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Antrim County News



Local News

PUBLISHED: Wednesday, June 13, 2007
On the same page: Ellsworth Village and Township



"We are going to look forward and work forward to the future. Our two boards need to know what the other is doing." So said Thomas Mann, Banks Township Supervisor at the opening of a meeting where both the township board and the Ellsworth Village board were present.

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A pioneering effort to cooperate and to explore ways of helping each other to accomplish what is best for citizens in both communities was at the core of this unique gathering. It is something that made more and more sense as the meeting progressed.

Mann opened the door by making an offer to the village.

"What are your major projects, and what can we do to help." Village president, Hugh Campbell, walked through that door with his board's needs and a flood of ideas, open conversation and enthusiastic brainstorming ensued.

This meeting was filled with vision, but also a sense of mutual understanding that what was happening was extremely important, and may even border on necessary if the communities are to progress and fulfill the lifestyle that residents have come to enjoy.

Two local government bodies working together, in the same room, around the same table, listening to each other. It was working all night.

More and more, the group of 12 village and township leaders realized that they were on to something special.

The discussions and energy yielded five major areas of focus: expanding and improving the Pig Roast, adding another festival example; kayak racing) that highlights the waterfront, finishing the park and making it a focal point of the community, creating a desire for more people to tour through the village and township as part of a "trail" of small towns (possibly called, "The Back Way"), and making the bridge passable. Attendees Jeff Skeel, Vince Olach, Matt Peters, Bill Joe Peters, Katy Postmus, Marlene Drenth and Helen Allen all shared in the excitement of the impact that the ideas could hold for the future, but on this night, the real excitement was the result of a bond that was forged between the two bodies of government. It was a beginning. There is a focus. There is desire to keep the mutual momentum in gear. As a fundraiser, the group may just want to bottle their spirit and peddle it to neighboring municipalities.

It would be filled with vitamin P for Possibilities.





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