County Information

Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce officials have announced details related to the annual “State of the Area” government update. The update will take place from 8 to 9:30 a.m. on January 17 at the chamber’s event center, 1116 N. Main St. Local, county and state elected officials are expected to attend and provide brief updates on important local matters. …

St. Joseph County Administrator Teresa Doehring has agreed to a two-year contract renewal. During Tuesday’s board of commissioners meeting, county officials approved a contract for 2023 and 2024. Doehring, 48, is completing her fifth year as the highest-ranking, non-elected employee in county government. A lifelong Mendon-area resident, Doehring also serves as the county’s human resource director. Her 2023 salary will …

St. Joseph County Probate and family-law division has issued a call-out for families to consider foster care children as court-appointed special advocates in 2023. Judge David Tomlinson said new CASA training will begin in January. CASA of Southwest Michigan serves Berrien and St. Joseph counties. It started up just before the COVID-19 lockdowns in March 2020. Since then, 15 have …

St. Joseph County’s roster of public defender attorneys appears to be set for the 2022-23 state fiscal year, as the matter was discussed during last week’s board of commissioners’ executive committee meeting. Chief Public Defender Keith Stickley said the proposed eight-person roster is comprised of: Laurie Hines, John Bush, Rhonda Ives, Luke Nofsinger, Tim George, Paul Gipson, Melissa Hallack and …

Republican Rick Shaffer will return to serve two years as a member of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners. In the only contested race to the seven-member board, Shaffer fended off Democrat Erin Schultes for the newly created Precinct 1, which comprises Lockport and Florence townships, and the city of Three Rivers.

The Langley Covered Bridge re-opened to traffic Tuesday, eight days after it was closed due to damage caused by a horse trailer. St. Joseph County Road Commission Manager John Lindsey said the height restrictor at the north end of the bridge was knocked off its base Sept. 19 by a trailer attached to a southbound pickup. Lindsey said the height …

Here’s a look at this month’s Fresh Food Distribution in St. Joseph County. The first will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday at First Presbyterian Church in Sturgis. Next, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, east of Centreville on M-86, will host an event at 4 p.m. Sept. 13. Three distributions will occur Sept. 15. The first at 10:30 a.m. at Gateway Village …

The process of how St. Joseph County will administer $1 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds was discussed during the county commission’s executive committee meeting last week. Commissioners entertained a number of options regarding the money and its recipients. In the end, it was decided the five county board members will individually review the 28 different requests submitted …

A Mendon Township man defeated incumbent Kathy Pangle from the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners following Tuesday’s primary election. Unofficial results show District 3 challenger Rusty Baker topped Pangle by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent. Baker still has a general election ahead of him in November. Barring an unlikely upset in that contest, Baker will secure …

The St. Joseph County Transportation Authority received strong support in its request for renewing one-third of a mill to continue operations at their current level. The request was approved by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. The Three Rivers-based agency was also successful in 2010, 2014 and 2018 in identical requests. They, too, were supported by roughly a 2-to-1 margin. Agency director …