The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners approved a $217,975.82 grant agreement with the state at a regular meeting Tuesday evening. The funds were made available by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and are distributed to the states through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Larger communities can apply for and receive monies directly, but for smaller communities, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) awards and distributes the funds through grants.

MEDC approved an award to the county earlier this summer. County Grant Writer James Hissong first presented the grant to commissioners at a previous Executive Committee meeting. The funds can potentially go toward a variety of expenses incurred over a period that began with the pandemic shutdown in March and that continues through December 31 of this year. 

Tuesday’s commission vote was preceded by a public hearing, and it authorizes the expenditure of funds under the program from the county’s end. It authorizes the general expenditure of monies covered by the grant. Grant funds must be designated toward COVID-19 related expenses. The exact use of the funds has not been finalized, but the vote allows Hissong to move forward with the grant process through MEDC.

Specific allocations will be made by county staff with MEDC guidance. There are restrictions on what expenses are and are not eligible for use under the grant. Hissong has been working with County Administrator Teresa Doehring to identify possible uses for the funds but is awaiting further guidance from MEDC to identify what proposed expenditures will actually meet the terms required for state approval. Each individual expenditure must be approved in advance.

In addition, the grant is a reimbursement grant, meaning that MEDC will not disburse monies to the county until the county has first made each expenditure and provided the necessary reporting and documentation, such as paid invoices or receipts.

During a public comment period amid Tuesday’s hearing, Tim Carls, the presumed winner of the Florence Township Supervisor seat in November’s upcoming election, raised questions about the grant. He asked several questions about how the funds would be disbursed and where they would end up. Finance Director Angie Steinman, who says she accounts for over 40 grants at a time, said the grant dollars ultimately end up in the county’s general fund.

Carls responded by saying commissioners and staff were “supposed to be watching” where general fund dollars go but alleged that in practice they don’t watch very closely. However, because the grant funds are not issued in the form of an open check prior to expenditures, but rather come in the form of a reimbursement after expenditures are made and documented, MEDC staff see what the monies are spent on before the county is receives them.

Tuesday’s vote waived a second reading of the resolution in favor of accepting the MEDC grant and authorizing the funds. Hissong said the MEDC/CDBG/CARES Act grant is one of several others he also believes the county may be eligible for, including a $125,000 grant for which he expects to receive notification within the next week. Commission Chair Dennis Allen thanked Hissong for “all the work you’ve done on that grant.”

In Other County Commission Business:

• The Board of Commissioners approved a slate of six candidates for appointment to the St. Joseph County Commission on Aging’s board of directors, including John Galvin, Loyid Stemen, Sarah Apwisch, Stephen Boland, Jon Withers, and George Letts.
• It also approved five candidates for the Solid Waste Management Planning Committee, including Eric Shafer, Aaron Cullifer, Lee Zimmerman, Robert Robinson, and Kathy Pangle.
• Commissioners approved a transfer of $8,000 from the Concealed Pistol Licensing (CPL) Fund Balance to the General Fund to pay the costs of a temporary, part-time position that is assisting with the processing of CPL applications.
• A vote on early retirement incentive letters of understanding with the general employee and District Court union bargaining units was removed from the agenda for a future vote so Doehring could continue with negotiation and information-gathering.
• Commissioner Kathy Pangle said Human Services is putting together 1500 packets of information with its Fresh Food Initiative for distribution during October in lieu of the Project Connect event, which was cancelled because of the pandemic.
• She also said Covered Bridge Healthcare is providing free flu shots to anyone who also schedules a wellness check exam.
• During public comments, Carls alleged that he remembered Central Dispatch Dennis Brandenburg saying at a meeting that a bond issue “was going to take care of everything,” including pagers, contrary to statements by Brandenburg at last week’s Executive Committee meeting. “The public was definitely hoodwinked,” Carls said.
• Carls also asked whether commissioners would contact Governor Gretchen Whitmer to remove Prosecutor John McDonough from office after an arrest last Friday over a bond violation. McDonough was previously arrested for a drunk driving incident in May.
• Also during public comments, Rebecca Shank of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Silliman House Museum in Three Rivers said September 17 to 23 is Constitution week, and encouraged citizens to read and understand the U.S. Constitution. She also said September 18 is POW-MIA Recognition Day as well as a day for recognizing the service of Vietnam-era veterans.
• Shank said a southwest Michigan PBS affiliate is currently putting together a documentary on the history of the St. Joseph River, and recent started filming between Hillsdale County and Lake Michigan. She said the documentary will premiere in August 2021, and the affiliate station is encouraging communities to host related history tourism events around that time.

