COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – On a 5-0 vote, the Branch County Board of Commissioners has approved a request from the Community Health Center of Branch County to freeze the defined benefit program and adopt the MERS Defined Contribution Plan. The new plan would go into effect October 1, 2016.
Hospital officials earlier said they wanted what they felt was a more competitive retirement plan but some commissioners expressed reservations about the proposed change. A representative from MERS discussed the plan in great detail with commissioners for over an hour during a work session on September 1st.
In other business, the commissioners approved a tentative agreement with union workers in the probate court.
They also adopted the bylaws for the Michigan Works Southwest Workforce Development Board as well as a three year inter-local agreement. The agreement covers Branch, St. Joseph, Calhoun and Kalamazoo Counties.
