More than eight months ago, the city of Shawnee and the Greater Shawnee Area Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign focused on cleaning up the community and making it more attractive. This week I asked Justin Erickson, the city’s Community Development director, to provide somewhat of a progress report from his perspective.
Erickson has been instrumental in guiding and directing the city’s effort, and coordinating closely with the chamber. He also serves on the Small Business Council of the chamber.
Somewhat related to this continuing joint effort, Shawnee city commissioners set a public hearing for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9 so citizens can present their ideas on what a new solid waste contract should include. The city plans to put the contact out for bid within the next several weeks.
Here’s some of the information Erickson sent along this week to me:
Proactive code enforcement. Update: We have 98 active cases as of today. While we no longer have funding for a part-time nuisance code enforcement officer, we are utilizing our residential building inspectors (time permitting) to help with the caseload of nuisance complaints. December/January are historically slow months, but we still field a lot of calls related to structures, vehicles, trash and tree limbs.
Emphasis on dilapidated houses. Update: This has actually been quite successful and we continue to mail letters and receive feedback from residents. Several have pulled remodel or demolition permits.
A simple letter and a stamp can save taxpayers $3,500, which is the average cost that the city spends to demolish a house. In short, we are trying to think outside of the box and work creatively with our limited budget.
Operation Paintbrush. We are now working with the Shawnee Senior Center to expand the program and utilize their capabilities in terms of finding qualified applicants and in organizing volunteer labor to complete the painting.
This is exciting, as budget constraints have limited funding for the program and I had feared that the Program would have to be placed on hold until the economy improves.
I’ll have more information soon on this exciting development.
•••
I’d like to compliment the personnel in the emergency room at Unity North who tended to my wife the other night. She is fine, and it took only a short time for the doctor to determine the cause of her hurting.
From Christina who did the initial vital signs and inquiry, to Alex who took us into the exam room and later did the EKG, to Angie the RN who started the IV and assisted in so many ways to Kelly who wheeled Pat away briefly for an X-Ray and to Dr. Spurlock who quickly diagnosed her ailment and prescribed the necessary medicine for her to begin recovering quickly, we can say only thanks for a positive experience.
There were two other women that evening whose names I didn’t catch, and I am sorry I didn’t because they also were helpful and polite. One was from the lab for blood tests and the other updated patient information.
From the time we walked in until the time we walked out, with Pat feeling much improved, we were there only an hour and a half.
I know there are people who may take issue with what I have said here because of their own experiences. And I have been there on other occasions with other relatives and it took much longer and it wasn’t quite as pleasant.
It’s important, though, to point out and compliment efforts I think when people perform their jobs efficiently and make such experiences pleasant and this definitely was one of them.
Thanks again to those who helped my wife that night get to feeling much better pretty quickly.
•••
Tecumseh’s Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual auction and dinner on Monday, Feb. 8, at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center. The silent auction begins at 6 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.
The meal is being catered that evening by Jerry Kuhn and One Way Youth Ministries.
Tickets are $20 each.
The meal will consist of steak and chicken, with baked potatoes, green beans and salad. Chamber officials note dessert will be provided by many of Tecumseh’s finest and your choice will be determined by your table “in our increasingly popular dessert auction.”
For more information contact the Tecumseh Chamber office at 598-8666.
•••
Dawn Ramsey passes along this bit of information about the Red Earth Champions. She says the organization is comprised of people who volunteer their time to raise puppies and support fundraisers for Canine Companions for Independence.
The Red Earth Champions are starting their year off with an indoor dog walk at the Shawnee Mall later this spring. This will be the fifth year the Shawnee Mall has hosted the events called Mutt Struts.
Volunteers with Red Earth work to develop, promote, market and do the work to make our events successful. We provide community outreach by setting up information booths at places like Tractor Supply and Wal-Mart.
We also do elementary, middle and high school programs not only here in Shawnee but surrounding counties. There are two of us who will do speaking engagements for groups such as the Lion’s, Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs.
Meetings of the group are held on the third Thursday of the month with the locations being announced the week before the meeting. The first meeting of the new year is Feb. 16.
She adds Canine Companions for Independence is a 501c3 non profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships.
For more information on CCI and the Red Earth Champions please contact Dawn: 405-275-3741 or email: lowdown@att.net.
•••
If you have ideas or something of interest for this column, call 214-3922 or e-mail michael.mccormick@news-star.com. Include name and phone number for contact purposes.
