County Road Association of Michigan (CRAM) awarded Cass County the best practices award at its recent conference in Lansing, which Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative leaders addressed.

While the forecast for road funding during the “serious conference wasn’t very pleasant,” Road Commission Manager Louis Csokasy advised the Board of Commissioners March 17, “the rest of it was. Best practices is the main award” and was given for the call-handling process devised by Csokasy’s administrative assistant, Terri Wyman.

“We thought it was important to let the public know that their calls are important and deserve an answer,” she said. “A three-year service request process was put in place,” whose data shows management “what kind of calls are received, how many, how long it takes to answer and to complete the request and what areas of the county these requests are coming from. This has been a great learning tool. The program would not be a success without the team effort of our foreman and employees, working with townships and residents for better public relations. Overall, the program, called MORE — Management Operations Review Committee — was created to make Cass County Road Commission more efficient and productive while being more cost-effective. The best practices award is an annual award given to one of the 83 county road commissions in Michigan each year, rewarding them for program creativity and innovation which create a positive impact in customer service.”

Commissioner Roseann Marchetti, R-Edwardsburg, commented, “This is a big deal, and they are getting calls from others wanting to know how they did it. I’m very proud of them.”