Rotary Burl August 11, 2014

Lunch Menu: Salad bar, fried shrimp, French fries, chicken pasta, mixed vegetables, rolls, dessert
Called to order by President Gregg Gardiner at 12:30pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Pat Folkins. The Invocation was led by Bruce Rupp, VISITING ROTARIANS: Liana Simpson from Old Town Rotary. GUESTS OF ROTARIANS: Bruce Rupp brought back Hawley Butterfield amidst cheers from the crowd.



First Lady Of Rotary

 Kathy Cloney-Gardiner introduced Chris Cox, Assistant Principal at Winship Middle School. Chuck Goodwin introduced Eureka City Council Member, Marian Brady.




Kathryn Smith

  Jay Reed introduced Anthony Stubbs, CPA at Aalfs Evans & Company. FOUNDATION MINUTE: Keith Crossley told us we were this close to eradicating polio. When Rotary started down this path 125 countries still had polio. Today only 3 countries still experience polio… Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Help is needed now more than ever. Dr. Kim Bauriedel added… eradicating polio from the last 3 countries is very expensive. These last 3 countries are hard to gain access to and that is the reason it costs so much.



Mike Martin Paul Harris Fellow

 Mike Martin was asked to come to the podium where he received a long past due pin and medal for his contributions to the Paul Harris Foundation. Mike received a standing ovation from the crowd. BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES: Dave Dillon’s birthday and anniversary are on the same day, 08/13/14. President Gregg fined Dave for missing last week’s meeting when District Governor Kevin visited. On top of that he missed it to go to a music festival. Dave defended himself as it was an anniversary trip but he still had to pay a fine of $5.76. He generously upped his fine to $10. Other birthdays this week include Rick Littlefield, Kitty Poterack and Pat Folkins.
RECOGNITIONS: Past President Hank Pierson was led into the room by Sheriff Mike Downey in handcuffs.



Hank Pierson in cuffs

  His crime? Missing President Gregg’s first meeting and every meeting since then. Prosecuting Attorney Arnie Klein questioned Hank at length and ultimately pronounced him free to go. However, President Gregg wasn’t letting him off that easily… A super fine of $100 was imposed on Past President Hank because of the egregious



Gregg and his attorney

 nature of his crime. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Kathy Smith passed on an announcement from Lee Cunningham that there is an internship available from the Women in Transportation Initiative that pays $14 or $15/hr. The internship has an emphasis on public relations for women in construction. Call Lee if you are interested in knowing more. SPENGLER-HOWARD RAFFLE: A bottle of Riverbend Cellars wine was won by Steven Lafferty. Russ Harris drew from the deck of cards for the joker and a pot of $150. However, he drew a 4 of clubs so the pot goes up $20 for next week’s drawing. GUEST

City Manager Greg Sparks

SPEAKER INTRODUCTION BY: Gregg Gardiner. Greg Sparks was appointed Eureka City Manager on May 1st. He is from West Des Moines Iowa, and is a former Rotarian. GUEST SPEAKER: Greg Sparks grew up in Newton Iowa. He is celebrating his 39th wedding anniversary this year with his wife, Mary who is a nurse. She is currently waiting for her nursing license to arrive in the mail before she can start her job search. Greg has a Masters in Public Administration and interned at the City of Reno in 1978, 36 years ago. He’s stayed in this field ever since. He said there are many challenges in Eureka. There has been and continues to be a lot of turnover in some key positions. The Director of Community Development position has been empty for awhile but they expect to announce the new director soon. They are recruiting for a new Finance Director. There are openings in police and fire.

Assistant City Manager Mike Knight is taking early retirement in September and there are a few long time employees who will be taking early retirement in September with the California PERS early retirement offer. With those long-time employees goes a lot of institutional knowledge. Greg’s focus is on providing strong customer service and innovation. The city belongs to an “Alliance Consortium.” This consortium is committed to sharing ideas, etc. They are committed to succeeding through innovation, finding solutions to problems creatively. When he arrived there was a $4 million dollar imbalance between revenue and expenditures and although they have balanced the budget it came at the price of reducing services they didn’t want to reduce. Measure Q, on the ballot to continue the ½ cent sales tax will generate approximately $4.1 million dollars annually. The economy has improved but these dollars are still vital to city services.

Keith Crossley showing how
much respect he has for Gregg

 Police and Fire services need to have money increased so that there are adequate services. Greg’s goal of customer service came from the continuing complaints he has heard about the lack of customer service at the city.

He said this will change one person at a time. He is holding Department Heads accountable and has asked city council members, etc. that if they hear complaints to let him know so that he can sit down one on one with the person(s) to try to resolve the issue. He wants to hear about problems as they happen, not 6 months down the road when it is too late to fix the problem. The rest of the time was devoted to questions and answers including topics like the Homelessness Task Force and the need for more housing and mental health services and funding from the State and Federal level to help. MEETING ADJOURNED: 1:30pm by President Gregg who reminded us this year’s primary goal is membership and asked us all to invite somebody to Rotary. He in fact invited City Manager Greg Sparks to become a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Eureka. He suggested that everybody wear their Rotary pin to the meeting next week.

Respectfully submitted, Alicia Cox