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, and Managing Director Jake Welch. Commissioner Knight excused.
The agenda for April 7, 2026 was approved.
______________________________________________________________________________
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to approve the following consent items:
- Minutes of Previous Board Meetings – March 17, 2026
- Payroll
- Bills
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes & James
Nays, None
Motion Carried
CHECK NAME AMOUNT
3/26/26 Barry County Road Commission Payroll $170,929.02
Bills:
3/26/26
| Check Number | Vendor Name | Check Amount |
| 48624 | Advantage Electrical | $20,050.03 |
| 48625 | Advantage Plumbing & Drain LLC | $900.00 |
| 48626 | Arizent | $1,705.00 |
| 48627 | Bauer Built Tire | $5,700.43 |
| 48628 | Brian Donnini | $92.20 |
| 48631 | Capital One Bank | $24,631.64 |
| 48632 | Consumers Energy | $6,917.60 |
| 48633 | Culligan Water Conditioning | $78.00 |
| 48634 | D & K Truck Company | $1,307.38 |
| 48635 | Delta Dental | $61.08 |
| 48636 | DLZ | $10,604.24 |
| 48637 | Dylan Kennedy | $127.19 |
| 48638 | Floyd’s Electric Service Inc | $345.00 |
| 48639 | Forklifts of Michigan | $587.12 |
| 48640 | Fox Chevrolet Buick | $1,474.51 |
| 48641 | Frontline Maintenance & Serv. | $9,500.00 |
| 48642 | Hastings Ace Hardware | $733.20 |
| 48643 | Imperial Dade | $861.96 |
| 48644 | J & H Oil Company | $1,898.18 |
| 48645 | Jake Welch | $524.45 |
| 48646 | K M International, Inc. | $23.16 |
| 48647 | Kimball Midwest | $1,194.10 |
| 48648 | Lakeland Asphalt Corp | $289.08 |
| 48649 | Lincoln National Life Ins | $632.29 |
| 48650 | LJ Fluid Power Inc | $591.90 |
| 48651 | MEI Telecom, Inc. | $500.00 |
| 48652 | Mika, Meyers, Beckett & Jones | $2,728.00 |
| 48653 | NEXUS RC, LLC | $8,069.10 |
| 48654 | Overhead Door Co | $4,168.08 |
| 48655 | Priority Health | $24,602.29 |
| 48656 | Purity Cylinder Gases Inc | $302.27 |
| 48657 | Ridderman Oil | $36,487.64 |
| Check Number | Vendor Name | Check Amount |
| 48658 | S & P Global Ratings | $22,000.00 |
| 48659 | Sherwin Industries Inc | $78.95 |
| 48660 | Truck & Trailer Specialties | $617.78 |
| 48661 | UniFirst Corporation | $280.72 |
| 48662 | VanBelkum Companies of GR LLC | $32,909.19 |
| $223,573.76 |
______________________________________________________________________________
Ian Rees from Gabridge & Company presented to the Board the 2025 Financial Statement. Mr. Rees reported that the Barry County Road Commission received an unmodified opinion or a “clean” opinion for the audit ending December 31, 2025. This is considered the best or highest level the Road Commission could receive. Mr. Rees explained that the two pages referring to the Fiduciary Fund have not been updated yet. He was waiting for some information from Alerus. The Board will approve the Financial report after receiving this information.
______________________________________________________________________________
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded authorizing Chairman Solmes and Finance Director Chris BeBeau to sign the 2025 Act 51 report.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes & James
Nays, None
Motion Carried
______________________________________________________________________________
Bids for Bridge H Pile Driving – Wellman Road and Hickory Road were opened on April 2, 2026 at 11:00 A.M.
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to award the Bridge H Pile Driving – Wellman Road and Hickory Road to Nasvhille Construction Company as low bidder. Nashville Construction has agreed to extend the Hickory Road bid price through 2027, with the understanding that if steel H-Pile prices increase during that period, BCRC will cover the difference in cost.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes & James
Nays, None
Motion Carried
______________________________________________________________________________
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to set the bid date on the sale of six (6) pick-up trucks for April 24, 2026 at 11:00 A.M. and minimum bid price to be at Management discretion.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes & James
Nays, None
Motion Carried
Motion was made by Commissioner James and seconded to set the bid date for the Sager Road Bridge Construction for April 30, 2026 at 11:00 A.M.
ROLL CALL: Yeas, Solmes & James,
Nays, None
Motion Carried
______________________________________________________________________________
This last weekend there were storms that had downpour of rain causing flooding, washouts, and road closings. There was a discussion how management handled this situation. The county was broken up into sections and management reviewed the roads in their section and had employees report directly to them on roads that needed more than a quick fix. As roads were closed or re-opened they were reported to Central Dispatch and a post was made on Facebook to keep the public informed. A list of repairs was created and prioritized to create a recovery plan.
The Emergency Action Plan procedure that had been created worked well.
- Roles and responsibilities were clearly defined
- Communication channels were effective
- Decision-making authority was properly distributed
______________________________________________________________________________
Meeting adjourned at 7:54 A.M.
________________________________ __________________________________
Secretary Chairman
Comments are closed.