Before the cameras at Wood TV 8 went live and Gov. Rick Snyder began answering
questions during his town hall meeting about his plans to continue to improve Michigan, he addressed the studio audience with a story.

“It was the debate with Virg Bernero, it was actually on Detroit Public TV,” Snyder said. “The way they had it set up was is they had just painted the studio floor and what happened is it didn’t dry. The funny part is we got to our podiums and they had us standing there 15 minutes before, and we were stuck, literally you couldn’t move. So you never know what’s going to happen.”

However, once the cameras went live and the hour-long, commercial-free town hall meeting began, Snyder got down to business.

“As governor, I believe there are two things you want to do: one of them is communicate
well,” Snyder said. “It’s an opportunity to communicate what the plan is and where we are going. But secondly, by your questions, it’s an opportunity to listen and to hear what’s on your thoughts and minds.”

On the minds of many in the audience were the unemployed. Several questions for Snyder were about jobs and how he plans to improve the work force in Michigan.

Grant Wright of Lowell, Mich., is 59 and has been out of a job for about three years. Previously an auto service manager, Wright was opened the question and answer session with Gov. Snyder with a question about Snyder’s plan to decrease the unemployment rate in Michigan.

“For the structurally unemployed, the long term unemployed, there is still a lot of work to be done and I don’t walk away from that issue at all,” Snyder said. “It’s something we really need to focus in on because the question is, how do we help people get that first job and that entry level job?”

The town hall meeting centered on this topic but refocused on education when Andrew Dewindt, a junior from Jenison, Mich., asked Snyder about the cuts to education.

“I really wanted to write something that would get a direct response and that you wouldn’t be able to jump around and I think I got a little of that out,” Dewindt said. “There was a little vagueness and I don’t know if he understood it or not but I think he answered my question pretty well.”

Snyder addressed the issue of education and budget cuts to education, saying that the system is broken in Michigan and needs to be improved.

“The net cut for organizational schools that do the best practice procedures is less than two percent,” Snyder said. “So in terms of prioritizing, we actually cut less there than almost all the areas of the budget we had to cut and I still didn’t like it. Long term is, how do we invest more into education?”

Towards the end of Snyder’s hour-long town hall meeting, the governor addressed the audience and the state by a call for action and unity.

“That’s why I like this opportunity because it’s not about me, it’s not about you, again it’s about we,” Snyder said. “So let’s get fired up and get excited about the good things we can do in this state and just get them done. We will stand out and we will create more and better jobs and we will create that environment.” To watch the whole recorded town hall meeting with Gov. Snyder, log onto woodtv.com or watch the replayed version on Sunday at 10 a.m.

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