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ST. JOSEPH – A Nov. 28 meeting has been set with Midwest Energy and Communications and area township supervisors to go over agreements for broadband expansion.

Berrien County Commissioner Teri Freehling and County Administrator Brian Dissette announced the Nov. 28 gathering at Thursday’s county board meeting. The Nov. 28 meeting is set to start at 9 a.m. in the Berrien County Health Department conference room on Napier Avenue.

MEC has received a $25.25 million grant from the Realizing Opportunities with Broadband Infrastructure Networks program to bring broadband service to unserved areas of Berrien, Cass and Van Buren Counties. The grant will be matched by financial contributions by the county and area townships.

Freehling and Dissette said the meeting will start with a presentation by MEC on the project and continue with sit downs between MEC and individual township supervisors throughout the day. The individual meetings will allow townships and MEC to hammer out details of subgrant agreements.

“We’re doing this with a 30 minute kickoff about what’s coming and the proposed schedule,” Dissette said. “Then the invite is going out to all supervisors with time slots for them to sit down with MEC to talk about what they can expect with the agreements and the construction timetable.”

“We are making a concerted effort to have supervisors talk directly to the company,” he added. “We’re trying to be a conduit so the supervisors can understand what’s coming.”

Freehling emphasized that the subgrant agreements are between MEC and the townships and not with the county. “We’re hoping to be a conduit of information, but we’re certainly not the gatekeepers,” she said.

As Freehling noted, several townships have pledged to spend their American Rescue Plan Act funds on broadband expansion. Participating townships include Bertrand, Buchanan, Galien and Niles.

Although not mentioned Thursday, the county has also pledged funds to the broadband expansion project, setting aside $4.5 million of their own ARPA funds to help bridge the digital divide in the county.

MEC officials told county commissioners last week that they will be bringing broadband to 5,000 properties in rural parts of the county. Some preliminary work could start still this year but most construction will start in the spring of 2024 and continue through the rest of 2024 and 2025.

They reported last week that people can find out more about the broadband expansion project and also check their address eligibility at their www.teammidwest.com website.

Thursday’s county board meeting, which is the last one of the month due to next week’s Thanksgiving holiday and the following Thursday being a fifth Thursday, also featured the approval of the county’s 2024 budget along with a report on the county’s pension plan.

Financial Services Director Doug James and Human Resources Director Shelley Jasper reported on how the county’s pension plan works and the current pension plan status. The county uses a defined benefit system which employees and the county contribute to and is based on years of service, average monthly earnings and a negotiated multiplier.

They said the county has a total of 786 retirees and are making pension payments totaling $17.795 million a year. The county’s pension fund investments totaled $160 million last year.

The county’s 2024 primary government budget calls for $208.898 million in revenue, $219.274 million in expenditures and the use of $10.376 million from the fund balance. Dissette said that the new budget has a heavy focus on capital projects including deferred maintenance projects and computer/software upgrades.

The resolution approving the 2024 budget also set the millage rates for the coming year. The general county operating millage is 4.768 mills, the park millage is .0999 mill, the 9-1-1 millage is .4495 mill, the public safety millage is .3496 mill and the senior centers millage is .2997 mill.

Other resolutions approved included ones renewing the health department’s contract with Southwest Michigan Behavioral Health, adopting an updated road department fee schedule, accepting grant funds for a jail study, applying for a sheriff’s department K9 training bite suit grant and approving the jail medical contract with VitalCore.