Another two-fer of meeting notes
Ed. Note: This is my fault. Notetaker Sheri Hodson did get me the meeting notes for the July 12 meeting ahead of the July 19 meeting, but I did not get them edited and sent out. I would point out that her email with the notes was sent at 11:58 AM on July 19, a full two minutes before the start of the next meeting. I'll just have to try to be more efficient.
Meeting of the Rotary Club of Clover Park, July 12, 2017
Invocation: David Cotant
Flag Salute: Fred Willis
Visiting Rotarians: None
Visitors – Soon to be Rotarian Dave Hall and Our guest speaker, Kathleen Beaumont.
Sunshine report: None
Club Announcements:
Upcoming speakers –
July 19 – Mary Dodsworth - Lakewood Parks Update
July 26th – Club Assembly
August 2- Bruce McKenty – Veteran’s Golf Course and Military Order of the Purple Heart
Tom McClellan passed around a sign-up sheet for meeting note takers. Note takers just take down the basics and then Tom edits and makes them funny. Remember if you are not signed up to help in one of the meeting functions (set-up, greeter, invocation, note taker, fine master, raffle, Sunshine report, etc.), there is an expectation you help. Please sign up for one of them (Invocation – Alice Peeples, Greeter – Jeannie Hill, Note taker – Tom McClellan, Fine master – General Ed Trobaugh, Set-up David Cotant)
Heidi Wachter - shared the Theater Benefit she is coordinating as President Elect is October 5th. Mark your calendar. The play is Wait until Dark and John Munn promises we will thoroughly enjoy it. Some of the major sponsors have already been contacted and will be sponsoring. More info to come on securing additional sponsorships and the levels of sponsorship. Remember the committee will make the contact if you do not want to make the call. [ed. note: the Theater Benefit was also promoted at the July 19 meeting, notes for which are below. Heidi noted that the play is “super scary”, so you should plan to bring your “main squeeze”, so that you will have someone’s arm to, well, squeeze.]
There will be 159 tickets to sell at $50 apiece. Be thinking who you want to invite to this fun evening of fellowship, good food, and great local theater. This is one of our two major fundraisers which allow us to do all the good in the community.
Stephanie Walsh turned in her Red Badge for her Blue Badge. Congratulations Stephanie!
Previous Clover Park Rotarian, Dave Hall, received his Red Badge today. Paul Webb is his sponsor. Please take time to introduce yourself to Dave and of course sign his sheet. Welcome back Dave!
Fun and Fines: General Ed assisted by Dave Hall.
There was first an auction of Blue Badge that Marie Barth and Karen George purchased for $45. General Ed remained silent as President Bryan let the bidding go on. Later General Ed did match the $45 paid by Marie and Karen to recover his badge.
Marie Barth shared about her Montana building upgrades and discoveries. She was advised by legal counsel not to mention any numbers so her fine did not creep up.
Heidi Wachter talked about her family trip to southern California, that included Universal Studios and Getty Museum. She did a makeup at the Pacific Palisades Club. She brought her checkbook and $55 to the Club and $55 to Paul Harris.
Fred Willis- 10 day vacation in Europe on a river cruise on the Rhein through Germany and Amsterdam. Ingrid wants him to start writing checks so he gave a Wachter for $55.
Stephanie Walsh did not stay retired for long. She is the Director at Doty Group. Since she drives 25 miles, she paid $25. Congratulations on the new position!
Happy Birthday to General Bill, Tom Faubion and John Unfred.
Alan Billingsley’s waterfall challenge was mentioned in the Suburban Times, due to Alan making a presentation about it to the Lakewood United club. His family has challenge to see as many waterfalls as possible this year. Last year it was state parks. For the ink and his anniversary to Debbie he contributed $100.
Tom McClellan paid $5 for Happy Bucks. He shared that Washington was declared by CNBC to the best state for business. He stated many reasons, including no income tax, large numbers of STEM workers, and rapid growth and job creation.
