Upgrades at the Paw Paw Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant are moving forward after Berrien County government officials today approved bond financing to fund repairs and upgrades.
The Paw Paw Lake facility is jointly owned by the cities of Coloma and Watervliet and Coloma and Watervliet townships, with each entity holding a 25 percent ownership share. The project totals $1.6 million and will be financed in part through $1.2 million in county-issued bonds, with the remaining $400,000 paid in cash by the sewer authority that operates the plant.
“We’re going to replace defective clarifiers, replace the liners of those clarifiers, improve the flow channels, and replace some manholes that need to be reinstalled, installation of new valves, actuators, and electrical controls. This is supposed to improve the efficiency and the operations of the plant,” said Berrien County Community Development Director Dan Fette.
The financing is being handled through the county’s Board of Public Works, which assists local governments with water and sewer infrastructure projects by issuing bonds backed by the county’s credit rating.
“By using the county’s credit rating, you get a better interest rate on your borrowing. Municipalities then make semi-annual payments of principal and interest to the county that we then use to pay the debt service on the bonds,” said Fette.
County staff noted the Board of Public Works process has been used less frequently in recent years, largely due to the availability of federal funding since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, officials said the model has a long track record locally, with no bond defaults in more than 50 years.
The county will now move forward to issue limited-tax, full-faith-and-credit general obligation bonds with a 15-year repayment term. The bond sale is expected to take place in late February, with construction anticipated to begin in late spring 2026.
Engineering services will be provided by Jones & Henry of Kalamazoo, with Clark Hill serving as bond counsel and MFCI acting as financial advisor.
