By: Aimee Bingham Osinski
anbingham@gmail.com
In the step-by-step return to normalcy, I went to the Dexter Wellness Center for the Dexter Forum on Saturday morning.
The first topic on the agenda was recycling and trash. Apparently, citizens in the neighboring townships are still struggling with trash and recycling services but that doesn’t appear to be the case in Dexter. It appears that service within city limits has been much better than in townships and residents are grateful.
The next topic on the agenda was redistricting. The redistricting commission is struggling to redraw district boundaries because the pandemic greatly delayed census information. The courts decided to continue with the deadline and push to get it done on time.
Lori Kintz from 5 Healthy Towns stopped by to explain a newly launched program, onebigconnection.org. It sounds like it will function like a community bulletin board. Be sure to add your events and utilize the service.
Mara Greatorex, interim school board president, discussed filling the two vacant seats on the school board. It sounds like the new board members will be sworn in on July 26, at which time positions will officially be filled for president, VP, treasurer and secretary. The interesting and confusing way school funding works was discussed. The district runs on no funds for the first three months. But, thankfully Dexter has always done very well at budgeting, even when having to guess as to the final numbers the state will provide. Greatorex discussed the summer camp currently running at Dexter as an attempt to give kids who have lacked social interaction during Covid the opportunity to interact, learn and enjoy the summer. She explained that for the older kids there is an opportunity for credit recovery especially for students who may have struggled with virtual learning during Covid-19. The current plan for Dexter is to return to full time face to face in the Fall as long as things continue on the current trajectory.
We also learned from a road commissioner the reason Wayne County seems to be having such a problem with flooding while Washtenaw is not is because we have been lackadaisical at caring for our infrastructure. Washtenaw just doesn’t have the pumps that Wayne County does. The one on 23 near Milan failed about four years ago and will likely be forgotten until it needs to be replaced. For the time being Washtenaw County is safe because we don’t have that type of infrastructure.
The next meeting of the forum will be at 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 7 at the Dexter Wellness Center.