Tom Faubion – finally sold his office building that he has proudly owned for many years. He proposed paying a “Fraley” for the year. A one-time fine payment so for the rest of the year he can do as much as he wants and not get fined until the next Rotary year. It was previously $400 but that was many years ago. Tom proposed $500 and the General and the club accepted the very generous donation. Thank you Tom!
Today’s speaker – Kathleen Beaumont from University of Washington Tacoma
to discuss Lean Six Sigma.
It is a program or classes taught by 8 part-time instructors. They have many company or governmental agencies that use their classes. The instructors are people who have real life experiences working in the business world.
The purpose is to figure how much money or time will it save do it another way? They crunch numbers. It is to help business run lean. They measure everything and figure out the processes.
They Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. They are several strategies they use or teach (Timwood, Kanban, Visual Workspace, 5 S’s)
Kathleen referenced several books are available on the topic.
Raffle Drawing: John Munn tried his luck at the $315 pot but he drew a Queen of Clubs. There were 2 aces in the 14 remaining cards.
And now we get the meeting notes from July 19. David Cotant was to be the notetaker, but was away attending to the care of wife Judy’s parents. So the duty fell to your editor (Ha! I have complete power!!).
President Bryan Christensen got the meeting off to a start with a properly firm smack of the bell. Stephanie Walsh offered an invocation, and then John Munn led us in the pledge of allegiance.
There was 1 visiting Rotarian, Fred Moisio of Tacoma 8. Other visitors included our guest speaker, Mary Dodsworth, and Sydna Koontz’s granddaughter McKenna Koontz.
Sunshine Report: Wally Johnson, husband of former member Marilee, had shoulder surgery, and was due to be back home already.
One bit of sad news is that Rotary International President-Elect Sam Owori passed away. He was from Kampala, Uganda, and had had “a minor leg operation” at a Dallas, TX hospital. Under his leadership, Uganda grew from 9 clubs to 89 over 29 years. Rotary is establishing a memorial fund in Sam’s honor and will provide details soon. A nominating process for his replacement will also commence soon.
Future Programs:
July 26 – Club Assembly, including a vote on whether to change our club’s meeting time. Joyce Loveday to serve as notetaker, Fred Willis on invocation duty.
Aug. 2 – Bruce McKenty, American Lake Veterans Golf Course, and the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Jim Hairston to serve as notetaker, Alan Billingsley on invocation duty.
Aug. 9 – Alice Collingwood, Summit Assistance Dogs. Jim Hairston to serve as notetaker, Tom McClellan on invocation duty.
Other Announcements:
Secretary Karen Fengler Nichols is going to be sending out invoices soon so check your emails. She will be accepting payments at each of the next two meetings, and if you don’t get them into her then, she will call upon former Secretary Bonnie Boyle’s two hitmen, Vinnie and Guido.
President Bryan read a letter from Bonnie Kern, who is closing her business office in Lakewood and will be retiring in Tumwater. So she is resigning her membership in our club after 28 years, including service as our first woman club president. Bonnie, we will miss you, and hope that you won’t be a stranger.
Fun and Fines, with General Ed Trobaugh, assisted by new red badge member Dave Hall
To start, there was a collection of Wachters, $55 from Fred Willis for his European river cruise, and an unspecified amount from Karl Roth for unstated crimes.
Heidi Wachter interrupted with a point of order. She noted that the funds had already been collected by General Ed, who handed them to assistant Dave Hall for collection purposes. But due to a lack of either training or formal direction, Dave misunderstood his mission and returned the moneys to Fred and Karl. General Ed blamed the mixup on President Bryan, since the commander is always responsible for everything.
As noted last meeting, Tom Faubion sold the commercial building which once housed his law practice recently. Given the magnitude of his relief, Tom had proposed bringing back an old club tradition, the paying of a “Fraley”. This is a large dollar grant of immunity for 1 year, named for charter member Ray Fraley who did not like Ed fining him all the time and asked how much it would take to get out of being fined. Ed had settled on the sum of $400. But Tom Faubion believes that with inflation, a more appropriate amount would be $500. Using “Ed Math”, this was determined to be first a $100 fine, and then a subsequent $400 purchase of future immunity (for one year).
