2-27-2014 Rotary Club of Chickasha meeting
Posted by Jerry Pittman
Dr. Greg Winters, superintendent of Canadian Valley Technology Center was the guest speaker at the 2-27-2014 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha. The Feb. 27, 2014 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chicakasha opened with a prayer, pledge and a song.
Guests included Erica Miller and Bill Bradley.
Prayer concerns included Tom Rose, whose home was damaged by fire; John Grote, who had shoulder surgery and Dr. Bill Harrison, who has moved to Glenhaven Retirement Center.
Conrad Duprez announced he had tickets available to the Tuesday, March 4 Chickasha Public School Foundation Pancake supper called McTeacher Night from 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at both McDonald's locations. Tickets are $5 each. All proceeds go to the foundation.
President Greg Elliott reminded members that the club will match donations to Rotary Foundation throughout March. It work's like this: donate $500, the club matches it with 500 points and you get credit for a $1000 donation. The club has 8,000 points to give.
Rotarian of the Day was Dick McCalla who introduced Dr. Greg Winters, superintendent of the Canadian Valley Technology Center as our guest speaker.
Dr. Winters said Canadian Valley Technology Center will be asking voters in the district to approve a $12 million bond issue on April 1 to assist in rebuilding the El Reno campus following the May 2013 tornado that leveled seven of nine building on campus.
Plans call for a 39,000 square feet facility to be built under one roof that will include five safe rooms that can shelter more than 1,200 people.
The tornado that destroyed the campus on May 31 was 2.6 miles wide.
"It was the largest recorded tornado ever," Winters said. "It had sustained winds of up to 296 miles per hour."
The school received in excess of $34 million from insurance on the campus built in 1970 and after cleanup and other storm related expenses there is about $32.6 million remaining for rebuilding.
But to meet current building codes and to include the safe rooms an additional $12 million is needed to fund the $44.7 million project.
Why should voters in Chickasha and Grady County help pay for a campus in El Reno? "When you are part of the system, 50 percent of what is spent in Chickasha comes out of Canadian County," Winters said. "You're part of a much bigger family that spreads from Rush Springs to Piedmont to Calumet to Bethany. If the Chickasha campus operated only on tax revenue generated in Grady County you would have to shut down half the programs."
He said because of projected economic growth in the region, the impact on taxpayers would be minimal.
If approved, property taxes will increase less than 90 cents per month on a $100,000 home or property.
"If we keep growing, the millage rate will go down," Winters said. "The most you'll ever pay will be in the first year if we continue this growth rate."
Winter said the bond issue would not have been necessary if not for a $10 million expansion of the Chickasha campus that began months before the tornado hit El Reno. The addition to the Chickasha campus is being paid for out of the school’s building fund.
"Our long range capital improvement strategic plan identified Chickasha as the No. 1 priority,” he said. "We needed to add space in Chickasha.”
The projected completion date for the Chickasha addition is December of this year.
The meeting adjourned after recitation of the Rotary 4-Way Test.
Guests included Erica Miller and Bill Bradley.
Prayer concerns included Tom Rose, whose home was damaged by fire; John Grote, who had shoulder surgery and Dr. Bill Harrison, who has moved to Glenhaven Retirement Center.
Conrad Duprez announced he had tickets available to the Tuesday, March 4 Chickasha Public School Foundation Pancake supper called McTeacher Night from 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at both McDonald's locations. Tickets are $5 each. All proceeds go to the foundation.
President Greg Elliott reminded members that the club will match donations to Rotary Foundation throughout March. It work's like this: donate $500, the club matches it with 500 points and you get credit for a $1000 donation. The club has 8,000 points to give.
Rotarian of the Day was Dick McCalla who introduced Dr. Greg Winters, superintendent of the Canadian Valley Technology Center as our guest speaker.
Dr. Winters said Canadian Valley Technology Center will be asking voters in the district to approve a $12 million bond issue on April 1 to assist in rebuilding the El Reno campus following the May 2013 tornado that leveled seven of nine building on campus.
Plans call for a 39,000 square feet facility to be built under one roof that will include five safe rooms that can shelter more than 1,200 people.
The tornado that destroyed the campus on May 31 was 2.6 miles wide.
"It was the largest recorded tornado ever," Winters said. "It had sustained winds of up to 296 miles per hour."
The school received in excess of $34 million from insurance on the campus built in 1970 and after cleanup and other storm related expenses there is about $32.6 million remaining for rebuilding.
But to meet current building codes and to include the safe rooms an additional $12 million is needed to fund the $44.7 million project.
Why should voters in Chickasha and Grady County help pay for a campus in El Reno? "When you are part of the system, 50 percent of what is spent in Chickasha comes out of Canadian County," Winters said. "You're part of a much bigger family that spreads from Rush Springs to Piedmont to Calumet to Bethany. If the Chickasha campus operated only on tax revenue generated in Grady County you would have to shut down half the programs."
He said because of projected economic growth in the region, the impact on taxpayers would be minimal.
If approved, property taxes will increase less than 90 cents per month on a $100,000 home or property.
"If we keep growing, the millage rate will go down," Winters said. "The most you'll ever pay will be in the first year if we continue this growth rate."
Winter said the bond issue would not have been necessary if not for a $10 million expansion of the Chickasha campus that began months before the tornado hit El Reno. The addition to the Chickasha campus is being paid for out of the school’s building fund.
"Our long range capital improvement strategic plan identified Chickasha as the No. 1 priority,” he said. "We needed to add space in Chickasha.”
The projected completion date for the Chickasha addition is December of this year.
The meeting adjourned after recitation of the Rotary 4-Way Test.