The Marshall County Commissioners heard a request by Chris Marbach of Marbach, Brady and Weaver – a survey company working with NIPSCO on the 100-mile power line from Burr Oak to Topeka.
Marbach’s request was for the acquisition of the names and addresses of property owners along the proposed route that would be obtained through the county’s Geographic Information System, or GIS.
The Marshall County Commissioners will be meeting Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET in the Commissioners Room where they are expected to discuss several agenda items.
One item the Commissioners discussed during their last meeting was the contract with Great Lakes Laboratories. The company is contracted to process all drug submissions submitted when police take samples for evidence. The proposed contract for this year is $82,000 – double the amount of the previous contract.
The Marshall County Commissioners will meet Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET in the Commissioners Meeting Room in the City of Plymouth.
Newly-elected Commission President Kevin Overmyer, Vice President Jack Roose and member Deb Greiwank will hear from Sheriff Tom Chamberlin about the Great Lakes Labs contract. The new contract doubled the fee from $42,240 to $85,000 per year and now limits the number of employee tests. Sheriff Chamberlin will explain these changes along with the prosecutor and discuss whether or not there are other options.
The Marshall County Commissioners approved several appointments during their recent meeting.
The commissioners approved the following reappointments: Clyde Avery as EMA Director, Neal Haeck as the Highway Superintendent, Chuck DeWitt as Building Inspector, and James Clevenger as County Attorney.
Pam Schweizer-Betz was approved as the veterans service officer by a unanimous vote. She will begin in the full-time position today.
The commissioners will meet again this morning at 8:30 a.m. ET when the board members will reorganize, Haley Kittrell – the new CASA director – will give a report, and several other appointments will be approved.
The Marshall County Commissioners are expected to meet this morning at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss year-end items. The commissioners will also be giving notice of the Department Head appointments for 2013.
The commissioners will approve the minutes from the last meeting which included the prepayment of a claim for EMA Director Clyde Avery. Avery explained to the commissioners that there was a delay in receiving a fully executed agreement notice from the State for the Comprehensive EMA Grant for $4,054 for expenditures by the deadline. He asked the commissioners to approve a prepayment of the funds to cover the cost of a camera, weather station and educational materials for the EMA program. The funds must be spent and reimbursed by Feb. 28.
The Plymouth City Council approved the appointment of Ralph Booker as the City’s Plan Director – a position he will have with the city and Marshall County.
Under the terms of the agreement, the city would pay $7,000 per year to the county as compensation for performing city business on county time using county resources. Under a separate agreement, the city will pay Booker an additional $6,879 as a contract employee for 2013.
Due to numerous accidents caused by the winter weather, the Marshall County Commissioners have issued a travel advisory for travel on country roads.
The commissioners issued the advisory yesterday afternoon, urging citizens to use caution while driving. Routine travel or activities may be restricted in some areas because of hazardous conditions, and businesses may begin to implement their emergency action plans.
Upgrades are in the works for the Marshall County Highway Department, as the county commissioners approved a request to spend money from the Highway Department budget on a new radio communications system.
Highway Superintendent Neal Haeck explained that they previously had several old radios that were nearly useless. Roughly two-thirds of the radios were obsolete several years ago, and the problem has only worsened since then.
The cost for a new system consisting of 35 radios, tower equipment, and a service contract came out to slightly more than $68,000, and the agreement features a GPS tracking system for department vehicles. Haeck said he has been looking forward to this upgrade for several years.
The commissioners approved his request and he expects the equipment to arrive soon.
The Marshall County Commissioners held more discussion on the request from Plan Director Ralph Booker, who is asking for their support in seeking the position of part-time planner for the city of Plymouth. Booker said he feels the position would enhance cooperation between the city and county, but the commissioners have their concerns about a possible conflict of interest.
A fiber-optic infrastructure will soon be making its way to Plymouth, thanks to a tentative commitment by the Marshall County commissioners with St. Joseph Valley Metronet.
Metronet is a company currently providing fiber connectivity to South Bend and Mishawaka, and if everything goes according to plan, they will soon be providing high-speed bandwidth to companies in Marshall County at competitive prices. The company will lay a fiber-optic network infrastructure in the area at an estimated total cost of $2.2 million, and that hefty price tag covers the creation of the infrastructure but the actual fiber will be paid for and owned by Metronet.
In their meeting today, the Marshall County Commissioners will discuss allowing the county’s GIS data to be used in an update of the City of Plymouth’s comprehensive plan.
According to the minutes of the last commissioners meeting, the update is being prepared by Ratio Architects, Inc. which has given written assurance that they will not use the data for any other commercial purposes.
A polling site change was approved by the Marshall County Commissioners.
Marshall County Clerk Julie Fox and Roger Wise from the Election Board proposed moving the Union Township polling site from the Culver-Union Township Public Library to the Culver Depot on Lakeshore Drive.
The Marshall County Commissioners recently heard from EMA Director Clyde Avery, who told the board that the EMA Advisory Council is currently reviewing a draft of the Emergency Management Strategic Preparedness Plan and has until Oct. 19 to make recommendations. He will submit the plan to the commissioners for approval in November.
He also told the commissioners that he will host an exercise on Wednesday, Oct. 31 from 9 a.m. to noon ET in the Marshall County Courthouse to discuss the activation protocol for the Emergency Operations Center. He will also be discussing the roles and responsibilities of the Emergency Support Functions and Policy Group members.
The Marshall County Commissioners approved an amendment to a speed limit ordinance on 12th and Peach roads.
The speed limit has been reduced to 35 mph from 40 mph in those areas. Dave Winrotte told the commissioners that he circulated the original petition to reduce the speed limit to 35 mph for safety reasons–not to allow golf carts. He noted that although the traffic study results indicated an average speed of 37.8 mph, many drivers do exceed the speed limit and that the hills and curves on the two roads make it difficult to see oncoming traffic.
The Marshall County Commissioners may receive a draft amendment to a speed limit ordinance today that would lower the posted speed limit on 12th Road and Peach Road.
A traffic study was conducted by Highway Superintendent Neal Haeck in which counters were placed on 12th Road, a half-mile west of Olive Road and on Peach Road between the lakes to Menominee Drive. The results showed an average speed of 37 mph which is less than the posted speed limit of 40 mph.
The Marshall County Commissioners will revisit discussion today that involves the rezoning of Cargill, Inc. in LaPaz.
At the last commissioners’ meeting, the company requested a property zoning change from T-1 to Heavy Industrial for use as open-pile corn storage. The request also includes seven parcels in a subdivision which have been used in the elevator operation for years but were never rezoned.
The Marshall County Commissioners have come to a decision on the fate of golf cart operators in the county. The commissioners discussed the ordinance, which was passed in early June, at the end of the meeting on Monday morning to determine whether or not a revised ordinance could get a vote.
Commissioner Greg Compton expressed that he feels golf carts should only be allowed on roads where the speed limit is below 35 mph, but president Kevin Overmyer said he liked the original ordinance, and commissioner Jack Roose asked about raising the speed limit to 45 mph on the golf carts.
No action was taken by the Marshall County Commissioners concerning the proposed golf cart ordinance.
The commissioners held a public hearing during their regular meeting Monday morning and several residents were in attendance, some of which were for and others against golf carts on all county roads.
The Marshall County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the proposed golf cart ordinance during their regular meeting this morning at 10 a.m. ET.
The first reading of the golf cart ordinance was passed in early June which includes the restriction of golf carts to certain areas of the county.
The Marshall County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the proposed golf cart ordinance on Monday, July 16 at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The first reading of the golf cart ordinance was passed in early June which includes the restriction of golf carts to certain areas of the county.
