Pullman Rotary Club Board Meeting Minutes, Feb. 15, 2011

Kurt Weigel called the meeting to order. Present were John Brewer, Sandra Ristow, Kurt Weigel, Chud Wendle, Dennis McConnell, Tom Gooch, and Lou Ann Heroff.

Tom Gooch talked about club membership. We are down to 34 members after excising Josh Paparazzo, Katie Peet-Walker, Laurie Smith, Max Moore, and Kaylani Merrill from the roster. Sandra Ristow as secretary will update the membership list so we can send in our semiannual report to Rotary International.

Tom Gooch reported that there is approx. $6000 in our checking account. There are no immediate big items on the expenditure list; however, we have vocational scholarships, RYLA scholarships, scholarships for Boys and Girls State coming up along with the Irv Field Grand Project to fund. Chud Wendle will be attending PETS training this weekend and has already been reimbursed for his airfare and registration expenses.

Chud Wendle gave a report from the Membership Committee. The committee is planning to assemble a kit for new members. Chud showed us two booklets describing our club which could be used for initiating new members and informing potential members about our club. These were based on the information handed out by Club 21 in Spokane. The committee would like feedback on the template booklets. John Brewer has volunteered to be a proofreader for this material as well as for advertisements that the club may be considering placing in publications. The meetings of the membership committee will take place the second Monday of the month at 4:30PM at the South Fork Restaurant. It will last 45 minutes to an hour. Chud mentioned that he is hoping to persuade Paul Kimmel from Avista to join our club since he attended the membership committee meeting on Feb. 3rd. The board discussed having each club member complete a personal information form that Chud provided so we would know their birthdays and contact information. We also need to obtain photos for some members. Kurt showed us some pictures of our members that Gary Hyde had taken for the online directory of Pullman Rotary members. Gary sponsored Keith Nelson as a proposed new member of the club, and the board unanimously approved his nomination.

Lou Ann announced that the Community Service committee will meet at her home on February 22 at 5:30 PM to vote on the 11 project submissions for the Irv Field Grand Project. They will provide recommendations at the club meeting on Feb. 23rd.

Kurt reported that the committee in charge of the spaghetti dinner has set the price of tickets at $7 for an adult and $3 for a child under 12. Each member will be required to buy 10 tickets.

Kurt also suggested that we consider having a wine concession at the next Lentil Festival. It would be handled much like the beer tent which was at the last festival. We would have to check on the liquor permits. It may be possible to involve Merry Cellars in this event.

We must check with Kathleen Warren on the particulars for submitting a district simplified grant to match the Irv Field Grand Project. It is important to choose a project which meets this district criterion.

Dennis McConnell reported on the Club Service Committee. They have not yet met, but are planning to meet after the regular club meetings on Wednesday afternoons. Dennis announced that he is willing to take digital media such as Powerpoint presentations and convert them to the computer generated backdrops that we have been viewing during the meetings. John Brewer suggested that he has a set of Rotaplast pictures that may be perfect for this purpose.

Dennis said he has been researching the history of the Pullman Kiwanis Club at the WSU archives. He wondered if there were any records or photos with the history of the Pullman Rotary Club. Lou Ann reported that all of the club files were thrown away several years ago. If club members have any photos or other historical information about the club they should submit them to Dennis McConnell by email if possible. His email address is Gladish@pullman.com.

Kurt suggested that we have a master of ceremonies (besides the president) to help keep the club meetings on schedule, conduct the Happy Bucks sessions, etc. Ideally, this could be a sergeant-at-arms function that could be rotated among the members each week. There was a discussion concerning reinstating games such as 50/50. It was noted that it takes time to sell tickets and this does not help our time schedule during the meeting. Since the official start of the meetings has been at 12:20pm, we often do not have enough time to complete the announcements and still provide our speakers with at least 25 minutes for their presentations. The consensus was that we should start the meetings at 12:10, so Kurt will notify the club that we will start doing so at the meeting on 2/16.

Kurt announced that we need to have an election for the 2011-12 secretary and vice president positions. The names must be submitted to the Rotary International club officer database by March 15. Several names were mentioned as possibilities for those offices. Kurt will contact those individuals to ascertain their willingness to serve.

The meeting adjourned at 6:30.