02-01-2018 Berrien Co. puts in extra funding to secure future Paw Paw River County Park ; Watervlie

Berrien Co. puts in extra funding to secure future Paw Paw River County Park

By Annette Christie Berrien County Parks and Recreation Director Brian Bailey has presented an option for making the Paw Paw River County Park happen despite the overage on the bidding for the upcoming project. The bids for the future Paw Paw River County Park were opened before the Berrien County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee at their Thursday, January 18 meeting, coming in a bit higher than what was budgeted. The committee received six bids with quite a variation in the highest to the lowest. The highest bid was $886,994 vs. the lowest at $646,321, submitted by TJM Services of Allegan. The Finance Committee approved the referral of the bids to staff for review and approved the lowest bid if it meets all the specifications and requirements of the project.

DONATED COMMUNITY FUNDS helping to bring a County Park to Watervliet… Individuals with the North Berrien Community Development Organization presented a check in the amount of $25,000 to the Berrien County Board of Commissioners in January of 2017 to help show local support for the creation of the new Watervliet county park. In addition to the $25,000 donation, Berrien County was granted a $296,000 Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant. Berrien County is developing Phase 1 along the Paw Paw River with a projected completion date in the summer of 2018. The park will include a parking area, a barrier free kayak launch, pedestrian bridge to the island in the Paw Paw River, hiking trails on the island, and wildlife viewing decks with fishing opportunities. Pictured (from the left): “Friends of Watervliet County Park” funds organizer Rick Rasmussen; Chana Kniebes, Community Development Coordinator for North Berrien Community Development; Jon Hinkelman, Chairman Board of Commissioners and District 2 Commissioner; Jim Polashak, Mayor of Coloma City and President of North Berrien Community Development; Mamie Yarbrough, County Commissioner appointed to the Parks & Recreation Commission; Bill Chickering, County Commissioner appointed to the Parks & Recreation Commission; Dave Vollrath County Commissioner District 1; and Brian Bailey, Parks Director.

Bailey told the Board of Commissioners at their January 25 Committee of the Whole meeting that the lowest bidder does in fact meet all the specifications and requirements according to M.C. Smith, their architect. Bailey showed some examples of their work including the Crystal Lake Boating Access Site in Benzie County, Lake Idlewind State Park in Lake County, and Waterfront Park in the City of East Grand Rapids. It is the recommendation of M.C. Smith that the bid be awarded to TJM Services. With the budget being $556,000, Bailey made some suggestions for how to cover the overage without changing the plan and eliminating some of the aspects of the future park; by using the parks endowment fund and the department’s fund balance. A resolution moving the project forward is expected to come before the Board of Commissioners in the next two weeks. The construction calendar is to begin in March and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2018. The funding for the project came about by Berrien County receiving a $296,000 grant from the State of Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, $300,000 from Berrien County, and a generous $25,000 donation from the “Friends of Paw Paw River County Park.” Individuals with the North Berrien Community Development Organization ran a fundraising campaign led by Rick Rasmussen and presented a check in the amount of $25,000 in January 2017 to the Berrien County Board of Commissioners to be used for the creation of the new Paw Paw River County Park. Berrien County was awarded a grant award in December 2016 from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund as Berrien County started the process of establishing a county park in the northern part of the county, a first. The park development includes approximately 20 acres on the east side of M-140 with one mile of Paw Paw River frontage, directly across the river from Hays Park. The plans for the park include improvements to the river frontage, a pedestrian bridge connecting to the island, mature trees, birding, fishing, scenic walking trail on the island and other recreational opportunities. The park will connect Watervliet directly to the St. Joseph River and Lake Michigan on the designated Paw Paw River Water Trail. This location will be a trailhead for the water trail with an ADA kayak launch, hard surface walkways, a parking area, security lighting, trash and recycle bins and bench seating which will enhance recreational opportunities for the region. The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund receives its funding from royalties from the lease and sale of State owned mineral rights. No tax dollars are used for the grants that are provided. All grant recipients are required to provide 25% in local matching funds. The park project coming to Watervliet nicely compliments the local and state initiative to clean debris out of the Paw Paw River Water Trail. The 62-mile water trail begins in Waverly Township in Van Buren County and flows through Berrien County converging with the St. Joseph River just above its mouth at Benton Harbor. The Paw Paw River offers a scenic view to kayakers or canoeists through heavily wooded areas. Currently there are 22 access points where paddlers can get on the river, including the Maple Lake Dam, the Paw Paw River campground, and Watervliet’s Hays Park. Another access point will be included at the Paw Paw River County Park.

