By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – Again without opposition or need for the secret ballot permitted once each year, Commissioner Robert Wagel, R-Wayne Township, was re-elected Thursday to his fourth term chairing the Cass County Board of Commissioners.
County Clerk-Register Barb Wilson, who chaired the reorganizational meeting up to that point, declared Wagel re-elected and administered oaths of office to 13 of the 15 members.
Commissioner Cathy Goodenough, R-Marcellus, nominated Wagel.
The board also awarded a fourth stint as vice chairman to Commissioner Ron Francis, R-Cassopolis, on an 8-5 vote that followed party lines over former chairman Johnie Rodebush, D-Howard Township.
Wagel, Francis, Goodenough, Gordon Bickel, R-Porter Township, Charlie Arnold, who succeeds Jack Teter in District 6, Carl Higley, R-Edwardsburg, Dixie Ann File, R-Cassopolis, and John Cureton, R-Dowagiac, supported Francis.
Ed Goodman, D-Silver Creek Township, David Taylor, D-Edwardsburg, Minnie Warren, D-Pokagon Township, Debbie Johnson, D-Niles, who returns to the board she served on in 2003-04, and Rodebush voted for Rodebush.
Robert Ziliak, R-Niles, and new Commissioner Bill Steele, D-Calvin Township, who succeeds Alan Northrop, were absent.
Wagel, 66, is a retired Dowagiac Union High School guidance counselor.
He is in his 12th year as a commissioner in two stints on the board dating back to 1989.
Wagel also chairs the county Board of Public Works.
Road Commission Chairman Robert Powers invited commissioners to attend an open house from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 25.
Tongue firmly in cheek, Rodebush cracked, "I just want to thank the Road Commission for the great job it's done keeping snow removed."
Commissioner Gordon Bickel, R-Porter Township, said at the Road Commission meeting earlier in the day Richard Janssen was named road superintendent.
There was also a "full house" for the hearing on relocating Eagle Lake Road. Bickel said 27 of 82 citizens present spoke.