COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County Commissioners held a series of public hearings yesterday but no one at the Board meeting offered up any comments concerning the proposed sale of the Community Health Center of Branch County or on the county’s spending plan for 2016. Final action on next year’s budget and the deal that would have CHC purchased by Toledo, Ohio based ProMedica Health is scheduled for the Commission’s last meeting of the year on December 22.
The only speaker from the audience who stepped up to the podium yesterday was a longtime Coldwater businessman and restaurant owner. Brian Webber expressed his concerns about security issues at the Branch County Courthouse. He said last Thursday when he went to the County Clerk’s office to obtain a concealed weapon carry permit, he noticed when he came out to leave the Courthouse, there was no security officer at the entrance to the building. The security desk is not manned as much as ten hours a week because of budget restraints.
Webber told Commissioners that employees at the courthouse might have to deal with irate fathers for child support matters or maybe upset property owners showing up at the treasurer’s office and he said if there has to be funding cuts made, they should happen somewhere other than security because the public and county staff deserve to be protected.
County Commissioners are considering approval of a hidden electronic warning system with an alarm button at each employees desk that would alert law enforcement offices to respond in the case of an emergency.
