Commission approves $25,000 service agreement with Southwest Michigan Planning to support regional asset inventory

The Van Buren County Board of Commissioners voted on Dec. 9 to approve a service agreement with Southwest Michigan Planning that brings $25,000 to support a regional project described in the packet as the "Healthy Varian Asset Inventory." County staff said the agreement will provide technical assistance and regional assets mapping primarily in Berrien and Van Buren counties and that the architecture developed for the project will benefit future county efforts.

The presenter said the county’s development team has already pursued regional partnerships, and commissioners were told the agreement offsets some costs of technical capacity building. Jerry Hoppel, representing an external partner, asked during public comment whether the board could expedite approval because the project has a hard deadline. Commissioners discussed whether a formal resolution was required and agreed they could amend the motion to approve the agreement by motion at today’s meeting rather than delay to the next meeting.

A commissioner moved to approve the agreement; the motion was supported and carried by voice vote. County staff and the external partner said they would prepare any necessary resolution paperwork for the record. No dollar‑amount amendments were presented at the meeting.

Outcome: motion to approve service agreement with Southwest Michigan Planning carried by voice vote.