Northwind July 16, 2015

Posted by Linda Quinn 
on Jul 16, 2015
 
 
 
Call to Order:  President Sharon called the meeting to order and led us in the flag salute. Pati served as Sergeant at Arms.
 
Invocation:  Jim provided words of inspiration.    
 
Visiting Rotarians:  Adrian Lopez joined us from the Federal Club in Washington, D.C. She presented President Sharon with one of her club’s banners. 
 
Guests:   Eric Villhauer, Tim’s nephew, joined us from San Diego where he works as a systems engineer in the field of avionics. He had been in Seattle presenting a professional paper and then traveled to our corner of the world to visit his Uncle Tim.
 
Returning Rotarians:  Rocky returned from a trip to California to visit family. Tim returned from a business trip to Tempe, Arizona, where he taught a class.
 
Awards: Sharon presented Tim with a Paul Harris plus two award.
 
Announcements:  Sharon reminded everyone to continue to sell Duck Race tickets. Members may sign up with Pati for a time slot at the Rotary sales table on Saturday, July 18, or Wednesday, August 5.
 
Happy Bucks:  Tim began the sharing with a happy $5 for his Paul Harris award and the visit from his nephew, Eric. Bill was happy about the warm weather and an upcoming trip to his nephew’s wedding. Rocky was happy about having a great time in California, but sad that the airline lost his luggage. Julie was happy that Adrian chose to visit us all the way from Washington, D. C., and that Linda showed up at the meeting to take notes so she didn’t have to. Adrian was happy she found our club meeting. Stan brought a list of all the things he was happy about, including his 70-year-old daughter’s participation in the Bloomsdale Run, a clipping his other daughter sent him from Fairbanks about a Rotary project there, and the 110th birthday of Rotary’s Operation Eyesight. Jake was happy (and sad) that he arrived at the club’s last board meeting early. (It’s always good to be early, but maybe not a whole day early!) Sharon was happy that her four grandchildren were visiting her (and that she was getting a little break from them this afternoon). Pati was happy about our speaker from the City of Ferndale, Jori Burnett, and also about our visitor from the other Washington, Adrian. Tim was happy (again) about his fellow Rotarians’ attention to detail and compliance with the truth. He was also hopeful about his sister’s starting chemo. Bill was happy (again) because he got to visit two of his sisters last weekend in Longview, and one of them was among the first test cases for chemo.        
 
Finemaster:  Rollo served as finemaster/Trivia King for the day. After he fined Jake for NOT being the last one into the meeting and Laurie for taking that honor, he put various Rotarians on the spot to answer trivia questions, and he fined them if they could not do so correctly. The questions were hard and overall club members did not do very well on Rollo’s test of the trivial. He asked:
  • Who was the oldest Beatle? (Ringo)
  • What was Ringo’s real name? (Richard Starkey)
  • Who served the longest jail term for his part in Watergate? (G. Gordon Liddy)
  • Who was the first Artichoke Queen in Casterville, California, in 1947? (Marilyn Monroe)
  • What do 24% of British men not have? (teeth)
  • Who took out a $5,000 life insurance policy before dying on the battlefield? (General George Armstrong Custer)
  • In Tennessee, what did it used to be against the law to do while driving? (sleep)
  • In Florida, what is banned in public places after 6:00 pm? (farting)
  • What causes the deaths of 10,000 birds each year? (flying into windows)
  • What NFL team’s defensive line was known as the No Name Gang? (Miami Dolphins)
  • What was the name of Elvis’s favorite room at Graceland? (The Jungle)
  • What was Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, afraid of? (the dark)
  • What band had jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones in it? (Led Zeppelin)
 
Banners:  The banner at this meeting commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Atomic Bomb.
 
Program:  The program was presented by Jori Burnett, Community Development Director for the City of Ferndale. Jori’s topic was Ferndale’s Comprehensive Plan Update. He explained that every 20 years, a city is required to update its plan for reacting to growth and other changes. The plan currently under construction in Ferndale, “the City of Opportunity,” is Version 3.0. It looks forward all the way to the year 2036. Jori used a PowerPoint slide show to illustrate his presentation, which was divided into three main parts: (1) Getting to know Ferndale; (2) Lessons learned [from working on and working to implement past plans]; and (3) Looking forward. (Jori’s complete slide show is attached to these minutes.) Highlights of his remarks included:
  • Ferndale is the fastest growing city in Western Washington outside of King County. (From 2013 to 2015, its rate of growth more than doubled that of Lynden and was five times more than that of Bellingham.)
  • Indicators suggest, however, that growth will slow and that the City will not reach the anticipated 2025 population (predicted in the last plan) until 2036.
  • The Ferndale community (especially as defined by the school district boundaries) is quite diverse.
  • The authors of the plan update want it to be more accessible to all stakeholders. Therefore, they are aiming for less text and more graphics, less process and more results.
  • To encourage participation in developing the plan, the City is hosting a series of “Pop Up City Halls” where they are asking people what they want in their community?
 
In addition to talking about the Comprehensive Plan Update, Jori shared a piece of very good news about the Star Park project designed last year with input from students. When first submitted to the state, the Park project was not approved for matching grant funding. However, during this year’s legislative session it did receive funding ($231,000). So efforts are underway to construct the 15,000-square-foot new park next to the existing Pioneer Park a year from now during a single week using volunteer labor. Currently Ferndale is approximately $40,000 shy of achieving its half of the Star Park financial goal. (Our Rotary Club has already donated $8,000 to purchase one piece of playground equipment.) Riley from the City office is putting together a press release to kick off the last fundraising push.
 
Jori responded to several questions from Rotarians about both the Comprehensive Plan Update and Star Park project. 
 
Drawing:  Stan won the door prize, which was a toolbox. Our visitor from Washington, D.C., Adrian, won a chance at the jackpot, but she did not draw the winning card. So the pot continues to grow, now containing nearly $1,000!
 
Next meeting:  July 23 at Ferndale Library at 4:30