COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Branch County Board of Commissioners formally approved a request from Administrator Frank Walsh on Tuesday to find a surveyor to do work along the Michigan-Indiana border under terms of the Michigan-Indiana State Line Remonumentation Act of 2022. The measure has been backed by State Senator Jonathon Lindsey (R-Coldwater).
The law created the Michigan Indiana State Line Commission to carry out the responsibilities for the survey and recovery of replacement monuments defining the Michigan-Indiana state line.
Walsh says this is no easy task and it was his understanding after talking with state officials the surveyor is going to have to find 24 buried wooden stakes from the 1820’s. The state has provided Branch County with a grant of over $127,000 to complete the work.
Walsh will seek proposals from licensed surveyors with a selection scheduled to be made during the Commissioners work session on July 9, 2026. According to the grant terms, the county has to begin appropriating funds by September 30, 2026.
In other business, the Commissioners formally approved a plan to reorganize the Branch County Building Department which would take effect on June 15.
Under the reorganization proposed by Walsh, a current vacancy in the building department with a salary of just over $61,000 would stay unoccupied.
The plan is to cross train Equalization Department employee Samantha Dey to serve the Building Department during the times that building inspector Tiffany Watson is out of the office. Under this plan, the county would increase Dey and Watson’s hourly rates to $25.18 and $25.56 respectively. Walsh says the plan would offer the county huge savings over the course of ten years
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