Pledge: President Keith
Prayer: Gerri Lewis
Song: Led by Andy Anderson
Brent's Flim/Flam: High hand won by Rick Beck with 3 deuces (Bob Antoniac wasn't here
today.)
Raffle Winners: Carl Fortuna, Andy Andereson and Brent.
Visiting Rotarians and Guests: Carl Fortuna and Asst. DG Jack Solomon.
Happy Dollars: Marty for Al Lindquist being back, Jack Solomon for being at our meeting,
many for the election being over, many for our First Selectman, Jason for start of Turkey
drive, John Donnelly for not being in NYC for the marathon that didn't happen, get well
wishes for Bill McLaughlin who has a detached retina and has to remain still for 6 weeks,
a major task for Bill. We all wish him well.
Announcements:
Charlie Norz announced the first date for the dictionary project which is November 20th
at St. John's School. A sign up sheet was passed around. This is a very heart warming
project and if you haven't participated before, you're missing a true Rotary experience!
Brent Taylor presented John Donnelly with a Paul Harris Three Saphire Award. This is
really well deserved and will be represented at our next dinner meeting.
President Keith announced we received two letters from our scholarship recipients,
these were passed around.
Also next week's meeting will be at the Estuary and will be Student of the Month.
Program: John Donnelly introduce our First Selectman Carl Fortuna.
Carl indicated he was heating his house with s wood insert in his fireplace, I guess even
the first selectman isn't immune to power outages. Carl is an attorney who practiced
law in NYC for 24 years before returning to CT where he practiced law in Middletown
for a spell. Since living in O.S. he has been very active in town affairs, serving on the
WPCA and the Finance Committee before running for 1st Selectman. Carl reviewed some
of the issues surronding Storm Sandy. He indicated the Pavilion would probably be back
in operation sooner than after "Irene", the cleanup should be a lot easier. He expects it
to be back ready for use by the end of January. He was very pleased with the Town's
response to Sandy, this was seconded by the members. The seawall and road endings
at Cornfield point took a beating. Since most of the seawalls are the responsibility of the
property owners, he would like them to work together with an engineer to design and
construct a unified protection from the sea. He's not sure if he can make this happen.
Carl aslo stated that the town was well run and in pretty good financial shape. One area
of concern to him was the finance area and the purchasing procedures that were in place.
He's hired a Finance Director to handle this area. She comes to us with a business
background, is a certified CPA and a Certtified Financial Planner. A purchasing system
has been implemented that will allow town employees to make small purchases much
more easily and have the bills automatically flow into the purchasing system for posting
and payment. He also commented on the 36 Lynde Street property to become the new
O.S. Police Department headquarters. Only minor modifications and the addition of a
Sally Port need be done. The current building committee is apparently is agreement.
The property just about abutes the old Police Station on Main Street which would be torn
down, It's Carl's goal to utilize the this space for needed south end of Main Street parking and
maybe some sort of community facility. We'll be hearing more of this in coming months
along with an opportunity to comment and vote on it. Another interesting twist to the
Storm Sandy destruction. The mini golf at the point is town owned and is a good
revenue producer. It should ber easy to rebuild and President Keith suggested that
maybe Rotary and other town organizations could sponser a hole to defray the costs
of rebuilding and also getting our name out to the public. A pretty neat idea. Carl
liked this and may follow up on Keith's suggestion.
asl
THE FOUR-WAY TEST
of the things we think, say or do
First...
Is it the TRUTH ?
Second....
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Third....
Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Fourth....
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?