction will be held Aug. 24 and use the same third-party vendor as was used last year. That company is Tax-sale.info and it handles tax foreclosure sales for around 80 percent of Michigan counties.
Weich also commented on a change in state law brought about by a Michigan Supreme Court case a year or two ago. The high court ruled that counties cannot keep the excess proceeds from foreclosure sales and that those proceeds must go back to the prior owner or other interested properties.
She said that the new law allows the owner or interested party can make a claim with the treasurer’s office about their intent to ask for the excess proceeds. Those wanting to make that claim on 2021 foreclosed properties must file and intent to do so by July 21. They will still have to formally make a claim which will be heard late this year or early next by a Circuit Court judge.
She said that the process for those wanting to claim excess proceeds for prior years is yet to be determined. The form for filing an intent to make a claim can be found on the county treasurer’s web page on the www.berriencounty.org website.
Commissioners once again took up the question of whether to go back to holding in person meetings. The county board has been meeting virtually with most commissioners appearing from their homes since last spring.
Commissioner Julie Wuerfel has been bringing up the subject at recent board meetings. Last week, she asked the rest of the board to consider holding meetings outdoors to get around gathering restrictions or have hybrid meetings with the public still being able to watch remotely.
County Board Chairman Mac Elliott referred the matter to County Administrator Brian Dissette and the county board’s administration committee. He said he’d be more included to have the board meet inside rather than outside and then figure out a way to accommodate the public remotely.
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