Hildebrand And Reed Gone From BCRC

The house has been cleaned at the Berrien County Road Commission. As of noon today, finance director Rhonda Hildebrand and traffic services manager Kevin Reed were no longer employed by the BCRC, and supervisor David Fritz retired within the past week. The moves were the result of whistleblower accusations in June from 13 non-union employees that the three created a hostile work environment and were mismanaging the Road Commission. An independent investigation was launched, and a month ago the Road Commission board demoted Hildebrand from managing director to finance director, but took no other action. At the time, they said the report showed there was no illegal activity, but the Berrien County Board of Commissioners disagreed. Last week, they removed two road commissioners and a third resigned. The revamped commission this week voted to remove Hildebrand and Reed. A search is underway to find a new managing director, and St. Joseph Assistant City Manager Derek Perry is currently in charge.