At its Aug. 27 meeting, Sturgis City Commission gave a second review and approval of an ordinance pertaining to the franchise for Michigan Gas Utilities, effective Sept.17, 2025.
A first reading of a draft ordinance was held July 9.
Since at least 1954, the city has had authorization in place since at least 1954 that grants Michigan Gas Utilities the right to operate its natural gas system within the city. That has expired and Michigan Gas Utilities has consulted city staff to replace the previous authorization with a similar ordinance authorizing its franchise.
Based on city charter, franchise authorization and reauthorization should be adopted as official ordinances and included in the code of ordinances. But dating to records prior to codification of the ordinance in the mid-1990s the franchise approval for Michigan Gas Utilities has not appeared there.
The previous approval, based on commission meeting minutes from 1994, was an adopted resolution for the renewal approved by the Commission and presented as an “ordinance,” although it does not appear to have been adopted as an ordinance by city procedure, city manager Andrew Kuk said.
Changes made in the new ordinance include:
- References to the corporate name of Michigan Gas Utilities Corporation. Under the previous approval, it was UtiliCorp United Inc.
- Some details related to the effective date of the franchise,
- A section relating to repeal of prior authorization.
- A change in where they can place utilizes from “other public places” to “authorized easements.”
