SJHS graduates and Disney creators visit hometown schools
St. Johns Public Schools welcomes back SJHS Graduates and Disney Creators, Shane Houghton (‘04) and Chris Houghton (‘06) to our schools on February 28 and March 1.
Shane and Chris Houghton are the creators of the animated Disney TV series, Big City Greens. Shane and Chris are this year’s Visiting Authors, sponsored by the St. Johns Schools Foundation for Excellence.
Shane and Chris will be giving a presentation at all 4 elementary school buildings, as well as the middle school and high school, during the school day.
A community reception and presentation also will be held on Thursday, February 28. 2019.
Beginning at 5:00PM in the St. Johns High School Cafeteria, a “Meet and Greet” reception will be held where Shane and Chris will sign autographs and answer individual questions. Light food and refreshments will be available for all attendees.
Beginning at 6:30 PM in the High School Auditorium, Shane and Chris will share a presentation about growing up in St. Johns and their journey to working for Disney.
St. Johns Public Schools is proud of the accomplishments of Shane and Chris and are excited to welcome them home.
City Commission Newsletter
New Treasurer/Finance Director
We would like to welcome and introduce to you the City’s new Treasurer and Finance Director, Kristina Parr Kinde. Kristina began her duties with St. Johns on October 22, 2018, which was shortly after former Treasurer, Patrick Clifford left the City for a position in the private sector. Kristina comes to us with 19 years of experience in municipal finance and auditing and was recently the Treasurer for the City of Portland, Michigan. Kristina was raised in St. Johns, and after graduating from high school, she attended Cedarville University where she received a Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting and Finance. Kristina has extensive budgeting and investment experience that will be extremely beneficial to the City of St. Johns.
Kristina, and her husband Dan have two children, Daren and Braelyn who are six and five years old respectively. Besides spending time with her family, Kristina also enjoys watching movies, baking and preparing specialty foods. Please feel free to stop into City Hall and meet her in person.
New Police Facility
The City of St. Johns recently purchased a vacated church building on Old 127 for the purposes of relocating the Police Department. The two level, 11,000 square foot facility is nearly ten times as large as the current building which is severely undersized for the City’s current needs and doesn’t meet certain modern standards.
The new facility is under renovation now, with a planned move-in date this Spring. An open house for community members will be held sometime soon after, and residents will be notified of the date.
Based on today’s cost factors, a new building of the same size would have cost in excess of $1.6 million dollars, but the renovated building will be completed and made operational for only a fraction of that cost. It is estimated that the new building will serve the Police Department’s needs for several decades and beyond since there is room on the site to expand the building if necessary.
2019 Road Restoration Program
With the recent passage of the multi-year road millage program, additional road repairs and upgrades will be undertaken again this year. Beginning in late Spring, road work will be completed on the following roads: Euclid, Elm, Baldwin, Oak Street and Bond’s Alley. Also receiving attention will be Kibbee Street, Bills Lane, Searles Estates Drive, Randy Lane, and E. Railroad Street, where underground utility upgrades are also planned.
As usual, it is the City’s intention to have all work completed by the beginning of the 2019-20 school year and substantially complete prior to the Mint Festival.
Recreational Marijuana
With the passage of the new Recreational Marijuana law (Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, passed by voters on November 6, 2018) the St. Johns City Commission took action to set up a temporary one-year moratorium prohibiting any commercial marijuana operations (e.g., grow, sale transport, testing) within the City’s boundaries. During the moratorium period, which can be lifted or extended based on changed circumstances, the City Commission will evaluate the pros and cons of permitting such commercial activity as well as any regulations and licensing requirements the state promulgates to regulate such commercial enterprises.
Read with the animals
by Maralyn Fink
On Saturday, I attended this program at our local Library.
Representatives from Potter Park Zoo brought a few small animals to the Library and read some stories that featured those animals. A large number of parents and kids came to this event.
I met two of the animals out of the four.
The kids were really enthralled in this visit. Everyone had a great time, and thank you to the Library for putting on this event.
Valentine’s Day dance is February 15
The Maple River Charge Community Outreach Group will be hosting a Valentine’s Day dance Friday, February 15 from 7 – 9 p.m. at Lowe United Methodist Church, 5485 W Lowe Rd. St. Johns.
Free will offering or donation of prepackaged snack foods accepted at the door for admission. Donations will benefit Compassion in Action, a food program for St.Johns Public School Students.
Homegrown Productions to present comedy February 22, 23
Homegrown Productions theatre group will be performing “Til Beth Do Us Part,” a comedy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten.
Performances will be at the Wilson Center Auditorium on February 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 24 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets are $10.00 for all shows. For more information call 517-930-1421 or 517-930-0410.
Art Gallery to feature artist February 15
Stop in at the Clinton County Arts Council Art Gallery on Friday, February 15 and meet Andrea Czarnik from Saginaw. She will be painting on location.
Her earliest artistic pursuits were developed from attending Chicago’s Art Institute and the former American Academy of Art.
Many of her works are available in the Art Gallery.