CH2M Hill OMI employees finished their fix-up projects Saturday and posed with a new park bench they installed in Ft. Washington Park as part of their community project here. A group of 45 employees from CH2M Hill OMI visited Washington last week for an annual meeting, and not only shopped, dined, and toured, but gave back to the community through two park clean-up projects in the city.

The company has operated Washington's water treatment system for the last 15 years, and brought their southeast annual meeting to Washington-Wilkes in an effort to give back to the community, plant manager John Scott said. "We set up our annual conferences in cities where we operate so we can show our appreciation, spend money in town, and do a community involvement program to help the community."

Project managers from as far as Florida and corporate employees from the company's Denver home arrived Wednesday for their conference at The Pope Center, Washington Mayor Willie Burns said. "They came in on Wednesday, and have shopped in our stores, eaten in our restaurants, and stayed in our hotels. And on Saturday, they pitched in to help at Fort Washington Park and at the Booker Center."

At the Booker Center in Whitehall, OMI employees painted the pavilion and placed landscape timbers around the new playground equipment, Washington-Wilkes Parks and Rec Director Pete Gartrell said. "We really appreciated what they've done to improve conditions at the Whitehall Park," he said.

Behind the Wilkes County court house, OMI workers spent Saturday morning erecting new park benches and picnic tables to make Fort Washington Park more usable for visitors. Mayor Burns and City Councilmen Ed Pope Jr., Nathaniel Cullars, and Maceo Mahoney were on hand to help and express their appreciation for OMI's help.

"These folks do this annually," Pope said. "They bring their conferences to communities where they operate, and really pitch in and get involved in projects like these. And we really appreciate that."