COMMISSIONERS HOLD FIRST OF THREE HEARINGS ON ROAD COMMISSION TAKE OVER

ST. JOSEPH – The debate continues in Berrien County as to whether the Berrien County Board of Commissioners should take over control of the Berrien County Road Commission. The issue came up earlier this summer and is now the subject of public hearings.
Commissioners held their first public hearing on the issue at the start of their weekly meeting last week, will have another this week and have set a third hearing for their night meeting Sept. 7 at the county administration center in St. Joseph. The Sept. 7 meeting starts at 6 p.m.
This is the second time in the last five years that county officials have considered such a move. The matter was discussed in 2012-13 at a time of internal turmoil within the road commission but ended up not being acted on by the county board. The issue has come up again this year after the spring resignation of manager Louis Csokasy.
County Administrator William Wolf made a presentation to the county board July 27, outlining the situation and the options available to the county board. Since then, commissioners heard presentations on both sides of the issue at their Aug. 10 meeting in advance of the first public hearing last week.
Wolf outlined five options to commissioners on July 27 including the county taking over the operation of the road commission which currently is an independent body. A 2012 state law allows county road commission powers to be transferred to the county government where it would be one of several county departments.
He reiterated the points he made in a similar 2013 feasibility study which concluded that transferring road commission responsibilities to the county board is feasible, the cost to the county is acceptable and the liabilities and risks are manageable.
As Wolf noted in a timeline of road commission history, the road commission has had three managing directors and three interim managing directors since 2011. During that time, there have been 15 changes to the road commission membership due to death, removals, resignations and appointments.
The Aug. 17 hearing featured comments from five county residents. Debra Boothby of Benton Township said she favored the county taking the road commission, while Adolf Pelzer of Hagar Township suggested the road commission board be elected and not appointed.
Darrin Schaer of Pipestone Township said the road commission needs better internal management and not a county takeover, saying it would not improve the roads or management. Pipestone Township resident Michael Haskins said county officials would have to become road maintenance experts if they took it over.
People had differing views about the road commission and its employees. While most of those speaking felt the road commission employees were doing a good job, Tony Benhart of Sodus Township said past problems have not been resolved and employees are not doing and don’t care to do a good job.