Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Bulletin October 10, 2018
Written by Patrick Hart
Barry Rassin - President of Rotary International
Julie Clark - Governor of District 6440
Diana Taylor opened the meeting with a pledge and a prayer, and Dennis Kratohwil led us in singing “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.”
BRAGS:
Doug Fendon presented a review of his two week trip to Croatia. The country has great food, consisting largely of fish, it has a fascinating history, and most of the people speak English, so it is easy to get around.
Tony Collins bragged that he finally finished reading Steve’s book.
Steve Risley is celebrating his thirty-second wedding anniversary.
Bill Rickert has now clocked up twenty-six years of marital bliss.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Patricia Bleck again offered to sell tickets to the Youth and Family Counseling Raffle to anyone who is interested.
On Tuesday evening October 30 we will have a fifth Wednesday social gathering at the house of Rick Mittelman. There will be no morning meeting that week. Please RSVP if you are coming.
Diana Taylor announced that the board has approved transferring some extra funds from the club to the foundation.
Our annual Salvation Army Bell ringing has been set for December 8. Please save the date.
Tim Dempsey reminded us on October 20 our club will again be helping with the annual Pumpkin Fest, and he could still use volunteers.
FUN AND FROLICS:
At the last minute Doug Fendon volunteered to take fun and frolics with an impromptu quiz on famous Croatians. It was fascinating to learn that Dalmatian dogs originally hailed from the Croatian region of Dalmatia. I was a little disappointed though that he did not mention our Chicago mayor Michael Bilandic among the famous Croatians he picked.
PROGRAM:
Our speaker this week was Rich Carani. Rich is the chief of the Libertyville Fire Department and was hired for this position by Mayor Jeff Harger. The Libertyville Fire Department operates on an annual budget of $8,399,264.00. It employs 42 full time fire fighters, all of whom are also paramedics, and in 2017 they answered 4,308 calls, 65% of which were rescue operations and 26% of which were fire related. The department has 7 firetrucks and 5 ambulances, which are all very expensive pieces of equipment. The ladder tower they own would cost $1,300,000.00 to replace new, and their ambulances cost $300,000.00 each.
With call volume rising and equipment so costly there is a huge push to make firefighting more efficient. Innovations for greater efficiency that everyone is working toward include automatic aid agreements and consolidation. Under automatic aid agreements fire departments will automatically answer the call from a neighboring community, if resource availability makes this more efficient.
One example of consolidation was the recent abolishment of the Knollwood Fire Department. The Knollwood Fire Department was formerly made up of 50 volunteers, and it served an area of less than one square mile. Under an agreement, which took two years to negotiate, the fire departments of Libertyville and Lake Forest assumed responsibility for this function as of the beginning of this month. Another example of consolidation allowed the Mundelein Fire Department to eliminate their ladder tower by contracting to use Libertyville’s equipment on those occasions when it needs a ladder tower.
WHEEL TIME
Steve Risley was apparently in a grumpy mood this week, and he made Pat Hart spin the wheel for taking the wrong name badge. Pat told a joke as the wheel required, but Steve said it was not funny.
RAFFLE:
Scott Hezner held the first ticket pulled this week, and feeling in a conservative mood, he took the sure weekly prize of $30. That allowed Bob Zamor to go for the jackpot of $664.00 with only 30 cards left, but to the great sorrow of all of Bob’s fans and admirers he only pulled the queen of hearts. So sad!
NEXT WEEK:
Program: Darryl Fisher, Ageless Aviation
QUOTE FOR THE DAY:
“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” Edgar Allan Poe
