Members and guests;

Here’s hoping everyone is safe and healthy as COVID-19 changes our lives. Please look out for yourselves and each other.

Cincinnatus, of necessity, is making some revisions to our schedule and operations. I want to bring you up to date:

• Our April membership meeting is canceled. We are not rescheduling that meeting because we cannot yet predict when things return to normal. Thank you John Young, Susan Noonan and Sarah Gideonse for your hard work in setting up an excellent panel to discuss our community’s move to understand addiction as a disease not a crime. Perhaps we can revisit this topic later this year or next.
  
  
• The Spencer Awards Dinner, which was scheduled for May, is postponed. The good news is that our venue, the Netherland Hilton, is deeply committed and proud to host this event. The hotel’s events team is working with us to reschedule as soon as we can. Meanwhile, the dedication of the Spencer Statute at Smale Park remains set for June 28; of course, that could change.
  
  
• Also, please consider being a sponsor or recruiting sponsors for the Spencer Dinner. You can learn more at the Cincinnatus Association website.
  
  
  • Click here to become a sponsor of the Spencer “Spirit of America” Awards dinner.
  • Click here for a downloadable information sheet about the 2020 Spencer Award Sponsor levels.
    
    
• Our panels (Education, Government and Inclusion) will not be meeting in-person until further notice. They likely will meet electronically (conference call, Zoom or other methods). Panel chairs will be in touch with their members.
  
  
• The ASPA Awards Luncheon has been canceled. This is a ceremony during which the Cincinnatus Award celebrating examples of local government cooperation is presented. We’ll share news about the luncheon if it is rescheduled or if the awards are announced outside of an event.
  
  
• This is the period of time when, normally, we would be conducting an election for next year’s officers. Past President Melissa Currence is chairing the nominating committee and working on a plan that will assure stability for Cincinnatus through these trying times. You can email her at currencem@gmail.com if you have thoughts you would like to share on this.

Take care and be well,

— Mark Neikirk, president
The Cincinnatus Association