An article in the Fall 2017 edition of “Crossroads,” the quarterly journal of the County Road Association of Michigan, recognizes the accomplishments of the Barry County Road Commission.

More than a million dollars has been saved in the past two decades by the Barry County Road Commission (BCRC) thanks to innovation and creative operational systems. BCRC emphasizes the importance of planning for the future, good business practices and constant innovation, the article said.

“We make it a priority to safeguard our internal operations. And identifying these ‘curves’ or trends is just the beginning,” Manager/Director of the BCRC Brad Lamberg  said in the article.

Lamberg credits forward-looking thinking by the road commissioners and staff over the last two decades in the areas of health care, unfunded liabilities and longer-lasting road preservation on a reduced budget.

Addressing health care costs, the BCRC replaced defined benefit with defined contribution in the late 1990s, allowing health care accounts to grow and keep health care contributions flat for seven years, saving over $1.5 million.

Innovations on the road have helped the BCRC stretch its dollars. Wedging is a process used to strengthen the outer half of lanes using a thin layer of asphalt. Combined with a chip-seal surface the technique has proved a sustainable practice for road repair. Today all BCRC asphalt surfaces, including full overlays and multi-lift all season roads, are topped with a chip seal layer as the county has proven it is best to extend pavement life, the article said.

In a 2014 evaluation, 79 percent of Barry County residents gave BCRC a, “positive job rating, a rate rarely obtained by tax-funded agencies,” the County Road Association reported.