Lapeer Tries to Engineer Private Contract for Road Building

LAPEER—Road commission administrators are thinking about bringing in a contractor to replace some or all of the engineering department employees. Apparently road work that needs to be done is not getting done, or is done inefficiently, and repeated efforts to get the department to operate better have fallen on deaf ears.

"They've had three years to redesign their department to make it more efficient, and they've been sitting on their hands," says Managing Director Dan Toy. "We can't make it productive. We hide lots of costs internally. They're getting paid to sit here," he adds.

Toy says the bargaining contract with the current employees allows two-week layoff notices, but attorneys for the employees are making threatening noises about filing unfair labor practice complaints and otherwise resisting Toy's effort.