Seventeen parents, educators, and community members gathered Sunday, March 7, at St. Ignace Middle School to form a committee to sell to voters the idea of a proposed 0.7 mill property tax levy for 11 years.

The millage, titled the “Energy, Transportation, and Technology” measure, will finance $2,675,000 in bonds for the construction of an $800,000 wood chip heating plant for the district, the purchase of interactive whiteboards for all classrooms, a computer for each student in grades five through 12, a cart of laptop computers for students in lower grades, provide for replacement and updating of the computers over the 11 years, and provide for replacement of all eight buses in the district's aging transportation fleet.

After a motion was made by Donna Pope to form the “St. Ignace Area Committee for Our Kids for Our Future,” the 17 members appointed Angela Brake as the group's president and her husband, Casey, as secretary and treasurer.

The group is starting with a budget of $500. District Superintendent Mike Springsteen said this amount was contributed to the campaign by Wolgast Corporation of Saginaw, a construction management firm the district has contracted with to oversee any construction.

After deciding that they wanted to focus on targeting “yes” voters to help pass the millage in the May 4 election, the group agreed their next step was to officially form a nonprofit organization by registering with the Mackinac County clerk's office.

A finance committee was formed among the new members to handle the group's budget, an information committee to deal with any publication, printing, or dissemination of information about the ballot measure, and a “yes voter” committee was formed to create a list of proposal supporters and make sure they vote in the election.

Mr. Springsteen said in addition to talking with individuals and organizations like the Lions and Kiwanis clubs, the group should host a community forum a week or two before the election to allow voters to ask questions about the proposed tax levy.

Individual committees will meet to start work on pushing the millage proposal, and the full citizen's committee set their next meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, to update one another on their progress.

Signing a sheet for involvement in the committee Sunday were school board president Jane Ann Weiss, school board trustees Mike Grogan and Ronn Farr, principals Kari Visnaw, Gregg Fettig, and Don Gustafson, high school teacher Leon Ruder, middle school teacher Andrew Long, district business manager Kathy McLeod, school secretary Claudette Brown, and citizens Casey and Angela Brake, Dean Reid, Donna Pope, Mike Buby, Sue St. Onge, and St. Ignace Mayor Paul Grondin.

Those interested in finding out more about the committee may call Mrs. Brake at 643-0958 or Mr. Springsteen at 643-8145.