Dear Chamber Supporters,

The patriotism lasted well beyond just the 4th of July this year, as fireworks could be seen (or heard) all weekend long following Independence Day on Thursday. The Ottawa shoot ended up being a blast! Friday night worked great, clear skies and decent summer temperatures made for a lovely evening. Our shoot team was able to capture the whole show on video and upload it to YouTube—you can view that here if you want to watch it back. A handful of tweaks were made this year to add to the gander; next year, we’ve been promised even more excitement. Rudy Holden is our point man for the show; he and his team did a great job being flexible throughout the whole process. It takes some hardworking individuals to do a shoot of this scale; we have the right guys for the job! If you are interested in supporting future fireworks shows for our community, you are welcome to join the dozens of other businesses and individuals who have made monetary donations to keep this tradition going. Sending checks to our office, addressed towards the Ottawa Chamber Foundation, and reference "2024 Fireworks" in the memo. Every little bit goes a long way towards this annual celebration; thanks to those who give!

Franklin County Gears Up for Primary Election

Wednesday evening the Chamber’s Legislative Action Committee put on the 2024 Primary Candidates Forum for our upcoming Primary Election on August 6th (pictures here). Big shoutout to Franklin County for allowing us to use the Commission Chambers for the event, along with all the Legislative Action Committee members who ran the show. We ended up having over seventy people in attendance for this forum, not counting those watching online. It was apparent that this level of engagement meant a lot to those running, knowing that a large group of Franklin County citizens are looking to learn more about those who might represent them come next year. Given the event was live-streamed on the Chamber’s Facebook page, it is now stored for future viewing (you can view that here). The Legislative Action Committee also reached out to candidates for their bios, along with printed copies being available that night; you can view those electronically on our website (click here to view).

With only one contested race present, we were able to get in and out pretty quickly. The Franklin County Commission District 3 position was the main show for the evening, with all three candidates present: Shawn Turner, Sabrina Meador, and John Marconette. Much like the Legislative Coffees, I have included the topics and the timestamps for you to watch back if you are interested in seeing the three candidates’ responses:

Introduction – 38:20 • Biggest Concern – 44:14 • Alternative Energy – 49:30 • Transient Guest Tax – 53:55 • Budget and Financial Planning Experience – 57:38 • Comprehensive Plan - 1:01:40

For those unopposed in their primary race or whose opponent(s) were not present, we allowed 3 minutes to introduce themselves and share anything they chose to direct toward the crowd. You can see all who were present to speak that night here:

Kansas Senate District 3, Dena Sattler – 5:25 and Rick Kloos – 8:40
Kansas Senate District 12, Caryn Tyson – 11:47
Kansas House District 5, Henry Johns – 15:30
Kansas House District 59, Rebecca Schmoe – 18:25 and Michael Lewis – 21:40
Kansas State Board of Education District 4, Nancy Moneymarker – 25:10
Franklin County Treasurer, Marilyn Stevenson - 28:43
Franklin County Sherriff, Jeff Richards – 29:20
Franklin County Attorney, Brandon Jones – 32:44

A friendly reminder to all residents of Franklin County: if you still need to register to vote, you have until July 16th to do so. Early voting begins on July 22nd at the courthouse and ends the Monday before the election on August 5th. If you're available on August 6th and interested in contributing to the democratic process, the Franklin County Clerk's office can guide you on how to help out at the polls. You can also view your sample ballot ahead of time on the Secretary of State’s website (click here for direct access). We will announce the date for the General Candidates Forum following August 6th.

Eight Years of Healthy Impact in Franklin County

One of my favorite aspects of Chamber Coffees and Ribbon Cuttings is we often get to celebrate our host in one way or another. This morning’s Coffee did exactly that, celebrating the immense success that our local Pathways to a Healthy Kansas Coalition has accomplished with the help of funds through Blue Cross Blue Shield’s support. You might remember the occasional blurb about our local Pathways Committee in the President’s Column over the past years. This has most recently included updates on programs like the Harvest to Home food boxes delivered to healthy food desserts in the county, the nutrition classes put on by the Health Department, bike share programs at Ottawa University, or leadership training down in Wichita. These are just a handful of the programs this grant has accomplished since it was awarded to our community back in 2016 (view more impacts here). After eight years of managing this grant initiative in Franklin County, local champion Sheila Robertson was able to share all these successes this morning (pictures here).

To give a little more background on the program, The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas Pathways to a Healthy Kansas grant is the largest community grant initiative ever funded by BCBS of Kansas. Its purpose was/is to promote healthier lifestyles across Kansas communities by addressing key health areas such as active living, healthy eating, and commercial tobacco prevention. This was done by providing grants to community coalitions to help remove barriers to health and engage communities in sustainable, healthy living practices. Since its inception in 2016, we and twenty-three other different communities have been able to take part. As a result, over a million dollars of outside funds have been infused into our area for healthy living.

Countless citizens throughout Franklin County have utilized these funds in one way or another. Every city in the county has been touched―spanning every age group from young children to college-aged students to retired seniors has been plugged in. A couple of the biggest challenges on a project of this magnitude are finding champions in the right sectors to support the cause, allowing for effective communication with those individuals, and then making the processes sustainable once funding has been depleted. I can confidently say that this has all been accomplished through this pathways group in more ways than one. Everyone involved should be incredibly proud of these accomplishments and what is yet to come! I’ll finish by sharing one of the fun, educational, and health-focused ways this message can continue to spread throughout the community, and that’s through what is called the “Blender Bike” (pictures here). This bike powers the blender to make delicious smoothies that were shared during this morning’s Coffee. How fun is that!

This weekend, I’ll be celebrating with my dad’s side of the family as my cousin’s firstborn turns one. Though he’s only been around for one year, it’s tricky to guess his age, given he’s in the 99th percentile. Not particularly chunky, but when you arrive into the world as a ten-pound baby, he was always going to be a big boy (picture here)! Then on Sunday, we get to celebrate my bride’s birthday as she has taken another trip around the sun. She’s a special lady and I’m glad we get to experience another birthday together! Hope to see you soon,

Ryland Miller

President/CEO

Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce

ryland@ottawakansas.org

785-242-1000