By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
CARO — Board members overseeing the Tuscola County Road Commission agreed to pay a higher amount to the county Sheriff’s Department for weighmaster services next year, but want “stricter enforcement” by the officer doing the work.
“From the reports that we get, there are an awful lot of warnings, it seems, and I think that we need to step it up a little bit,” Road Board member Mike Zwerk said on Thursday before joining with four other board members to unanimously approve a 2.2 percent increase in the annual contract with the Sheriff’s Department. The estimated annual cost of the contract will rise to $79,340 in 2015, Road Commission Finance Director Mike Tuckey said.
Sheriff’s Department Deputy Ryan Herford works as the county weighmaster under the contract.
Road Board member Julie Matuszak, a retired Michigan State Police motor carrier officer, said she spoke to Herford before Thursday’s meeting. Weighmasters enforce laws governing commercial vehicles, including truck sizes and weights.
“I think it’s time for some stricter enforcement,” Matuszak said. “That’s my opinion — that we need to step up. We have a lot of vehicles moving right now and we need to make sure we’re checking them and taking care of them.”
Extra traffic on county roads during the past few years relating to construction of wind turbines has made for a unique situation, according to Road Board Chairman Jack Laurie.
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“I don’t think we want to turn into just hard-nosed people, but I think there’s a lot of enforcement work to do,” Laurie said.
“We seem to see some of the same ones pretty regularly,” board Vice Chairman Gary Parsell added. “If the warning apparently isn’t working for them, then those are the people that should (face enforcement).”
Matuszak said the law regarding commercial vehicles is “pretty complicated.”
“Believe it or not, there are a lot of things that people don’t understand and it takes a lot to get the final grip on it,” Matuszak said. “I was told one time that ‘In year No. 5, you’ll be comfortable’” understanding the law.
The Advertiser could not reach Herford for comment, but Sheriff Lee Teschendorf said he doesn’t have an issue with board members’ thoughts.
“They are contracting for the service, and if they have an issue with overweight trucks, or load limits, or traveling unapproved roads — if they want to direct that weighmaster to do extra enforcement or to enforce problem areas — I have no problem with that,” Teschendorf said. “That’s what he’s there for.”
Board member Pat Sheridan asked if the higher amount being paid to the Sheriff’s Department will go to wages, benefits or other areas under the contract.
“It was kind of a mixture of things,” Mike Tuckey said. “They’ll get a 2.5 percent increase in wages. Everything else remained relatively the same.”
In other action at Thursday’s meeting, Joe and Ruth Gerulis of Fremont Township attended, claiming the actions of a neighbor — and the inaction of the Road Commission — have led to a plugged culvert causing flooding in their yard off North Grove Road east of M-24.
Joe Gerulis told the board that the ditch in question is in the road right-of-way, which he claims makes it a Road Commission issue.
But Sheridan told the Gerulises that “The No. 1 reason that ditch is there is to get water off the road. That’s pretty well it.”
Laurie summed up the issue as “a dispute between neighbors.”
“No it isn’t,” Joe Gerulis replied. “It’s 30-some feet from the center of the road. It’s the Road Commission’s problem. You gave him the permit (to create a culvert). The water’s not going down that ditch. That’s why my yard is flooded.”
Joe Gerulis showed the road board photographs shot at various times in the past. He said that before his neighbor installed a culvert, “My yard wasn’t as flooded as it is now.”
“Wait a minute. You said ‘wasn’t as flooded,’ so it was flooded,” Matuszak said. “And we had a very wet spring. We’ve had a very wet fall. I had 1.5 inches of water in my yard the other day, and I’m up on a hill.”
Gerulis said he installed a culvert on his property after Road Commission officials issued him a permit and told him to place gravel around the culvert. Gerulis claims the Road Commission allowed his neighbor to place sand on both sides of the neighbor’s culvert, but that the sand is plugging the culvert and causing flooding.
Road Commission Superintendent/Manager Jay Tuckey said he removed rocks blocking the culvert of Gerulis’ neighbor, and that no rocks have been placed back in it.
“There was an issue there; there was some material placed in front of the (drainage) tube,” Jay Tuckey said. “The material’s been removed, so those pictures are kind of dated. I was there Tuesday. The tube is open. There is some water in the ditch, but there’s water in the ditch both ways. The watered ground is saturated.”
“There’s no fall. There’s no drainage. That’s the problem,” Parsell told Gerulis.
Road Board members advised Gerulis to take his complaint to county Prosecutor Mark E. Reene’s office.