After 21 years in business, Butch and Jennifer Gruelke handed over the keys of their auto body shop to Lance and Erica Studer, of Studer Customs Auto, who took over May 4. 
 
Butch told the Chronicle that his love for working on cars stems back to when he was a teenager and he got into his first car accident. His only option: to fix his car himself, with

The Franklin County supervisors adopted the 2027 secondary roads budget and five-year construction permit during their meeting on April 28. 
Iowa Code requires these items to be adopted and submitted annually to the Iowa Department of Transportation by April 30. The motion passed unanimously with a roll-vote. 

The crew at the Carlson Tree Farm invited students from CAL Elementary out to their farm for a special Arbor Day field trip on Friday, April 24. 
 

Ava Crooks with AC Equine Training & Lessons celebrated becoming a member of the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce on Sunday afternoon with a ribbon-cutting and open house.
Crooks told the Chronicle that business has been going well since they opened their doors last August.

The members of the Hampton Tree Board had a busy week last week, planting trees on Wednesday for Earth Day and then again on Friday for Arbor Day. 
They headed to the neighborhood just east of the aquatic center for Earth Day, where they planted a number of trees using funding from a DNR grant they recently received.

The West Fork Community School District saw a “significant decrease in revenues” and “significant increase in expenses” for their year ending in June of 2025, according to a recently-released audit report from Cornwell, Frideres, Maher & Associates. 

The third and final reading of the revised chicken ordinance failed to pass during Hampton City Council’s meeting on Thursday evening.
The ordinance revisions included allowing chicken owners to sell their eggs and setting the maximum height for coops at six feet, along with striking the portion about written consent from councilors to have livestock within city limits.

Parents of South Side Elementary in Hampton received a message from Superintendent Tim Felderman Wednesday afternoon, April 22, regarding a false report made by a third grader earlier in the day. 
According to the letter, the school administration and local law enforcement were able to determine that the report was not credible through a joint investigation. 

The city of Hampton is offering discounted preseason passes for the Hampton Aquatic Center through May 20, with extended city hall hours scheduled on two evenings to help residents purchase passes.
Hampton City Hall will remain open from 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, and Tuesday, May 19, for preseason pass sales.

After 40 years with UPS, and nearly 18 years as the UPS driver for Hampton, Geneva and Hansell, Blayne Regan is ready to retire. 
 
For years, he has made approximately 120 deliveries (and around 300 packages) a day, during the work week, for area residents.
 
“Every day is a puzzle for me,” he said. “It keeps you mentally stimulated and it keeps you active.”
 

Hampton Public Works Director Doug Tarr called this year’s city cleanup “a success.” 
Tarr told the Chronicle that this event, which has been held for the last five years, is a great way for the city to work on their blight and nuisance issues. 

A Des Moines-based construction company was assigned to take on the roof replacement project at the GAR Memorial building during the Franklin County Board of Supervisors’ April 14 meeting.
The supervisors voted to approve All Iowa Roofing as the bid recipient for the project – one of two bids that were opened for the project. 

Katelyn Baltes has a passion for teaching and working with community members of all ages, which makes her new job as the programming coordinator with the Extension and Outreach Offices in Franklin and Hardin counties perfect for her.

La Luz Centro Cultural recently celebrated 13 years since opening its doors in Hampton, with their anniversary falling on March 27. 
 

Hampton-Dumont-CAL High School hosted their annual community mental health awareness event on Thursday evening, April 16. 
The event was organized by Machele Raska, who called this year’s event  “Kick the Stigma,” as it was held during a soccer doubleheader at home.