CASSOPOLIS — Cass County Board of Commissioners voted 5-1 March 7 to allow the Village of Edwardsburg to save $75,000 on its $2.7 million sanitary sewer system by refinancing bonds.

“The Board of Public Works approved the refunding contract on Feb. 27. It was approved by the village on Feb. 25,” County Administrator Louis Csokasy said.

Refunding bonds are not to exceed $2.475 million to pay all or part of prior bonds issued on May 17, 2006.

“The village is lead entity on this,” Csokasy continued. “The county backstops the bond. There’s a little controversy. The village president called me a number of times in the past several days. There seems to be a rethought process at the village level that for the work involved and savings of $75,000, it may not be worth doing. To be perfectly candid, the president of that board asked me to not bring it forward tonight. I elected to bring it forward because authority comes from a board, not an individual. The other issue is, if the village for some reason elects to go forward and we don’t have approval tonight, we’ll lose another two weeks.”

“It lowers the bonds by three years,” Commissioner Robert Wagel, BPW chairman, said.

“There is a $75,000 savings,” County Treasurer Linda Irwin said. “If you guys approve it, you’re not binding the village to refinance, you’re just allowing it. They make the final decision no matter what you do.”

County Commissioner Roseann Marchetti, R-Edwardsburg, voted no once the resolution was removed from the first-ever consent agenda of routine items bundled together for passage on one motion.

Commissioners also authorized refinancing $1.272 million bonds for the E-911 Central Dispatch facility.

“You’ll save about $67,000,” Csokasy said. “The Building Authority passed it on March 1.”

 

Appointments

 

Commissioners accepted Circuit Judge Michael E. Dodge’s recommendation that Jackie Goodman be reappointed to a six-year term on the three-member Cass County Jury Commission. Her term expires April 30.

Commissioners confirmed removal of a second member of Cass County Economic Development Corp. for poor attendance.

The EDC is trying to downsize from 12 to nine members to be more effective.

Former Dowagiac school board member Mark Dobberstein joins Alan Fricke as former members.

Dobberstein, reappointed Nov. 19, 2009, for a term until Sept. 30, 2015, missed the past three meetings without communicating a reason for his absence.

 

Ben Williams recognized

 

Commissioner Robert Ziliak, R-Milton Township, introduced a resolution acknowledging Ben Williams’ contribution to Cass County.

Williams, of Allegan County, is the technician who advises the eight-county Southwest Michigan Solid Waste Consortium.

He applied for and coordinated a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) clean-up grant which rid the region of more than 10,000 tires.

“We are applying for the grant again this year,” Williams said.

 

Work session

 

Commissioners will have their quarterly work session March 23 from 8 a.m. to noon.

Next regular meetings are March 21 and April 4, both at 7 p.m.