We are fortunate on Thursday to have two of our town employees, Greg Muhonen, Public Work's Director and Travis Machelek, Town Administrator, here to provide an explanation about storm water funding needs. This text was taken from the May 26, 2023 Trail Gazette edition written by Jeff Hanrahan. On May 24, 2023 a joint study session took place between the Town of Estes Park Board and Larimer County Commissioners to discuss funding sources for storm water drainage infrastructure. With flooding being a prominent risk in mountain towns, the town and county are exploring options in order to fund $138 million over 30 years in order to ensure Estes Park and its environs continue to effectively drain storm waters. The three options for funding the project are combinations of grants, sales taxes and a user fee for the infrastructure. Public Works Director Greg Muhonen brought forth three hypothetical funding plans, each with varying ratios of the three funding options.
Greg Muhonen is a Professional Civil Engineer who has used his training and life experience to serve the transportation infrastructure needs of Larimer County residents for over 37 years. His civil engineering work experience spans private land development, land use entitlement review, traffic engineering, municipal policy, and public works capital project design and construction. Greg's Core Values are Lead by Example, Keep his Word, Build Relationships and Transparency. "I hold myself and my team accountable to each other, our Town residents, and our Town leaders to implement the goals and priorities that we collaboratively establish. We learn and share our knowledge and skills freely, understanding that our roles in the organization and community exist to build relationships with, and serve the needs of, our residents. I believe we are personal stewards of the public trust."
Greg was born and raised in Idaho, the eldest of 10, 5 sisters and 4 brothers. His wife is a veterinarian. They have been married for over 40 years and he is a Percussionist at Summit Church.
Travis Machalek assumed the role of Town Administrator on August 27, 2019 after Frank Lancaster stepped down from the position. The Town Administrator is responsible to the Board of Trustees for carrying out the policies set by the Town Board and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Town and its staff of approximately 200 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees, as well as over 500 volunteers. Travis was recognized by the Town Board in 2022 for “his steadfast oversight for the safety and welfare of the Estes Park Community, Businesses, Visitors and Town Employees and Volunteers during the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration March 19, 2020 - October 31, 2022, as well as the October 2020 wildfire evacuation of the Town of Estes Park.”
Travis holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kansas and has completed the University of Virginia's Senior Executive Institute. His past experience includes work in the City Manager's Office at Laramie, Wyoming, the County Administrator's Office in Douglas County, Kansas, and the City Manager's Office in Fort Collins, Colorado. Machalek and his wife, Ashley, have been residents of Estes Park since 2015.
Our program this week will be held in person, but a Zoom link will be provided. Click on the link below to be admitted. Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7985707369
Rotary Weekly Luncheon Place: American Legion Time: Lunch served from 11:30 - 12:00 Cost: $20 Parking: American Legion and the church only
Service Above Self
Positions are available for:
Membership Chair
Editor of the Spoke
Audio/Visual Assistant
Scribes (2)
Photographer - Thanks Jim Whiteneck for volunteering
Contact either Karen Thompson at karen.estesparkrotary@gmail.com or Annie Slack at anneslack@aol.com for more information.
Meeting Notes for July 20, 2023
President Karen Thompson called the meeting to order.
Gregg Jurgens gave the Invocation.
Karen led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Madison led the song “In The Good Old Summertime”.
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Visiting Rotarians:
We welcomed back Maribel Hale from Arizona
Gary Donnor from Buckeye AZ who brought us a club banner for the Verrado Rotary Club.
Announcements:
Carl Robicheaux thanked everyone for “showing him the money” and sponsoring our John Denver Tribute concert. We exceeded last year’s sponsorships and he thanked the committee headed by Tara Moenning that has worked hard with Ron Gordon, Gregg Jurgens, Karen Thompson.
Annie Slack invited us to the Lazy B Wranglers Chuckwagon dinner and music show at the Dao House which is a joint social with Sunrise Rotary. It is September 15 and we need 70 total to get the $40 price. This show is just for our clubs. She needs to get a count very soon so she can tell them if we will have enough for the discounted price.
Peach sale is coming! Sunrise Club is teaming with the Fort Collins club who sells boxes of peaches. This year $55 for 20 lb box. Contact Jean Rissmiller of Sunrise to order by August 8. Annie has her number (See Jean’s ad). Peaches arrive August 26.
President Karen said CDOT (Colo Dept of Transportation) asked us if we would continue to sponsor Highway 34 from McDonald’s to the canyon entrance. This was news to Karen and most of us but Suzy remembered we had done this long ago. They want it cleaned 4 times a year so with a hand vote we narrowly voted to not do this.
