This is Berrien County Administrator Brian Dissette’s last week on the job as he’s leaving to serve as the new deputy county administrator in Ottawa County starting Monday. We checked in with him to reflect on his time as the county administrator.
Dissette tells us when he started with Berrien County in July of 2020, the county was still adjusting to COVID restrictions, something that made the experience rather unique. It could also be challenging.
“Essentially 2020 through 2022, we were dealing with COVID-related issues,” Dissette said. “So, it’s everything from running meetings remotely to having a whole lot of scrutiny on public health, trying desperately to understand and take guidance from the state of Michigan, while also being very respectful of the local perspective on some of the guidance coming from Lansing.”
Coming out of COVID, Dissette says an infusion of more than $30 million in federal ARPA funds gave the county a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make some improvements. He says during his tenure, the county took advantage of that.
“You can see everything from improvements in the jail, heating and cooling improvements in the courthouse, the county admin building, and on and on. In addition to that, a portion of the ARPA funding went into the 800 megahertz radio tower in Buchanan Charter Township.”
Dissette says another major accomplishment has been expanding the availability of broadband internet. The county invested about $6 million of its ARPA funds into that effort.
“And we were able to take our $6 million and really grow it by going after and capturing funds from the ROBIN Grant with the state of Michigan. So $6 million became tens of millions of dollars invested into broadband and the better part of well over 10,000 addresses connected.”
Dissette says the county worked with several partners to make all of that happen. Over the years, he says a big challenge has also been understanding how to meet the county’s staffing needs as the expectations of workers changed coming out of COVID.
“Trying desperately to address staffing needs, staffing levels, trying to keep current with the marketplace for positions, everything from law enforcement positions to positions within our courthouse and on and on, just balancing a variety of pressures that were occurring from multiple different vantage points.”
Looking ahead, Dissette says the county’s challenge will be to maintain services at current funding levels.
“I think it’s pretty clear that from the resident’s perspective, property owner’s perspective, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of appetite for increasing costs of government. So I think for the county, it’s going to be accepting that the revenue that they have is probably about as much as they can plan to see.”
And Dissette said the county needs to be prepared for the possibility of more large tax appeals, like the one made by the Cook Plant, which was settled in 2024 and reduced the property taxes paid by the facility.
Dissette tells us the opportunity he’s taken in Ottawa County was the right fit, adding he’s known people there for decades. He just knew it was the right time to make the move.
