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DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac City Council recognized its “newest and youngest” member Monday in a special ceremony.

City of Dowagiac Mayor Don Lyons appointed JeNora Lucas-Croom an honorary member of the Dowagiac City Council, reserving for her a seat in her name at the press table.

“It was exciting but I was kinda nervous,” Lucas-Croom said.

Lucas-Croom, the daughter of councilmember Danielle Lucas, is a student at Patrick Hamilton Elementary who has faithfully attended Dowagiac City Council meetings for many years. 

“We’ve all had the privilege and pleasure of watching Danielle’s daughter, JeNora, grow from a toddler into a young lady as she dutifully attended council meetings with her mom,” Lyons said.

“I’m confident she has attended more city council meetings than any other Dowagiac citizen in the history of the city who was not a council member.”

While Ms Lucas-Croom’s appointment is honorary and confers no voting or other rights reserved to elected council members, the Dowagiac City Council looks forward to the day that Lucas-Croom becomes a duly elected member of the Dowagiac City Council and joins her fellow council members in guiding Dowagiac to an even better future.

“I appreciate the council for recognizing her for coming to support her mom,” Lucas said. “She’s with me all the time and gets to have the influence of knowing what’s going on in the council and has an idea of how things are run. I like for her to be there to see what happens and how things work. Hopefully that will rub off on her in the future. I appreciate all of the council members for supporting her being there.”

Lucas hopes her daughter’s achievement encourages others to attend meetings.

“I think if she can sit through most meetings, others can too and see firsthand what we do at the meetings and what’s going on in the city,” Lucas said. 

In other business, council approved a resolution supporting a MI Neighborhoods grant application for River’s Edge Apartments.

Earlier this year, the developer for River’s Edge Apartments had applied for a MSHDA grant to support the construction of a residential development at 507-509 S Front Street. The residential development, which includes two 24-unit apartment complexes, is in line with the city’s overall vision for the redevelopment of the South Front Street areas. While that application was unsuccessful, MSHDArecently launched its new MI Neighborhoods grant program and River’s Edge Apartments will be re-submitting their $2M grant application.

In further business, council authorized Professional Services Proposals with Prein & Newhof for the design and bidding of Projects 3 and 4 of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for Fiscal Year 2025. 

Previously, Council authorized design work to proceed for DWSRF projects a scope of work was being developed. The scope of work for Project 1, the Water Filtration Plant design with a not to exceed price of $430,000, and Project 2, the lead service line component that has a not to exceed price of $24,000, was approved at the last Council meeting. The design engineering projects for the remaining two projects included in the DWSRF financing package is for the water main replacement and looping at Tuthill, Maple, and Walnut Streets and the Riverside standpipe rehabilitation and mixer. The water main design has a not to exceed price of $92,000 and the Riverside standpipe project has a not to exceed price of $36,000.