By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
CARO — If Tuscola County Road Commission machines knock over your mailbox, the Road Commission will install a new post and provide a new mailbox, following a 3-2 vote by Road Board members on March 27.
“I’ll make a motion that if we hit a mailbox with the equipment and knock the mailbox over, that we replace the post and either give them a voucher for a new mailbox or let them pick up a mailbox here at the Road Commission office,” said Mike Zwerk, one of five members of the Tuscola County Road Commission Board.
Zwerk and Road Boad members Julie Matuszak and Pat Sheridan voted in favor of the new policy. Jack Laurie and Gary Parsell opposed Zwerk’s motion. The new policy will apply to mailboxes struck along primary and local roads. A Michigan Department of Transportation policy already covers mailboxes struck along state highways such as M-15, M-46 and M-81.
Zwerk reported at a March 13 Road Board meeting that a county resident alleged damage to 42 mailboxes along Vassar Road in Tuscola, Vassar, Millington and Arbela townships when a Road Commission machine cleared snow on a Sunday morning.
“I think what brought this on is that we went through 80 percent of our winter on that stretch of highway south of Vassar with no problems, but all of a sudden one morning there are mailboxes flying all over the place,” Zwerk said. “That’s what tipped these (residents) off. I realize that snow hitting the mailbox really should not get your mailbox replaced.”
But if Road Commission machines strike and knock over a mailbox, the Road Commission should install a new post and provide a new mailbox, according to Zwerk.
Road Commission Superintendent/Manager Jay Tuckey reported neighboring counties’ policies regarding mailbox damage. One Road Commission pays up to $25 for a new mailbox if its machine strikes the mailbox. Another county’s Road Commission replaces mailboxes damaged due to snow being pushed against the mailboxes or machines striking the mailboxes.
A third county Road Commission provides a resident with a $40 voucher for a new mailbox if it’s damaged due to winter road maintenance by the Road Commission.
The policy adopted by the Tuscola County Road Commission requires a foreman to investigate a complaint that a Road Commission machine or equipment knocked over a mailbox before the Road Commission installs a new post and provides a new mailbox.
“There isn’t a person out there that’s not going to tell you ‘The snow plow took it down. I saw him. He went by and the mailbox is laying on the ground,’” Jay Tuckey said. “And you go out there and look at the tracks, and the blade is that far away from the post. What are you gonna do?”
Road Board Chairman Jack Laurie stressed that Road Commission drivers “did a heck of a job” clearing snow this past winter, which saw the Road Commission set a record for winter-season road maintenance costs. While the drivers were away from home clearing snowy and icy roads, members of their families pulled extra duty in their absence, according to Laurie.
“Those drivers went above and beyond,” he said. “You have to compliment those drivers and their wives and kids. We are really proud of the job they did.”