Chairman Solmes called the regular meeting of the Barry County Road Commission to order at the Road Commission’s Board Room at 6:30 A.M.
Members present: Solmes, James, Knight, and Managing Director Jake Welch.
The agenda for October 7, 2025 was approved.
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Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to approve the following consent items:
- Minutes of Previous Board Meeting – September 16, 2025
- Payroll
- Bills
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
CHECK NAME AMOUNT
9/25/25 Barry County Road Commission Payroll $168,986.45
Bills:
9/25/25
| Check Number | Vendor Name | Check Amount |
| 47952 | Bauer Built Tire | $10,971.40 |
| 47953 | Black Gold Holdings LLC | $7,247.76 |
| 47954 | Brian Donnini | $103.56 |
| 47955 | Brian Heath | $150.00 |
| 47958 | Capital One Bank | $33,404.38 |
| 47959 | Carleton Equipment Co | $578.99 |
| 47960 | Consumers Energy | $3,093.31 |
| 47961 | Corewell Health Occupational | $150.00 |
| 47962 | Culligan Water Conditioning | $58.50 |
| 47964 | D & K Truck Company | $3,944.02 |
| 47965 | Dylan Kennedy | $37.49 |
| 47966 | Floyd’s Electric Service Inc | $295.00 |
| 47967 | Fox Chevrolet Buick | $40.02 |
| 47968 | Frontline Maintenance & Serv. | $40,207.00 |
| 47969 | Hall’s Septic | $285.00 |
| 47970 | Hastings Ace Hardware | $93.86 |
| 47971 | Imperial Dade | $1,441.06 |
| 47972 | J & H Oil Company | $2,931.28 |
| 47973 | Kimball Midwest | $586.65 |
| 47974 | Lakeland Asphalt Corp | $2,413.16 |
| 47975 | Lincoln National Life Ins | $598.53 |
| 47976 | Mika, Meyers, Beckett & Jones | $255.00 |
| 47977 | Purity Cylinder Gases Inc | $96.51 |
| 47978 | Reurink Roofing & Siding Sales | $896.19 |
| 47979 | S & M Liquid Tirefill Inc | $9,723.26 |
| 47980 | Truck & Trailer Specialties | $1,015.80 |
| 47981 | UniFirst Corporation | $130.90 |
| 47982 | Woodland Auto Body | $599.05 |
| 47983 | Wyoming Asphalt Paving Co | $13,837.19 |
| Total | $135,184.87 |
Mark Bishop from Quality Forest Management spoke to the Board about trees in the Chaffee Pit that need to be harvested. The last time BCRC had trees harvested at the Chaffee Pit was in 2019 in a different location in the pit.
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to take bids on December 12, 2025 to harvest approximately 103 trees from the Chaffee Pit.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
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Managing Director Jake Welch and the Board discussed the new Transportation Funding Package that was signed by the Governor.
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Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to accept extending the Liquid Asphalt bid from Bit-Mat Products of $2.148/Gallon from 2025 to 2026.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
By this letter, we would like to extend our prices from 2025 construction season through 2026 construction season as follows; these maximum prices are not subject to increase but subject to price reductions by Bit-Mat Products at time of shipment:
HFRS-2M $2.148/Gallon delivered
All bids specifications from the 2025 bid will remain the same for 2026.
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Managing Director Jake Welch explained to the Board that CRA for the last few years has been in touched with companies to create a new accounting software. The software is now available and will integrate with our Nexus RC App were our current accounting software will not. Mr. Welch and Accounting Manager Chris BeBeau have previewed this new Acumatica software and recommend switching companies. This process will take approximately six months.
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to proceed with Acumatica accounting software at an approximate cost of $99,375.00 and then an Annual Subscription rate of $38,170.00.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
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Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to adopt the Road Warrior Training Operational Guidelines and the Introduction & Index Policy and place it in the policy book.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
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Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to approve the 2026 Township Contribution costs.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to approve the TDS Telecom Variance Agreement
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
A copy of the Variance Agreement is in the Board Minutes Letter and Petitions file
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BCRC has received an e-mail from Irving Township requesting the removal of the Natural Beauty Road Designation from Engle Road.
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to set a Public Hearing at the Irving Township Hall for November 10, 2025 at 7:00 P.M. to review the designation of Natural Beauty Road on Engle Road.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
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Barry County Road Commission had contacted each township that has a Natural Beauty Road and asked about trimming/cutting of trees and brush on these roads. Thornapple Township and Irving Township responded with approval, without a public hearing, to complete the project on Robertson Road.
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to have Natural Beauty Road Robertson Road on the township line of Thornapple Township and Irving Township cut to normal road standard.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
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Managing Direct Jake Welch spoke to the Board about the Succession Plan for the Barry County Road Commission.
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The 2025 – 2026 Strategic Planning Goals were discussed.
The Strategic Planning Goals are:
Strategic Plan Goal #1 – Facilities & Mineral Pits
Strategic Plan Goal #2 – Bridges & Culverts
Strategic Plan Goal #3 – Organizational
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Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to go into Closed Session upon Jake Welch’s request to discuss performance evaluation and negotiations
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
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Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to open the Board Meeting back up to the public.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to adopt the updated Pay Schedule. All applicable benefits of the current Barry County Road Commission Employees’ Association contract will also apply to the Non-Association regular full time employees of the Barry County Road Commission with the exception of Line 8 under Schedule A.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes, James, & Knight
Nays, None
Motion Carried
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Meeting adjourned at 8:20 A.M.
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Secretary Chairman
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