Chassell Historic Trail Boardwalk Completion!
Last week started with a ski with our hiking/skiing group at Swedetown up in Calumet. There still were no tracks, but the conditions were good enough to get in about seven miles of skiing.
You can see my GoPro video from this ski on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at:
My Monday was spent knocking out last months board meeting minutes for Tuesday’s Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club board meeting and then drafting narratives for the township’s SPARK Grant proposal to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to make improvements to Centennial Park. We had been anticipating the potential for the SPARK Grant opportunity a year ago and undertook a preliminary engineering study of the park to position ourselves for it. This work was informed by our 5-Year Recreation Plan, a committee we convened last fall, and by recommendations made by a review of the park by the Superior Alliance for Independent Living.
I took a break from the grant proposal writing to get in a 4.7 mile run out to Halfmoon Beach and back.
Remote Workforce Keweenaw received coverage on Tuesday in an MLive article. If you have a subscription, you can read it at this link: https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2022/12/michigans-housing-market-is-in-crisis-climate-change-could-make-it-worse.htm
I also reached out to Brian Boyle suggesting a story be written on Chassell and Remote Workforce Keweenaw in UPWord. We are now over 20 individuals working remotely from Chassell. Between this success and the steps we have been taking to make our township a great place to live, work, and play, Chassell provides a great model for rural economic development.
On Wednesday, Remote Workforce Keweenaw featured Chris Schmidt who works remotely from Houghton translating technical documentation, but also creates and sells design work from his Studio 13 storefront in downtown Houghton (see his website at https://xmaticdesign.com). You can learn more about Chris’ story on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at this link.
Wednesday also saw the completion of the Chassell Historic Trail boardwalk by DP Construction. Dan Palosaari’s crew did an awesome job of getting this project accomplished in often less than hospitable conditions since the start of the firearm deer season!
Wednesday evening I attended the township board meeting where I briefed the board on the completion of the boardwalk, gained their approval to moved forward with seeking an agreement with the Portage Health Foundation to administer our blight remediation program, and briefed them on the elements we are building into the SPARK Grant proposal.
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Would you value living in a place with ubiquitous natural beauty that has NO congestion and lower crime? Consider locating in the Keweenaw! Learn more by visiting Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com and learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.