In any city government, as our current Mayor Mike Hughes has found out, people working together get things accomplished.

Mike spent his childhood growing up in Rome, IL. He attended local grade schools and graduated from Chillicothe High School in 1970. After graduation, Mike hired on at Caterpillar, as many young men did back then after high school. He worked at CAT for 38 years, retiring a few years ago. Mike is married to Joyce and has four children; Rob, Tracy, Josh, and Jeremy.

Asked when he decided to get involved in local government he said; that his friend, Troy Childers, who was mayor at that time, talked him in to running for alderman. Mike says that he’s always been interested in what was going on in the city, so he thought maybe being an alderman was one way to find out what was going on and help his town.

After winning that seat on the council, he began representing the 4th ward, then later when they moved across town, he was a 3rd ward representative.

As an alderman, Mike really began to see the city’s inner workings. He says he felt he was the ears and mouthpiece for the people in his district. People would call or come to him with their concerns and complaints, or ideas and he would always take the time to listen and try to come to a resolution and help them if he could. Mike states he was an alderman on and off for about 12 years before  being elected as Mayor.

Mike has been Mayor for two years now. When asked what his best accomplishment had been so far, he answered, “I don’t really have any that I am solely responsible for. I looked at the projects that had already been set in place and saw that they continued or were finished.”  He gives a lot of credit to the mayors before him, the other members of the council, and to Amanda Beadles, Economic Director and Denise Passage, Office and Zoning Manager. “Those two women know exactly what is going on and are such an asset to this town. In the last few years the downtown has grown exponentially, new businesses are moving in and setting up shop, and the facades of the businesses are all being updated and painted. The downtown is looking great and coming back again!”

Mike looks for grants where ever he can. He says JB Culbertson has done a great job working for the city writing grants and tells us that the city has just secured a large grant that they will be using for improvements around town.

Mike works with the township, the school district, and other entities to get things done and listens to their needs. “Our town has a balanced budget and works in the black. Our past mayors have done a great job and have always been financially responsible. We don’t spend more than we have—if a project needs done we find a way to work it in and make it happen.”

When asked if there was anything new the city was  looking into, he told us a few things; We are discussing solar panels for residential homes, making sure the new well is done so that the Santa Fe Park splash pad can reopen this summer, and we will be resurfacing more of our streets. Also, he tells us that the state will be resurfacing 4th Street this summer.

His “wish” list includes; housing expansion, adding another water tower, having back entrances to the downtown businesses that are attractive and inviting so that more people will use the parking lot behind them. With the way of  the future and electric cars becoming more popular, maybe even a couple of charging stations in town. Another thing Mike would eventually like to see is an industrial park being built somewhere around Chillicothe.

Our Mayor states that he is doing all he can to help Chillicothe be a great place to live and to raise a family. Thank you Mike for your time, and commitment. We all appreciate your service to this town.