PAST CITIZENS OF THE YEAR
1987: Jackie Parrish
1988: Jack Becker
1989: James Brown
1990: Richard Fitton
1991: Ray Nichting
1992: Harry Wilks
1993: Linda Good
1994: Sherry Corbett
1995: Eva Lande
1996: Henry Cepluch
1997: Chuck Thackara and Adeline Zoller
1998: Mike Cox
1999: The Rev. Bill Banks
2000: John and Shirely Moser
2001: Ralph and Donna Carruthers
2002: Gerry Hammond
2003: Frank Pfirman
2004: Bill Wilks
2005: Jim Blount
2006: Larry Bowling
2007: Tim Nichting
2008: Tom Fritsch
2009: No award was given
2010: Bob Weigel
2011: Don Ryan
2012: Mike Dingeldein
2013: Cris Crowthers
ABOUT STEVE TIMMER
Age: 60
Family: Wife, Linda Timmer; daughter, Ashley Timmer; son, Scott Timmer
Past employer: Hamilton Fire Department
Community involvement: Hamilton Community Foundation trustee, Hamilton Visitors Bureau treasurer, Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce's Accent Hamilton Commission, City of Sculpture board member, Butler County Master Gardener Volunteer, former Parks and Recreation Commission member, Vision Commission member, AllWealth Credit Union board member, City Ordinance Review Committee member, former Tree Board member, former Rotary Club member, City Parks Conservancy executive director.
HOW TO GO
What: Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Dinner
When: Jan. 30. Social hour begins at 5:30 p.m., dinner served at 7 p.m.
Where: Courtyard by Marriott, One Riverfront Plaza
Tickets: Call Nancy O'Neill at 513-844-1500 or email nancy@hamilton-ohio.com
Chances are if you’ve noticed any new improvements around the city of Hamilton in the past few years, Steve Timmer was involved.
If you've brought your pooch to the dog park that opened in May at Veterans Park on Hamilton's West Side, let your child ring the recently revived Liberty Bell replica outside 20 High St. or splash through one of the three new spraygrounds in the city, or enjoyed IceFest, Operation Pumpkin, or Christkindlmarkt, you can thank Timmer for volunteering time and effort to enriching those entities, if not bringing them into existence altogether.
These reasons and more were cited in nominations for Timmer, 60, to become Hamilton’s 2014 Citizen of the Year, and he will be honored as such by the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and the Journal-News at the chamber’s annual dinner on Jan. 30 at the Courtyard by Marriott.
“The Citizen of the Year is a member of the community that’s left a special mark on the city, who transcends his or her everyday job, and this contribution should represent a volunteer effort, financial commitment or a significant achievement that will make a positive contribution toward our city,” said Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kenny Craig. “This year, we certainly identified somebody that meets those criteria in Steve Timmer.”
Anyone who knows Timmer knows he’s not one to take credit for a project, but he said receiving the award “is definitely an honor.”
In 2011, the Hamilton native retired from the Hamilton Fire Department as an administrative captain after a 33-year career, but since then he’s barely taken time off between serving as a full-time volunteer firefighter, maintaining the medians on North Third Street as a Butler County Master Gardener volunteer, serving as a member and/or board member of the City of Sculpture, the Hamilton Community Foundation, the Vision Commission, and more, and most recently, becoming the executive director for the new parks conservancy.
“After I retired, a friend of my wife’s asked her, what’s it like having Steve home all the time now,” he said. “And she said, he’s home less now than when he worked.”
While it’s surprising that Timmer has any free time at all, he says he enjoys taking on challenges.
“(Former Butler County Common Please Court judge John) Moser once said he thinks the secret to longevity is to stay out physically, mentally, doing things, and I have to agree with him,” he said. “You’ve got to challenge your mind and your body.”
He said his favorite accomplishment of 2014 was getting the dog park up and running in May because “it’s been such a success.”
“We’re going to have to do some work on it because it’s been so used — all of the grass has been ripped up — but it’s something that’s been used more than I ever dreamed,” he said.
The dog park is what most of Timmer’s nominations point to, including Moser’s.
“I’m of the firm opinion that except for Steve’s interest, we would not have had a dog park,” he said, adding that Timmer always seems to be “one step ahead of what is necessary to get the job done.”
“When you think of something to do, he’s been there already to get it started,” he said.
Recently, Moser has been assisting in cleaning and repainting the pedestals which will support the many ice sculptures that will be created next week for IceFest — another initiative that Timmer started as logistics chair for IceFest several years ago.
Citizens of the Year receive an award and $1,000 to donate to the charity of their choice, Craig said. Timmer plans to donate his check to the Hamilton Community Foundation.
“That way I know it stays in the local community and they can use it any way they see fit,” he said.
“Steve has shown real leadership in the Hamilton community by working to turn vision into reality,” Craig said.
Citizen of the Year submissions are taken in October, and then reviewed by a selection committee made up of members of the chamber of commerce and the Journal-News. This is the 27th year the chamber has honored an individual as Citizen of the Year.
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