Coldwater council approves Citizens Academy for 2023

Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter
·2 min read

COLDWATER — In January, the city of Coldwater will take applications from residents who want to get an inside look at the city government, its facilities and how it operates.

Council members approved a recommendation from city manager Keith Baker to create a Citizens Academy of at least 12 people to create the program used for decades around the country to foster more community involvement.

Keith Baker
Keith Baker

Baker practiced in the Midland program when he was the planning director there. Those joining the educational program would meet approximately once a month, probably on a Thursday from January through June.

“In doing so, we hopefully would not only educate them around the functions of the city's operations but maybe interest a number of those to further engage and participate in the process through participation on a board or commission and just be advocates for what we do on a daily basis,” Baker told the council.

Baker plans for each session to last one to two hours.

“They'll be comprised of staff presentations and then the facility tour," he said. "Each session will be at a different city facility. We rotate that through the city and BPU.”

These are the monthly topics and departments the Citizen's Academy would cover in the six months of educational programs.
These are the monthly topics and departments the Citizen's Academy would cover in the six months of educational programs.

The manager hopes to find a diverse group of city residents interested in the academy.

“We would want to work most directly with those that are city residents,” Baker said.

By January, Baker hopes to have the application up on the city website; the only cost to the city is materials and staff time.

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The city's government has faced criticism on social media for little diversity on its boards and commissions, with many of the same people or their relatives serving.

Mayor Tom Kramer agreed this could help find residents with interest and knowledge to participate in local government.

— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Coldwater council creates academy to educate residents on government