Kevin Hodur approved to fill vacated Hancock City Council seat

Hancock City Councilor Lisa McKenzie congratulates Kevin Hodur and welcomes him to the City Council following the Oct. 16 Hancock City Council meeting. Hodur, who has run for City Council twice, applied for the Ward II seat recently vacated by Jeremie Moore and received unanimous Council approval at this meeting. Also pictured, second from left in background, is Councilor John Haeussler. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

HANCOCK -- At their Oct. 16, 2013, monthly meeting, the Hancock City Council unanimously approved accepting Kevin Hodur's application to fill the Ward II Council seat vacated recently by Jeremie Moore, who was obliged to move from the area for family reasons.

"Since Jeremie's life took another turn and he's moved out of the area, I feel it's my obligation to represent my fellow citizens," Hodur said.

In 2010 Hodur ran for this seat and lost to Moore by only a few votes. In 2012 he ran against Barry Givens, former Hancock mayor, for an at-large Council seat, but was defeated. Hodur will now remain on the Council until this term expires in November 2014. He will have the option of filing a petition next August to be placed on the November 2014 ballot should he decide to run for a two-year term, which would expire in November 2016.

Hodur recently completed a Ph.D. in the Humanities Department at Michigan Tech and now holds a full-time staff position as a creative writer for the university. In addition, he teaches a class in composition at Michigan Tech and a class in public speaking at Finlandia University.

At the end of the meeting Council members congratulated Hodur and welcomed him to the Council.

Michigan Tech News: Running Ultramarathons in the Kalahari: Tech Student Says Why Not?

By Kevin Hodur
Posted Oct. 26, 2012, on Michigan Tech News
Reprinted with permission

Michigan Tech's Breanna Cornell in training on Sharon Avenue for her run across Botswana's Kalahari Desert. (Photos courtesy Michigan Technological University)

HOUGHTON -- For most of us, running a marathon is a dream, somewhere between being a rock star and an all-star slugger. But for Michigan Tech environmental engineering student Breanna Cornell, a marathon didn't seem to be quite enough of a challenge.

After watching the ultramarathon documentary "Running the Sahara" in her local running store, Cornell, whose goal was to run a marathon after high school, realized that a marathon was not the limit of what was possible.

"I asked myself, why did I put a limit at just a marathon?" the environmental engineering major said.

"You're crazy," was her friend's incredulous comment. "I know," Cornell replied with a smile.

Eager to train for distances beyond 26.2 miles the right way, Cornell got in touch with Ray Zahab, one of the runners starring in "Running the Sahara." Rather than just offering her some tips, Zahab invited Cornell to join his new venture, impossible2Possible (i2P).

Cornell will be one of eight youth ambassadors for i2P's Expedition Africa 2012, highlighting water issues in Botswana's Kalahari Desert. The ambassadors will alternate between running ultramarathons, studying water issues, and sharing their experiences -- of both running and life in the desert -- with students around the world. The entire i2P expedition will cross 400 kilometers (248.5 miles) of the Kalahari in Botswana; Cornell will travel 200 kilometers.

Breanna Cornell, Michigan Tech student in environmental engineering, will run 200 kilometers in Botswana's Kalahari Desert to call attention to water issues.

When asked if running 50 kilometers (about 31.1 miles) per day for four days straight was intimidating, Cornell didn't hesitate.

"Oh, not at all," she said, with a small shrug. "Before the school year I ran from my home in Grand Rapids to the Mackinac Bridge as a fundraiser for Tech's Rowing Club."

Cornell stressed that water is the important issue for the i2P expedition. "Water is something we really take for granted, especially in Michigan," she said. "The running
is just the fun part."

Indeed, the focus of the expedition is on water quality issues, with running as a metaphor for overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. With so much of the world's population without access to safe, reliable sources of drinking water, i2P has partnered with Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, to draw attention to the looming crisis.

Cornell has been preparing herself for this expedition, both with her physical training and her studies, and she's ready to make what to most of us seems impossible, possible. There is one chance the expedition won't be taking, however.

"There's a park we have to drive through, rather than running across it," she said with a hesitant smile. The reason? "Apparently the lions will eat you."

