The Niles Township Board of Trustees learned more about ways to grow the economy at its meeting Monday evening.

Barkley Garrett, the executive director of the Southwestern Michigan Economic Growth Alliance, stopped by the Oct. 16 meeting to present to the board about his organization and what it can do for Niles Township.

SMEGA, started in 1982, exists to promote and support the retention, expansion and diversification of business in southwest Michigan, including Berrien and Cass counties, according to its mission statement.

“We service Niles, Three Oaks, Galien and all those communities in between,” Garrett told the board. “We want to encourage economic growth locally, not elsewhere.”

Garrett focused the bulk of his presentation on giving the board an overview of what SMEGA does, explaining that the organization primarily focuses on the manufacturing industry.

��It’s those primary jobs that can go anywhere,” Garrett said. “Often times, retail follows the demographics of a community, but manufacturing jobs, those go anywhere around the country, so that’s where we focus a lot of our work on.”

Recent projects SMEGA has worked on include a $7,500,000 new building for C&S Machine Products, a $10,000,000 investment resulting in 50 added jobs at AACOA in Bertrand Township, a $1,200,000 investment from Ultracamp in downtown Niles and an $800,000,000 Indeck project in the city of Niles.

“We are very excited to see these projects come to fruition,” Garett said.

The effect SMEGA has had on business can be seen in the numbers, Garett said.

Every year, SMEGA produces an investment and job creation survey. According to the 2015 survey, respondents had spent $4,525,000 in real property investment, meaning brick and mortar investment, and $16,236,802 in personal property investment, meaning investment in machinery and equipment. They had also seen 204 new jobs added to southwest Michigan. By 2016, those numbers rose to $8,216,000 in real property investment, $16,900,000 in personal property investment, and 226 in new jobs.

“We’re on pace to see numbers very similar to this in 2017,” Garrett said.

Part of what makes SMEGA successful, Garrett said, is that it partners with many local economic development organizations.

Organizations that partner with SMEGA include: Michigan Economic Development Corporations, Cornerstone Alliance out of Benton Harbor, Kinexus out of Benton Harbor, Southwest Michigan First out of Kalamazoo, Michiana Partnership out of South Bend, Indiana Michigan Power and the Economic Development Corporation of Cass County out of Cassopolis.

“We are always seeking input about what we can do to improve as an organization,” Garett said. “We are here to attract and retain business in Niles and southwest Michigan.”

In other business:

• The board approved a budget amendment of $11,935 to install a projection screen and speakers into the township meeting room. The addition will allow both trustees and those attending meetings to better see materials that are being presented at meetings, said Trustee Daniel Pulaski.

• ,-The board approved $25,000 for sidewalk repairs in the Oak Manor area. The area has several spots where the sidewalk is more than three inches lower than it should be.

“The money is in the budget this year,” said Treasurer James Ringler prior to the proposal’s approval. “Let’s use what we have now for this project.”