Berrien County approves broadband expansion for Buchanan Township

The Berrien County Board of Commissioners has approved an agreement with Midwest Energy and Communications to expand broadband internet to another 266 unserved properties, most of them in Buchanan Township.

At a meeting this week, commissioners were told the county will contribute $445,000 to the project, while Buchanan Township will chip in $173,000, and MEC will invest $399,000 for about a $1 million total cost.

Commissioner Teri Freehling told us these properties didn’t qualify for the internet expansion under the county’s ROBIN grant, which has been paying for most of the broadband work going on.

“This is going to actually cover 266 addresses that were omitted from the ROBIN Grant application that we had submitted with MEC, which was the successful ISP that was awarded ROBIN Grant dollars,” Freehling said. “This is just a way to make certain that we achieve our objective of full connectivity throughout the county. And we’re just kind of chipping away at it little by little.”

217 of these 266 properties are in Buchanan Township.

Freehling said there’s still another 1,600 unserved properties along the lakeshore, which the county is now working to address as well. A bid recently came in for the county to cover those and it’s being reviewed.

Freehling says the goal is total connectivity all over Berrien County, which will almost be achieved once MEC is finished with its ongoing broadband work.