Follow Breanna Cornell and her fellow youth ambassadors on their journey Oct. 29 through Nov. 12 at impossible2Possible.

* Editor's Note: The author of this article, Kevin Hodur, has a different kind of race to run this week. He is running as a write-in candidate for Hancock City Council. Click here to read more ...

UPDATED: Kevin Hodur, write-in candidate for Hancock City Council seat, offers expertise in community planning, development

By Michele Bourdieu

Kevin Hodur, a write-in candidate for the Hancock City Council at-large seat on the Nov. 6 general election ballot, chats with a customer, Hancock artist Kanak Nanavati, in his art and writing supply store, Keweenaw Archive, in the Jutila Center in Hancock. (Photos by Keweenaw Now)

HANCOCK -- On Nov. 6, 2012, Hancock voters will have an opportunity to vote for a young write-in City Council at-large candidate with a progressive vision for their city.

Kevin Hodur, Ph.D., is offering voters his expertise in community development, business and city planning.

Hodur is a busy, energetic college instructor and small business owner who recently completed his doctorate in Rhetoric and Technical Communication at Michigan Tech University, where he now teaches a Perspectives class for first-year students titled "People and Their Places," based on his major field of study, urban geography and community development.

"What I teach is the same idea I'm running on: The development decisions that we make now will be in place for generations," Hodur said. "For the sake of our children and our grandchildren it's vital that we get them right."

Hodur also applies the communication part of his training in courses on public speaking and sports broadcasting that he teaches at Finlandia University and in his friendly manner with customers who frequent his small shop of art and writing supplies, the Keweenaw Archive, located in Finlandia's Jutila Center for Global Design and Business, a business incubator in Hancock.

Baraga resident Susan Ruddy, who also resides on Isle Royale, where she works for the National Park Service in the summer, purchases some art supplies at the Keweenaw Archive from owner Kevin Hodur. "Everyone's an artist," Ruddy said with a smile.

Hodur's wife, Cynthia Hodur, assistant manager at the Keweenaw Co-op, in her spare time, helps him with the Keweenaw Archive, which is conveniently located in the same building as Finlandia's International School of Art and Design.

Hodur and Bonnie Holland, Jutila Center executive director, as well as former Hancock Mayor Barry Givens, applied to fill temporarily the at-large councilor seat vacated by the resignation of Jim Hainault, who recently moved out of the City of Hancock. At a special meeting on Sept. 12, 2012, the Hancock City Council nominated Givens and voted, by a vote of four to two, to appoint Givens to fill the seat temporarily -- for the September and October meetings.*

Givens and Hodur each filed a declaration of intent form by Oct. 26 to run as a write-in on the Nov. 6 ballot for a two-year term ending in 2014. Holland decided not to run, although Councilor Lisa McKenzie had nominated her at the Sept. 12 meeting.*

Hodur, who has a good relationship with Holland, said he consulted with her before he decided to run for the seat as a write-in on the Nov. 6 ballot.

"She (Holland) has some excellent ideas about developing our downtown, which I think are important," he said.

Hancock City Councilor John Slivon, who is running for re-election to the Council, expressed his support for Hodur's candidacy.

"I think it's time to get some more forward-looking people on the Council," Slivon said. "I hope we both win."

Hodur's write-in opponent, Barry Givens, was Mayor of Hancock at the time his employer, Moyle Inc., built the controversial condominium on the Portage Lift Bridge, which many residents have criticized for its effect of blocking the viewscape.

"I think there are some transparency questions there," Hodur said about the project. "I don't know enough about Barry to call it a conflict of interest, but it did take a public vista and made it a private space."

As for his own candidacy, Hodur believes he can make a positive contribution if elected to the Council.

"As a citizen of Hancock -- and being very happy to live here -- I feel I should do my part with the expertise that I have," Hodur noted.

Voters must write in the name of an eligible write-in candidate in the NONPARTISAN section of the ballot, under "COUNCIL MEMBER AT LARGE, Partial Term Ending 11/12/2014. Vote for not more than 1."

