The Barry Eaton District Health Department’s TOST regulation will become a voluntary program offered by the joint health department, and with other changes, be more user-friendly to Barry and Eaton county residents who chose to use the regulation.

 

Those are the stated goals of a process set in motion Thursday by officials on the health department’s Health Board.

 

“Me, Dave Jackson and Dan Parker will draft a proposal over the next few weeks with the changes we want in TOST. On Nov.13, we will have a Health Board workshop and on Nov 14, at the Barry County Board of Commissioners meeting, we will report on the workshop and have a status update discussion. After that, we’ll set dates for the next steps,” Barry County Commissioner Ben Geiger said.

 

TOST calls for inspection of on-site water and sewer systems on property in both counties with repair or replacement mandated before the property can be sold. It has been the target of near-constant criticism by Barry County residents since it’s inception 10 years ago.

 

The Health Board, three county officials from Barry, three from Eaton County, control the health department. Commissioners Blake Mulder, Jane Whitacre and Joe Brehler are from Eaton County, Geiger, Dan Parker and David Jackson from Barry County.

 

The proposal from Barry County to revise the unpopular regulation was met with a willingness by Eaton County representatives to work together to find the best way to accomplish it.

Several options were discussed at the Thursday meeting, with pro’s and con’s for each.

 

“Do we really need any new information?” Whitacre asked during discussion. She suggested a framework, she called it a skeleton, of TOST’s working parts, that the six commissioners could work on changing, each segment, one at a time.

“Don’t rewrite policy, take the pieces of what we’d like to change, work on them,” she said.  “It’s easier than starting over.”

 

The board agreed it would take some time to work through the process, and it should start right away. The initial meeting could be followed by more, with stake holders sitting in, if it is needed.

“It may be simpler than we think,” Parker said.//

 

The Barry County Commission by consensus on Oct. 24, agreed the regulation should be voluntary between buyer and seller, the $350 fee to file an appeal removed and timelines set for steps in the process.

“We recognize TOST has validity, by preventing polluting of our lakes and streams,” Geiger said. “We want to protect public health and also protect the right to exchange property.”

 

A major complaint was the regulation takes away the fundamental right to freely exchange property without permission from the government, he said.

 

Mulder said the Eaton County Board of Commissioners has less information about the process than Barry commissioners. “They would like to see movement,” he said, “but, it has to come from us.”

 

Eaton County Commissioner Brian Droscha, who was in the audience, advised against including well drillers, real estate agents and evaluators in meetings. Those mentioned all have financial interests in the rule, he said. “Bottom line, they have a vested interest.” He suggested bringing in home inspectors from outside the TOST area.

 

Barry County citizens Joyce Snow and Chuck Reid asked that more citizens, buyers and sellers, be brought into the talks.

 

Mulder wanted assurance that the result was not predetermined and a waste of time, with the outcome already decided, “that we would be doomed to fail.”

 “I’m not wasting anyone’s time,´ Geiger said. “I’m not interested in wasting anyone’s time. We will take action in a responsible way…we didn’t vote to repeal it, we believe we can make it work.”

 

All agreed the goal was candid and open discussion with honesty and good will.

Whitacre said she was distressed by things she has been hearing; that the health department is in it for the money, of 20 percent pay increases and that they are an evil, corrupt organization.

“It’s not true, but perception is reality…we need to clear away the misunderstandings.”

 

“The health department gets beaten up unnecessarily,” Geiger said. “It’s our policy…they implement what we pass. To protect public health, we all have to buy into it so we can defend it and explain it.”