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New Buffalo Times

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE — SINCE 1942 —

ETHICS SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM MICHIGAN PRESS ASSOCIATION MEMBER PROPRIETOR NEW BUFFALO TIMES, INC. EDITOR NEW BUFFALO TIMES INTELLIGENCE EDITORIAL BOARD CREATIVE DIRECTOR JOE DURK REPORTERS/WRITERS THERESE DONNELLY FRANCESCA SAGALA LAWRENCE VON EBELER KURT MARGGRAF ALEXANDER FATOUROS SOPHIA ROSE FATOUROS STAN MADDUX KRISTIN E. FATOUROS NEW BUFFALO TIMES INTELLIGENCE NEW BUFFALO TIMES POLITICS GUESTS QUOTES DINO N. FATOUROS PROOFING FRANCESCA SAGALA BROADCAST/ADVERTISING JANINE ADAMSKI (630) 370-0820 OR JANINEADAMSKI@GMAIL.COM SUGGESTIONS, CRITICISM, IDEAS MEDIA@NEWBUFFALOTIMES.COM ADVERTISING MEDIA@NEWBUFFALOTIMES.COM CLASSIFIED ADS CLASSIFIEDS@NEWBUFFALOTIMES.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS SUBSCRIPTIONS@NEWBUFFALOTIMES.COM COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH NEW BUFFALO TIMES INFO@NEWBUFFALOTIMES.COM Periodical Postage paid in New Buffalo, MI. Postmaster, please send address changes to: NEW BUFFALO TIMES PO BOX 959, New Buffalo, MI 49117 ©2021 NEW BUFFALO TIMES, INC. PUBLICATION NUMBER 377960 CIRCULATION 5,000+ WEEKLY NEW BUFFALO TIMES distribution: Milda’s Corner Market • Customs Imports Sawyer Garden Center • The Whistle Stop David’s Delicatessen • Grand Variety Barney’s • Knoll Bros. • Stray Dog Infusco Coffee Roasters Black Currant Bakehouse The Marina Grand • Redamak’s Outpost Sports • Big C Lumber Between Casey’s and Nancy’s Sawyer Hardware • The Harbor Grand Froehlics . Three Oaks Journeyman Distillery . Three Oaks The Acorn Theater . Three Oaks The Lakeside Inn For the most convenient location, you can subscribe to get the NEW BUFFALO TIMES in your mailbox or inbox. Please email us for E-TIMES, info@newbuffalotimes.com.

Increase in Covid transmission continued this week in Berrien County

COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS GROWING WEEK BY WEEK

Berrien County remained in the high transmission category this week, with Berrien County Health Department Interim Health Officer Courtney Davis reporting new cases of Covid-19 cases continuing to rise.

From Sept. 2 through 8, the health department reported 157.7 new cases per 100,000 residents and the percent of positive tests over that period at 12.3 percent.

In August, the county had a reported 829 confirmed and probable cases, which Davis said has been more than a four-fold increase from what was reported in July, when it was 156. This was a 73 percent increase from what was reported a year ago at that time.

“I think what we can see from those numbers is certainly the impact of higher transmissible variants like Delta activity in our community - we’re seeing those increases in that transmission and really trying to align recommendations to curb that growth as we move here into the fall,” she said during a joint Facebook Live with Spectrum Health Lakeland Wednesday, Sept. 8.

The health department looks at certain metrics when making decisions and recommendations, such as watching hospitalizations as well as vaccination rates (the vaccination rate is slowly increasing throughout the county, but she’d like to it see grow more rapidly).

With regards to the county public

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA health order for masking that’s been issued for individuals in prekindergarten through 12 grade indoor educational settings, Davis said that with the current higher transmission, it’s important to be “layering on a number of prevention and mitigation strategies.”

Davis said this includes “adding on different layers of defense that can protect teachers and staff, cut that chain of transmission, make sure things are not impacting home life from that and one of those key things that we know is safe and effective and works for cutting the chain of transmission is masking.”

