Co-President Steve Dunton opened the meeting by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance and Ron Taggart followed with an invocation about our commonalities.
PROGRAM: Ron Taggart was our program host this morning and also our speaker. He told us that he, along with Dave Renninger, are the only two remaining club founders. For many years he owned and operated Printing Concepts in Stow and also was the last person drafted in Summit County. He served in Korea for two years.
He told a story about a difficult situation in his business in the hopes that it would help someone else deal with tough times in their world of work and give some thoughts as to how to humanely deal with a hard time. The names have been changed.
Several years ago, David came to Ron after a performance review with Marcus, a man who David supervised. He told Ron that Marcus said that he wanted to get a gun and kill people, including wanting to go to the White House. Needless to say, David and Ron had a lengthy discussion about Marcus. They agreed on four things. They would take Marcus at his word. They would not involve the police at this point. They did not care what it cost to manage the issue and finally that Marcus could no longer be employed.
Over the weekend David and Ron talked with the smartest people they knew in areas concerning the situation. Ron relied heavily on the book Discipline Without Punishment by Dick Grote. In that book the author describes the key to change is to help the employee take responsibility for his actions but to not cut him off entirely from the organization. The book suggested a non-confrontive approach in order to strengthen the bond between people. On the following Monday, after a two and a half hour conversation, they asked Marcus what he thought should happen and Marcus responded that he should be fired. The plan that Ron and David presented was that he would be fired but that he would receive a severance pay until he could receive unemployment benefits. In addition, the HR Manager would call him every day to check on him. This plan was in place until Marcus moved out of state. Later Marcus said that he considered this termination a turning point in his life.
HAPPY BUCKS: Annie Hanson-Hilaire thanked the group for their donations and purchases at the library's Basket Auction. They made over $11,000 from the fund-raiser.
Thanks too to the workers at Saturday's Bunny Trail Hop: Steve Dunton, Gail Moseley, Todd Hearty, Dick Hall, Mary Dula, Denise Green and Pilar Parsons and Andy Denton. The students from Interact had a popular activity and although it was cold, over 1000 people participated
CELEBRATIONS:
Wedding Anniversary: Denise and Eric Green are celebrating 24 years of marriage this week.
Birthdays: We sang well this morning to Matthew Aguiar, Jen Ramsey and little "Charlie" Hilaire, who was visiting with her mother today. They all have birthdays this week.
Drawing: The pot will continue to grow because the queen of spades was pulled.
CONCERNS: Our sympathy goes to Mary Parr whose Mother passed away in Iowa last week. We were glad to have Mary back with us this morning.
We also are concerned for Dave Renninger and Don Coughlin who continue to battle health issues.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Foodbank: Our next time to help at the Foodbank will be on Wednesday, May 14 from 4:30-6:30. Put this on your calendar now if you can because we may not have the Interact students with us and the Foodbank personnel always have a lot planned for our group.
District Conference: Annette told us that today is the last day to register for the conference which will be at the Cleveland Marriott in Warrensville Heights. Go to rotarydistrict6630.org to register. There are many topics of interest including youth, Clubrunner and mental health, among many more. You may register for any part of the conference and you will be reimbursed for anything except hotel rooms. Give your receipt or registration form to John Long.
Fifth Wednesday: April 30 is a fifth Wednesday, so we will not meet that morning. Are there any suggestions for something social we could do that week? Give your ideas to Steve or Jeff quickly.
Golf Outing: The next meeting of the committee will be on Monday, April 28th at 6:30 at the FOP Lodge. Eight teams have signed up so far. Give your donations of $10 and $25 gift cards, or golf balls, or company swag to Todd Hearty. Sponsorships and golfers are also a need at this point. The event will be Friday, June 13 at Fox Den.
Notary Assistance: Maria Ferrara is a Notary and she generously offered her services to any Rotarian who needs that service, free of charge. Thanks, Maria!
Steve ended the meeting by leading us in the Rotary Four-Way Test
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Wednesday, April 23, 7:30 a.m. regular morning meeting when we will learn about The Life of Tom Stephan.
Friday and Saturday April 25 and 26 District Conference
Wednesday April 30, No morning meeting
Saturday, May 10, Heroes Day
Saturday, May 10, 7:00 Interact Talent Show at the High School
Friday, June 13, Golf Outing at Fox Den
Tuesday, July 2, Bob Oborn's Installation as District Governor
Wednesday, October 9, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction in the evening.
Respectfully Submitted,