Calhoun County Board of Commissioners Report

From the Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023 Calhoun County Board of Commissioners Meeting

At the Oct. 19, 2023 meeting, Commissioners read three proclamations into the record: Keeping the Lights on After School, NAACP 88th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner, and Red Ribbon Week. Also, the 2023 Annual Apportionment Report was presented by Deputy Equalization Director Tom Scott and approved by the Board. On the consent agenda, Commissioners approved the appointment of Dr. Tino Smith to the Calhoun County Department of Health and Human Services Board and a PA325 certification of the Calhoun County Road Department's updated Transportation Asset Management Plan.

To view the agenda or meeting recording, visit the Agendas page of the website.

There was no new business for Commissioners to vote on at this meeting.

A message from Calhoun County Administrator/Controller Kelli Scott

Last week, we launched the first episode of a new podcast series about Calhoun County Government called Inside Calhoun County. We hope to use this as a method for providing information to the public in a new on-demand format. Episodes will be released twice monthly and the series is hosted and produced by local radio personality Richard Piet. The first episode features the County’s Public Health Officer Eric Pessell. Pessell shared valuable programming that resulted in a recent State MDHHS award to the Calhoun County Public Health Department as well as information about this year’s flu season and the current state of COVID-19 in our community.

Listen to this podcast and future episodes at

calhouncountymi.gov/podcast

A Calhoun County Broadband Task Force meeting was held Tuesday, Oct. 10. At this meeting, Calhoun County's Geographic Information Systems Manager Brent Thelen shared an updated map of broadband coverage throughout the County using FCC data and data that we've received from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) following extensive efforts to challenge previously unreliable coverage maps. The new maps will be instrumental in positioning the County and our private internet providers well for applying for our share of the billions of federal grant dollars coming to Michigan next year. The Task Force will begin meeting quarterly instead of monthly moving forward, with the next meeting in Q1 2024.

A Veterans Affairs Committee meeting took place on Wednesday, Oct. 11. The committee reviewed the budge and approved three applications to the Veterans Relief Fund.

On Monday, Oct. 16, a Calhoun County Board of Public Health meeting took place. A financial update was given by Finance Director Megan Banning, long with a presentation about the Family Planning Advisory Council by Nurse Practitioner Michelle Thorne and Program Support Specialist Andrea Aguilar.

Budget hearings with the Board of Commissioners Budget Committee and County Administrative Executive Team for the 2024 County Budget were held all day on Wednesday, Oct. 18. This meeting has been a traditional part of the County’s annual budgeting process, allowing for our judicial leaders and countywide elected officials to explain their budget and staffing requests with the Budget Committee, which consists of three Commissioners this term—Chair Kathy-Sue Vette, Vice Chair Steve Frisbie, and Commissioner Derek King. Calhoun County faces General Fund budget challenges again for 2024, with continued reduced local revenues and the end of our one-time American Rescue Plan Act funds that have helped to offset these revenue losses for the past few years. The County’s Road Department budget request was also reviewed at the Oct.18 budget hearing session, along with planned primary and local road improvements for 2024, many of which will rely on federal and state grant funding. County administration will follow up on information received at the budget hearings to develop our required Administrator/Controller’s 2024 budget recommendation for the public hearing at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov.16. We are on track for an early budget adoption again this year, scheduled for Dec. 7.

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