Some details revealed of committee meeting between Johnston, township officials
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
LOCKPORT TWP. — In a sight that would have been unfathomable just last year, a sitting Three Rivers mayor was greeted with applause by Lockport Township residents at the township’s monthly meeting Monday.
Three Rivers Mayor Angel Johnston was introduced to a decently-packed Lockport Township Hall audience by Supervisor Mark Major following public comment at Monday’s meeting, her first visit to a public township board meeting since her election.
Johnston spoke briefly at the meeting, first thanking the board for allowing her to visit, for answering any questions she had and for “embracing me so kindly,” and pledged a better relationship between the townships and the city.
“I ran on a platform of transparency and cooperation, and that has already begun,” Johnston said. “We are back to cooperation between the township and the city, and in any way I can possibly help with that, I’m here for it.”
The visit comes off the heels of Johnston meeting with supervisors and one other board member from each of the three townships surrounding Three Rivers at a “Lockport-Fabius-Park” committee meeting last week, a meeting which had been floated among township officials, namely Major, since Johnston’s election in November. It was a meeting that Zoning Administrator Matt Jorgensen later noted, when asked by a resident if the public can attend these committee meetings, was not subject to Open Meetings Act laws because there wasn’t a quorum of any organizing body present, and the committee held “non-decision-making policy discussions.”
Johnston explained in an interview following the meeting that the committee meeting she attended was a way to “get the lay of the land” with township issues in regards to their relationship with the city.
“I’ve had so many lovely people, like the ones here tonight, who are helping to get me up to speed with what’s going on,” Johnston said. “As somebody who wasn’t in office until just recently, I can only go off what I see on the news, in the papers, and social media. So, I’m getting the rest of the viewpoints that are different from what maybe I saw, and there’s so many discussions that need to be had.”
Some details on what was discussed in the committee meeting were mentioned during Monday’s meeting. Major and Johnston said major topics that were discussed in what they said was an hour-long meeting included Public Act 425 agreements, roads, financials from the Armstrong Park Sports Complex, and the Three Rivers Public Library. However, the specifics of what those individual conversations entailed were not discussed by either side.
The topic that got close to any expanded details on discussion points was the Three Rivers Public Library, mostly due to an unrelated conversation later in the meeting.
There was a comment made by a resident during discussion of a report from the library thanking the board for supporting the library and wanting the township to continue to support it financially. The topic almost immediately changed into criticisms and complaints by township board members about the library’s funding structure, both from the state and locally, and cash on hand, echoing debates and arguments the township made during a library services contract battle back in 2024. At one point, one trustee questioned whether they should monetarily support the library again.
“The library has $1.776 million in cash. In cash. And it goes up every month. I’d rather give the money to somewhere that needs the money than doesn’t need it,” Township Trustee Rick Daniels said. “I’m not against the library, we have a great library, I’m in favor of the library. But let’s not give money where it’s not needed. They lost Park Township, they lost Fabius Township, we stayed with them. For me, it’s never about support, we want to support, but we’d rather an area that needs our help than them having $1.776 million in cash.”
At one point, Major said the township has been “talking about how Three Rivers library’s been run and how the city’s manipulated it, in my opinion, for 10 years,” accusing city officials without evidence of forcing the library’s board at the time to purchase 88 N. Main St. and move from their old West Michigan Avenue location.
The complaints and criticisms continued, to the point that the original commenter regretted bringing up her praise and eventually left the meeting. Near the end of the discussion, Major said the library was one of the topics discussed at the committee meeting, with Johnston indicating it would be something she would look into.
“This is on my shortlist of things to do, and my longlist is quite long, so this is on my shortlist,” Johnston said.
When asked to clarify what she meant about the library being on her “shortlist” after the meeting, Johnston declined to elaborate, saying it’s “not quite ready for public discussion yet.”
“I need to do some internal discussions first,” Johnston added, noting those discussions would be with city officials. “I have to get time with everybody, basically, and that’s what needs to happen first before I make any comments about what needs to happen.”
Major was effusive in his praise of Johnston, saying the meeting was a “very, very good meeting,” and that he was “very pleased” with the transition between Tom Lowry and Johnston in the mayor’s seat. He said the board offered Johnston their support for the work she’s doing.
“I was very pleased. It’s a refreshing change,” Major said. “A few more changes need to be made, but I think we’re all on board.”
Township Treasurer Mike Friesner, who attended the committee meeting, had similar words as well.
“I want to go on record that with that meeting Mark and I had with Angel, I’m extremely optimistic about our future with the city of Three Rivers,” Friesner said. “A year ago, I wouldn’t have given it a blood nickel.”
In her brief address to the residents during her allotted time slot, Johnston said that cooperation between the townships and city is important because “we are all part of Three Rivers.”
“Even though you live outside the city limits, Three Rivers doesn’t stop at an arbitrary line,” Johnston said. “Your kids go to our schools, you shop at our stores, you drive on our roads. We’re all the same here. … I can’t wait to see what the city and the township can do together.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
