By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BUCHANAN, MI – Even as the Buchanan downtown streetscape project winds down and a date for a ribbon cutting ceremony has been set, Buchanan city officials are having to deal with two unexpected vacancies on the city’s Downtown Development Authority Board.
News came last week that DDA chairman Richard Paniagua and DDA board member Jeffrey Antisdel had resigned at a special DDA meeting the previous Friday. Buchanan City Commissioners accepted the resignations at their Oct. 27 meeting and City Manager Tony McGhee reported that the city will be taking applications to fill those two vacancies.
The city commission reinstated the DDA earlier this year after it had been disbanded in 2020 when differences arose between DDA members and city officials. Paniagua and Antisdel were among seven people appointed to the board in the spring. Paniagua is the owner of Cannavista Wellness while Antisdel owns Precept Partners.
DDA members have been meeting since the summer to handle a variety of tasks including formalizing bylaws, setting up committees, and establishing tax increment financing with the help of Berrien County Community Development Director Dan Fette.
Paniagua and Antisdel did not attend last week’s meeting. When contacted about their decision to resign, Paniagua said that his decision was “in the best interest for everyone.” He continued, “The time required to do the job properly and the lack of aligned principles and support was not going to be productive or reconcile with my values,” he said.
McGhee said after last week’s meeting that there had been some problems with getting “everyone on the same page.” He said the goal of the Oct. 24 special DDA board meeting had been to find the best way forward and that Paniagua and Antisdel had resigned at that time.
McGhee said this week that he initially called the special meeting in his capacity serving as the DDA Director after concerns expressed by some DDA Board members “regarding a lack of alignment and communication among the Board.”
The special meeting was subsequently requested by three DDA board members to ensure that they complied with the DDA bylaws. McGhee said no deadline has been set for the current DDA application process. The DDA board will next meet on Nov. 12 at City Hall.
One of the points of contention appears to be the DDA budget and what the DDA should be spending money on. McGhee said that the city is asking the DDA to pay for things like the Farmer’s Market and downtown improvements that the DDA had traditionally paid for in the past but that the city has paid for in the years the DDA wasn’t active.
As for the downtown streetscape project, McGhee reported that work is progressing to get streets paved and completed in the next few weeks. A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 21 at 10:30 a.m. at Front Street and Days Avenue with a community celebration later that day from 3-6 p.m.
He said that the project will be “functionally complete” in November with some work will be left to do next spring such as putting in trees and landscaping as well as streetscape furniture. When everything is done, people will see wider sidewalks on Front Street, he said.
“I am so ready for the construction to be over,” Commissioner Raquell George said. “I hope everyone will be pleased on how it looks.”
Mayor Mark Weedon said he thinks people will like how it looks when everything is done. “Restaurants and other businesses will be able to have tables and chairs on the sidewalk,” he said. “It will give the downtown social district a community feel, and I know restaurants are super excited.”
Also last week, commissioners approved a contract with the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission to help the city update the master plan and accepted the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant for the second phase of the Riverfront Park project.
The master plan contract is for $20,099. Southwest Michigan Planning Commission Senior Planner Marcy Hamilton noted that her organization has been assisting the city on its master plan for decades. The city is looking to get started on the process as the current plan expires in 2026.
With the trust fund grant, McGhee said that it is the grant the city applied for in April, 2024 and is for the second phase of the riverfront park project. The city applied for another trust fund grant in April, 2025 for the third phase involving a new fishing platform and pit toilets and is waiting to hear back whether that one will be funded.
State funding for the 2024 grant was just recently authorized by the legislature and signed by the governor. The city will be getting $231,000 from the state and put up a $99,000 local match.
McGhee said the city has already been doing preliminary work on the project and will bid out both this phase and the first phase at the same time this winter with work done next spring. The first phase covered a handicapped accessible kayak launch with the second phase covering a new boat launch and skid pier.