A crowd of more than 100 filled the Chillicothe Country Club's main dining area Friday to hear four community-minded speakers at the 2023 State of the Community.

The breakfast, sponsored by Kingston National Bank, featured presentations from Chamber CEO Mike Throne, Melody Young of the Ross Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Jody Walker of South Central Ohio Job and Family Services. 

The morning's spotlight was on two speeches - State of the County, delivered by County Commissioner Dwight Garrett, and the State of the City address, provided by Mayor Luke Feeney.

In his presentation, Walker spotlighted the Ross County workforce, showing labor force participation as much lower in Ross County (53.1%) than across the state and nation (63.2%). In particular, male participation is nearly 20 points lower than the state rate. He pointed out that local workforce partners, including the Chamber, JFS, Greater Chillicothe and Ross Development, and the South Central Ohio Workforce Partnership are exploring how to get more males working.

***READ MORE ABOUT MAYOR FEENEY'S STATE OF THE CITY, FROM IHEARTMEDIA***

Young roused the crowd, celebrating the impending inscription of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks as Ohio's First World Heritage site, and told the audience to prepare for that word to come in September, with a party to follow in October.

Garrett - who has said he will retire at the end of his term - focused on a Community Reinvestment Act (and signed by commissioners on Monday) that will help to bring more housing to the community. He also touched upon solar farms, a project sewer expansion in northern Ross County, and plans for the U.S. 23 interchange at Ohio 159.

Finally, Feeney reflected on how the City of Chillicothe has transitioned from a fiscal caution designation a few years ago to having $3.9 million in carryover funds at the end of 2022. He also discussed how the Comprehensive City Plan would take the city's residents into the future.