Posted by Linda Lynch
In President Brewster’s absence, President Elect Dennis Fliehman called our meeting on a cold April day to order promptly at 12:30. Due to technical difficulties, he yelled a welcome and turned the podium over to Craig Stiles who promised to deliver his invocation loudly, but with a soft stick. With Ken Beachler and John Dale Smith both MIA, Mark Hopper led us as we sang My Country Tis of Thee.
 
Although not armed with a microphone, Maria Lenz moved through the assembled Rotarians to insure that all guests and visiting Rotarians were introduced. Several of our guests have submitted applications and hope to be new members before we meet again.
 
Diane Sanborn informed us that Ed McRee is in hospice and is failing. He is no longer able to speak. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.
 
PE Fliehman presented George Loomis with his Red Badge and welcomed him to our club. Linda Lynch revealed that this week’s mystery Rotarian was none other than Irv Nichols. This answer was correctly submitted by Barb Lezotte. Both were in attendance to receive their prize.
 
Donna Gardner kicked off April by refreshing our memories regarding our annual Paul Harris campaign. This annual campaign, which happens every year, raises money for the Rotary International Foundation and is an excellent way to safely change the world. Although there were more technical issues, we were eventually able to see the list of FAQs that Donna had prepared. For those who have been part of the club for less than a year, or those who have been here longer, but need a refresher:
 
  •  Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary
  •  Money goes to the Rotary International Foundation (RIF) and can be designated to Polio Plus or the Annual (share) Fund
  • We are asking for your support again because this is an annual campaign – we ask every year.
  • You can earn a Paul Harris award by contributing $1000. You do not have to contribute that in a single year. Your contributions are accumulated until you reach $1000 and earn your award. You can also earn multiple awards.
  • The Annual (share) fund is used in two ways – 50% funds RI projects, while the other 50% is returned (after 3 years) to the district that it came from to fund district grants.
  • RI initiatives include clean water, fighting polio, malaria and HIV, peacemaking, health care for mothers and children, education/literacy and local communities.
  • Our club goals are:
    •  100% participation – this is the most important goal
    •  $14,000 – a goal set by our board
  • RIF is very reputable, earning 4/4 stars from Charity Navigator for 11 consecutive years and being named the world’s outstanding foundation in 2016 by the National Association of Fundraising Professionals. An amazing 91 cents of every dollar donated to RIF goes to programs.
  • Donate by writing a check to the Rotary International Foundation, go to rotary.org and click on Give (Editarians note: you will want to login first so that credit goes to our club), or in cash (preferably in an envelope with your name on it to Cathy or Donna).
Donna concluded by letting us know that this will be a theme throughout the month of April. (Thank you Donna for being a GREAT Paul Harris chair!)
 
PE Fliehmann introduced Dan Aylward, our April Chair of the Month and our Chair of the Day. Dan introduced Dr. Kenneth Boyer, Professor of Economics at MSU, whose research interest is the economics of transportation. While that may sound a bit dry, let me assure you that it was anything but!
 
Dr. Boyer commutes from Ann Arbor, so he surely has firsthand knowledge of road conditions in the area. He began by discussing how we might go about calculating the cost of roads per mile travelled, just as we might personally calculate our contribution to the cost of maintaining our roadways based on the miles we drive and the fees we are charged for vehicle registration. He noted that we pay far less than other countries. Fuel taxes in other countries run $2 - $3, but the tax is not restricted to roadway maintenance and development. Some states partially fund roads through tolls as well.
 
Americans do drive more than people in other countries, but we continue to see some erosion to user fees (gas tax) and we have started to supplement these fees with money from the general fund. Local roads also receive some funding from millages.
 
It is clear that our current system cannot survive. As fuel economy increases, we purchase less fuel, which leads to less revenue. Additionally, vehicle miles travelled per person levelled off around 2010 and is now dropping. Millenials drive far less than older generations and tend to not even own a car. Michigan also has some unique laws around truck weight, limiting weight per axle, but not the total number of axles. This may contribute to higher than average road wear.
 
Roads are rated around the country by using a road roughness index. Our rural roads (those that go through farm or undeveloped land) tend to be in better shape than average, while our urban principal arterial roadways are much worse than average. Our funding formula gives more dollars per person to fund rural roads has remained unchanged for 67 years. The formula is not adjusted for traffic usage.
 
Dr. Boyer wrote two survey questions to determine our attitudes towards road funding in Michigan. When asked how much more you would be willing to pay to improve our roads, 56% responded that they were not willing to pay anything more. (One could conclude that our citizens actually want worse roads.) The second question asked how road maintenance should be funded. Over half refused to answer the question. Of those that responded, the preferred option was increased gas tax, while tolls were the least popular.
 
There are other alternatives. Some questions that could be considered:
 
  •  Should trucks pay more than they do now?
  •   What about electric (or other alternative fuel) vehicles? How should those drivers contribute to our road maintenance fund if they are not purchasing gasoline?
  •   Is private financing an option?
  •   Do we raise fuel taxes to European levels?
  •   Should we pay by the mile?
Dr. Boyer stressed that Michigan is not alone and that it will be very hard to come up with a viable solution if we mistrust both government and toll financing.
 
As usual, our club asked a number of excellent questions. Those questions revealed that:
 
  •   Cement roadways can last 25 years, while asphalt lasts only 15 years
  •   In some situations, neighborhoods are being asked to pay for road maintenance through      assessments. 
  • Toll roads don’t have to involve significant infrastructure. Tolls are assessed in Europe almost entirely through satellites
  •  Opinion – CAFÉ standards, while not the ideal way to improve fuel economy, have had an effect. Economists have gone back and forth on this issue, but believe, in general, that they are better than nothing and are not welcoming a relaxation of the standards. A better way to improve fuel economy is to increase fuel taxes.
PE Fliehman thanked Dr. Boyer for speaking and told him that we will be making a donation to a clean water project in the Dominican Republic in his name in lieu of a speaker’s gift.
 
The last order of business was a follow up to our Paul Harris appeal. All members who have earned at least one Paul Harris award stood. It was obvious that we have a number of members who have taken these appeals seriously over the years.
 
PE Fliehman announced that we would be back at the Lansing Center next week, when Father Riwa will speak about the Friends of Kenyan Orphans.
 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:29 p.m.
Linda Lynch's email is:  linda@kitechnologygroup.com