Haas Systems, founded in 1980 on Fosdick Street in Wayne Township, is building a new facility in the industrial park by fall and moving its 11 employees into Dowagiac.

City Council Monday night approved the sale of 4.84 acres on Woodhouse Drive to A&E Properties, of which Eric Haas is a managing member, for $6,050.

Haas, founded by Robert and Katherine Haas as an entrepreneurial sideline to other fulltime jobs, provides security systems, phone and communication systems and alarm monitoring services for residential and commercial clients.

The company tripled in size the five years preceding 1995 and again in 2001.

To streamline operations, Haas in December 2008 sold its fire safety operations. The sale was completed in the first quarter of 2009, so Haas could focus on meeting electronic security and telecommunications needs of customers.

“The City of Dowagiac has used and continues to use Haas Systems for a number of services,” City Manager Kevin Anderson said.

“We bought my dad out when he retired,” Haas said. “My dad and I owned the company together up until the first of the year. It’s a no-brainer to get city water, sewer and natural gas, and we’re actually looking at getting on that tower.”

Haas serves customers primarily within a 35-mile radius but ventures as far east as Detroit and as far south as Fort Wayne, Ind.

Besides being a Panasonic representative, Haas is affiliated with a Niles contractor who does hardware for Amtrak while it concentrates on cabling.

“The first week in March we were in Dearborn, revamping an Amtrak station,” Eric said. “We also revamped the Jackson and Battle Creek stations. We’re all over the place.

“We fight for utilities where we’re at. It’s such a rural location, we can’t get internet without a 300-foot tower. People in the city take it for granted that they can just plug in because the infrastructure’s all here.”

 Dowagiac Daily News