Lifestyle

The newly formed JOYFUL North Shore Choir, located at Knife River Lutheran Church is off to a wonderful start under the direction of Patti Stoddard.However, three more tenors are needed.April’s rehearsal schedule is as follows:Tuesday, April 16 at 6:30 pm Downstairs.

Carolyn Hudyma thinks that residents getting informed and involved in local government can only add to creating good solutions to challenges, and developing ideas that make communities stronger.Bringing it up with long time Lake county resident Chuckie Knudson, the pair thought holding regular meetings could be a path to increasing community conversations.This grassroots idea will be launched with an open forum meeting on Tuesday, April 9th at noon, in the conference room at the North Shore Area Partners building.The purpose of the meeting is for area citizens to hold discussions about affordable housing and other community concerns.Hudyma recently started going to Silver Bay’s city council meetings, and surprised about what she learned about some council decisions, she expanded that to include occasional attendance at meetings of the Economic Development Authority, and Meet the Mayor meetings.Feeling like there was not always a good ability to make her opinion heard by decision makers, Hudyma decided that a community-based group started by citizens could be a good place to learn and share information about local government issues.“The point is for people to have the opportunity to have more in depth conversations about spending our city and county resources, and if someone from the city or county government wants to show up, it is open to everyone,” said Hudyma.While housing is a primary issue right now, Hudyma says that she hopes the group will be open to talking about other local concerns.Calling this neighbor-to-neighbor conversation, Hudyma hopes to improve communication between citizens and decision makers in our area.