The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners discuss the possibility of looking into new livestreaming equipment for the commission chambers during commissioner comments at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
CENTREVILLE — A topic that had not been broached in several months was brought to the forefront near the end of Tuesday’s regular meeting of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners: The possibility of video livestreaming of county commission meetings.
During the commissioner’s comments section of the meeting, saying it was “always good to learn from public comments,” Second District Commissioner Rick Shaffer said he wanted the county’s Physical Resources Committee to consider a “reasonable” program for livestreaming the county’s meetings.
“I would like to throw out a challenge to our Physical Resources Committee. I know there’s going to be a lot happening in the next year and a half with the remodeling [of the Courts Building] and so forth, but I would like to see us consider some kind of reasonable videotaping program looked at and be explored,” Shaffer said. “I think that’s something that takes a committee to look at, and I would look forward to hearing back with a recommendation.”
The comments by Shaffer came about due to a public comment by Mendon resident Robin Burpee earlier in the meeting that brought up the issue of video streaming, saying that over half of county commissions in Michigan livestream their meetings, while St. Joseph County doesn’t. She added that she had tried to find more information about prior discussions on the topic via meeting minutes on the county website, but were unable to do so, as minutes from April onward in 2025 have not been posted online on the “Board of Commissioners Minutes” section of “Forms and Documents.”
As previously reported by the Commercial-News in June of last year, commissioners considered a bid of $18,531 from BC Sound of Battle Creek to provide and install audio and visual equipment for the commission chambers in order for the county commission to livestream their meetings. The idea had gotten support from both Baker and Fifth District Commissioner Christina Yunker; however, it was voted down by a 5-2 vote, citing a lack of time to fully consider the concept of livestreaming, budgetary issues, and questions on why livestreaming needed to occur right away.
At the time, Shaffer was against the bid, calling a vote in favor of it “uninformed and premature reckless spending.” He cited that the request came in the middle of the fiscal year, calling for using the coming months to “effectively research and evaluate the actual need.” Other commissioners said they’d be willing to wait before further consideration of such a proposal.
Third District Commissioner Rusty Baker, who is on the Physical Resources Committee, asked Shaffer what he meant by “reasonable,” to which Shaffer said, “You guys figure it out.” Baker then brought up a previous option that was tabled by commissioners last year.
“We got a quote last time that was $18,000 for audio and video, and that got shot down, so that’s why I’m asking what ‘reasonable’ is,” Baker said. “I thought in the scheme of our budget, $18,000 was very, very reasonable, but I guess I don’t know.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, Shaffer said he spoke with some counties who do livestreaming, saying they’ve done it through Facebook, but he wasn’t sure what the cost would be to the county. He said there could be more feedback from the board of the Michigan Association of Counties, which Shaffer is a part of.
Baker concluded by saying, “We can look into that.” No formal action was taken on the subject.
Jail wastewater filtering project bid OK’d
St. Joseph County commissioners gave the okay Tuesday to a bid for an upcoming wastewater filtering project at the St. Joseph County Jail.
Commissioners unanimously approved a $349,000 bid from Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Ottenweller Contracting to perform the project during their regular monthly meeting.
The project, according to Daniel Byam of engineering firm Jones Petrie Rafinski, who assisted the county with the project’s coordination, would involve an auger system sitting in a sanitary manhole on the south side of the jail that would screen large debris out of the wastewater coming from the jail and “convey it up a chute” that would pick it up and put the waste into a bag in a roll-off dumpster.
“Essentially, the screening would automatically dump into a bag, you tie the bag off at the end, the roll-off goes off, and you start a new bag,” Byam said. “It’s expected this thing will take several months to fill a roll-off container.”
In an interview following last week’s Executive Committee, where the topic was discussed more thoroughly, County Administrator Teresa Cupp said there have been issues with what she called “inorganics” in the wastewater being flushed down toilets for a few years. Some of the items that have been found in lagoons owned by the Village of Centreville that came from the jail, she said, include ramen noodle packets, packages, toothbrushes and other large floatables.
“Because our current system isn’t capturing all of that inorganic material, this is a project to capture that before it gets to the lagoon,” Cupp said.
Byam said the county and JPR have been in contact with the Village of Centreville as the project has been put together to keep them aware of its progress. Shaffer acknowledged the communication, saying the issue has been a “real bone of contention” for a while, and Byam agreed.
“They’ve had a lot of issues with those solids kind of piling up on the edges of the lagoon there in the village, and this should screen most of those out,” Byam said.
Byam also acknowledged some of the issues that arose with the winning bidder that were resolved prior to recommending the bid. As previously reported, Byam said Ottenweller initially failed to include a few items required to submit a bid, such as a list of subcontractors, safety program submittals, evidence of authority to do business in the state, and resumes for key personnel working on the project. However, after additional outreach to the company to provide that information, they were able to do so.
Byam then relayed the issues at the time with OSHA violations by the company, one for uncapped rebar for concrete on a site in 2021 and one for an internal complaint about worn/broken equipment and a lack of personal protective equipment. He said the company has improved their safety standards since then, including increasing internal safety inspections, and the equipment identified in the internal complaint was removed from service. References he spoke to said there were “no safety concerns whatsoever” with the company for their projects.
The bid was approved unanimously, 6-0. Seventh District Commissioner Terry Conklin was absent.
In other business…
- Commissioners approved a letter of support for a request by Kalamazoo County to fund the construction of a new Household Hazardous Waste Center via legislatively-directed spending initiative funding. Assistant County Administrator Erin Goff said the letter of support was brought up because St. Joseph County partners with Kalamazoo County for using their current site, which allows St. Joseph County residents to get rid of any household hazardous waste they have.
- Commissioners approved a resolution to join the Michigan Liquid Asset Fund Plus program, which according to County Treasurer Kathy Humphreys would have an asset manager assist her with bond funds post-closing. “This will ensure that the county maximizes the allowed interest during the construction period and doesn’t run afoul of IRS rules for tax-exempt bonds,” the board agenda request form for the item stated.
- Commissioners held a closed session to discuss a “corporations counsel” legal opinion regarding “repayment on unauthorized purchases.” No formal action was taken during or following the closed session, nor was there any context given on what “unauthorized purchases” were being discussed.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
