July 2, 2019
President Hu Beaver called the meeting to order at 12:15pm. The meeting was held at The Kwataqnuk Resort. Keith Urbach led us in song. He also won the drawing and gave the money to the Martini Fund. Roger Grimes gave the invocation.
Announcements are as follows:
“Happy Bucket”: Larry P/Hu/Matt/Jake/Ron/Phil
Visiting Rotarians: Sheriane Eckenrod, Phil Barney and Bob Dayton
Bret Richardson gave a Festival for Youth Update. Polson Rotarians are needed to help sell tickets at the Main Street Cherry Festival Saturday and Sunday, July 20-21. Contact Bret if you’d like to help. 9 chili cook-off teams have entered. Larry said that our partners have sold more tickets than Rotarians to this point. If you need more tickets contact Larry.
Bret also spoke of a meeting to explore the possibility of a satellite club in Ronan. That meeting June 20th at the Mission Mountain Golf Course created interest in the club. 4 to 5 people are interested in creation of the group. Bret will check back with them late August or early September. And Bret mentioned he and Larry attended a grant writing workshop in Helena and let the club know that up to $5,000 is available through a matching grant for projects.
The second Tuesday social time is next Tuesday, July 9th at 5:30pm at the Perfect Shot Tavern on Main Street in Polson.
The program this week was introduced by Larry Ashcraft. The speaker was Polson School Superintendent Rex Weltz.
He spoke about three major projects facing the district. First was the demolition and rebuilding of Linderman gym. The gym, built in the early 1950’s, was demolished last week. The company charged with demolition and cleanup has until the end of July to complete the project. Construction will start then and the completion date is September of 2020. The structure will be 25,000 square feet and seat 1660. Portions of the old floor and brick will be displayed in the Hall of Champions and portions of the floor will be up for auction later and the brick will be available to the public too.
The other topic was a two-part K-12 bond project.
One platform of the bond request is based on health, safety and security. Weltz said that all the school building are old and are need of repair and reconfiguration. He mentioned that Linderman elementary was built in the 1940’s, Cherry Valley in the 1960’s, the High School in the 1970’s and the Middle school in the 90’s. The schools are not safe or secure. There is no HVAC in the elementary schools and conditions in the Middle and High School are not much better. Safety is the top priority.
The second pillar is academics. Weltz said the current configuration of grades does not promote the best learning environment. He would consolidate pre-K through 2nd grade at Cherry Valley, 3rd through 5th grade at Linderman and 6th through 8th grade at the Middle School. He would also like to build a science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) wing onto the high school. He said all the items in these two pillars are needed.
He said the third component is Community. Here he would like to see a 3500 seat community event center built onto the new high school. It would include a walking track and be able to house community events such as concerts, trades shows, divisional basketball tournaments, adult education classes and more.
Each bond request is $30 million. The Polson School Board of Trustees will vote to place the bond issue on the ballot this month. The ballots will be mailed out in September, with results expected in October.
The next Polson Rotary meeting will be Thursday, June 9, 2019 at 12:15pm at the Kawtaqnuk Resort
July Programs:
July 9 Hugh Beaver/George Gerard
July 16-Birthday Talks
July 23 Larry Peltz/Amy Grout
July 30 Gayle Siemers/Andrew Lau
July Assignments:
Invocation: Roger Grimes
Justice: Wayne Schile
Song Leader: Keith Urbach
Sergeant at Arms: Rob Turner