City State County bosses where does it end. read this from email:
Complaints on Emmet County Weigh “MASTER”?
Constant Harrassment
Current complaints
On the Morning of Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 (Easter Sunday), we had a truck out to get one account which was Nubs Nobb Ski Resort. When leaving this establishment, Rob, (Our Driver) lifted his pusher axle to turn off of “Nubs Nobb” road on to Pleasantview Road. Tim AKA Emmet County Weigh Master was waiting for him to pull out & Stopped him to weigh the truck. Tim asked Rob to Pull into a Private parking lot that is known as Teddy Griffen’s Road house so he could weigh the truck. Tim weighed the truck & told Rob to follow him to the Emmet County Road commission Garage so he could use different scales on a more level surface. He then weighed the truck & told Rob it was to heavy to drive out then, he was going to impound the truck. Rob brought the keys & paper work. There was nothing on the ticket or any paper work saying it was impounded, there also was not a sticker placed on truck. Tim told Rob & Ben (an owner, picking up rob) that when we had to pay the ticket or bond it out if we were going to challenge the ticket in order to remove the truck. He also told them when they picked up the truck, they have to take it out on N. Conway & use Highways to go directly to the transfer station.
- Tim did not allow Rob to leave the lift axle down, it was down on Nubbs Nobb Road & was lifted to urn only. He was ticketed for being on Nubbs Nobb Road, not Pleasantview road
- At 6:00 a.m. easter morning what else was he looking for off of a secluded road?
- Tim told our counsil that he new that the resort was having an end of the year party & that the trash would need to be emptied that morning, and he saw Rob turn onto Pleasantview from M-119 and new that was probably where he would be heading so he waited for him to come out in the Hidden Hamlet home Association He was not at all in sight.
- Tim did not allow rob to put the axle down when being weighed, Tim told our counsil that it did not matter because it was still over weight. How would he know? He did not try? If it was it would be less over weight!
- When he told Rob to follow him he led him down a weight restricted road of about 5 miles to the road commission building, on a weight restricted road, putting us at more risk with other enforcement, (another county weigh guy or the DOT) which could have caused us further problems, our counsil confronted Tim on doing that, Tim said he thought it was the quickest way.?? So we avoid driving on these roads & he takes us down one. I thought the enforcement was to prevent road damage. Nubs Nobb road is all of ½ mile, we only accessed it because it is the only way into it. We do not intentionally run on restricted roads if there is a better way in.
- Tim told rob on the day he impounded the truck that he had to write enough tickets so the county can get grants from the state! Why would he say that?
- Tim told Rob & Ben that when they leave to take the main roads & not go down the way he brought Rob in. Now as of Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 Tim has changed tune as we have to unload enough to make the truck legal.
- The ticket is around $3,000. To bond it out it is double the ticket. What? They will not take payments on the ticket because they want the truck there until ticket is paid, but they don’t want the truck there long because it stinks.
- Everything we or our counsil try to work out has been unsuccessful, we filed an extension for ticket to get the payment collected.
- Why all of this? Usually if we or anyone gets a ticket, they issue the ticket & go on about your business. Why would they hold a truck?
- Tim told our cou in a discussion that he know what the particular truck looks like and will stop it & weigh it & write a full ticket each time. He will also be looking for it at all times. “This is not even right.”
- Nubb’s Nobb road is NOT marked as a restricted road as most others are. When you go into Nub’s Nobb there is a big sign the says Nubs Nubb Road, also the road is called Nubbs Nobb road. There is no way really to tell if it is a county road or a private road, it is not marked as seasonal, restricted, but it has Nubb’s Nobb the name of the resort. The drive has a couple roads coming out of the housing association but other wise it goes right in to the resort.
- Owner of resort said this is the first time anything like that has happened & they been around for 50 years
Our complaint is not just because we got a ticket, we would normally settle it & get on with our work. We feel that The officer has been harassing us and entrapping us since March of 2005, our first year. The county has us turn in a chart of days showing where we are operating & how many trucks in those areas. Emmet County is huge & has many, many miles of county roads. We see him every season where we run our routes. I am thinking it is not coincidental anymore. There is plenty of other trucking outfits & roads they could patrol. Why just us?
The County bans burning of trash, has ordinances to not have trash in yards, So we & others offer the service to haul it for them. The county requires us as haulers to only dump at the county owned facility. The county sets dumping rates, we have our rates be approved by them. And then they hunt you down to give you a ticket.
We are getting very discouraged.
Waste removal is a necessary service, not seasonal type of business. Where there are restaurants, Stores, gas stations, Farms, other businesses, & many, Many residences.
We do all that we can to not be overweight, these types of trucks are heavy to start, we usually go into restricted roads empty, on Sunday the county transfer is closed, so we can not empty. We only haul partial loads, use pick up’s, trailers, and for residential we have a different style to use which scales. The big dumpsters however we need our larger trucks. We are planning on different types of trucks in the future as we grow. We are a small company & can not afford to go buy all new equipment, but as we do we have been trying to get lightest as we can. They do not make a packer truck “legal weight” not for Michigan. Tim says there is but you need to be a millionaire to get one!
We would like to see some easement of restrictions to allow for some services to be done with out being harassed. Not only for us but for company’s who haul heating fuel for homes, septic haulers so if people need it they can get it!, and other important services.
Why is they county exempt from the restrictions they make? They say we can not drive on them but they do with their dump trucks, heavy equipment. This is how the roads get damaged, with their heavy loads & Plows, We see chunks of road on shoulder all of the time.
IMO They only reason they held our truck is because they wanted every cent they could get. It is like theft, the legal way.(legal in their mind, not mine)
TIM
EMMET COUNTY ROAD COMMISION WEIGH MASTER
ABUSE OF POWER