County Approves Pandemic Grant

The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners approved a $217,975.82 grant agreement with the state at a regular meeting Tuesday evening. The funds were made available by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and are distributed to the states through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Larger communities can apply for and receive monies directly, but for smaller communities, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation awards and distributes the funds through grants.

MEDC approved an award to the county earlier this summer. County Grant Writer James Hissong first presented the grant to commissioners at a previous Executive Committee meeting. The funds can potentially go toward a variety of expenses incurred over a period that began with the pandemic shutdown in March and that continues through December 31 of this year. 

Tuesday’s commission vote was preceded by a public hearing, and it authorizes the expenditure of funds under the program from the county’s end. It authorizes the general expenditure of monies covered by the grant. Grant funds must be designated toward COVID-19 related expenses. The exact use of the funds has not been finalized, but the vote allows Hissong to move forward with the grant process through MEDC.

Specific allocations will be made by county staff with MEDC guidance. There are restrictions on what expenses are and are not eligible for use under the grant. Hissong has been working with County Administrator Teresa Doehring to identify possible uses for the funds but is awaiting further guidance from MEDC to identify what proposed expenditures will actually meet the terms required for state approval. Each individual expenditure must be approved in advance.

In addition, the grant is a reimbursement grant, meaning that MEDC will not disburse monies to the county until the county has first made each expenditure and provided the necessary reporting and documentation, such as paid invoices or receipts.

During a public comment period amid Tuesday’s hearing, Tim Carls, the presumed winner of the Florence Township Supervisor seat in November’s upcoming election, raised questions about the grant. He asked several questions about how the funds would be disbursed and where they would end up. Finance Director Angie Steinman, who says she accounts for over 40 grants at a time, said the grant dollars ultimately end up in the county’s general fund.

Carls responded by saying commissioners and staff were “supposed to be watching” where general fund dollars go but alleged that in practice they don’t watch very closely. However, because the grant funds are not issued in the form of an open check prior to expenditures, but rather come in the form of a reimbursement after expenditures are made and documented, MEDC staff see what the monies are spent on before the county is receives them.

Tuesday’s vote waived a second reading of the resolution in favor of accepting the MEDC grant and authorizing the funds. Hissong said the MEDC/CDBG/CARES Act grant is one of several others he also believes the county may be eligible for, including a $125,000 grant for which he expects to receive notification within the next week. Commission Chair Dennis Allen thanked Hissong for “all the work you’ve done on that grant.”

In Other County Commission Business:

• The Board of Commissioners approved a slate of six candidates for appointment to the St. Joseph County Commission on Aging’s board of directors, including John Galvin, Loyid Stemen, Sarah Apwisch, Stephen Boland, Jon Withers, and George Letts.
• It also approved five candidates for the Solid Waste Management Planning Committee, including Eric Shafer, Aaron Cullifer, Lee Zimmerman, Robert Robinson, and Kathy Pangle.
• Commissioners approved a transfer of $8,000 from the Concealed Pistol Licensing (CPL) Fund Balance to the General Fund to pay the costs of a temporary, part-time position that is assisting with the processing of CPL applications.
• A vote on early retirement incentive letters of understanding with the general employee and District Court union bargaining units was removed from the agenda for a future vote so Doehring could continue with negotiation and information-gathering.
• Commissioner Kathy Pangle said Human Services is putting together 1500 packets of information with its Fresh Food Initiative for distribution during October in lieu of the Project Connect event, which was cancelled because of the pandemic.
• She also said Covered Bridge Healthcare is providing free flu shots to anyone who also schedules a wellness check exam.
• During public comments, Carls alleged that he remembered Central Dispatch Dennis Brandenburg saying at a meeting that a bond issue “was going to take care of everything,” including pagers, contrary to statements by Brandenburg at last week’s Executive Committee meeting. “The public was definitely hoodwinked,” Carls said.
• Carls also asked whether commissioners would contact Governor Gretchen Whitmer to remove Prosecutor John McDonough from office after an arrest last Friday over a bond violation. McDonough was previously arrested for a drunk driving incident in May.
• Also during public comments, Rebecca Shank of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Silliman House Museum in Three Rivers said September 17 to 23 is Constitution week, and encouraged citizens to read and understand the U.S. Constitution. She also said September 18 is POW-MIA Recognition Day as well as a day for recognizing the service of Vietnam-era veterans.
• Shank said a southwest Michigan PBS affiliate is currently putting together a documentary on the history of the St. Joseph River, and recent started filming between Hillsdale County and Lake Michigan. She said the documentary will premiere in August 2021, and the affiliate station is encouraging communities to host related history tourism events around that time.

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.