The Berrien County Road Commission is 100 years old this year. The organization’s Managing Director will turn 70 in July, and he confirmed today that he will be stepping down, apparently at the end of his current contract which is May 26th. Louis Csokasy confirmed for the WSJM News team this morning that he will step away from the post that he assumed in October of 2013 in the wake of considerable controversy over operations there.
Csokasy has been a stabilizing force for the agency which is responsible for the maintenance of nearly 1,500 miles of county roads and more than 100 bridges in the various townships around Berrien County. He was hired in at a salary of $82,000 to settle an agency that was in considerable turmoil at the time with threats by the Berrien County Board of Commissioners to take over.
Csokasy had been Cass County Administrator until July of that year when he resigned that post, but he also had extensive experience at the helm of both the Cass County Road Commission and the St. Joseph County Road Commission — dual positions held at the same time.
The veteran administrator of community infrastructure told the news team, “the time is right” to depart the post with his 70th birthday arriving this summer. His current contract runs up to the Memorial Day, and he’s uncertain what plans the road commission might have regarding a successor when he is gone.
Csokasy took the reins at a tumultuous time three and a half years ago in the fall of 2013, following a more than year long period of multiple road commission board member replacements and the departure of at least three management team members alleging a hostile work environment.
When Csokasy came on, he had responsibility for 64 full-time employees and a budget of $13.5-million which has grown in recent years thanks to new state commitments for road and bridge funding.
He was one of nearly 20 people who had applied for the job, and one of five finalists who ended up being interviewed for the job in the process.
He has also dealt with several major culvert collapse issues and other problems that stem from aging infrastructure around the county.
