NEW BROADBAND INTERNET SERVICE COMING TO RURAL AREAS OF BERRIEN COUNTY

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – It looks like broadband service will be coming sooner rather than later to rural parts of Berrien County after news last week that the state has awarded a multi-million dollar grant to an area internet service provider to extend broadband service in the county.
Last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the first round of grants from the Realizing Opportunities with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) program including one for Midwest Energy & Communications which is based in Cassopolis and serves customers in southern Michigan, northern Indiana and Ohio.
Midwest Energy & Communications (MEC) is receiving a $25.25 million grant to serve 15,846 addresses in Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Van Buren Counties in Southwest Michigan.
In all, nine providers are being awarded a total of $203 million in funds from the ROBIN program for 18 projects that will bring service to more than 71,000 homes, businesses and institutions around the state.
Last week’s ROBIN grant announcement comes after a comment period this summer when people had an opportunity to challenge the initial grant announcement made in June. For Berrien County, the comment period resulted in more than 800 addresses challenged and removed from the final grant award.
Berrien County Administrator Brian Dissette said last week that the county through its BC Bit taskforce will now be working to get broadband internet service to those 800 plus addresses. He said the county will issue a request for proposals and seek to directly contract for the construction costs for those addresses separate from the MEC grant.
Dissette noted that MEC was the only company to get a ROBIN grant for projects in Berrien County. Now that the grant has officially been awarded one of the next steps will be for BC Bit to finalize a sub-grant contract with MEC and bringing it to the full Berrien County Board of Commissioners for their approval.
That county board approval includes committing county funds to the MEC project. The board initially set aside $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for broadband expansion projects and has nearly $4.5 million of that amount left to go to the work to be done by MEC.
Similarly, several area townships have committed some if not all of their own ARPA funds to broadband projects. Oronoko Township already received a county grant and matched it with its own ARPA funds to expand broadband, while Berrien and Pipestone Townships have also committed to spend their APRA funds on broadband.
In addition to the county sub-grant agreement, townships will also have to sign sub-grant agreements with MEC. The county will provide a draft sub-grant agreement template to townships to use, Dissette said.
He said some work could start before the end of 2023 with all the construction done by the end of 2026. “It appears that some work may occur in late 2023 but a ton of work will be done in 2024,” he said.
Dissette called last week’s announcement from the state a big win for the county in its effort to bring broadband internet service to rural parts of the county. The BC Bit taskforce was formed in 2019 with the mission of doing just that and the county has become a leader in the state in expanding broadband.
Berrien County Commissioner Teri Freehling noted this summer that this MEC broadband expansion project will make a big difference to bridge the digital divide for county residents in rural areas whether they are students and remote workers relying on the internet or farmers who rely on technology for planting crops and caring for animals.
Two local townships are looking forward to seeing the expansion of broadband internet access.
Galien Township Supervisor Jerry Mast said this summer that bridging the digital divide will help people of all ages whether they need broadband for studies and work or for access to medical care. Buchanan Township Supervisor Malinda Cole-Crocker agreed, saying that it will mean a lot to her township’s unserved residents.
The BC Bit effort began with hiring DCS Technologies to provide accurate mapping and inventory of who does and does not have internet access in the county. That effort proved invaluable in challenging Federal Communications Commission coverage maps and applying for grants.
The FCC maps had inaccurately claimed that most of the county had internet access when that was not the case. A study done last year found more than 11,500 addresses in the county did not have any broadband internet access.
MEC is a rural electric cooperative, propane supplier, and internet service provider. It serves customers in Michigan and northern Indiana and Ohio. MEC already received RDOF (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund) funding to bring broadband to rural parts of eastern Berrien County including parts of Berrien and Pipestone Townships.
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