By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
HOWARD – Starting a Citizens Academy in the village is in the works.
The Howard village board directed staff Monday, Aug. 26, to move forward with holding a Citizens Academy this fall.
Trustee John Muraski proposed the idea to help community members learn about village government and departmental operations first-hand.
He had asked village staff to look into similar programs offered in other communities.
Village Administrator Paul Evert said staff obtained material from other communities and modified it for a program to offer in Howard this fall.
Evert suggested holding the program with six or seven weekly sessions starting in October and finishing before Thanksgiving.
“We’d set it up with these various theme nights and what we’d cover with different staff, elected officials and different agencies appearing,” he said.
Village President Burt McIntyre said the comments he received from two other communities holding a Citizens Academy varied from it being a waste of time to the greatest thing that community ever did.
“It’s a mixed bag, and I think it really depends on the size of your community and lot of different things,” McIntyre said. “My opinion is it ain’t going to hurt to try it.”
McIntyre said he hopes the Citizens Academy will create a relationship between the citizens and staff.
A draft of the program structure presented to the board calls for six sessions to take place for two hours each week on Thursday evenings.
Sessions would consist of speakers, facility tours and opportunities for experiential learning.
Each Citizens Academy would have a maximum of 10 participants, including a student in grades 9-12, with an application and selection process used to chose the participants.
There would be no fee to apply, with the applications processed as they are received.
Those not selected for the first Citizens Academy would be considered for the next session.
Muraski praised the effort by village staff to put together the draft document for the Citizens Academy.
“It far exceeded what I was envisioning in really trying to engage our community and help them understand not only what we do here on the board, but how we operate as a village,” he said.
Trustee Craig McAllister said he hopes the Citizens Academy will help spur some interest in what happens in the village.
“One of the things that I’m always frustrated with is there is such disinterest, it seems like in everything, until they’re (upset),” McAllister said. “I’m just hoping that this would spur a little bit of interest and maybe develop on that.”