CASSOPOLIS — Cass County is joining the City of Dowagiac in a joint purchasing agreement with Dowagiac Union School District to save on fuel costs.

The five-year agreement will automatically be renewed for successive one-year periods unless either party provides written notice to the other within 60 days prior to the contract year end.

Sheriff Joseph Underwood assured Commissioner Dale Rose, R-Howard Township, “We’re not going to have to drive back and forth to Dowagiac to get gas.”

The sheriff said, “Cars assigned to that sector will be utilizing the Dowagiac schools. We’re not going to make special trips to Dowagiac to get fuel. I believe there will be at least a 20-cents-per-gallon savings.

The more gas we buy, the bigger the discount, so our savings over a period of time should be greater as time goes on. I’m working on agreements with other agencies within the county, but this is a start.”

Underwood told Commissioner Gordon Bickel Sr., R-Porter Township, a similar arrangement with Cassopolis Public Schools is not possible because that district lacks bulk tanks.

“We pay a 1-percent administrative charge and the cost of maintaining the pumps is paid by Dowagiac schools,” the sheriff told Commissioner Ron Francis, R-Cassopolis.

“Has the Road Commission been offered an opportunity to participate?” asked Commissioner Robert Ziliak, R-Milton Township.

Commissioner Roseann Marchetti, R-Edwardsburg, who offered the motion for the fuel agreement, replied that the Road Commission has a joint purchasing agreement with St. Joseph County.

In other April 7 business, commissioners approved the purchase of a 2011 half-ton, 4×4 truck for Animal Control from Siemans Ford in Bridgman for $21,495, plus $15 for title fees.

The county accepted the low of four bids.

The vehicle being replaced is a 2002 Ford truck with more than 100,000 miles which will be auctioned in June.

Commissioners also signed off on the sheriff’s $58,321 contract with Howard Township for police protection 40 hours a week.

Chair Minnie Warren, D-Pokagon Township, named Vice Chair Ed Goodman, R-Silver Creek Township, to lead a committee reviewing Board of Commissioners procedural rules.

Goodman selected E. Clark Cobb of Dowagiac and Carl Higley Sr. and Roseann Marchetti, both of Edwardsburg, to assist him. Commissioner Skip Dyes, R-Calvin Township, will be a member of the committee interviewing MSU Extension 4-H educators.

The board approved an exception so Margaret Edwards, 78, of 202 Cherry St., Dowagiac, can receive weatherization home improvement funds from Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency, for which she serves as an unpaid volunteer board member.

She has been on a waiting list for three years.