From the notes of moderator John Hansen:
We didn’t let a little snow get in the way of a lively session of the Forum. Eight elected officials and one appointed one were scattered around the room.
We revisited the issue of the (lack of) high speed internet in our rural areas. Students and businesses are at a significant disadvantage without this service. The problem is the cost of running the wires in lightly populated areas. Our representatives at the state, county and township level are all aware of the problem but none see a solution coming quickly.
School board president Michael Wendorf brought us good news regarding the cooperation between the schools and the city to improve pedestrian safety around the schools and around town in general. Meetings are being held and all parties seem to be on the same page.
As our municipalities are moving to ‘opt out’ of allowing marijuana business operations in their area they seem to be facing little backlash. Public hearings have been very lightly attended. It seems that folks have gotten the message that it is wise to wait until the state finalizes all of the regulations before setting things in stone.
We talked some more about the high cost of housing in our area and were heartened to hear that a project with Avalon Housing (a non-profit housing advocacy group) is moving along on city owned land on Dan Hoey Road. The City’s new housing commission will be holding its first meeting soon and they will also be addressing this issue.
The next meeting of the Dexter Forum will be on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 8:30 AM at the Dexter Wellness Center on Baker Road. This meeting will mark the beginning of our 5th year. Topics, as usual, will be determined by those in attendance.
The Dexter Forum is supported by the Dexter Wellness Coalition as part of the 5 Healthy Towns initiative to “help connect with others in healthy ways”. The purpose of the Forum is to create an opportunity for interested women and men to gather to discuss important issues facing our community. All are welcome on a drop-in basis. The group meets on the first and third Saturdays of the month.
Back issues of the Forum notes are available on our web site DexterForum.com Just let John or Karl know if you would like to be added to our e-mail list which will get you meeting reminders and your own personal copy of the meeting notes.
The group is moderated by Karl Fink and John Hansen.