Sunrise Club welcomes volunteers to work their Autumn Gold Festival in September.
Karen has been accepting votes on whether to continue our 4th Thursday committee meeting format or switch to a regular program meeting. Tell her afterwards. That meeting now is poorly attended and not many committees use the time, while we are still committed to 20 minimum for lunch. Annie said she already has programs arranged for that day for the next 3 months.
Karen said we need people to relieve Annie of the duties of Membership Chair, “Spoke” editor, and photographer as she is President Elect of our club. Jim Whiteneck volunteered to take on photography.
Returning Member:
We formally welcomed Suzy Blackhurst back into our club today after a hiatus at Sunrise Club. She was president twice in our club and held various offices as foundation president, treasurer and more. She gave her bio today for the many new members who have joined us since then.
Suzy Blackhurst &
President Karen Thompson
Happy Money:
Maribel is happy to be back visiting us.
Tom Maher is happy Ron Gordon bought his lunch and to have Suzy back with us.
Rich Kimple is happy to match the Arizona Happy Money with his Kansas donation.
Wayne Newsom is happy Maribel is back.
Suzy Blackhurst is happy that her daughter has worked long enough teaching in New York that all her college debt has been forgiven. Also, Fine Arts Guild has asked her to come back and sing a concert.
Annie Slack is happy for Suzy and to have had a nice vacation last week at Edisto Island, SC.
Gary Nelson is happy to have support and friendship of our club as he starts his treatment for renal cancer.
Shelter Box appeal was made this month by Chuck Bonza.
Chuck Bonza &
President Karen Thompson
Program:
Eric White of our Estes Valley Library told us about the amazing number and variety of resources available at our library. Contact him for questions at ewhite@estesvalleylibrary.org.
Eric White receiving a Piece of the Rock from
President Karen Thompson
Adjournment:
We closed with the Four Way Test.
Madison Casey, scribe
Eric White's Answers to Questions
Is there a list of what's in the Library of things?
The best way to get a comprehensive list of what's in the LoT is to check our catalog. You can use thislink https://evl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qf=LOCATION%09Collection%091%3ALIBTHING%09Library+of+Things&lm=NO-HOOPLA to get the full list. (We actually have a list on our website, but because the collection periodically changes based on patron needs/requests, the page gets out of sync with what's actually there, so I don't recommend that patrons use it. The catalog is always the "source of truth" for what's in our collection.)
If you're looking for a specific item, you can search the cataloghere https://catalog.estesvalleylibrary.org/client/en_US/default. If you need to narrow the search to only items in the Library of things, go to the "Limit Search Results" section on the left side of the results page, scroll down to "Collection", click "View All", check the "Library of Things" box, and click the "Include" button. This will limit the results to only what's in the LoT collection.
Let me know if there are other questions, and of course folks are welcome to contact me directly if they have questions. ewhite@estesvalleylibrary.org.
Eric
Welcome to Our Exchange Student
Shared With Sunrise Rotary
Lucia Miano
Lucia is 18 and arrives in Estes on August 17. Jim and Joanie Jonell will be the first host family and she will live as part of their family for 4 months. She is from Genoa, Italy and spends a good part of the summer with her father's mother in Sicily. She is very interested in drama and will be a senior at Estes Park High School.
Autumn Gold has an online sign up...they just need to contact Susan Johnston to volunteer at Autumn Gold. (September 23, 24) susank001@msn.com
Let Jean Rissmiller, Sunrise Rotary President, know if you want to order peaches. She is taking orders through August 8th. jean.rissmiller@gmail.com or 214.497.8015.
Club Completes Successful Global Grant Project
For Children's Learning Center in Albania
Children at Learning Center
A global grant project initiated by our Club’s International Service Committee in August 2018 was recently completed and the final reports have been submitted to Rotary International. The start of the project was significantly delayed by COVID but overcame various hurdles to reach a successful completion.
Our club partnered with the Rotary Club of Estes Park Foundation, the Pogradec, Albania Rotary Club, and Nehemiah Gateway on this project. The cost of the global project was $35,000. The amazing fact is our Club only donated $2,500 to the project but it grew to $35,000 with help from our Club Foundation, matching funds from Rotary District 5440 and $15,000 in matching funds from the Rotary Foundation.
Pogradec is a city of 37,000 people in southeastern Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe. Special education is a new and growing area in Albania. Pogradec schools do not offer services for children with special needs and Nehemiah Gateway is one of the only places to offer these services free of charge. Grant funds allowed Nehemiah Gateway to expand their program and facilities and hold trainings on working with children with special needs. Trainings were developed for clinic staff, for teachers in Nehemiah Gateway’s schools, and for teachers from local public schools.
