LOCAL TOWNSHIPS WORKING WITH COUNTY OFFICIALS TO OBTAIN BROADBAND FUNDS

ST. JOSEPH – As expected, Berrien County Commissioners approved Oronoko Township’s grant application for American Rescue Plan Act funding from the county. Commissioners voted to accept and fund Oronoko’s application as well as one from Bainbridge Township.
The county board awarded $562,500 in county funds to Bainbridge Township with Bainbridge providing $187,500 from their own American Rescue Plan Act funds. Oronoko Township has pledged their entire $700,000 ARPA allocation to their broadband project and the county will put in another $700,000.
Oronoko Township Supervisor Mike Hildebrand noted last month that the township has worked on expanding broadband for much of the last two years. When news came that the Oronoko grant would be awarded, he said he was happy to hear the news and looks forward to getting the project up and running.
He said his goal is to have Oronoko Township homes needing broadband access to be able to connect to that service by mid 2023. He said a number of steps need to be taken before that happens including the awarding of bids for the project. The project will expand broadband along 27 miles, 32 additional census blocks and approximately 650 homes in the township.
He praised the Berrien County Broadband Internet Task Force (BCBIT). “They have done three years worth of behind-the-scenes, boring-but-necessary work getting the county ready for broadband opportunities,” he said. “As a result, our county is far more prepared than many for the funding opportunities that have presented themselves.”
He noted that Oronoko was able to be the first to apply because they’d been working on expanding broadband since the start of the pandemic in 2020. “We’ve had information and research that we’ve accumulated over the past two years whereas other townships have just started acquiring the necessary information,” he said.

The grants to Bainbridge and Oronoko are part of the pot of $6 million the county set aside for broadband projects out the $30 million the county is getting in ARPA funds. Townships have been invited to apply to the county until July 1 to get some of the county funds which they will then match with their own local funds.
Last week, commissioners also approved a contract with DCS Technology Design for $185,300 to map the county’s rural broadband inventory. County Vice-Chair and BC Bit Chair Teri Freehling noted that townships have been telling the county that they need a clearer idea of where broadband gaps are.
“I just want to take a moment and thank this board for the action that it took on the two resolutions approving the broadband grants for both Bainbridge and Oronoko Townships,” Freehling said. “I also want to thank you for approving the contract with DCS Technologies which is the mapping service that I had talked about going through and mapping out all the broadband assets we have.”
“I think that the administrator has touched base with everybody in the different communities that there will be a letter going out to municipal leaders highlighting the work that BC Bit has been doing on this objective and also highlighting the fact that those two grants have now been approved by this board,” she added.
“We really appreciate that municipalities have been participating in this and getting engaged,” she said. “We have two months left in the application process.”
She noted that the county is being deliberate and prudent in awarding grants even as more state and federal funds become available for such projects.
“There’s been discussion with BC Bit to be good stewards of the dollars that we’ve been charged with and so in that we’ve recognizing that there’s been a change in the land as it relates to both federal and state funding for broadband infrastructure and deployment,” she added.
“So, we are actually slowing the awarding of those applications as they come through,” she said. “We’re not asking municipalities to stop their efforts but that we’re going to be more deliberate and prudent in the way that we’re looking at these as we’re looking at those funds that are coming from the federal and state governments.”
Freehling said the county will be looking at different grant opportunities available through U.S.D.A. Reconnect as well as broadband programs coming out of federal and state infrastructure funding. “We want to ensure that we’re going to have a larger pool of funds to be able to pull from for broadband deployment and infrastructure,” she said.
She also spoke about the contract signed with DCS which she said will help address one of the concerns townships have. Some area township officials have expressed frustration in trying to get information about where the broadband service is needed so they can make accurate applications.
“They’re going to be helping us with that mapping service,” she said. “That’s one of the things that we’ve been hearing from municipalities that they need mapping of the gaps to be able to have a clear picture and understanding of what funding they’re going to be needing and requesting.”