Mount Clemens City Commissioner Spencer Calhoun speaks about the use of Community Development Block Grant funds on senior recreation at the Feb. 2 City Commission meeting. Commissioner Roxanne Brown sits to the right of Calhoun.
By: Dean Vaglia | Mount Clemens-Clinton-Harrison Journal | Published February 10, 2026
MOUNT CLEMENS — Local nonprofits looking for a hand from the city of Mount Clemens found themselves with nothing following a vote by the City Commission on Feb. 2.
Having previously heard from a number of nonprofits at its prior meeting, officials decided to allocate the full $12,800 of its Community Development Block Grant funding to the city’s Recreation Department for senior citizen programing. While they said this was done with consideration for the good the nonprofits do in the city, commissioners also spoke to the benefit they believed would come from the city using the grant.
“I’m thankful that the (organizations) came to us, but I do feel that the $12,800 to the Recreation Department is warranted,” Commissioner Spencer Calhoun said. “They provide wonderful service to not just our residents, but residents of surrounding communities operating out of the community center. They have trips, many, many activities and it’s growing by the day … I want to say that these other nonprofits do wonderful work, and I wish we could support you financially like we will for the Recreation Department. And I will just add — because I think Mayor (Laura) Kropp would add this — as the county seat, almost half of our city is untaxable because of the nonprofits and the churches and the county. While we’re thankful to have all those nonprofits here, we do contribute quite a bit.”
Commissioner Erik Rick spoke to the benefits of recreation for seniors.
“Isolation is the number one risk factor for seniors, and these kinds of programming are important for our residents,” Rick said. “Not just for their entertainment, but for their long-term health and for the health of the community because for each of these seniors that are out, we can learn from them as well.”
The city also applied for two $150,000 CDGB grants: one for playground equipment at Lawndale Park, and one for a fire engine and fire equipment.
Kratom discussion
Following actions and discussions from surrounding communities about regulating kratom sales to minors and young adults, the City Commission held a work session prior to the meeting to learn more about the subject.
Representatives from CARE of Southeastern Michigan spoke about the differences between natural kratom and concentrated 7-OH; how 7-OH is 13 times more potent than morphine and 46 times more potent than natural kratom; how 7-OH is sold over the counter in drinks, pills and other products; and how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns against the use and harms of synthetic kratom.
Clinton Township Trustee Shannon King spoke during the work session, discussing how the Clinton Township Board of Trustees has approached the issue. King said he first learned about kratom from representatives of the 41B District Court who sought to use opioid settlement funds to purchase specific testing kits for kratom. The pushback King has received to the now-enacted underage sales restriction on kratom in the township has mostly come from outside of the township.
“(Pushback) was from people from Kalamazoo and that far side of the state, and then I had people out of state reaching out concerned that they would see some level of legislation go into place in Michigan regarding it,” King said. “That’s when I knew it was something of a level of importance, as you can imagine.”
While the work session had to end for the meeting to begin, the subject came up once again toward the end of the meeting when commissioners were able to speak freely.
“Clearly, we have an issue and it’s great that we are all banding together to do something about it … We will have another work session or have a session in a commission meeting, but we will not let this drop at this point,” said City Commissioner Laura Fournier, the city’s mayor pro tem, who led the meeting in the absence of Mount Clemens Mayor Laura Kropp.
Bridge grant
After 17 years, it is finally getting fixed.
During the city manager’s report at the meeting on Feb. 2 — read by Assistant City Manager and Public Services Director Jeff Wood in City Manager Gregg Shipman’s absence — it was announced that the city finally received Michigan Department of Transportation grant funding to repair the Crocker Boulevard Bridge over the Clinton River.
The state will cover 95% of eligible construction costs for the estimated $9.3 million project. Funding is expected to be made available in the first two quarters of 2027. The city has been attempting to secure grant funding for the bridge project for 17 years.