Trial set for Drouillard Rd. dispute

By: 
Larry Limpf

A trial date has been set for Oct. 29 in Perrysburg Municipal Court in the dispute between Lake Township and Village of Walbridge over which entity is responsible for maintaining a section of Drouillard Road.
The date was set after a pre-trial conference held last Tuesday between attorneys for both parties.
The township administration last year decided to continue pursuing legal action in the case after Wood County Common Pleas Court Judge Mathew Reger denied a township motion for a summary judgment.
Judge Reger ruled in August the dispute “is not appropriate for resolution by declaratory judgment” but said “a breach of contract or similar action would be more appropriate for a full and fair adjudication of plaintiff’s (Lake Township) claims…”
The township opted to file a breach of contract complaint in municipal court in December 2019.
Following judge Reger’s ruling, Mark Hummer, township administrator, said: “Our opinion is it’s a pretty simple situation. There is a contract in place that was approved by those who had power to approve it years ago. Nothing has changed. There has been no agreement to modify the contract that was entered into years ago.”
Walbridge mayor Ed Kolanko said at the time the village was pleased with the ruling but called the lawsuit a waste of resources.
The township alleges the village has reneged on a 1977 agreement to maintain Drouillard Road from Cummings Road to the village’s southern limits.
In 2019, the township submitted an invoice for $116.31 to the village for repairing a pothole in the northbound lane of Drouillard, south of Ayers Road, but the village has refused to reimburse the township.
The township also claims it incurred $367 in labor costs and $208 for road salt to remove snow between Jan. 12 and 31, 2019.
The village informed the township in April 2018 the village was going to cease maintaining Drouillard effective June 1 of that year.
“This decision is supported by legal boundaries, taxing and police jurisdictions and the significant demographic changes in Lake Township,” a letter from James Bishop, then village administrator, to the township solicitor says.

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