Baroda Township will not be appointing its third representative to a commission tasked with studying the possible disincorporation of the village of Baroda, at least for now.
The Baroda Township Board of Trustees held a special meeting Tuesday to appoint that representative, but following Monday’s village council meeting at which some village residents called into question the motivations of Township Clerk Christina Price, Township Supervisor Dennis Krotzer announced there will be no commission advancement at this time, partly in defense of Price.
“I have a viable candidate for the commission, but will not appoint this individual in order to not subject this individual to the personal attacks presented by the Baroda Village Council,” Krotzer said. “I do not feel comfortable to appoint anyone to this commission at this time.”
Krotzer said, “The actions of the Baroda village at last night’s meeting represent exactly why Baroda village needs to be disincorporated.” He also invited township attorney Sara Senica to speak. Senica said emails shared by a village resident at Monday’s meeting from Price to the Berrien County Clerk’s office and the state Bureau of Elections inquiring about the disincorporation process only show Price was doing her job.
“Now, the township clerk reached out to all the resources available to her about the topic,” Senica said. “She reached out to the Michigan Township Association, the county clerk, the Michigan Bureau of Elections, and to me as legal counsel.”
Senica said questions from Price in the emails represented due diligence.
“She wanted to understand the legal process. She wanted to understand her own duties and her own responsibilities as a citizen of the village and the township.”
In one of those emails — dated February 12, 2025 — Berrien County Clerk Stacy Loar-Porter advised Price not to get involved in the petition effort to explore disincorporation due to Price’s role as the township clerk and the fact that Price’s office would be responsible for validating the signatures on the petition and conducting the election if the proposal goes to a vote. However, Loar-Porter also noted Price’s involvement in the petition drive wouldn’t be illegal. Price was later involved in the petition effort.
Township Trustee Bill Hurst said Tuesday the situation is more nuanced than many may be recognizing.
“There was a little too much closeness in terms of how this petition was developed and how it got out there in terms of involvement of the township employee,” Hurst said. “And she did it as a private citizen, so it may be perfectly legitimate, but we should just acknowledge that truth.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Attorney Senica urged civility in the process, saying everyone should refrain from making unfounded allegations based on incomplete facts.
For now, the township will not be participating in the disincorporation commission.
