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We can help you with those decisions. We are qualified financial advisors. Give us a call.15 Capital Ave. NE Ste. 104 | Battle Creek, MI 49017 | www.divfa.comDiversified Financial Advisors Offers Strategies To Help Your Investments Keep Growing.Securities offered through Harbour Investments, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPCDid you know%u2026 well, I didn%u2019t exactly lie in my last column with Scene Magazine when I said it was my last column%u2026 it was my last column for Scene Magazine. Later that month, Sherii asked me if I%u2019d like to continue with Senior Times and I thought it would be great to adapt my idea of highlighting people in our community who are doing good things for our community. For Senior Times I%u2019d like to highlight those people who are retired, semi-retired or of a %u201ccertain age%u201d and still either working or volunteering in our community. Now I just need to identify people who are doing that. Are there enough people to identify someone every month? The simple answer is, %u201cYes!%u201d And, I really don%u2019t have far to look.I grew up with two brothers and am glad to report they both are still active, one retired at 79 and my second brother (he too, is a %u201csenior%u201d) is still working and volunteering in his community and that community is Marshall. So, did you know my brother is Tim Banfield? He%u2019s a longtime member of the community. I%u2019d say life-long resident of Marshall, but we grew up on farms in Fredonia Township. He and his wife Anne moved back to Marshall in 1991. He continues to work as a landscape architect and has been a volunteer member of the Marshall Planning Commission for over 25 years. Tim started his business Outdoor Living, Inc. in 1986 in Lansing. He%u2019s lent his expertise to several projects in Marshall including the design at the Post Office and the Franke Center. His expertise was also utilized for the Bradford Pear tree installation along Michigan Avenue. Information about the Planning Commission for the City of Marshall can be found on the city%u2019s website at https://www.cityofmarshall.com/271/Planning-Commission. There are nine volunteer community members on the board, each appointed by the mayor and serving at the pleasure of the mayor for three-year terms. They are responsible to review and advise the City Council about prospective new developments ensuring that those developments are within the city%u2019s Master Plan, ordinances, and zoning regulations. %u201cWe meet monthly on the 2nd Wednesday at City Hall,%u201d Tim told me. %u201cThe meetings have an agenda and rules for procedure. Anyone can attend, but usually it%u2019s the people who have an interest in site development such as neighbors or those involved in designing the development.%u201d Most people, if asked, would not be able to define what a Planning Commission does for a city. I asked him why he continues to serve. %u201cMy wife has asked me that roughly every time I came home from a meeting and told her what happened this time,%u201d he said with a smile. %u201cI find it%u2019s a way to volunteer my expertise and contribute to the city.%u201d Tim also told me that his experience in landscape development has provided him the opportunity to work with cities, townships, the state, and developers ensuring proposed site plans follow the ordinances and legal requirements set forth by the City of Marshall.%u201cThat%u2019s basically what the Planning Commission does,%u201d he told me. %u201cIt%u2019s the Commission%u2019s responsibility to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the general public as well as make sure the public is given a voice when a development is considered.%u201dTim grew up on a farm, attended the oneroom country school Fredonia Center before going to Marshall Junior High and High School. He graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor Degree in Landscape Architecture from the College of Social Science. Tim is both a licensed Landscape Architect and a Licensed Builder in the State of Michigan. He also served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War on board the U.S.S. Haleakala, an ammunition supply ship. He and Anne lived in Lansing while raising their son Josch, then moving to Marshall when they purchased Anne%u2019s family home, a historic home in town. They opened their home to the Historic Home Tour in 2001 and their garden during the annual Garden Club%u2019s Garden Tour in 2000.Together Tim and Anne attend as many soccer games as possible to watch their grand sons Kellan (17) and Graysan (13) compete at the High School and Middle School levels. My husband, T. R. Shaw and I have been lucky enough to visit them in Key West, Florida, where they spend a few weeks each winter enjoying warmer weather and the hospitality of Anne%u2019s siblings.Although working past the usual age of retirement, Tim tells me, %u201cI really enjoy designing landscapes for people%u2019s homes, commercial, or government buildings and the challenges of working with those entities and the vagaries of %u2018Mother Nature%u2019 in Michigan,%u201d he said. %u201cWhy would I give up something I love doing? As long as the phone keeps ringing, I%u2019ll keep answering it!%u201dPublisher%u2019s note: Welcome Kathy!TIM BANFIELD %u2013 ANSWERING THE CALLBy: By: Kathy Banfield Shaw, Special to Senior Times