COUNTY NEWS UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH – A variety of topics were addressed at last week’s Berrien County Board of Commissioners meeting. Commissioners learned about a new effort to reach troubled youth in the court system as well as details about a new mobile command vehicle for the county.

In addition, commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding to provide water filters to Benton Harbor residents and learned about this summer’s road construction work on Red Arrow Highway.

The Benton Harbor memorandum of understanding calls for the Berrien County Health Department to provide water filters to residents through May, 2023 or until the substantial completion of replacing lead water lines. The lead water line situation has been a crisis in Benton Harbor for several months and received national attention.

Guy Miller and Chioma Ejiofor of the Berrien County Health Department reported on the health department’s efforts to the county board. She said health department personnel are going door to door in Benton Harbor to talk to residents about the county-city partnership to provide filters and are also getting the word out through the media.

County commissioners welcomed the move but also asked the health department to think proactively and check whether lead water lines need to be replaced in other communities in the county. “We really should be thinking proactively to check other communities, we don’t know what we don’t know,” Commissioner Ezra Scott said.

Berrien County Interim Road Department Director Kevin Stack reported on road and trail projects. He told commissioners that another section of Red Arrow Highway south of Harbert is on the schedule for road construction this year. He said work started last year to make the highway a three-lane road will continue this year in this new section.

The project also includes a non-motorized pathway next to the highway. He said efforts are ongoing to find funding sources for this and other trail projects. He noted that the state requires trails getting grant funding to be connected to parks and other amenities. The county is also looking to local townships to fund longterm maintenance of the trails.

The trail discussion led to a debate among commissioners about whether or not trails should be located next to highways. Commissioners Jim Curran and Jon Hinkelman expressed concern about having trails next to highways and if that would result in more pedestrian deaths. Others disagreed, saying that it’s safer to have walkers and bikers on trails rather than on the roadway.

More help could be coming soon to serve the needs of marginalized youth in the criminal justice system. Berrien County Public Defender Paul Jancha, Jr. brought plans for expanded services to last week’s county board meeting and the board is expected to vote on the request this week.

Jancha told commissioners that Berrien County has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to indigent defense services in Michigan. He said this new venture called the Emerging Adults Task Force will allow the county to stay at the forefront of state efforts, this time in the area of serving youth charged with criminal offenses.

“There is a gap that exists in Michigan for youth,” he said. “Emerging adults are those age 25 and under. We’ve found that there is a serious lack of services for youth which is unacceptable. They can’t review discovery materials and often attorneys can’t meet with clients who are in custody. There’s only been one juvenile jury trial in the last six years.”

He gave a number of examples of the challenges facing marginalized youth. He said more underage youth are being petitioned for waiver into adult court and more youth are being charged with multiple criminal counts. While there has been a decrease in overall family division formal prosecutions, that number has increased for minority youth.

He said his office is requesting $155,980 in extra funding from the Michigan Indigent Defense Council for the rest of the state fiscal year which runs through September. He said the annual cost of the new project is anticipated to be $502,335. The new program could start in June.

The county will not have to provide any extra funds itself, but the state grant if received will allow his office to hire two more attorneys, one social worker and one investigator. The new staff would be located in the Public Defender’s offices at the Niles courthouse.

“They will take on the most serious cases, the ones that have been before the system a number of times,” he said. “This expands the number of juveniles who we can serve and helps us make sure they are getting the representation they deserve and the best defense we can give. It will elevate our level of service.”

“Berrien County would become an intense data collection point for MIDC utilizing the most cutting edge of training and intensely-focus tactics to demonstrate how youthful clients need not punishment and deterrence, but intense support to change the course of their lives,” he added.

Another item expected to be on the county board’s agenda this week or next is the purchase of a new command vehicle for the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy and Homeland Security Specialist Dave Albers reported that the department is ready to move forward with the purchase after opening bids in March.

He noted that the effort to get a new incident command vehicle began last summer with the development of bid specifications. The new vehicle will have a conference room, work room with dispatch capabilities and work stations among other things. The former vehicle is inoperable.

The only bid received last month was for $802,848 and he said it’s expected to take 18 months for the vehicle to be fitted out before it can be delivered. “It met every single thing we wanted,” he said. “It will take 18 months with the shortage of materials available, but it could be a less amount of time.”

Albers said the project is supported by a variety of entities including the Spectrum Lakeland Health medical control authority, the president of the Chiefs of Police Association and the county park and road departments.

“We see it as being used almost constantly,” he said. “It will go out to local events and to emergencies to establish proper incident command which we do sparsely now. It will go out for everything from drownings to vehicle pile ups to large fires but also to special events and community festivals. We want it to be used by and for everyone.”

He said officers who will drive the vehicle will receive special training including an eight hour class followed by practice similar to what fire department personnel go through.