Village of Lawrence, Michigan

09/15/2026

The Village appreciates the communities concern with the open crossing guard position and we are providing some insight on what the process has looked like and why the position is still not filled.

1. Yes, the crossing guard position falls under the Police Department as they are seen as an extension of local road authority. In the absence of a crossing guard, a volunteer may cross students, however they do not have authority over the road. We greatly appreciate the time the school has given to cover the position while we are still looking. We also recognize and appreciate the efforts the school has made to share the availability of the position across their social media and other communications.

2. Our Police Department is not as large as other communities. We have a full time officer and are in the process of looking for a full-time working chief. With that said, if the officer is in the role of the crossing guard, they must be taken off of calls. If that happens, emergencies are now waiting for the County to send someone, if they have someone available. For those who have mentioned tax dollars, in order to have the level of coverage to allow for our department to cover the crossing guard position the Village would need to increase the Police Millage to cover that additional costs of hiring another officer. To someone's comment regarding our department and blight, our Police Department typically does not handle blight. We have an Ordinance Enforcement officer who handles the blight so that our department can be available for calls.

3. In total, we have had roughly 20 people contacted regarding the position. We have had a total of six applicants. Three were offered and declined the position. Because of the nature of the hiring process, we like any other employer cannot discuss the details of why candidates were not offered a position. We can understand how one might feel the person they know would make a great crossing guard, however, there are many factors that are considered.

We understand the frustration as we feel it too. There have been conversations before where many people voiced on social media how they would fill the position and volunteer. This unfortunately proves that as good as the intentions are, the follow through and commitment or availability are simply not there. If you are interested or know someone who is, here is the link to the job posting and application https://www.lawrencemi.org/news .

Please make sure to click on the application for the correct jurisdiction. If you are within Village limits you will complete the application for the Village of Lawrence. Outside of Village limits should complete the Lawrence Township application.

09/03/2026

The Community Development meeting for this evening has been canceled due to Ox Roast prep.

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09/03/2026

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*​​​​​Public Services Committee-09/02 @ 6 PM
*Community Development Committee-09/03 -
*Council Meeting-09/08 @ 6pm
*Parks & Rec Committee-09/20 @ 6pm
*Citizens Police Committee as requested
*DDA Meeting-09/30 @ 5:30pm
*Planning Commission Meeting-09/28 @ 6pm
-The Planning Commission meeting will include an INFORMATIONAL session on data centers.​
LDFA Meeting (Qtrly)-09/23 @ 6:30pm
**Joint Township/Village Meeting-11/17 @ 6 PM (Township Hall, 411 N Paw Paw St)

*All meetings are held at Village Hall Office located at 157 N. Paw Paw St. unless otherwise noted*
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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Complete Meeting Schedule available at:

Call Village of Lawrence office hours: M-F / 9-12 p.m. & 1-4 p.m. at 269-674-8161 to confirm times and find out about other dates and activities.

09/02/2026

The DDA meeting scheduled for Wednesday, September 23rd has been moved to Wednesday, September 30th at 5:30pm.

08/27/2026

Please note that N. Exchange by the park and the east portion of the Village parking lot will be closed 8/31-9/3 for repaving. This is weather dependent and we will update if the dates need to be adjusted. Thank you for your patience during this time.

08/18/2026

PARK RESTROOMS TEMPORARILY CLOSED STARTING:
Thursday, August 20th and Friday August 21st

The park restrooms will be temporarily closed while the interior is being painted.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we make improvements to the facilities.
Thank you.

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08/17/2026

We will continue to update the timeframes as they are sent to us. Below is the latest update on the canvassers timeframe.

UPDATE: The canvassers from Working America will be canvassing starting August 21, 2026 and continuing at least through December 21, 2026. These dates have been updated from the previous post.

Canvassers from Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, will be conducting a door-to-door membership and fundraising drive in the Village of Lawrence from starting June 18, 2026, and continuing at least through October 18, 2026. Typical hours of operation are from 3-9 p.m.
Working America's canvassers may have picture identification cards prominently displayed and be wearing red safety vests that display their affiliation with Working America.
The stated purpose of this membership drive is to educate working people about issues that affect them, sign up new members and receive voluntary dues from their members. Canvassers will not be selling any products, nor will they attempt to solicit any funds.
The canvassing operation is considered constitutionally-protected political speech and as such does not require the organization to obtain a permit to go door-to-door.
For more information about Working America, please visit https://workingamerica.org/.

