City Commission: Discussing city's goals, objectives for 2026
Commissioner Elizabeth Busch talks about the Chippewa River contamination while discussing the 2026 Goals and Objectives at the City Commision meeting. (CM Life | Keara Banks)
Mount Pleasant City Commissioners discussed and reviewed the city and commission's 2026 Goals and Objectives at the April 14 meeting.
City Manager Aaron Desentz explained the Infrastructure, Facilities and Environmental Sustainability goals one of six categories that the commissioners reviewed, which included:
- Proactively plan and implement infrastructure upgrades and pursue grants to support capital,
- Improvement projects,
- Transition to systems that collect water consumption data using satellites,
- Explore redevelopment or other opportunities for the former Mt. Pleasant Center property,
- Assess the appropriate zoning of vacant land on Broomfield and Crawford Roads,
- Promote environmental awareness and stewardship, particularly around the Chippewa River,
- Advance the Food Waste Project and seek funding for Combined Heat & Power or biogas reuse at Water Resource Recovery Facility,
- Address the remaining service life expectancy of asbestos cement water mains.
Concerns about the Chippewa River contamination
Vice Mayor Maureen Eke asked about the plans and safety of the Chippewa River, addressing the goal of promoting environmental awareness and stewardship, particularly around the Chippewa River.
“What are we going to do, or what do you plan to do specifically in terms of partnership?" Eke said. "Who do we bring into the conversation to at least make sure that we clean it up. ... We can't step into it, people can't go fishing, kids can't go wading into it. For me, that's troubling.”
Commissioner Elizabeth Busch said this information may be incorrect. Busch said that people can fish and wade in the river.
Additionally, Busch said there is an active water quality group that she is a member of. The group is a collaborative project with the Saginaw Indian tribe. E. coli, which is the primary contaminant that Eke expressed concern about, is monitored by local scientists and the group as well as levels are reported once a week, Busch said.
Eke also expressed her concern that she saw signs up along the trails of the Chippewa River that say not to go into the water. Busch explained that those signs are only up when the levels are too high in contamination.
“The Chippewa River is one of the cleanest in the state; it's just that we happen to know about it (contamination) because we have people working on it," Busch said. “That (E. coli) is the only contaminant that I am aware of. There's no chemical contamination, there is no waste byproduct contamination, and there's no factory waste.
"It is recommended not to eat the fish that you catch out of any river, out of the nature of the Chippewa River and the city.”
Tabling the discussion
Newly elected Commissioner John Zang recommended that the commission table the goals and objectives discussion until they have held a work session to be sure these goals and objectives are understood and agreed upon.
“When we're going to prove our goals, the commission, then I think that we need to make sure that we feel comfortable explaining to somebody who might ask us (in person) or on TV that are people who look at us to say, ‘Yes, that's a goal, I understand it and I see why that's the city's goal. Not (the) staff goal, this is the city's goal, the commission is making that,’” Zang said. “That's why I'm saying we should make sure we have a discussion so we're all on the same page.”
Busch and Desentz explained they only needed to agree on the interest of working on the goals so that staff could continue planning and developing objectives. Commissioner Amy Perschbacher did not support tabling the goals.
“These are good goals for staff, these are great, they probably helped make themselves, and that's fine," Zang said. "But if I ask you to explain this to me and we can pick some of those out if you can't explain it to me, then you shouldn't vote to approve it now.
"You should have enough discussion to say what this means for us. What's our goal as a commissioner? We're responsible, we have a fiduciary and social responsibility to the city, if we can't explain what we're approving, then we should not vote for it because these are our goals and objectives.”
Busch said she feels like she could explain all the goals even after not being present at the goal-setting meeting.
“What Commissioner Zang is bringing forward is more of a desire for unified direction from the commission itself, on again, maybe longer-term goals might take on a different shape,” said Mayor Boomer Wingard. “I think the process you're describing and what I'm hearing isn't something that disinterests me, it does interest me, but I think that's something that would be a longer project to take on, that is that I ultimately think is separate from the goals and objectives.”
The commission voted six to one on not tabling the goals and objectives and it will proceed to staff to continue planning.
The next City Commission meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on April 28 in the Mount Pleasant City Hall.
