PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The Portage city council is expected to adopt new ordinance language that would allow public safety officers to declare police zones when streets are blocked, take steps to end nuisance parties and react to the X-Trains when they roll through the community.
The ordinances are based on regulations already in place in the city of Kalamazoo, which has had to deal with large unlawful gatherings and mobile nuisance parties for some time.
Such restricted police zones could be set up for any occurrence that blocks a street, from a fire or some other calamity, to spontaneous out-of-hand gatherings that block traffic or hamper the movement of emergency vehicles.
The proposed Portage ordinance does not go as far as Kalamazoo’s, excluding the impoundment of vehicles, which has been the city’s most effective tool yet to discourage the X-train parties.
Violations in most cases would be a misdemeanor. It’s on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.
Also on the Portage agenda is the appointment of Adam Herringa, the city’s current chief operating officer to the post of interim City Manager while the council searches for a replacement for the retiring Patrick McGinnis, who leaves the top post in a month.
Herringa is a 22-year veteran in the city’s administration, having held a number of posts.
He also served as interim City Manager the last time there was a city manager search.
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