CASSOPOLIS — Cass County Road Commission and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office have entered into a maintenance agreement that benefits both parties.
The agreement calls for road commission crews to provide oil changes at $10 each for the sheriff department’s 45- to 50-vehicle fleet.
Any other repairs are charged at $45 an hour with all parts and supplies billed directly to the sheriff’s office each month.
As per the contract, the agreement can be canceled at any time at the discretion of either party.

Redfield Bridge
bid opening set

Bids on the construction and new launch site for the Redfield Street Bridge will be opened on April 6 in Lansing with construction targeted for mid-May, officials with the Cass County Road Commission say.
Redfield Street between Adamsville Road in Ontwa Township and Cassopolis Road in Mason Township will be closed to through traffic during construction.
Aug. 24 is the expected re-opening date.
The project, estimated to cost $791,000, includes construction of a nonmotorized launch and parking area, which will be maintained by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. One-half acre of land on the southwest side of the bridge has been donated for the launch site by George Bucklen of Bristol, Ind. Bucklen is the great-great grandson of George Redfield, who moved to Cass County in 1835 and for whom Redfield Street is named.
Redfield was elected treasurer of Michigan in 1844 and once owned 10,000 acres of land in the county.

Brush/spraying program continues

Jail inmates with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office work-release program continue to work this winter to clear brush on gravel roads in Marcellus, Volinia, Penn and Newberg townships.
Spraying will be done in the fall of this year in road right-of-ways on those roads cleared for safety and line-of-sight purposes.
The brush and spraying program began in 2011. The cost is shared by the Sheriff’s Office and the Cass County Road Commission.
This program, in combination with the normal brush clearing activities of the road commission and a spray program started in 2010, is improving road side sight distance around the county.
The spray program follows the mechanical clearing of brush and kills 90 percent of the brush and suppresses re-growth for four years.
The brush-clearing programs rotate around the county on a four-year cycle.

Brochures explaining millage request are available

Voters are reminded that brochures explaining the request for the one- mill proposal that will be on the ballot in Cass County on Feb. 28 are available at no charge from the Cass County Road Commission headquarters, in all branches of Cass District Library at the Cass County Building and in all township halls.
The road commission is asking voters to approve a levy of one mill on the taxable value of properties for five years to raise $1.8 million for maintenance of primary roads.
Of the amount, $1.6 million each year will go to the road commission with the remainder distributed by law to the cities of Niles and Dowagiac and the villages of Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Vandalia and Marcellus.