Watervliet City Manager reflects on first year

EDITOR’S NOTE: Watervliet City Manager Michael Uskiewicz responded to a Record request for comments on his first year on the job with the following letter to the editor.

Dear Editor, Here are my thoughts with reference to 2017 in review. I am about to reach my one year anniversary with the City of Watervliet, it is at this time we usually stop to reflect on things that have happened both good and bad. The City of Watervliet has been in transition for many months, if not years. The turmoil was well documented and communicated to the community. The first accomplishment I would like to highlight is that I no longer see the negativity that existed when I first arrived here last February

2017. We have made great strides in changing the perception of the City and its operation. Residents now see us as caring for the community and making every effort to provide quality services and addressing all residents’ concerns. I take great pride in serving the City of Watervliet. This city has a special place in my life. I am humbled by the positive way the citizens have treated me and worked with me on any and all issues. This is hard to quantify however, it is an item I had great concern with upon arriving on the job. The City of Watervliet changed its organizational structure. I was able to review the skills and capabilities of the employees and make adjustments to job titles and responsibilities. This produced many positive results both for the employees and the citizens receiving the services. We now have some stability in positions that are vital to effective city operation. The stability has produced happy and secure employees willing to work hard in the areas they have great skills. This has created an environment of the city staff working with a sense of pride to improve how we do our jobs and making the city a better place to live. The city entered into its first union contract for public works employees, that provides protection and direction for the city and the employees. The City of Watervliet has created partnerships that have enhanced municipal relationships with high quality services to the community. We partnered with Watervliet Charter Township and Watervliet Public Schools to establish a School Resource Officer providing education and a police presence in our school systems. We continued to partner with Watervliet Township on many activities and services that include new skate park, cemetery maintenance, code enforcement, and a review of other ways to continue a positive working relationship. I mentioned code enforcement because we have taken a more direct approach on the community’s facilities. We are making great strides in correcting blighted situations. We are working effectively with all property owners in an effort to make their building usable and productive to the community. Some of the property owners are actually working with me on grant activity which will produce a rejuvenated downtown business district. We have established a business friendly environment which is opening doors for new business activity. We are actively pursuing every lead and making contact with interested business individuals in an effort to make a way for them to come to our community. This is producing results as we will see a couple of new businesses opening in the next few weeks. The city is proactive in helping business in any manner possible. We had the opportunity to work with the Sidetrack Café in an effort to save the operation from closing its doors. We created a crowdfunding campaign and did raise a great deal of revenue to make the business capable of making necessary repairs. The City of Watervliet started a process with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to become Redevelopment Ready. This process has created a very good working relationship with the city and MEDC. The city has undertaken many steps in this effort to receive our redevelopment status. The city started and is about to complete a Master Plan, Capital Improvement Plan, and Downtown Vision Plan. We are also undertaking a financial projection study to make sure we can effectively afford the improvements needed. The City of Watervliet is being very aggressive in making sure we make the necessary improvements in a manner that is cost effective and factors in the impacts of rates on our citizens. All of the study and the documentation will set the city in a position to apply for grant funding which will effectively show a case for additional funding needs. The City of Watervliet was aggressive in the summer of 2017 making many necessary repairs and improvements. We were able to energize some citizen groups to take an interest in giving back to the community. The uncovering of the historic Bear Cave in Hays Park is one example of community pride. We had others help with removing 30 plus dead trees in the park as well. The Bear Cave will be a project going forward in the summer of 2018. We are hopeful this will be completed around the same time as the Paw Paw River Park is completed. We started an aggressive maintenance repair of infrastructure in an effort to buy us time until the major repairs can take shape. Many sidewalk repairs, road improvements, well house repair and well system cleaning. These were but a start. The city was behind on servicing our facilities. The SAW Grant is coming to a conclusion and we have identified many areas of concern that will need to be improved. This does play into all the plans and studies as we want to maximize all of the resources we use to make the necessary improvements. The South Watervliet Drain project is also moving to construction. A great deal of study and work took place to review what will be the best course of action and what will be best to provide relief in the neighborhood. This is going to produce a neighborhood improvement that will serve the citizens for years to come. Meetings will be set up in the next few weeks to finalize the design. The City of Watervliet secured all rights to the old mill property west of M-140. We accomplished all the environmental reviews and secured the deed to the property with Berrien County waiving the cleanup assessment of approx. $92,000. The city now needs to move forward with a development direction. Studies have been accomplished, now clear direction needs to be finalized. All of the items discussed above were accomplished without placing a great deal of stress on the budget. The city added to the fund balances and we received a very good audit report. The City of Watervliet is in a good position moving forward. This is an exciting time to be a part of the Great City of Watervliet as we strive to develop ourselves into the future. Michael Uskiewicz, Manager City of Watervliet

