Operation Transformation is gearing up for their annual Family Night during Blue Water Fest or Boat Week. The event is planned for Thursday, July 14th from 5 – 9 PM.

Family Night takes over the lawn area near the northeast corner of the 10th Street bridge in Port Huron where vendors set up kid-friendly activities and provide resources for families. This year’s planned activities are pony rides, a petting zoo, live music, carnival games, and more. There will be plenty of fund for kids and all activities are free.

Operation Transformation is also looking for sponsors for the event to join with their main sponsors: Blue Water Area Churches, James C. Acheson Foundation, Kiwanis Club of Port Huron, Power 88.3/90.7 Hope FM, and Woman’s Life Chapters 800 & 808.

Volunteers can help set up the event, direct vendors to their places, and clean up when the event ends. To volunteer, contact Renee Hernandez at 810-966-8660.

More information is available at www.optrans.org.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

The Blue Water River Walk has a new sculpture honoring the area’s Native American past and looking toward the future with hope. A ceremony to dedicate the Seven Grandfathers sculpture will be on June 21st at 10 AM.

Friends of the St. Clair River is celebrating Indigeneous culture and art at the dedication of the Seven Grandfathers sculpture and the River Walk Garden or Giitigan. The ceremony includes drumming and dancers from the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, a smudging ceremony, and a planting project.

The Seven Grandfathers sculpture was carved by Garret Nahdee of the Ojibway Tribe of Walpole Island, and it stands overlooking the St. Clair River at about the middle of the River Walk trail.

Friends Restoration Coordinator Brooke Hiller said, “We want people to come celebrate indigenous culture, learn about native plants, and help us celebrate this project for healing the past and giving hope for the future. We are thrilled to have been awarded a Wildflower Association of Michigan grant to complete the new River Walk Giitigan with plants of Native American significance. Giitigan is the Anishinaabe word for garden. Anishinaabe people are Native Americans and First Nations (Canadian) members of local tribes in the Blue Water Area.”

The ceremony is open to the public and all tools for planting will be provided.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

Kyle Vining, MBA, has been named chief financial officer for McLaren Port Huron. In this role, Kyle will provide administrative leadership and oversee Accounting and Finance, Regulatory Compliance, Patient Access, Reimbursement, Medical Records, Utilization Management and Supply Chain for the 186-bed hospital.

He joins McLaren after eight years at Beaumont Health, where he most recently served as director of finance at the Dearborn and Farmington Hills hospitals.

“We’re excited to have Kyle as part of the team here,” says Eric Cecava, MBA, president and CEO of McLaren Port Huron. “Combining his passion for health care with his experience in managing the finances of two large hospitals makes him a great asset.”

“I’m impressed with the strong culture at McLaren Port Huron, especially how well the team works together to provide high quality, compassionate care to the community,” says Kyle. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to contribute to the overall success of the organization and the community we serve.”

Kyle received his undergraduate degree in Accounting from Western Michigan University. He also graduated from Saginaw Valley State University with an MBA.

Submitted by McLaren Port Huron Hospital

In an update from the Port Huron City Council meeting on June 13, 2022, Mayor Pro-Tem Sherry Archibald said there were two things residents need to know: there is no plan to tear down fire station #4, located on 24th Street, and FEMA has updated the flood plane which affects some city homeowners.

After a lengthy public comment session at Monday’s meeting, where residents expressed opposition to closing fire station #4, Archibald wants to assure residents that they are exploring the best option for updating the city’s fire stations. That’s why the city called for the third-party study done by Redstone Architects.

The 300 page study of the city’s fire stations mentioned that fire station #4 could be closed if a new station was built at White Park, but Archibald said, “That is not the plan at the moment. It is not under consideration at the moment. It is simply something that was an alternative option presented in the study. There is no plan at the moment, even if a new central station is built, we do not plan to tear down station #4.”

At Monday’s meeting, the council decided to approve approximately $1.5 Million in renovations to the Sanborn Fire Station, and they entered into a contract with a company to do architectural drawing, designs, and specs for a new central fire station located at White Park. They also agreed to solicit bids for the cost of the project.

“One thing moving forward, is you cannot make a decision to renovate the existing central fire station or to replace it and build at the White Park location as the study recommends until we have some idea of what that would cost. We have no cost comparison at this point, we only have the estimate the study gave us.”

There are challenges to station #4 because of its size, and those challenges will be taken into consideration as they move forward. The benefit of having station #4 is that emergency response times are quicker for residents that live nearby with the fire department arriving even before EMS at medical emergencies.

Archibald also wants residents to know that FEMA has updated the flood plane. “There are now homes within Port Huron that were never on the flood plane that now are.”

Having a home on a FEMA recognized flood plane can cause homeowner’s insurance rates to rise, so residents should contact the city to find out if their property is affected so they can shop around for the best insurance rates.

Contact the City of Port Huron at: (810) 984-9700 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday or online at https://porthuron.org/

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand