Minutes from August 26, 2014
There was no special presentation/speaker since today was scheduled to be a club assembly. Steve Busskohl presided today in place of Josh Moenning who was out of town.
The Brazilian foreign exchange student is in town and is attending Norfolk High School. She is currently living with Christine Keller and her family.
Discussion on the Music in the Park program was led by Stan Christensen. The main goal for future years Music in the Park is to have Rotarians take responsibility for leading key areas including band selection, sponsorship, event marketing, street sign placement, sponsor sign set up, parking and bucket collection etc. More Rotarians are needed to share the workload.
It was considered to possibly have more than four concerts, but it was also felt that we do not want to over-expose the series. It was also suggested that we have another concert sometime in August, but the concern is that school is in session by then and it also gets dark earlier. Publicity was discussed regarding the coordination of sign placements. Dave Walter was in charge of coordinating the
placement of yard signs and did a great job of making sure all areas were covered. We need to make sure the signs are not on City or State right-of-way as we had 10 signs picked up by the Department of Roads.
At least 500 brochures were handed out at each concert and the Independence Day Parade and posters were distributed to area businesses. Stan said the Visitor’s Bureau may be another resource for distributing posters. We also ran several ads in the Norfolk Daily News Plus to reach outlaying towns
Troy suggested we use Facebook more. Also have drawings to get email addresses so we can create email blasts. Please interact with our Facebook accounts to help Rotary gain exposure.
John Schmitt reported that our club was again awarded an $1800 district grant to be used in the next year to place a bench in Central Park. The current district grant is being used to fund the installation of steps in front of the band canopy at Skyview Lake Park. A retaining wall will be constructed as well. Construction should begin over the next couple weeks. A concrete dance floor may be added in the future.
Sherri Prim and Kathy Svik have agreed to coordinate the Fat Tuesday party next winter. The inaugural event last March was considered a big success. Over 90% of our Music in the Park sponsors committed early as a result of the Fat Tuesday event.
Sherri Prim developed a sheet for members, which was passed out, to turn in their points to claim “Rotary Bucks.” Each member is responsible for keeping track of and turning in their points at the meetings. Points can be earned for working at Music in the Park, bringing a prospect to a meeting, signing up a new member, chairing a committee, etc. These points can be earned retroactive to April 1, 2014. It was decided that 50% of Rotary Bucks can be applied to meals and dues billing if members choose to do so.
Discussion was held on how to better promote evening meetings to enhance attendance. These meetings are excellent opportunities to bring guests/prospects.
Stan reported that we will need to decide how to spend the money ($11,100) that was raised for Pilger tornado relief. One suggestion was to have a Rotary clock in the village center.
All raffle ticket sales money is due to be turned in by the next meeting on September 2. The raffle drawing will be held at that meeting. Several packets of tickets have still not been picked up as of today’s meeting.
The next meeting will be at 5:30pm with Dave Domina presenting a program. Mr. Domina is the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. Please attend and bring a guest.
Submitted by: John Schmitt, Secretary