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More than eight months ago, the city of Shawnee and the Greater Shawnee Area Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign focused on cleaning up the community and making it more attractive. This week I asked Justin Erickson, the city’s Community Development director, to provide somewhat of a progress report from his perspective.
Erickson has been instrumental in guiding and directing the city’s effort, and coordinating closely with the chamber. He also serves on the Small Business Council of the chamber.
Somewhat related to this continuing joint effort, Shawnee city commissioners set a public hearing for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9 so citizens can present their ideas on what a new solid waste contract should include. The city plans to put the contact out for bid within the next several weeks.
Here’s some of the information Erickson sent along this week to me:
Proactive code enforcement. Update: We have 98 active cases as of today. While we no longer have funding for a part-time nuisance code enforcement officer, we are utilizing our residential building inspectors (time permitting) to help with the caseload of nuisance complaints. December/January are historically slow months, but we still field a lot of calls related to structures, vehicles, trash and tree limbs.
Emphasis on dilapidated houses. Update: This has actually been quite successful and we continue to mail letters and receive feedback from residents. Several have pulled remodel or demolition permits.
A simple letter and a stamp can save taxpayers $3,500, which is the average cost that the city spends to demolish a house. In short, we are trying to think outside of the box and work creatively with our limited budget.
Operation Paintbrush. We are now working with the Shawnee Senior Center to expand the program and utilize their capabilities in terms of finding qualified applicants and in organizing volunteer labor to complete the painting.
This is exciting, as budget constraints have limited funding for the program and I had feared that the Program would have to be placed on hold until the economy improves.
I’ll have more information soon on this exciting development.
•••
I’d like to compliment the personnel in the emergency room at Unity North who tended to my wife the other night. She is fine, and it took only a short time for the doctor to determine the cause of her hurting.
From Christina who did the initial vital signs and inquiry, to Alex who took us into the exam room and later did the EKG, to Angie the RN who started the IV and assisted in so many ways to Kelly who wheeled Pat away briefly for an X-Ray and to Dr. Spurlock who quickly diagnosed her ailment and prescribed the necessary medicine for her to begin recovering quickly, we can say only thanks for a positive experience.
There were two other women that evening whose names I didn’t catch, and I am sorry I didn’t because they also were helpful and polite. One was from the lab for blood tests and the other updated patient information.
From the time we walked in until the time we walked out, with Pat feeling much improved, we were there only an hour and a half.
I know there are people who may take issue with what I have said here because of their own experiences. And I have been there on other occasions with other relatives and it took much longer and it wasn’t quite as pleasant.
It’s important, though, to point out and compliment efforts I think when people perform their jobs efficiently and make such experiences pleasant and this definitely was one of them.
Thanks again to those who helped my wife that night get to feeling much better pretty quickly.
•••
Tecumseh’s Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual auction and dinner on Monday, Feb. 8, at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center. The silent auction begins at 6 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.
The meal is being catered that evening by Jerry Kuhn and One Way Youth Ministries.
Tickets are $20 each.
The meal will consist of steak and chicken, with baked potatoes, green beans and salad. Chamber officials note dessert will be provided by many of Tecumseh’s finest and your choice will be determined by your table “in our increasingly popular dessert auction.”
For more information contact the Tecumseh Chamber office at 598-8666.
•••
Dawn Ramsey passes along this bit of information about the Red Earth Champions. She says the organization is comprised of people who volunteer their time to raise puppies and support fundraisers for Canine Companions for Independence.
The Red Earth Champions are starting their year off with an indoor dog walk at the Shawnee Mall later this spring. This will be the fifth year the Shawnee Mall has hosted the events called Mutt Struts.
Volunteers with Red Earth work to develop, promote, market and do the work to make our events successful. We provide community outreach by setting up information booths at places like Tractor Supply and Wal-Mart.
We also do elementary, middle and high school programs not only here in Shawnee but surrounding counties. There are two of us who will do speaking engagements for groups such as the Lion’s, Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs.
Meetings of the group are held on the third Thursday of the month with the locations being announced the week before the meeting. The first meeting of the new year is Feb. 16.
She adds Canine Companions for Independence is a 501c3 non profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships.
For more information on CCI and the Red Earth Champions please contact Dawn: 405-275-3741 or email: lowdown@att.net.
•••
If you have ideas or something of interest for this column, call 214-3922 or e-mail michael.mccormick@news-star.com. Include name and phone number for contact purposes.
