ADRIAN — A good portion of Monday’s pre-meeting work study session for the Adrian City Commission was spent reviewing what the commissioners had learned from a Feb. 12 special meeting held at the Lenawee County Fair & Events Grounds.

Last week’s special meeting was called to order with nearly 50 east side Adrian residents present to brainstorm ways in which $100,000 in funds can be used for the benefit of those residents and homeowners in east Adrian who have been negatively affected by the nuisance odors being emitted from the Crimson Holdings egg processing plant.

The $100,000 is being provided to the city after a court order ruled last year by Lenawee County District Court Judge Laura J. Schaedler that said the facility at 1336 E. Maumee St. must establish a grant fund that will be administered by the city as a means to benefit the residents affected by odors coming from the plant.

The grant fund will be provided to the city in two installments of $50,000, one of which it has. The second installment will be given to the city exactly one year from the date when it received the first $50,000 disbursement, which should be toward the end of this year.

Because the intent of Schaedler’s order is to bring some kind of monetary consolation to the east side Adrian residents, the city has said it does not want to make the overall decision on what to do with the funds without the involvement of those residents. Last week’s special meeting, held in the Merchants Building of the Lenawee Fairgrounds, was the first of those conversations with the public.

More: Adrian City Commission, east side residents hold meeting to discuss use of Crimson funds

Nearly 2,000 mailed notices, inviting east side Adrian residents to the Feb. 12 brainstorming meeting, were sent to every address within a half-mile radius of Crimson Holdings, Adrian City Administrator Greg Elliott said.

Elliott led Monday’s conversation of the commission, recapping some of the ideas that were brought up during the special meeting.

“It seemed like the people who were in attendance were most interested in some sort of project or projects that could benefit the east side area,” he said.

Sidewalk repairs or complete sidewalk replacements was one of the suggestions during the Crimson Holdings forum.

“You could replace a substantial number of sidewalks for the amount of money that we will ultimately receive,” Elliott said.

Lighting upgrades was another suggestion that was brought up, but as the city looked further into lighting enhancements, it was noted that Consumers Energy will replace broken or burned-out streetlight bulbs at no cost to the city with new LED lights as part of a program with the city of Adrian.

“There could be the idea to do additional lighting, but because LED (lights) are so much brighter as we can see downtown, it seems likely that the existing lights will seem a lot more adequate once they all transition to LED,” Elliott said.

If the ultimate decision of using the grant funds came down to sidewalk repairs, 667 squares of sidewalks — at nearly $150 per sidewalk replacement — could be completed throughout east Adrian, Mayor Angie Sword Heath shared with the commission.

The first sidewalks that would receive attention, if the decision is to use the funds for sidewalk replacements, are the ones in the worst condition currently. It wouldn’t be the driveway squares being replaced because those are more expensive, Heath said. Specifically, the city would pinpoint the actual sidewalk squares in front of residences that are most in need of repair.

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While some ideas and concepts were brought up during the special meeting, there’s still a lot of questions left unanswered, according to Commissioner Matt Schwartz. He suggested the city continue to reach out to the east side residents for more conversations and input. That input, he said, could come from surveys or holding another special meeting.

If another meeting is to be held with the residents, an idea that Commissioner Gordon Gauss mentioned would be holding breakout sessions with a handful of residents that will be paired with one of the city commissioners. In such a setup, each person might have a stronger voice or bring another idea to the table, Schwartz said.

Gauss, however, expressed his disappointment that there weren’t too many project-specific suggestions that came out of last week’s special meeting.

“In my feelings, we didn’t get a lot of valuable input,” he said.

“I feel like the meeting did exactly what it was supposed to do,” commented Commissioner Mary Roberts. “It was a chance for us to hear from the residents and to start getting ideas.”

As was explained during the Feb. 12 special meeting, the $100,000 is to be used as a benefit for the Adrian residents — homeowners or renters — who physically live in the affected area of Crimson Holdings.

The city could potentially keep the money in a trust fund and let it sit there. Another suggestion was mailing checks to residents within an affected boundary area in proximity to Crimson Holdings so that those residents can use whatever amount of money to their liking.

The $50,000 the city has right now is in a trust fund, and the money will not be used for any other purpose than addressing Crimson Holdings’ impact, the commission said. The money will not be diverted into any other city fund.

More: Crimson Holdings: Scrubber installation, public hearing among facility timeline of events

By way of background, Crimson Holdings, in December 2021, took over operations at the Dairy Farmers of America milk processing plant and began producing powdered eggs for the pet food industry. Soon after starting its operations, local and state agencies began to receive odor complaints about the company. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) has been working with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and local partners on the ongoing odor solutions at Crimson Holdings.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian commission continues discussion of how to use Crimson grant funds