Politics

Members of the Constantine Village Council have agreed to participate in the 2014 Mayors’ Exchange Day. Organized for the past 17 years by the Michigan Association of Mayors and Michigan Municipal League, the exchange will take place in May and involve Constantine Village President Pat Weiss and other municipal officials. The exchange community has not yet been identified. Council president …

Members of the Three Rivers City Commission could be less than a month from approving an ordinance regulating donation boxes. Following discussion on the matter during Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Tom Lowry and commissioners ironed out a few specifics to a draft ordinance presented Feb. 4 by city attorney Pat O’Malley. With the feedback presented Tuesday, O’Malley will make revisions and …

The Three Rivers City Commission on Tuesday took a step closer to establishing a sidewalk snow removal ordinance. After commenting on a draft prepared by city attorney Pat O’Malley, Mayor Tom Lowry and commissioners directed O’Malley to document a small number of revisions and present a potential final draft at the commission’s March 4 meeting. The issue resurfaced in January …

Three Rivers city officials are in the midst of working out a potential ordinance regulating collection boxes. The matter was most recently discussed at the commission’s Feb. 4 meeting, when Mayor Tom Lowry indicated his preference for the boxes to be banned within the city limits. Lowry said the boxes take resources away from the community and do not provide …

Two budget amendments were made at last week’s St. Joseph County Board of Commissioner’s meeting. Commissioners agreed to a $4,030 adjustment from the county’s general fund for an animal-control shelter study. The study will focus on a needs assessment to be performed in coming months. In addition, more than $11,200 was amended from the information technology improvement fund for the …

State Rep. Matt Lori has offered his compliments to Rick Snyder for the governor’s budget proposal to invest more money in the state’s mental-health programs. In a statement Wednesday after the release of the governor’s proposed fiscal year 2015 budget, Lori said Michigan continues its comeback by investing in priorities to boost education, expand job creation, build stronger communities, improve …

Only four members of the Michigan Senate have so far said they’re in support of a new proposal to make the Michigan lawmakers part-time workers. In the meantime, the petition drive to put the part-time legislature question on the statewide ballot is getting underway. Thirty of the 38 members of the Senate have been contacted so far. Of the thirty, …

Road commission boards in St. Joseph and Cass counties have agreed to a restructuring that will involve each entity being governed by their own manager. During a joint meeting Jan. 29, current manager Christopher Bolt recommended each agency continue to collaborate on sharing services in accordance with an agreement reached in 2010. Bolt, however, said in the face of numerous …

Three Rivers Mayor Tom Lowry said he has been informed the municipality has received three grants. During last week’s city commission meeting, Lowry said the grants are in the combined amount of almost $7,500. The first, a $750 award from the Dr. Pepper/Snapple group, will be used for expenses related to clean-up projects during the city’s Community Pride Day coming …

Discussions regarding a potential sidewalk snow-removal ordinance in Three Rivers began Tuesday, when the Three Rivers City Commission explored the issue. Mayor Tom Lowry said a final proposed ordinance could be several meetings away, but he said hearing that children are walking in the street to and from school because sidewalks are not shoveled by adjacent property owners is alarming. …