George James

Monday night’s Port Huron City Council Meeting addressed the future of the city as well as taking care of some routine business. Dennis Fitzsimmons, a new police officer was introduced by Chief Platzer. The Chief also announced the retirement of two officers and the upcoming interviews of new officers. A proclamation was read honoring the Lott Anter Tailoring and Cleaning business for over 100 years of business in the city and retiring city employee Jim Brennan was honored for his years of service to the city. 

The council approved the replacement of a sewer pump and an agreement with Redstone Architects to provide engineering services to explore rehabilitation or consolidation of the city’s fire stations. The process should take about eighteen weeks. 

Finally, the council set goals for the city for the future at a prior work session and voted to approve those goals. The foremost goals include street repairs, rental and blight ordinances, the fire station study, tourism promotion with improved signage, and concluding the bridge plaza project. Other goals from the session can be found on the city council webpage.

Due to the weather, the following schools and businesses have notified us of changes to their regularly scheduled activities:

Canceled:

Colonial Woods Missionary Church activities for tonight are canceled

SC4 – all classes and evening activities for tonight from 6 pm on are canceled.

This list will be updated as we receive more information.

Lakeplain prairies are globally rare wetlands that harbor high levels of assortment in plants and natural resources and provide potential habitat for numerous rare species. Did you know Algonac State Park is a lakeplain prairie? Sunday was a Stewardship Day at the Algonac State Park and volunteers used the time to remove some damaging invasive plants from the area. The park is home to a special ecosystem and care is taken to make sure the native plants have a chance to thrive. 

Glossy buckthorn shades out native plants and threatens the growth of saplings. Kelsey Dillon, Natural Resource Steward for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said that the removal of the glossy buckthorn was the main focus of last weekend’s efforts. As winter turns to spring, staff and volunteers will turn their efforts toward other invasive species such as garlic mustard. Dillon said the workdays are important because they are engaging community volunteers in the “removal of a harmful invasive species from the lake plain prairie ecosystem at Algonac State Park.”

The next Stewardship Workday at Algonac State Park is March 22. Volunteers can register at the DNR website.

Port Huron businesses and individuals are advised to be vigilant after five St. Clair County locations received counterfeit bills last weekend. According to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office, businesses around Port Huron Township, Marysville, and Fort Gratiot Township reported getting $100 bills last week that the offenders exchanged for real money. A liquor store, Menards, and AutoZone were all victims, but officials say other companies may have received the bills but not realized they were fake.

The suspects are believed to be three black females who were in a white Kia Forte with a Florida license plate. Anyone with more information should contact the St. Clair County Sheriff Department at (810) 985-8115.

St. Clair County Community College (SC4) added some names to their Hall of Fame at the 2020 Skippers Hall of Fame Ceremony last Saturday night. The evening honored three teams and 12 individuals.  It is the fourth class bringing the total of membership to forty-two individuals and 14 teams.

Among the honorees was Brian Bowman, current Golf Pro at the Port Huron Elks Club and Coach Ross Green, who was credited with building the SC4 Golf Program in the early 1990s. Other inductees included basketball, baseball, and volleyball athletes who made their mark at SC4. The teams included the 1994 men’s golf team coached by Mr. Green, 1994 baseball team coached by Rick Smith, and the 1996-97 Women’s Basketball Team coached by Chris Huss. 

SC4 began the athletics program in 1923. The institution has been honoring Hall of Fame Athletes since 2017. SC4 currently has fifteen sports teams. Nominations for future Hall of Fame individuals, coaches, and teams can be made on the SC4 website, sc4.edu. The Hall of Fame is located in the foyer of the SC4 Fieldhouse on the corner of Erie Street and McMorran Boulevard in downtown Port Huron.

The City of Algonac is warning residents of higher water levels that are expected for the coming year based on predictions from the Army Corp of Engineers. In a letter to residents, the city is urging Algonac property owners to prepare now to protect homes and take measures to prevent water from their property adversely affecting neighbors or public streets.

Along with the warning, comes a few reminders. The City says excess water cannot be discharged into the sanitary sewer system as the Waste Water Treatment Plant in Algonac is designed to handle the disposal of waster water and not drain property due to flooding. It is also illegal to: connect a sump pump or any other pump to drain water into the sanitary sewer; use open cleanouts to drain yards into the sanitary sewer; lifting manhole covers to allow surface water entry into the sanitary sewer.

Failure to follow these guidelines and increased flows into the sanitary sewer can cause sewer backups in homes and pollution into the St. Clair River. The city of Algonac declared a local flood emergency in June 2019 that is still in effect. Future information will be posted via the city’s website and Facebook page to inform the community of conditions as necessary.