Last Wednesday, the Dowagiac Union Schools administration held the latest public information session about the upcoming $37 million bond proposals, which will be voted on by the public on Nov. 3.

The two proposals, which would raise property millage rates by 2.5 and 1 mill respectively, are designed to raise money for safety and security improvements, installation of heating and cooling systems, technology and infrastructure upgrades, ADA compliance and more to Dowagiac Union High School, the district’s four elementary school buildings and Chris Taylor Alumni Field.

In a nearly half-hour presentation at the high school media center, Union Schools Superintendent Paul Hartsig explained in great detail the district’s plan for renovating the facilities, the costs involved with it, and the history of the formation of the two bonds, which the administrator said were created with lots of input from the community.

In addition, attendees had the opportunity to ask Hartsig questions of their own about the bond proposals — a chance that a handful of individuals took advantage of.

In all, around 30 people attended the meeting. While not a tiny amount of people, in a city with a population of nearly 6,000, there is plenty of room for improvement.

With the amount of money the district is talking about, the public needs to get involved in the conversations about these two bond proposals. More questions need to be asked and more answers need to be given, so that when voters hit the polls next month, they know exactly what in the world they are voting for.

Even if you can’t make any of the district’s additional meetings concerning this issue, you should still try and become as informed as possible. The district is providing literature about the bonds, that people can find online at http://www.dowagiacschools.org/District/aboutthebond2015. The Dowagiac Daily News has also published several articles about the issue as well, which can be found on our website, https:https://www.leaderpub.com//category/news/dowagiac-news/.

We suggest you start with these two resources, and continue from there.

Whether you support or oppose the bond issue, you should make your voice heard. Our weekly Opinion section is one place you can do so, and we encourage any district voter to submit a letter to editor to us in the coming weeks.

The future of the district is at stake next month: don’t make an uninformed decision at the voting booth that you may wind up regretting later.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.