Send a message to learn more

08/13/2026

We apologize for the confusion! We were notified that the location for this evenings Joint Township and Village meeting was listed incorrectly on the website. We are meeting at 6 pm at the Village Hall Office located at 157 N. Paw Paw. We apologize for the incorrect location being posted.

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08/13/2026

There have been quite a few questions regarding water bills and we would like to take a minute (or two) to help answer some of those. If you have any questions, we are available to help answer them during regular business hours.

On the front you will see the abbreviations PB, WA, SW, WB, and SB. The back of your water bills explains what each of those mean. Next to your "Current Read" and "Previous Read" you will see either an E or an A. The E means your water read was estimated this month (the system averages your last 12 reads) and A means it was an actual physical read. If your water bill is estimated one month and an actual read follows, that water bill "evens" out your usage. What that means is if your estimated amount is lower than what you actually used, your water bill will seem higher than what you typically see. If your estimated amount is higher than what you actually use, you may see a lower bill or even a credit on the next bill.

Reasons we might estimate your meter:
1. We are unable to access it. There are times that meters are covered by dirt, debris, or snow and we are unable to get to them. Fences can also cause an issue as our DPW will not enter a fenced area to read meters.
2. We have an emergency situation occur in the Village. The most recent being an issue with our James St. Lift station.
3. We are short-staffed. We have a small DPW department and if we are short on staff, we are unable to get to all of the meters before we are due to have your water bills to you.
Please know that we do everything we can to perform actual reads. Estimating reads is a last resort as it raises more questions about water bills and what seems to be inconsistent billing.

Your current read is the number that your meter shows. That number difference from your previous read calculates how much your usage is. For example, if your current read is 2,000 and your previous read was 1,000, then your usage would be 1,000 gallons.

Our system bills by the 1,000 gallons. If you use over 1,000 gallons but under 2,000 gallons, you will be billed for 1,000. Once you go into the next 1,000 increment you would be billed for 2,000 (in this example), resulting in a higher bill for that month.

If you use under 1,000 you will be billed the basic fees for both water ($24.16) and sewer ($17.28) totaling $41.44. This basic fee covers fixed operation and infrastructure costs to keep public utility systems connected and running to your property, regardless of whether you use any water during the billing cycle.

What Basic Water Fees Cover:
System Maintenance: Routine repairs, flushing, and upkeep of water mains, pipes, valves, and hydrants.
Treatment & Operations: Running water treatment plants and maintaining continuous water pressure and readiness.
Meter & Billing Services: Reading, testing, repairing, and replacing water meters, plus customer service and billing processing.
Capital Improvements: Funding long-term upgrades, major replacements of aging pipes, and system expansions.

What Basic Sewer Fees Cover
Wastewater Collection: Transporting wastewater safely away from your property via local sewer mains and lift stations.
Treatment Facility Operations: Operating regional or municipal wastewater treatment plants to clean sewage before safely returning water to the environment.
Inflow/Infiltration Management: Maintaining storm drains, sanitary sewer lines, and catch basins to prevent overflows and system failures.
Debt Service: Paying off municipal bonds or regional infrastructure loans used to build or overhaul treatment facilities.

Last but not least, why is my water bill so high this month? Common reasons that attribute to this are:
1. You didn't pay last month . Check to see if there is an amount on the PB line on your water bill. We're all human and occasionally we do forget those kinds of things.
2. This can be an indication of a water leak somewhere on your property. The usual suspect is a slow leak in your toilet or water softener.
3. It's summer! Usage tends to go up with an increase of watering lawns, gardens, kids playing in sprinklers, or pools getting filled.
4. Happy Holidays! When we have an increase in visitors to our home, we tend to see an increase in water usage. This typically happens around Thanksgiving and the winter holidays.

08/11/2026

UPDATE: The canvassers from Working America will be canvassing starting August 3, 2026 and continuing at least through December 3, 2026. These dates have been updated from the previous post.

Canvassers from Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, will be conducting a door-to-door membership and fundraising drive in the Village of Lawrence from starting June 18, 2026, and continuing at least through October 18, 2026. Typical hours of operation are from 3-9 p.m.
Working America's canvassers may have picture identification cards prominently displayed and be wearing red safety vests that display their affiliation with Working America.
The stated purpose of this membership drive is to educate working people about issues that affect them, sign up new members and receive voluntary dues from their members. Canvassers will not be selling any products, nor will they attempt to solicit any funds.
The canvassing operation is considered constitutionally-protected political speech and as such does not require the organization to obtain a permit to go door-to-door.
For more information about Working America, please visit https://workingamerica.org/.

Send a message to learn more