How important is it to villagers to have local police dispatchers? Village Council members want to hear from the community.

“We need to hear from citizens how valued our current system is. Is money more important?” said Council member Rick Walkey at Council’s March 18 ­meeting.

While the phrase “zoning code” is not known to inspire enthusiasm, it lies at the heart of how land is used in the village, a topic that sparks strong opinions.

“As became very clear to me on my first five years on Council, land–use decisions bring out the passion in Yellow Springers!” Council member Lori Askeland wrote in a recent email. “And that passion is because people care deeply about this place.”

As with many Yellow Springs initiatives, the upcoming Yellow Springs Experience: National Bronze Sculpture Symposium, to take place in October 2013, grew from a series of local conversations, of villagers talking to each other.

In much of Hungary, handmade pottery is at the heart of daily life, objects both beautiful and useful. In villages, earthenware jugs for water remain unglazed so that the water inside can evaporate on the walls of the jug, keeping the water cool.

The Yellow Springs Experience: Bronze Sculpture Symposium will take place on the Antioch College campus for two weeks in October, featuring sculptors creating original abstract works that will be cast in bronze and later be given to the Village.

If you close your eyes before entering Alex Melamed and Allison Paul’s new Walnut Street home, then open your eyes once inside, you might not realize you’re in a tiny home. The high-ceilinged, light-filled living room feels spacious, with a kitchen on one end and a bed, out of sight, in the loft above.

Tiny houses, home businesses and zoning for the now-closed Norah’s dominated the discussion of Planning Commission on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at a special meeting to continue to review the Village zoning code revision. The planners will hold a public hearing on the revision on Thursday, March 21. After that, the code revision will go to Council for further review and final approval.

Hungarian master potters Vera and Ferenc Bognar will be in Yellow Springs this week for special events at John Bryan Community Pottery.

The Village will soon move to a new emergency contact system, Hyper-Reach.

According to the 2012 annual report from the Yellow Springs Energy Board at Village Council’s Feb. 19 meeting, the Village will, in the next few years, receive the large majority of its electrical power from renewable sources.