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ST. JOSEPH — Former Berrien County Commissioner Don Ryman was remembered at Thursday’s Berrien County Board of Commissioner meetings. Commissioners had a moment of silence for him and also remembered his work in a number of areas.

      Ryman, 97, died early Sunday morning after a long career of public service to the Buchanan community and to Berrien County. Thursday’s county board meetings were the second time this week that Ryman was remembered. Buchanan City Commissioners also remembered Ryman’s service to the city on Monday.

      Ryman, a former Clark Equipment attorney, was a Berrien County Commissioner for 16 years, from 1995 to 2010. He also served on the Berrien County Planning Commission in the 1960s and 1970s.

      In addition to having the moment of silence for Ryman, flags were lowered at county facilities for him. “I think it was a great thing that we’ve lowered the flags for Don,” County Commissioner Alex Ott said. Ott represents the Harbor Country area on the board.

      “He was a library of knowledge,” Ott said. “I talked with him often. He seemed to know everything.”

      Ryman’s service to the county was also remembered by County Board Chairman McKinley “Mac” Elliott. Elliott noted Ryman providing legal services during the period when there was controversies over the funding of the county’s senior centers.

      Thursday’s committee of the whole meeting featured a report on the annual audit of the county’s seven senior centers. Lynda Elie and her firm have been conducting the audits for the last nine years and have helped standardize operations at all the senior centers.

      Thursday, Elie said all the centers received “clean”, unmodified and unqualified opinions which is the highest opinion they can get. She said a few concerns were raised during this year’s audit such as having financial reports available at center board meetings and separating bookkeeping and authorized signing functions but are being addressed.

      The county board will vote next week on a resolution to approve the senior center terms of appropriation for the years through 2028. That resolution outlines rules for the senior centers as well as the distribution of the senior center millage funds. This year, each center will get $433,978.

      The county’s seven senior citizen centers are in Benton Harbor, Berrien Springs, Buchanan, Coloma, Harbert, Niles and St. Joseph.

      Thursday’s Board of Commissioners meeting featured a presentation by Michigan Association of Counties Executive Director Steve Currie. Currie reported on the organization’s mission to provide advocacy, education and services to counties around the state.

      He also reported on MAC’s legislative priorities for this year. He predicted that education part of the state budget will be approved soon but that the rest of the budget may not be approved until the end of the fiscal year in late September. He said having a divided government in Lansing with Republicans controlling the house has delayed action in several areas.

He said MAC is working to make sure there is a fair revenue sharing system for counties, that local governments are compensated for funds diverted by the veterans property tax exemption, that there is a permanent solution for funding Michigan courts and that road funding is increased to address the infrastructure crisis.

In committee and commissioner reports, Administration Committee Chairman Jim Curran of Niles Township said that no one submitted a bid for $5.3 million worth of work at the Berrien County Juvenile Center in Berrien Township. The county will now work to get the most needed items done, totaling $557,000.

In routine items, commissioners approved grant applications for county court programs and accepted health department and Benton Harbor farmer market grants.