Both Kevin Hodur and Barry Givens are eligible write-ins because they submitted their declarations of intent by Oct. 26, 2012. According to Hancock City Clerk Karen Haischer, they are the only ones who submitted declarations for this position by the deadline.**

Notes:

* See our Sept. 18, 2012, article on the Sept. 12 special meeting of the City of Hancock.
** Click here to read the Michigan law for write-in candidates.
Click here and fill in the required information in order to see your own sample ballot.

Michigan requires voters to bring to the polls an acceptable form of voter photo identification or a signed affidavit attesting that you do not have a photo I.D. Click here for details on voter identification.

UPDATE: Learn more about Kevin Hodur and his commitment to Hancock on his campaign Facebook Page. It is open to all. No need to be a member of Facebook. Just CLICK HERE.

Former Hancock Mayor Barry Givens appointed for two-month City Council opening

HANCOCK -- At a special meeting on Sept. 12, 2012, the Hancock City Council nominated and voted to appoint former Mayor Barry Givens to fill -- for the September and October 2012 meetings -- an open at-large seat vacated by the recent resignation of Councilor Jim Hainault.

"We have absolutely three excellent candidates," said Councilman John Haeussler, who seconded Ted Belej's motion to nominate Givens. "It's too bad we don't have nine seats on the Council."

The three candidates, who applied for the appointment by the deadline of Sept. 10, were Givens; Kevin Hodur, owner of the Keweenaw Archive, an arts and crafts supply business; and Bonnie Holland, executive director of the Jutila Center for Global Design and Business.

Four votes were necessary for the appointment, and four "yes" votes were cast by Councilors John Haeussler, Jeremie Moore, William Laitila and Ted Belej. Councilors Lisa McKenzie and John Slivon cast "no" votes. McKenzie had nominated Bonnie Holland for the open seat, but her motion for the nomination was not seconded.

McKenzie said she nominated Holland because she has been very active on the Downtown Development Authority (DDA).

"She (Bonnie) was the first one to support the facade grants through the DDA for the downtown, and she always brings fresh ideas," McKenzie said. "I hope she considers the write-in. Of course I'm more than happy to have a councilor like Barry sitting on the Council again. He was very good, too. But I think it would be nice to have new ideas."

Before the vote, Slivon noted he had a problem with the nomination of Givens.

"My problem with Barry is that there's this perception that he's the person who was primarily responsible for the excrescence under the bridge. A lot of people don't like that, and I'm one of them. When he was Mayor, I was at the meeting when he was asked if he knew what was supposed to happen with the property, and he said that he did not. I don't know what his position is with Moyle -- I think he's the chief engineer? How could he possibly not know? And the building was not built to specifications."

Slivon explained later that his understanding was that the entire structure (a condominium next to the Portage Lift Bridge) was to be no higher than the roadway level and the proposal that Moyle presented to the city satisfied that requirement.

"Then Moyle apparently changed their mind," he added, "and what was finally built was a building that unfortunately was higher than he thought the City Council had originally agreed to and quite different in character than the original design."

In the opinion of many residents, the height of the building results in an obstruction of the viewscape on and near the bridge.

Slivon said he thought Kevin Hodur would also be a good candidate.

"He's a businessman and he's got city planning in his Ph.D. education, so he'd bring some experience to the job," Slivon said.

Givens will be sworn in at the regular September meeting of the Council tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 19. He will serve only two months until the November election. Should he wish to remain on the Council, Givens will have to file a declaration of intent form by Oct. 26 to run as a write-in for a two-year term ending in 2014.

In that case he would run against any Hancock residents who file this declaration of intent (also by Oct. 26) to run as a write-in candidate for the open at-large Council seat.

In other business at the special meeting, the Hancock City Council approved Resolution Number 8-12 for an increase of $7,333 in operating funds for the City's Transit Operation for Fiscal Year 2012 -- approving  execution of the Revised MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) Project Authorization.

At their regular meeting tomorrow, Sept. 19, the Council will consider appointment to Personnel/Finance Committee and Public Works/Utility Committee to replace Jim Hainault’s positions.

Click here for the Agenda for the Sept. 19, 2012, Hancock City Council Meeting.