This coming Thursday morning, the Rotary agenda will include discussion of "who" will step forward to become our next Secretary. Also, our District office is asking that we determine our Club's Goals and appoint our Club's Polo Chair & PR Chair. Don't think we will have a speaker so will be having lots of discussion (& bad jokes)
Our meeting started with the invocation and pledge of allegiance.
President Mike presented one of our club's mini-banners to the Mayor, it is certain to become one of her treasured memories of her visit to our club.
Rita gave the treasurer's report
In the secretary's report, there were a few corrections to the minutes. Most notable of those corrections is that there will be no lunch bunch meeting in DECEMBER. There will be a lunch bunch meeting possibly in JANUARY
Visiting Rotarian - Our guest speaker, Mayor Stothert, is a member of the Millard Rotary
Jasmine was accused of playing hooky from school. This is the week of her 13th Birthday.
The January 21st Christmas Party is confirmed for Farmer's Brown Steakhouse in Waterloo.
Jim handed out a flyer on the Food Basket Program requesting volunteers for the 14, 15 and 16th. See elsewhere in bulletin for viewing the flyer.
Neils fine session - A couple notable fines, Curtis whose son became an Eagle Scout and Gail's grandson was transferred from Green Bay to Omaha for hockey.
President Mike gave a brief humorous reading on Mayors in honor of our speaker.
Jim gave a brief introduction of our Mayor, Jean Stothert.
Mayor Stothert talked about items that she usually discusses at "town hall" sessions about the community, including a 5th police precinct in the Elkhorn Area, possible new libraries in Southwest Omaha and Elkhorn areas, Fire Department Budget, Property Tax, City's AA bond rating, trash hauling, annexation and of course the beloved "restaurant tax".
Duane won the kitty for two weeks in a row.
Thank's to the setup crew for the two-table head table arrangement.
In anticipation of discussion of the Club Secretary selection for next year, I would like to offer some comments:
Prior to my becoming club Secretary a several years ago, the secretary duties at that time included taking the minutes and performing duties regarding registration and removal of new members and resigning respectively. Addition duty required verification of current membership for purpose of the annual and semi annual dues. The minutes taken by the secretary were not published and simply reviewed at the subsequent club meeting.
When I became Secretary, I published the minutes, with photographs, using Neil's email listing for club members. The minutes or bulletin were developed utilizing Microsoft Publisher Software and then converting to a PDF file to facilitate emailing to membership. Later on, an interim secretary utilized the software that Western Douglas County Chamber of Commerce utilized for email distribution.
A few years ago, the Club Runner system was adopted by US Rotary Clubs to ultimately provide a portal for clubs to submit their administrative data to Rotary International, via respective Rotary Districts. Included with the Club Runner was a feature for developing a club website and publishing a periodic (in our case, weekly) newsletter. Other features of Club Runner including membership mailing lists, attendance management and project and event coordination.
The administration of Club Runner requires a "web master" of sorts for each club. I have been serving in that role along with Secretary duties. While Club Runner has some complicated features, I have been able to master most of the functions that apply to our club.
The Club Runner was designed so ANY member of a club could write a feature story by signing on and developing the story following a few easy to learn steps. The web master is available to assist and train members who desire to submit stories and artic. I suggest a "stand alone" web master position.
With a stand along web master, It is not necessary to have Club Runner duties included in the Secretary's position and with that in mind, I propose going forward, that the Secretary be responsible for developing the weekly meeting meetings and submitting those minutes to the bulletin editor. Likewise, articles (story) for forthcoming programs would be developed by speaker host/program chair (and other committee chairs) and submitted to editor
The above would simplify the duties of the Secretary to writing minutes and occasionally responding to letters from Rotary International and Rotary District for various club operational matters. The Secretary can submit administrative tasks to the web master or log on to Club Runner to make their own necessary changes or input.
CONCLUSION: Decouple Club Runner web master from Secretary duties.
