DOWAGIAC — The City of Dowagiac will be transferring the responsibility of managing investment funds to a private firm.

Monday evening, the Dowagiac City Council approved a resolution to enter into an investment management agreement with Meeder Public Funds to provide investment guidance for city of Dowagiac investments.

In the past, the city has made do managing investment funds itself, as City Manager Kevin Anderson said there have been low rates, and the city has received help to ensure the city is in compliance with state and local requirements. However, now the city feels it is time for a change.

“Over the last 12 or 14 years or so, our staff has managed these funds on our own, and I’ll be the first to say that we don’t have strong expertise in that,” Anderson said. “But we have felt for quite a while that we should be doing more. The best way to do that is to look at a company like this.”

Meeder Public Funds, based in Dublin, Ohio, provides investment advisory services. The company offers equity, fixed income, and cash management investment, strategy consulting solutions, according to a Bloomberg report.

According to its website, the company has more than 25 years working with both state and local governments.

“[Meeder Public Funds] will help us in managing those funds, sweeping those funds into accounts at the end of the night that can get some interest and advising us on which long-term investments would be best,” Anderson said. “They are also a fixed rate of percentage of investments, so there is no brokerage fee for moving things around from time to time.”

Monday, Anderson told the city council that he felt entering into the investment management agreement was the right move for the city.

“We think this will be in our best interests, not only to ensure that all our funds are getting interest at the appropriate time, but also to help our long-term investments a little better,” he said.

The resolution was unanimously approved by present city council members.

“The thing I like best about this is that it keeps us in compliance,” said Councilmember Charles Burling. “The regulations that we function under are constantly changing and to have someone who has expertise there to keep us out of trouble, to keep us on track is exciting.”

In other business:

• The city council approved resolutions to authorize special assessments for the purposes of abating deteriorating property conditions and delinquent electric water and/or sewer service for six months or more.

“This is pretty routine,” Anderson said. “We do this every six months.”

• The council approved an event request for the Children’s Halloween Parade, an annual event hosted by the Dowagiac Optimist Club. The event will take place downtown starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 27.