Clavandentcher's News Briefs for April 20, 2010 Someone once said that it isn't plan A that makes a good manager, it's plan B. Well, we're lucky to have Liz as President because as she drove into Bozeman to celebrate her daughter's graduation she was advised that the KwaTaqNuk would not be able to host us for our regular meeting, just 19 hours later. She came up with Swanee's as an alternative and we are happy she did. Thank you, Liz, for acting on SHORT notice, and thanks to all the Rotarians who showed up at the new location. We also owe a special thanks to our Program, Jackie Gran, who set up her screen, projector and material on such short notice in a not-perfect environment. A lot of people showed a lot of resiliency. Rob Turner announced that the Signature Gift Committee had made a recommendation to our Board which the Board approved. The recommendation was to take funds not distributed to last year's project and donate most of those funds to the City Parks Dept. for the resurfacing of Riverside Park. We selected the American Legion baseball team as this year's recipient and the funds we collect will go for the rehabilitation of their ball field. In this case, everyone is a winner and young and older children in the Polson area will benefit. We also committed to PYSA that we will select their field project in the future when they have progressed in their development of this project. Ken Sandon appeared at our hastily selected site and was rewarded by winning today's 50/50 drawing. He donated his winnings to the Signature Gift fund. Thank you, Ken. Nardi is looking for a ride to this year's District Conference which is being held in Great Falls on May 7 and 8. If you plan to go to the conference and have room in your car, please notify Nardi. Keith Urbach was today's Program Chair and introduced Jackie Gran. Jackie is the President of the Library Board and her program was to encourage us to vote for the proposed Library District which will be on a mail-in ballot July 8th to July 27th, 2010. Jackie did a wonderful job presenting her case for the benefits to Polson of a Library District. She overcame the surroundings as she carefully presented to the Rotarians the benefits of our Library, the future possibilities given appropriate funding and the negative effects if the funding is not provided. As Jackie said, we need equitable and sustainable funding for our library. It's primary source of revenue now is the City General Fund and that is subject to being cut as other city priorities arise. The City's contribution has remained basically the same for many years. The County also contributes a small amount and that amount has not changed in many years. The library relies on contributions and existing trust funds and they are also subject to the vagaries of the market. The library district proposed is essentially the high school district covering northern Lake County. Other libraries in other communities have been asked if they are interested and, to date, they have declined. The proposed levy would be a maximum of 11.14 mills which, for a house with a MARKET value of $200,000 would be $41.20 annual library district cost. Jackie asked for our vote on this mail-in ballot to support the library district. I know all Rotarians will give the issue careful consideration and we thank Jackie for her excellent presentation at a new location on short notice. |