Dear Resident,

So many good things are going on in the 2nd ward and the City.

"Chillicothe is Better Together!" You may have heard me on WBEX Sounding Board or seen the article in the Gazette about this project. . Normally 8 students help with mowing, weeding, and picking up trash in the parks, but because the city budget is very tight, we have had to forego hiring summer help in the parks department. So I decided one way I could help the city would be to organize student groups to do some of these chores. Several groups have stepped forward to help including the Southeastern Key Club and 2nd ward resident advisor Tammy Laughlin and her husband Patrick, Bishop Flaget student council, and Chillicothe High School National Honor Society. I will be working with Nicole Wills and her 4-H group next week at Manor Park and CHS Key Club after that. Thank you to all the volunteers. There is a still lot to be done and I continue to look for any groups that want to participate. Just call me at 772-6681 or email me.

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Today I woke up to the sound of mowers. The CHS summer physical education class and other CHS students including 2nd ward residents Emilie Kemper, Christian Payne, and Trevor Woods, under the direction of Jon Saxton, Chillicothe schools assistant superintendent, Jeff Fisher, student leaders program coordinator, and Todd Shoemaker, Unioto elementary principal and Jon's brother-in-law, took on the task of cleaning up Story Mound. Because the Ohio Historical Society has no money to care for the site, the city crews have been taking care of the mound. But again, with no summer help, it doesn't get mowed very often. The mound has a special place in Jon Saxton's heart because he grew up in the red house on Delano next to the mound. Through the "Learn and Serve" state grant received by CHS to do service projects, Jon arranged for the mound clean up. It looks so nice now! Thank you to everyone involved in this project.

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On June 26th Yaples Orchard residents held a block party. Miriam King organized games such as wheelbarrow races and an egg toss. I was asked to be a judge for the apple pie contest along with Kathy Murphy and Jane McKinnis. It was my first venture as a pie judge but I enjoyed it thoroughly. 1st place honors went to Randa Long. Her pie not only tasted delicious but it was beautiful enough to make Martha Stewart jealous. 2nd and 3rd places went to Jan Nusbaum and Marilyn Crabtree. Following the judging the pies were auctioned off by Dewey Price and the money raised will be used to fund next year’s block party.

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I am currently working on 2 pieces of legislation. Both are annual resolutions for the transit department. One is to file an application with ODOT to get grant money for providing transit assistance to the elderly and disabled. The city gets reimbursed according to how many rides are provided. The total for 2009 was 249,853 rides with a reimbursement of almost $10,000.00. The grant deadline is the end of August so we are still recording rides for 2010.

The other resolution is to participate in the ODOT cooperative purchasing program. As with any co-op, members get lower prices due to high volume sales. As part of the transit 4 year plan, 2 more buses are scheduled to be purchased under this contract in 2010. Mike Scholl had one of the new buses at the review session on June 21st. It is very nice and much improved over our older buses.

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After 30 years of teaching, 29 in the Chillicothe City Schools, 2nd ward resident Kenneth "K.C." Jones is retiring. He was recognized at the Chillicothe Board of Education meeting on June 28th. Thank you for your service and best of luck to you in the future!

Nancy Ames
2nd Ward Council