Matt Gatzke - Blessed to have Emily move in with him and Sandy before she passed away. She gave them a lot of recommendations on things to do so he and Sandy will try to accomplish them in the upcoming year. Working with Children’s Hospital to put a scholarship together for people already in the field and are looking to move forward in their careers. Questioned leaders of the club if they had turned in president’s pin because he forgot to. Gave a dollar for never giving Ben his president’s pin. Gave donation to foundation and another one in Emily’s honor. Gave a dollar for Tynan Flanagan fixing some of his electrical problems around the house. Gave a dollar for Peter Imse for moderating Town Meeting. $1 for his wife Sandy receiving the citizen of the year.

 

Tanya - Good year overall. thanked everyone for making Friday a great start to the weekend. thanked Jon Ruggles who "voluntold" her to join Rotary.

Gerry Carrier - $1 went to vote and saw a friend holding signs. It was Tynan’s mom. She referred to Tynan as number 7 and then introduced his brother as number 5. Gerry also thanked Peter for town meeting

 

Mike Griffin - $2 - Needs to take continuing ed credits to be licensed as an insurer. He was taking courses through American College. Most of the course is financial related not insurance related. He studied for a few months and there’s a 2-hour test. He passed the test. Can add 4 more letters behind name now because he's taken so many courses.

 

Peter Imse - $1 Town Meeting elections take a lot of help: 30-40 volunteers. It would be a disaster without them. Thanked them for helping. 

 

Eric Anderson - $2 While at polls on Tuesday, Jeanne Gerulskis came through and spoke with Eric for about 30 minutes. Gave a run down of being at the planetarium for 27 years and is about to retire. Her son is married and living in Peru. She will be visiting more. Eric asked her to consider rejoining Rotary. (This scribe is also in contact with Jeanne and conversing with her to do the same.)

 

Dave Farr - $2 - Traveling with friends to a “nerdy” convention where they play board games. He started teaching at SNHU again. Class is a rough bunch that doesn’t talk. Can’t wait to see papers on what COVID did to students.

 

Steve Destefano - $1 Just got back from Florida and he ate well while he was down there.

 

David Gazaway - $2 - He sold his Epsom building last Friday. Steve DeStefano helped. 

 

Tim admitted he was nervous about speaking but watching happy bucks loosened him up.

 

He’s proud of the public works department and couldn’t accomplish what he does without his team. What they do ranges from welding to sheet-rocking to mowing and doing road repairs.

 

Other highlights:

 

Peter Imse asked how they approach storm events. They have 11 plow routes. The longest is 15 miles in south Bow. Takes 3 and a half to 4 hours to complete. Pretreat as soon as there is snow or ice on the roads, starting on main roads first. It takes about three loads for the 15 mile route. The department studies weather before the onset of a storm. 

 

Dave Farr jokingly asked about how they plan pushing snow into a driveway right after they are cleared. 

 

Mike Gula joked about being owed a mailbox. He learned a lot at Town Meeting about equipment. Asked about the pivot from less snow to more rain. Don’t know what winter will be ahead of time, need to take it in stride. Tim said it was easier when paving was in the operating budget because they could move money around. If winter was mild, they could pave more. If it was snowy, they could use the funds to buy salt. At a previous Town Meeting cuts had to be made and they took money for paving out. The following year, paving was put in a warrant article instead. 

 

Matt Gatzke mentioned maintaining culverts with the vacuum truck. Asked where they mostly “daylight.” All have a discharge. The department has to be careful when upgrading pipes and needs to know what is down stream. Can’t put sumps in to catch sand anymore because they could trap and kill wildlife accidentally. 

 

Jon Hanson asked about coming across any interesting historical structures. Tim couldn’t think of any off the top of his head. He has been told there is a snow roller at Old Hill and Old Wood Hill roads but he never has gone out to look. 

 

Dick Bean asked about electric vehicles Tim said he’s old school with diesel and keeping horsepower. 

 

Gerry Carrier mentioned Tim and crew helped out with pavilion building. They chose the location for drainage and helped with gravel. Great support from the town and thanked Tim. 

 

President Matt closed the meeting with a toast to Rotary the world over.