Commissioners raise poverty guidelines in Mount Pleasant
Poverty guidelines are now set to 130%, with $21,150 as the poverty level for a single-person household. Commissioners voted to increase the poverty guidelines in Mount Pleasant for 2026 at Monday night's meeting on March 9.
The guidelines are set every year and have been increased from last year. In 2025, the city adopted the same guidelines as the federal government, which was set at $15,650 for a single-person household.
Commissioners have discussed making changes to guidelines in previous meetings. A decision had to made before the Board of Reviews meeting March 11.
Municipalities can raise poverty guidelines above the federal level but cannot lower the guidelines.
Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe presented renovation plans for the former Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. Three of the seven buildings have begun the restoration process.
Members of the MIIBS committee spoke about different ideas for the vacant buildings. The Tribe also decided not to demolish any of the buildings.
"We want to keep it looking to way it is inside and out," said Architect Christian Nakarado. "I think that principle of having a light touch approach would probably be intuitively what we want to do for the landscape around as well."
The buildings will have community spaces and renovations to make the sites more accessible. One of the objectives is to minimize the change in these buildings and let the silence speak for itself.
"If this was a site that was historically about the removal of children from their families, of culture from those children, of language from those children-then the purpose that we would like to bring back to the site, or change, is to turn it into a place for the return of all those things," said Christian Nakarado.
The boarding school sits on 320 acres of land, with the tribe owning just under 15 acres. The school operated for about 40 years before the doors officially closed for native children in 1934.
More information about the renovation plans and ideas will be available soon.
Community Improvement Awards
Director of Planning and Community Services Manuela Powidayko presented the 2025 Community Improvement Awards. The awards are for residential, commercial and mixed-use categories.
Christine Fowler was the recipient of the residential award. Her property on Maxwell Street included a roof renovation, window replacement and deck addition.
Nick Wilson, the I.T. Director at Wilson Steel Fab and Machine, accepted the commercial award for community improvement. The project was approved in 2022 and completed in 2025, including roof renovations and wall extensions to the property on North Mission Street.
"Industrial projects like this one, they bring jobs and economic development to the city and region, and we are really proud of being Wilson and Fab's home," said Powidayko.
Dani Leonard and Chelsea House are the owners of Premier Central MI MedSpa, located on South Mission Street. They received the award for the mixed-use category. The building in which they operate underwent a series of renovations and changes.
Powidayko also awarded the students who photographed the properties. They were Brady Edwards, Phoenix French and Mason Haines, along with their instructor, Andrea Langley, from the graphic arts studio at GI-Tec.
In Other Events
- Commissioners held another work session meeting to discuss creating a tenants' rights committee. More discussion and future planning will take place before creating the committee.
