Sturgis provides storm aid to neighbors, approves arts center entryway project

The Sturgis City Commission met Monday, March 9, for a regular business meeting. The meeting lasted less than an hour and included two new business items. Discussion about neighboring communities that were hit hard by Friday’s tornado dominated much of the meeting outside of the regular business items.

The City of Sturgis suffered very little damage from the storms. City staff reported during Monday’s meeting that minor damage occurred at the city’s hydroelectric facility, where a unit was knocked offline.

“It went right over the dam,” one city staff member said during the meeting.

Sturgis’ most significant involvement following the storm came through the aid and resources it provided to neighboring communities.

City Manager Andrew Kuk reported that the Sturgis Department of Public Safety delivered barricades to affected areas, and the city’s fire department traveled to Three Rivers on Friday to provide additional assistance.

Kuk also reported Sturgis police helped provide coverage in St. Joseph County while county officers responded to storm damage and emergency calls in heavily impacted communities, including Three Rivers.

Regular business items

The commission considered two new business items during Monday’s meeting.

The first item was approval of bids to replace the front entrance doors at the Sturges-Young Center for the Arts. City staff said the current interior and exterior doors are made with quarter-inch glass that provides little insulation, and the frames show deterioration after years of repainting.

The replacement project will install thermally broken aluminum framing and one-inch insulated glass panels, which officials said will improve energy efficiency in the building’s lobby. 

Four bids were submitted for the project, ranging from about $91,850 to $110,000. Staff recommended accepting a bid from Reliable Glass Installers of Kalamazoo totaling $94,470, which includes an alternate bid to wrap new structural steel columns to match the new framework. 

The project is already included in the city’s capital improvement budget, which set aside $150,000 for the improvements. 

The commission approved the bid, with Commissioner Aaron Bir voting against the motion. Commissioners Harrington, Abbs, Boring, Wickey, Smith, Miller, Vice Mayor Mullins, and Mayor Perez voted in favor. 

The second business item was a proposed Electric Fund Cash Reserve Policy, which establishes a formal guideline for the minimum amount of money the city’s electric utility should maintain in reserve.

City staff said the policy is intended to help ensure the utility has sufficient funds to cover operating costs, unexpected expenses, and future infrastructure investments.

The policy calculates a minimum reserve using several financial factors, including operating expenses, power supply costs, system assets, debt obligations and future capital improvement needs. 

Officials said establishing a formal policy will help the city better plan financing for future electric utility projects and understand how much cash is available for capital improvements.

Commissioner Marvin Smith asked whether the policy would affect financing for a previously approved project to build a new electric department facility. City Controller Sadie Griffin said the policy would primarily help the city organize and understand its cash position, but would not directly change plans for that project.

The commission approved the policy unanimously.

Additional updates

During commissioner and staff comments, Kuk reportedthe city will hold two Styrofoam recycling events this year — April 11 and October 10. The city reduced the number of collection dates after previous events struggled to secure enough volunteers and did not fully utilize recycling trucks.

Commissioners later entered a closed session to discuss material exempt from public disclosure under state or federal law.

After returning to open session, Commissioner Aaron Miller moved to approve the city’s Emergency Operations Plan as presented. The motion passed unanimously.

Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.