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The Three Rivers City Commission will meet this Tuesday, September 15 at 6 p.m. in city hall. Commissioners will work through a long agenda containing four public hearings and seven new business items.  Commissioners will consider the next steps for a property transfer to Habitat for Humanity, the 2027 Parks and Recreation department plan — which includes a splash pad, a second attempt at the sale of 810 S. Constantine St., and an annual review of city commission and administration guidelines.

Former patients now have to travel farther to access hospital care. But residents and experts say the impact of such a closure goes beyond inconvenience. The loss of a rural hospital can exacerbate barriers to health care, even to the point of endangering lives. It can dent the economies of entire communities. Perhaps most devastatingly, a rural hospital closure leaves emotional scars for the residents and care workers who relied on it as a place of comfort, connectedness, and safety.

Commissioners held a public hearing and unanimously approved a resolution supporting an Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate (IFEC) for Summit Polymers, a plastic injection molding company for the automotive industry. The certificate would reduce the tax liability on the company’s new addition by approximately 50%. The IFEC is expected to save Summit Polymers approximately $110,000 annually in taxes. The exemption was approved for 12 years. 

This guide is intended to help voters understand how to register, choose a voting method, and make a voting plan ahead of the November 3 election. Watershed Voice will publish additional election coverage closer to Election Day detailing the candidates, races, and ballot proposals voters will see locally and statewide. Since ballots differ depending on where a voter lives, readers can view their sample ballot through the Michigan Voter Information Center once it is available.

During the Kalamazoo City Commission meeting on Tuesday, September 8, commissioners decided to delay the formal adoption of a policy that would require contracts involving automated license plate reader technology to come before the City Commission, regardless of cost.  Vice Mayor Drew Duncan proposed expanding the amendment, asking that the policy incorporate all law enforcement surveillance technology, not just license plate readers. 

Reverend Nicole Smith of Three Rivers writes, “A healthy human being is healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally. Health Trac sought to be a place where everyone from families with small children to octogenarians could gather safely and not just exercise but also socialize, interact on an intergenerational basis, and find not just a healthier body but release from stress, anxiety, fear, and loneliness.”