By By NORMA LERNER / Cassopolis Vigilant
CASSOPOLIS - Cass County Road Commissioners took action on Thursday morning to remove a fence on county road right of way on Shore Acres Road on the north side of Diamond Lake.
The fence, a white-aluminum type placed along the edge of the lake shore, belongs to Diamond Harbor Condominiums, LLC, and was constructed by a contractor who applied for a permit to put up the fence but never completed the permit requirements and put it up anyway, according to road commission officials.
The fence was authorized for removal one hour after the regular meeting of the road commission on Thursday by a motion of Bradley Walker, road commission vice president, and supported by board President Robert Powers and Trustee Cliff Poehlman.
Road Commission Engineer-Manager Joseph Bellina III, said during Thursday's meeting that the applicant, Andy Place Builders, was told what he needed to do to complete the permit. "He has no permit. He never filled it out properly," Bellina said.
At the last commission meeting, it was discussed that if the road commission did not get the corrected and completed permit by May 20, then a letter of notice stating that the fence will be red tagged and taken down will be sent to the applicant. The board agreed with this plan. There was no response to a letter sent by Bellina about the required completion of the permit application in April and no response by the May 20 date. "We said we would remove it. There's only one party. That is us. We stated our deadline, " Bellina noted.
The fence, in addition to being placed within the road right of way, had an area for residents to walk along the inside of the fence from one end but no exit on the other end. It has an estimated value of $50,000, according to road officials
It will be stored on road commission property.
In related business, a resolution was adopted to remove obstructions on the road shoulder on Vera Drive in Porter Township where there has been sanitary waste system construction. Particularly in front of Lot 10 in South Porter Township, residents have placed railroad ties and other obstructions to keep trucks from driving on the shoulder.
The residents who placed the obstructions have two days notice to remove them, and if not, road workers will be removing the items and put them up for public sale.
The commission also awarded road Superintendent Steve Northrup and Parks Director Scott Wyman with certificates of completion of supervisor training by Joseph Young and Associates from Howell, Mich., in drug and alcohol detection in employees. This training is required by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The road commission has a substance abuse and testing policy that all employees of the road commission and commissioners are subject to substance abuse testing. Applicants for employment shall be given a test for illegally controlled substances as part of or in conjunction with a pre-employment physical. Those testing positive shall not be hired.
Any employee required to take a regularly scheduled annual periodic physical examination to obtain or retain a commercial driver's license, shall be given a test for illegal controlled substances as part of the physical. In addition, random testings of employees are done for alcohol and controlled substances. There are certain penalties for use of illegal controlled substances such as immediate suspension without pay.
There are also treatment programs.