Bainbridge trustees discuss Territorial culvert project; Supervisor Jollay does not expect work to be done in spring

By Angela Stair

The Bainbridge Township Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting on Monday, October 10.  Township Supervisor Jerry Jollay told the Board that he had attended the meeting with the Road Commission on the completion of the work being done on Territorial Road and in his personal opinion did not believe they could get the work done and open to public use by spring.  Supervisor Jollay explained to the Board why he felt it would take that long.  He said the plans have been completed and sent to the state of approval.  Until they get that approval, they cannot do anything with the project.  Once the approval is given, they will advertise the project for six weeks and then accept bids.  Once that is taken care of and the contractor is selected, they will have to order the concrete culvert made and that takes a minimum of 16 weeks to complete.  Then work will begin and progress when the weather allows it.  If it is not completed by mid March, all work will have to stop until the end of April when the spawning season for the fish is completed as no construction can be done in water ways during that time.  Supervisor Jollay said “It is just my personal opinion that if everything does not fall in place perfectly, it will not be completed until July.”  The Berrien County Road Commission has a projected completion date of May 26, 2017.

Building Department Contracts, Pipestone Lake Special Assessment and Fire Protection

The new Mechanical Inspector and the new Plumbing Inspector has signed contracts that were like the one for retired former inspector Ed Wainwright.    The Plumbing Inspector Ken Benjamin does carry the required liability insurance for his position but Rodney Wilder the new Mechanical Inspector does not.  Supervisor Jollay said he found out Wilder does the same job for Watervliet, and does carry the insurance there and will speak to him about it.  The Board discussed it some more and decided to get the new contracts for the two inspectors drawn up by their attorney and get them signed.  Trustee Don Baiers said to make sure they would be protected if an inspector does not carry liability insurance and check the legality of it.  Unanimous approval was given to proceed with the new contracts.  The Planning Commission sent the Board a letter asking for its directions for the possibility of a well being put on the Township property.  They suggested two options of wells that could be used.  The Board discussed it and decided they had questions and did not really understand the differences with their pros and cons and felt they had to speak with someone that did.  Trustees John Yetzke and Don Baiers will look into it and bring the information back for the Board.

Sheriff’s report and other business

 Deputy Mazurak presented the activity in Bainbridge Township by the Sheriff’s Department for the month of August.  There were 37 complaints worked, ten tickets issued and five arrests in the Township.  Of the 37 worked complaints there were two assaults, two burglary-forced entries, one larceny, one traffic accident, one robbery-armed and one trespass.  Township Clerk Patty Hiler-Molter asked the Board to consider paying the Deputy Clerk for coming in every other day for the 45 days prior to the election.  She explained that the Deputy has to come in to take care of any requests for absentee ballots, because by law they have to be sent out quickly.  The Board understood that having to drive in and check, even if there is only one ballot request, would be a hardship if not compensated for.  The Board approved the payment of one hour minimum per visit in the 45 days prior to the election.  Mike Bell requested the re-zoning of property from agriculture to commercial so he can construct a Self Storage facility on it.  Trustee Baiers, who represents the Board on the Planning Commission, said the property is next to property that is already zoned commercial and did not see a problem with it.  The Board voted unanimously to send the request to the Planning Commission and ask them to set up a special meeting to look at the request.  At a special meeting last week the Board passed a Resolution for the Pipestone Lake Special Assessment District and the payment and collection of the assessment.  The Sister Lakes Fire Department reported no fires in Bainbridge Township last month.  Pride Care Ambulance reported they had nine calls with an average response time of eight minutes and 44 seconds.  The Board approved the payment of bills in the amount of $32,881.43, payroll in the amount of $7,588.47, and taxes in the amount of $2,617.91 for a total of $43,087.81.

Lakeland first in region to provide new breast cancer treatment option

Benjamin Gielda, MD

Women with certain types of early-stage breast cancer now have a new treatment option available to them at Lakeland Health. The hospital recently became the first in the region (west Michigan and northern Indiana) to begin providing radiotherapy using the ZEISS INTRABEAM intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) system. Up until now, the treatment has only been offered primarily at large university medical centers and research hospitals.  This may be an excellent therapy option for women having breast-conserving surgery, also known as a lumpectomy, according to Radiation Oncologist, Benjamin Gielda, MD, at Lakeland Health. Lakeland surgeons Elizabeth Jeffers, MD, and James Clancy, MD, recently traveled to Germany to become trained on the surgical technique.  “Radiation has always been an essential part of breast preservation for many patients,” said Dr. Gielda. “Traditionally, after undergoing a lumpectomy to remove cancer or other abnormal tissue from the breast, women would require five weeks of daily radiation treatment to the whole breast and one week of more focal radiation to the lumpectomy bed, known as a boost. With this new treatment option, a single dose of radiation is delivered directly to the lumpectomy cavity while the patient is still asleep from the procedure. In some patients this single treatment may replace weeks of radiation, in others it may replace the boost. In either case, it improves the accuracy of therapy and can help patients get back to their lives more quickly.”  “I wish we had this treatment option available when my mother was going through breast cancer,” said Jann Totzke, Executive Director of the Marie Yeager Cancer Center.  Localizing the radiation to the tumor bed is effective because this is where cancer is most likely to recur. The international TARGIT research group has been investigating this new method of delivering radiotherapy for breast cancer at the time of surgical lumpectomy since 1988. The results of the trial show the overall number of recurrences of the cancer was very low.  “Radiotherapy delivered at the time of surgery is an exciting advancement,” said Michael Alvarado, MD, a member of TARGIT-A International Steering Committee and one of the principle investigators at the University of California, San Francisco. “By delivering radiation intraoperatively, primarily the tumor bed is targeted, therefore patients benefit from less ‘scatter radiation’ to the lungs and heart, and fewer cosmetic problems with the breast.”  According to the recent Cancer Care Report, female breast cancer is the most common cancer site at Lakeland Health with 155 treated cases in 2014. Women who have been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer should talk with their physician about whether this treatment is right for them.