“Really, our layering of these prevention strategies is about prioritizing in person learning - we know the impact of having kids home and remote and we don’t want to see that, we want social interaction, we want kids in school, we don’t want them impacted with quarantining,” she said.

In the first four days of school the previous week, the county had 26 Covid cases for staff and students which resulted in over 83 quarantines.

Davis said that some of the decisions over the past month made by the health department haven’t “always made everyone happy.” “We just want to continue to put out there that our common enemy is Covid and together, we will get through this, we will be stronger on the other side.”

Dr. Loren Hamel, president of Spectrum Health Lakeland, said they were seeing more Covid cases in hospital, which is “growing slowly, week by week.”

“About a month ago we had a handful, just a few, in the hospital - now, we have a couple dozen,” he said Sept. 8.

On Tuesday, Sept. 14, the county was reporting 20 Covid non-ICU patients and six ICU patients.

Hamel said a few patients who are in the hospital have had the vaccination, most of whom are older; however, he said they were seeing “more folks in the hospital proportionally that are unvaccinated.”

He said he recently saw out the window a 30-yearold being airlifted out of Lakeland to get a treatment called ECMO. “ECMO is where you pump the blood out of a person’s body, oxygenate it and then pump it back in- that’s when the heart and lungs can no longer deliver oxygen to the tissue, it’s a last-ditch effort to buy a little time to save a life,” he said.

Hamel added that they’re continuing to do it on much younger individuals in the hospital this time around, more so than in the first and second surges of Covid.

He advised everyone to continue to use to social distance, mask up and “be safe.”

“Even if you have the vaccine, still be careful – this epidemic is not over yet.”

Local Government Meetings

New Buffalo Times

Democracy Requires Transparency

CITY OF NEW BUFFALO JOHN HUMPHREY, MAYOR CITY COUNCIL LOU O’DONNELL, IV. MARK ROBERTSON, JOHN HUMPHREY, ROGER LIJESKI, BRIAN FLANAGAN City Council meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30PM CITY OF NEW BUFFALO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS to be determined NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP BOARD PETE RAHM, MICHELLE HEIT, JUDY H. ZABICKI, PATTY IAZZETTO, JACK ROGERS Board meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7PM NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 6:30PM

NEW BUFFALO AREA SCHOOLS BOARD CHUCK HEIT, PRESIDENT HEATHER BLACK, VICE PRESIDENT JOHN HASKINS, TREASURER LISA WERNER, SECRETARY JOYCE LANTZ, TRUSTEE FRANK MARGRO, TRUSTEE PATRICIA NEWSTON, TRUSTEE CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP BOARD DAVID BUNTE, PAULA DUDIAK, LIZ RETTIG, RICHARD SULLIVAN, BILL MARSKE Chikaming Board meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30PM CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6:30PM THREE OAKS THREE OAKS TOWNSHIP BOARD Meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7PM VILLAGE OF THREE OAKS BOARD Meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7PM GRAND BEACH VILLAGE OF GRAND BEACH COUNCIL Meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7PM MICHIANA VILLAGE OF MICHIANA COUNCIL Meets on the 2nd Friday of each month at 1PM

Chikaming Township Board discusses possible parcel donation in Union Pier

Members of the Chikaming Township Board agreed to turn the matter of a possible donation of a parcel of land to the township that would be used as a community park over to the Park Board for their review and recommendation at their Thursday, Sept. 9, meeting.

Chikaming Township Supervisor David Bunte said the parcel is on the corner of Berrien and Isobel streets (directly across from Whistle Stop) in Union Pier. The owner of the property and his family have been in discussion with him for the past year and a half over the possible donation.

Bunte said he was first bringing the matter up to board members to see if they want to proceed with the possible donation before seeing if the Park Board was interested in adding another park space to the township’s “resume.”

The owner and his family were requesting naming rights, as well as having space on the parcel for a possible bank shot basketball court as well a children’s artistic “element,” such as easels for painting. The equipment would be at the township’s expense and the donation would “strictly be in the property,” Bunte said.

