The city decided not to renew its Flock contract because of budget constraints for the 2027 fiscal year. During the program’s first three years, community partnerships with local businesses funded the cameras. The cameras were initially installed in phases in 2023. The cameras will be removed by a contractor as their schedule permits, Sturgis Department of Public Safety Director Ryan Banaszak said in an email.
Josh Hoeppner, Three Rivers 2nd district commissioner candidate filled out our questionnaire, below are his answers.
The following is Watershed Voice‘s candidate questionnaire for the August 2026 primary elections. We will be running all remaining candidate questionnaires in the order received today, tomorrow, and Thursday. Steve Carra, State House District 36 Republican primary candidate filled out our questionnaire, below are his answers as submitted.
If the amendment had failed, the Three Rivers Housing Development Corporation board would once again be subject to the original residency requirements, making several current members ineligible to continue serving. According to the proposed bylaw language, most current board members live outside the city. Mayor Angel Johnston began her portion of commissioners comments by going through each commissioner's comments sharing her thoughts on them. Johnston then moved to questioning City Clerk Leslie Wilson about whether the housing board's IRS Form 990 filings were up to date and why her FOIA asking for that information was delayed if the documents “should be available online.” Soon after Johnston began this questioning, Commissioner Pat Dane interrupted and “called the question,” a parliamentary motion to end debate and proceed to a vote. After the meeting, Mayor Johnston went live on her YouTube channel in a video titled, ‘Your mayor was silenced. Here’s what she wasn’t allowed to say.’ In the video, Johnston criticized the vote and argued the amended bylaws would allow nonresidents to oversee decisions involving taxpayer-funded housing projects.
Vice Mayor Jeff Mullins and Commissioner Aaron Miller have argued Kuk's resignation is directly tied to an environment created by Mayor Frank Perez and several other commissioners. Perez has denied wrongdoing, and specific allegations have not been publicly disclosed because commissioners and the city attorney have said they stem from confidential closed-session discussions. Several commissioners used their closing comments Wednesday to thank Kuk for his service. Miller said Kuk deserved to retire from the position rather than leave under the current circumstances. "There really are no adequate words," Miller said. "I've always appreciated just how high your character is and just how good of a job you do and how thorough you are and how knowledgeable you are. "This has not been your city your entire life, but you have given to it as if it was."
Commissioners unanimously approved Doug Terry’s agreement and he will start work on July 20. Once Terry begins, he will have a week of overlap with current City Manager Andrew Kuk. Despite the unanimous approval, Commissioner Jeff Mullins said he remains disappointed in the fact that they were there in the first place and said the city was spending over $300K on a process that shouldn't be happening. Mullins included the $170K to be paid to Terry, the full year salary that will be paid to Kuk as part of his separation agreement, and the costs to pay an outside firm to help the commission find a new manager. “Those are just the tangible numbers that are in front of us. We shouldn’t be here in this spot and it disappoints me that we are because Andrew is very much capable of doing his job,” Mullins said. “I’m very sad that we're in the position that we are in that made him make the decision to walk away.”
On Monday, July 13, Hyperscale Data Inc. will present its plants to Dowagiac residents and City Council members during a City Council meeting. Due to an expected large turnout, the venue has been moved to the Dowagiac Middle School Performing Arts Center at 57072 Riverside Drive at 6 p.m. The final regular agenda item reads: “Presentation from Hyperscale Data, Inc. regarding their plans for 415 E. Prairie Ronde & receiving public comment and questions regarding those plans.”
Mayor Angel Johnston, who has been highly critical of SAFEbuilt at recent meetings, said her experiences with them were one of the reasons she ran for mayor. “One of the reasons I ran for mayor is because of the horrible experiences I’ve had with your company,” Johnston said to SAFEbuilt representatives at Tuesday's meeting. “I’ve priced out contractors for people that can replace you and it’s not going to be that hard.” Despite the criticism, commissioners generally agreed they were willing to continue working with SAFEbuilt while monitoring whether customer service improves.
During the presentations portion of the meeting, SAFEbuilt, an outside firm that handles much of the city's building inspection and construction-related work, will give a presentation. The company is presenting per the request of Mayor Angel Johnston and Commissioner Lucas Allen who together requested City Manager Joe Bippus put the item on the agenda. Johnston said the presentation would give SAFEbuilt an opportunity to address concerns she has heard from residents about the company's conduct, responsiveness, and work throughout the city.
The investment is expected to generate at least $16,850,000 in capital investment while creating 32 new jobs in the region. To support the project, the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) approved a $200,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant.
A NOTE FROM OUR EDITOR
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