Results of a public meeting held in October 2006:
THE FUTURE OF REPUBLIC: FIRST YEAR GOALS
“If you returned to Republic after being gone for 20 years, what would you like to see here?” With that question, Rita Hodgins started the 6th community input planning meeting. After generating ideas for three different areas, those in attendance voted that the following would be goals to achieve in the first year:
YOUTH: (1) do this planning process with young people
(2) involve the kids in projects for the Heritage Trail
BEAUTIFICATION: (1) build a town square, beautify/develop/expand festival area
(2) improve the look of the entrances to the towns
DEVELOPMENT: (1) Iron Ore Heritage Trail
a) wetlands development
b) welcome kiosk
c) use the $10,000 grant from CCI to leverage added grants
d) build viewing platforms
(2) Publicize the local crafters using a monthly market.
The next meeting is November 6th at the emergency services building at 7 P.M.
Everyone with positive attitudes and/or positive ideas is invited to attend.
“Small is beautiful. One small step at a time, locally, makes the area more attractive to others who want the same quality of life.”
Webmaster's note..we do not have a recap of the November 6th meeting, yet.
It should be noted that the December 2006 Newsletter mentioned the idea of a community square in the old parking lot area between the Methodist Church and Munson Park.
In addition, the following appeared in the December 2006 Newsletter:
(From Dec. Twp Newsletter, Supervisor’s corner.)
Quite a few community residents have taken it on themselves to make this a better looking place. A group has kept seasonally current decorations on the Kloman bridge for the entire year. Another group put up Christmas swags on the sign posts. The school kids decorated the Christmas tree in the pocket park by the town hall. The community committee that has been meeting to plan improvements to the community has settled on four areas: upgrading the appearances of North Republic,( which resulted in the new town square plans which are on the front page); a portion of the committee dedicated to the Heritage Trail has become a subcommittee of the Planning Commission and are pushing the development of that area; another part of the committee is working with the organizer of the fall festival that was held in North Republic, to plan additional activities including a possible spring festival, and potentially monthly summer markets to be held in the new pavilion to be erected on the new town square, plus other activities to be announced; and another group that has taken on responsibility to upgrade the appearances to the villages from the highway including signs, gardens and more. The community committee will meet again on January 31st at 7 p.m. at the Township Hall. If you have any community spirit you want to share, or just to find out what is really going on, you are welcome to attend.
This is just a partial list, representative of the activities that have happened, and I would run out of space if I tried to list every possible thing that has happened. Thank you to all of you who have shown that the spark of community spirit is alive and well. We’re on our way back.