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

Treasurer Liz Rettig said she liked the idea but was wondering what the cost would be for the township.

Bunte said costs would be associated with clearing, a design element, a consulting element, and laying everything out.

Trustee Rich Sullivan said if the property owner wanted the parcel to remain wooded “to an extent,” he wondered if there’d still be space for the proposed activities. He also said people may feel strongly about “thinning out trees.”

“Are we as a government entity locked into if someone donates something with certain caveats, are we locked into that or can we say once they donate it, it belongs to the township and the township decides what happens to it?” he said.

Bunte said it would depend on the negotiations the township has with the property owner, such as if there are “restrictions on the deed in perpetuity.” The design schematics would need to be put together to see what would work in the space before an agreement would be made with owner on what they’d want on the parcel and “what there’s no negotiations on” and any other issues.

Bunte said the township’s current contract with the New Buffalo Township Library, Three Oaks Township Library and Bridgman Library expired this past June and that it’s on an annual renewal until there’s a new contract. The township currently has committed to $30,900, which is $10,300 per library, on an annual basis in their budget for funding plus penal fines. Bunte said New Buffalo Township Library Board has said that for the next contract, they’d be willing to go with the library card fee of $25 annually for Chikaming Township residents for use in the New Buffalo Township Library and that the Bridgman and Three Oaks libraries would remain free of charge. They’re also requesting a 2 percent increase annually, which means Chikaming would pay $10,500 per library for a total of $31,500 in the next contract. Bunte said he sent members of the New Buffalo Township Library Board an additional correspondence asking to confirm if the other two libraries agreed with the proposal and if they shouldn’t separate this contract, since the terms are “a little bit different.” Sullivan said he talked with the Bridgman Library director, who wasn’t aware of the $25 fee. He added that it’s stated in the contract that if the contract changes, it needs to be signed by all three libraries that they want to renegotiate the contract. Sullivan added that maybe the contract will become individual contracts with each library or just one with New Buffalo and the other with Three Oaks and Bridgman together.

Board members approved a grant request from the police department in the amount of $14,000.

Bunte said the grant would cover the purchase of seven new body worn cameras and Evidence Library Express, a cloud-based library. He said the grant is for the purchase of the equipment and the cloud and the township will provide a match, so the entire project cost would be approximately $28,000.

Sgt. Brandon Jones said the five-year program’s annual cost is $4,704.

The hiring of Nathan Oman for the cemetery sexton/facilities maintenance position was approved. Bunte said that Oman has started a company, Advanced Property Management Services, and that it will be a contracted position.

Board members approved sending the proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance to the Berrien County Planning Commission. M Thursday, Sept. 9, meeting. with the DDA, which included being instrumental in the parking lot changes at the public beach. seven to eight years,” he said. the following qualifications: they must own, rent, or manage a business in the community or DDA district and “bring something to our board from the community,” such as by being engaged in New Buffalo Area Schools. He added they also look for representation for each corner of the DDA boundary. economic development and the preservation of historical assets in the City of New Buffalo. city to find ways to help promote this mission will “attract people to want to be on the DDA Board and to want to be engaged,” Kemper said. John Humphrey brought up the vacant commercial properties in town. manager) Darwin Watson and myself to incentivize people who own commercial properties to be more reasonable about what they’re trying to sell them for as well as incentivize people to come here with businesses that provide something for the entire community that are not just seasonal businesses,” he said. Kemper said the city has “more capacity but we don’t have the staff to take care of that.” are interested in those jobs - how do we compensate them on a year-round basis, where they can make $40,000 a year, $50,000 a year, working in the service industry in New Buffalo?” he said, and added that the answer is simple: making New Buffalo a year-round economy. extend the moratorium on the issuance of new shortterm rental licenses to Nov. 1, 2021. those who are against the short-term rental issue to You can’t buy swag. — Travis Scott