The global grant project continued our Club’s connection with Nehemiah Gateway and the Pogradec, Albania area. Club donations, along with District matchings funds, have financially supported six summer camps since 2018 and provided a new playground at the Amaro Tan school. The summer camps provide a safe place for low income and special needs children to learn and grow during a time when school is out, and when many children are forced into begging and trash collecting.
Shred-A-Thon
August 12, 2023
Rotarians at Work 2022
Don't forget to sign up!
11386703
Tara, Fundraising Chair
September 2, 2023
John Denver Tribute Concert
Brad Fitch
Estes Park YMCA of the Rockies Ruesch Auditorium
Random and True Opening 5:00 PM John Denver Tribute Concert 6:30 PM
Advanced General Admission: $35 available at MacDonald’s Book Shop and the Estes Park Visitor Center At the Gate purchase: $40 starting at 4:00 PM
NO REFUNDS AFTER 8/28/23
There will be no water, alcohol or food at this event.
In partnership with the Sunrise Rotary Club, we are trying to get 70 people signed up to go to the Lazy B on September 15. The cost is $40 per person for Rotary members. Please RSVP Annie Slack at anneslack@aol.com or (970) 231-6697. I would like everyone to prepay with a credit card so that I have a committed group to go. Please advise Karol and/or Gregg what the money is for. I have already requested the Lazy B save the date. Quentin Wedan has offered to contribute $20 for every person over 70 toward scholarships. Thanks for your attention and see you Thursday lunch. Bring your credit card.
The Social Committee: Bill Smith, Jim Whiteneck, Annie Slack
Andy Lenec Project
Andy wanted to tell you all that he will be having hip replacement surgery on Thursday, July 27, and these calls may be temporarily suspended for at least a few weeks, depending on his recuperation. Please keep him in your prayers, especially on July 27.
From The Chaplain
Do you know a Club Member who needs assistance? Maybe a ride to meetings, or just a phone call to keep in touch? Please contact Bill Smith 970-420-1033 or billsmithbronx1956@gmail.com.
Find Your Rotary Member Number
Do you know your member number? I will be inserting one member's number in the Spoke somewhere each week. If you find your number and let me know, I will add a dollar to the Happy Money jar. Have fun reading the Spoke!
First Name Last Name Member No Wayne Andersen 5220092 Thomas Anderson 346599 Suzy Blackhurst 1846618 JoAnn Batey James Austin 6958602 Jack Boatman 9279850 Ruby Bode 8168496 Charles Bonza 6839699 Dale Bonza 6839696 David Boon 5867619 Madison Casey 6490975 Bruce Cohen 1725296 Chris Davis 11745913 Jeremiah Connolly 6839701 Grant Delbecq 11562738 David Evans 6663716 Jack Ford 2577510 Susan Fereday 8561826 Dana Fritz 1814993 Dmitri Galcovski 8911954 Thomas Gardner 6045747 Milt Garrett 3404605 Dennis Gellhaus 10182692 Ronald Gordon 2013762 Kathy Groesbeck 8521676 Barry Hannigan 11386703 Jay Harroff 3412674 Gary Hazelton 5860401 Kristi Hazelton 5860402 Virgil Holtgrewe 408665 Thor Homme 8018288 James Jonell 11470902 Gregg Jurgens 8307709 Lee Lasson 5941281 Sandy Lasson 6717955 Mark Lee 10834848 Harry Livingston 973097 Lee Machin 407963 Thomas Maher 784282 Douglas Mann 9791222 Michelle Mann 10990380 Karen Lewis McClure 2193001 Tim McLemore 10069523 Philip Moenning 6839702 Tara Moenning 6839703 Tim Moore 11568407 Kevin Mullin 10349151 Gary Nelson 11627401 Wayne Newsom 407984 Jack Overly 346500 Longley Parker 5624562 Karol Rinehart 9204318 Scott Robbins 11310929 Carl Robicheaux 10536378 Brad Rosenbaum 8386818 Melvin Rueppel 6560812 Dave Scott 11768896 Dawn Shields 11470900 Peter Sinnott 6663719 Anne Slack 5835137 William Smith 1225092 William Solms 9588515 Paul Sumey 6079926 Karen Thompson 9405357 Scott Thompson 6839709 Lawrence Trifiletti 11568412 Ben Van der Werf 11310928 Guy Van der Werf 2289971 Gladys Van Drie 3178980 Anna Weddle 11768894 Sarah Walsh 8591079 Elizabeth Weisberg 10834852 James Whiteneck 2299772 Donald Widrig 5285669 Lawrence Williams 6560813
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