Trio that saved life of Watervliet man among recipients of awards

On Januarry 25, 2018, Sheriff L. Paul Bailey honored & recognized eight of his deputies, one nurse, and two citizens for their life saving efforts in 2017. This recognition ceremony took place at the Berrien County Commissioners meeting in Saint Joseph. Sheriff L. Paul Bailey is honored to have a dedicated staff of employees, who are willing to put their lives in harm’s way and provide first aid to the residents and visitors of Berrien County whenever their services are needed. Sheriff L. Paul Bailey also wants to thank the citizens who assisted in the life saving actions in 2017. The individuals honored are as follows.

2017 LIFESAVING AWARDS… pictured from an event to honor recipients of life saving awards are (from the left): Nurse Tamara Scheppelman, Sheriff Bailey, Deputy Amanda Tober, Deputy David Lee, Deputy Nicholas Magro, and Deputy Nicholas Garza. The recipients pictured here were involved in a medical issue at the jail on August 25, 2017.

Deputy Paul Grenon (Lifesaving Award): On March 26, 2017 Deputy Grenon was dispatched to a Priority 1 medical call in Watervliet Township. When Deputy Grenon arrived on scene, he found a citizen lying on the ground and unresponsive, while two civilians were performing CPR on the individual. Deputy Grenon hooked up the AED to the individual and it advised to deliver a shock. After the shock was administered, the individual regained a pulse and was breathing. This citizen was transported to Lakeland Hospital for further treatment. The citizen has since made a full recovery. Citizens Amber Langston and Tiffiny Birner (Citizen Lifesaving Awards): Amber Langston and Tiffiny Birner were the two civilians performing CPR on an individual in Watervliet Township on March 26, 2017, when First Responders arrived on the scene. Based upon the actions of Amber Langston and Tiffiny Birner along with the First Responders, the individual survived and has since made a full recovery. Lieutenant Mark McKie and Deputy Chad Frantz (Lifesaving Awards): On April 1, 2017 Lt. Mark McKie and Deputy Chad Frantz along with several members of the Niles City Fire Department and the Niles City Police Department were dispatched to the Quality Inn & Suites in Niles City for a priority call of numerous children passed out around the swimming pool area. Lt. McKie and Deputy Frantz along with other First Responders went door to door, floor by floor evacuating all the occupants of the hotel. Lt. McKie and Deputy Frantz also assisted the other First Responders in removing several juveniles, who were breathing but unresponsive from the pool area of the establishment. Due to the actions of Lt. McKie and Deputy Frantz as well as the actions of all the First Responders, there was only one fatality and all the other juveniles survived. An investigation into the incident revealed that the juveniles passed out due to the intake of high levels of carbon monoxide.

Deputy Nicholas Magro, Deputy David Lee, Deputy Nicholas Garza, Deputy Amanda Tober, and Nurse Tamara Scheppelman (Lifesaving Awards): On August 25, 2017 a call was put out over the jail radio of a medical issue in Dorm 2R. Deputies Lee, Garza, Tober, and Magro along with Nurse Scheppelman responded and found an inmate lying on his back and they observed the inmate to have a blue coloration on his lips, hands, and arms. Nurse Scheppelman instructed the deputies to begin CPR on the inmate. Deputies Lee, Garza, Tober, and Magro alternated in providing chest compressions and rescue breaths to the inmate until Medic 1 personnel arrived and took over the life saving efforts. Nurse Scheppelman assisted in monitoring the inmate’s oxygen levels and directed the lifesaving efforts conducted by the deputies. The inmate was transported to Lakeland Hospital where he received further medical treatment and has since recovered. William Ashley (Lifesaving Award): On September 28, 2017, Deputy William Ashley responded to a call of a medical emergency in Bertrand Township. When he arrived on scene, he found an individual with no pulse or breathing. Deputy Ashley performed CPR and utilized the A.E.D. to shock the individual. Due to Deputy Ashley’s utilization of the A.E.D. and CPR, the individual survived this cardiac arrest. According to SMCAS personnel, the quick response and actions of Deputy Ashley were instrumental in saving the life of this citizen.