But now Tom Faubion reports that he has been having second thoughts. He is concerned that by not ever getting fined for a year, he might miss out on juicy opportunities to stand up and share his wisdom. So Tom begged the right under the terms of his “Fraley” to occasionally stand and correct General Ed’s “scurrilous assertions”. This request was interpreted by General Ed as Tom waiving his rights not to be fined, but not waiving the contribution.
Anniversaries: Sheri and Mike Hodson celebrated 28 years of marriage. When asked if they were good or bad, Sheri did not miss a beat and replied, “Depends what day you ask me.” And Bruce and Marie Barth have celebrated 47 years.
Sheri was not done, however. She flew to Michigan in order to drive cross-country with her parents. 12 nights plus her anniversary = $100.
Ink – John Munn was scheduled to speak to Lakewood United, but deferred his fine pending aggregation with an upcoming trip.
Ed then turned to Sydna Koontz, making note of her “beautiful tan”. She is just back from hosting her son and family in Maui. $50 for the trip, and $10 more for having McKenna spend some more time with her.
This Week’s Program
Mary Dodsworth has spent 16 years working for the City of Lakewood, initially just as Parks and Recreation Director, but now they have added Public Works to her plate. That’s what you get for doing your job well.
Daily Goals – Keep our parks Safe, Clean, and Green (in priority order).
The City strives for “crime prevention through environmental design”. Maintain areas, control access (where possible), lighting/landscaping (no blinds), vandalism response, positive activities. Example: Springbrook Park. Redesign put picnic shelter by parking and power. Crews cleared vegetation by the footbridge.
Park management is done at several levels:
- Park Code
- General rules
- Special area rules (dog park, RC plane flying area)
- Signs everywhere
[ed. note: hopefully the City can do better with its signs than these examples, which are NOT from within the City of Lakewood]
Waughop Lake Trail—The construction of a new asphalt path gave the opportunity to improve safety by removing dead/dangerous trees. Several incidents in the past involved weak branches falling on the path, often near visitors. The City is just finishing a project to pave the parking area by the barns, and by ball fields. Asphalt is safer than gravel.
The City pays to post lifeguards in July and August at the 2 American Lake swimming beaches.
Mary promoted the City’s MyLakewood311 smartphone application. It is a great way to report road problems, graffiti, potholes, code violations, or other concerns. [ed. note: it is pretty easy to use, although the font size is tiny, so get out the reading glasses.] The City's goal is to address all reports within 3 days.
Other accomplishments:
- Summerfest attracted 30,000 people this year.It was also the 6th year of the Triathlon
- A new pavilion is planned for construction in Fort Steilacoom Park. It will be in what is now a grassy lawn on the backside of the caretaker’s house, so no “wild” areas will be converted for its construction.The pavilion will be available for plays, concerts, and weddings.
- Sunday, August 20, there will be a summer concert at Fort Steilacoom Park, featuring the American Legion Band and the Tacoma Concert Band.
- The Lakewood Community Center and Senior Center (across from Four Heroes Elementary) hold lots of activities and classes.There is a special Welcome Wednesday for new people every week.
Sydna Koontz mentioned the work of the Partners For Parks group that our Rotary Club has supported over the years. In October, they will hold the “Walk The Waughop” fund raiser.
Also look for details about a replanting work party, Oct. 22, 9-12, adding back native plants to areas affected by the trail construction around Waughop Lake.
Weekly Raffle:
Guest speaker Mary Dodsworth had the winning ticket, but failed to draw an ace.
And Finally...
Speaking of signs, here is one that the City might want to contemplate copying, to warn people about hazardous areas. Hey Heidi, what does the City Attorney's office say?
