Marshall County Commissioners Reorganize, Discuss Mailbox Issue

The Marshall County Commissioners reorganized during their first meeting of 2018 Tuesday morning. Kevin Overmyer was reappointed as commission president while Kurt Garner was reappointed as Vice President.

Highway Supervisor Jason Peters presented a proposed policy to the commissioners regarding mailbox damage during plowing. Peters noted that the policy allows the highway department to repair or replace a mailbox if it is damaged as a result of direct contact of a highway department truck or equipment. However, if the mailbox or wooden post was broken due to the force of snow, it is “most likely” the highway department will not replace it.

Peters said he talked with a resident on Monday and the resident asked Peters if he had a recommendation on preventing this issue.

“The nice thing would be if you could move your mailbox off the right-of-way and put in an approach so the mail lady can pull off of the road and it’s four, five or six feet off of the road,” said Peters. “I mean, I had to replace mine I don’t know how many times and I ended up doing that and it help tremendously.”

Commissioner Garner asked if a stipend could be set aside to pay residents for mailboxes, but Peters said he’d like to steer away from that. There are many different styles of mailboxes and that could be costly and much more involved.

The commissioners agreed to keep the policy in mind and revisit it at their next meeting.