Chamber calendar

Tuesday, June 12: Membership and Events Committee, chamber, 11:30 a.m.

Thursday, June 14: Ross County Safety Council luncheon, "What to Trash and What Not to Trash" by RLS Recylcing/Disposal, 11:30 a.m., Chillicothe Country Club, Safety Council registration.

Thursday, June 14: Community Development and Advocacy Committee, 4 p.m., chamber.

Monday, June 18: Ross County Safety Council Steering Committee, 8:30 a.m., chamber.

Wednesday, June 20: Executive Committee, 8 a.m., chamber.

Wednesday, June 20: Business After Business at Chillicothe Fire & Security, 5-7 p.m., BAB registration.

Thursday, June 21: Chamber Annual Golf Outing, Dogwood Hills Golf Course off Debord Road, 9 a.m. shotgun start, scramble format; Golf outing registration.

Wednesday, June 27: Chillicothe Ross Leadership Steering Committee retreat, 11:30 a.m.

Thursday, June 28: Board of Directors, noon, Samuel Stephen College.

Thursday, June 28: "The Generation Gaps" seminar by the chamber Workforce Development Department, 8:30-noon, Ross County Service Center, $10, Workforce Academy

What's happening this weekend? Check out the community events calendar.

Click above to go to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce site for small business

Check out photos from chamber events at any time by going to www.chillicothe-chamber.smugmug.com.

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Copyright 2007

Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce

Downtown plan

touches all the bases

As was expected by those closest to the process, the HyettPalma Downtown Economic Enhancement Strategy unveiled Tuesday evening was comprehensive in its scale and approach. The 72-page document (not including the 56-page Appendix) details strategies that, when followed, will lead to an even more vibrant historic business district.

In a debriefing meeting Thursday, the 23-member Process Committee that worked to gather information and handle logistics for Doyle Hyett and Dolores Palma decided to re-group under the “Downtown Partnership” banner recommended in the plan. The partnership is composed of representatives from city and county government, the chamber (as the lead organization), downtown property owners, business proprietors, preservationists and other organizations.

The group shortly will develop an action agenda that will detail the tasks to be completed, assign responsibility and a deadline for completion. Once the tasks have been assigned, the public will be invited to participate on sub-committees to help accomplish them. The agenda will be posted on the internet so that it can be monitored by the community.

The complete plan is available from the chamber’s website at www.chillicotheohio.com in a format so that it can be downloaded. Printed copies are available at the chamber for $8 each to cover the cost of copying and binding. Contributors to the plan receive a free copy.

Morsels and nuggets abound

Sprinkled throughout the HyettPalma report are some bits and pieces of information and opinion that shouldn’t get lost and are food for thought for a long time. We thought we’d bring those to your attention:

• “Downtown contains a surprising number of retail businesses (86) and, in general, Downtown business owners report that business is good in Downtown Chillicothe.”
• “… the level of excitement and enthusiasm regarding Downtown’s enhancement appears to be high among community members.”
• “First, it must be realized that – in any community – the local government sets the standard regarding what is expected of those in the private sector.”
• “To attract quality investors, the message must be sent to the investment community that City Hall is both pro-business and pro-quality.”
• “While funds are always necessary to make improvements, the community currently has sufficient resources to make significant improvements in Downtown’s condition, including both private and public resources.”
• Based on figures from third parties and data collected by the Process Committee, downtown businesses generate an average of approximately $200 per year per square foot in retail sales. Total yearly sales downtown are calculated at $59 million, or 9 percent of all sales in the trade area. If the downtown can increase its market share by 1 or 1.5 percentage points, it could mean an additional $6-9 million in sales.
• From the survey, it was determined the 86 retail businesses occupied 295,000 square feet while there were 22 vacant retail spaces with 60,000 square feet.
• There are 120 offices downtown occupying 477,000 square feet and 6 vacant office spaces with 30,000 square feet.
• “… as Downtown is further enhanced and as more new residents move to the community, it is likely that the demand for quality housing located in an enhanced Downtown will surface, as has been seen in similar community revitalization efforts throughout the nation for the past several decades.”

Over the course of the next several weeks, we’ll detail in this newsletter individual aspects of the plan.

TECUMSEH! OPENS 35TH SEASON TONIGHT: The outdoor drama continues its portrayal of the saga of the Shawnee Indian chief at the Sugarloaf Montain Amphitheatre starting tonight. Touted many times as the nation's most popular outdoor drama, "Tecumseh!" plays each evening, except Sundays, through Sept. 1. Click the photo to order your tickets for this year.

WEEKLY EVENTS CALENDAR AVAILABLE: Every Thursday, the Ross-Chillicothe and Convention Bureau emails a newsletter listing events and happenings in the county and area for the weekend and in coming months. If you'd like to receive a copy to help plan your calendar, email Betty Fornwald at the bureau at bettyfornwald@horizonview.net.

GLATFELTER SELLING LAND TO PAY DEBT: By selling 60,000 acres of timberland in three states, Glatfelter hopes to reduce the debt it acquired to buy the Chillicothe operations and a plant in England. The land is in Virginia and Delaware, as well as 516 acres in York County in Pennsylvania near its home office that it plans to sell to the Conservancy Fund. The sale is expected to generate $150 million. Glatfelter paid $80 million for Chillicothe and $65 million for England. After the sale, Glatfelter will still own 20,000 acres.

TOASTMASTERS ISSUES INVITATION: For those wishing to improve their leadership, speaking, evaluating and listening skills, the Camp Sherman Toastmasters Club invites you to its next meeting. The Old Canal Smokehouse at Water and Mulberry streets is the site for the June 9 meeting that starts at 11 a.m. Toastmasters started in 1924 and now has 211,000 members in 10,500 clubs in 90 countries. If interested, contact Jennifer McDonald (773-1141, Ext. 7469) or Paul Montavon (775-4935).

ADDING OR SAVING JOBS? STATE PROGRAM MIGHT HELP: The Small Business Linked Deposit program offers lower-interest loans to firms with fewer than 150 people. The guideline being used is that you can borrow $25,000 for every full-time job you plan to create or save with your project. The program is administered through Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray. For the complete details, call Amanda Hoyt at 614-466-6546 or at amanda.hoyt@tos.ohio.gov.

WATCH FOR CHANGES ON OHIO 104: New traffic patterns are in effect at the Ohio 104-207 Connector near the fairgrounds and Ohio 104 is closed for about a month in northern Pickaway County. At Ohio 207, the patterns are changed to allow through lanes on Ohio 104 northbound onto Ohio 207 eastbound, right-turn through lanes on Ohio 104 southbound and Ohio 207 westbound. Ohio 104 is closed until July 19 at the intersection with Ohio 762 (Commercial Point) for construction of left-turn lanes.

VENDORS LICENSES: The following received licenses recently from the Ross County Auditor:

• Pizza Hut, both stores (Western and Bridge), by America’s Pizza Co.
• Destinie’s Flowers, 231 Mt. Carmel Road, by Joyce Bozman.
• A Soothing Touch by Studio 12, 12 Health Drive, by Christina Annon.