DOWAGIAC — After a reading of agenda items and before the conclusion of the Monday night Dowagiac City Council’s meeting, councilmember Charles Burling announced after peripheral consideration he had chosen to resign his office as a Dowagiac city councilmember of the third ward effective at the end of Monday night’s meeting.

Burling went on to explain his untimely resignation is due to medical issues, which he said would limit his ability to serve at 100 percent in the year to come. Burling said his long-term medical outcome should be positive.

“You never stop a race in the middle, but there is always a finish line,” Burling said. “We kind of run a marathon here, so rather than stopping the race, I am handing the baton off to a very confident team member, who will take that and run with it.”

Burling was referring to Randy Gross Sr., who was sitting in the audience and later in the evening would be appointed as Burling’s replacement.

“That was the solace I went to [in order to] finally give in and say, ‘If I can’t be 100 percent, I don’t want to serve,’” Burling said.

Councilmembers and Mayor Donald Lyons went around the room to share their memories of serving on the board with Burling.

Mayor Pro-Tem Leon Laylin said serving alongside Burling was an honor.

“It’s bittersweet,” Laylin said. “We served together for a number of years. You served on the county commission for a long time as chairman. You’ve come on the council and been 100 percent for us through the ups and downs.”

Councilmember Bob Schuur said Burling will be missed on the council.

“You have been a bright light on the city council,” Schuur said.

Lyons, who said he got Burling involved in the city council, appreciated his time and willingness to step forward and serve.

“Each individual on [this council] has become an incredibly confident and cohesive member of the team that I don’t know exists any place else,” Lyons said. “It’s people of diverse backgrounds, diverse capabilities, but all coming with the same goals, heart and commitment to the process.”

After the news, Lyons announced that according to charter, the city council needed to appoint a replacement within the next 30 days. With an election coming up in November, Lyons said the city has one application from Gross and no other competition.

“Randy had served on the council when he was in the first ward,” Lyons said. “[He was] well respected and well received by council.”

Minutes later, Laylin moved to appoint Gross as Burling’s replacement with the approval of the council. The council unanimously approved the appointment of Gross to sit on the city council and represent the third ward.

Gross accepted the appointment and said he was honored.

A resolution was also passed to name a new park at Cass Avenue and Dowagiac Creek, “Schuur Park,” after councilmember Bob Schuur, who has served as a councilmember for the city for 34 years. Schuur has been the longest continuous serving councilmember in history for the city of Dowagiac.

Other items on the agenda were unanimously passed including the entering into an easement with Wolverine Pipeline, with no cost to the city, as the pipeline needs upgrades, Lyons said.

The Wolverine Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline that runs through property of the Dowagiac Municipal Airport.

“Wolverine Pipeline needs to make upgrades,” Lyons said. “In order to do that they need an easement, which is a legal right to use the city’s property to run a pipeline across. An easement defines that scope of permission.”

After the city had spent several months working on interviewing several site managers, the city council unanimously approved a proposal to update and redesign the city’s website.

“It’s just going to be such a drastic difference from what we have now,” said Natalie Dean, the assistant city manager. “It should be easier to use, full of information and it should be easier to make payments. The company we interviewed and chose had absolutely no qualms with doing everything that we need to do.”

The second reading of a new ordinance to adopt the International Property Maintenance Code for properties within the city of Dowagiac was also read aloud to the council for a second time at Monday night’s meeting.