Hey!  How Did We Get Here?

What a departure ('radical', one might say) from our usual venue.

 

 

As advertised, the Club met today at the Old Spaghetti Factory in the Nimbus Winery complex and enjoyed a nice and varied lunch as Club members evaluated the location for future weekly Club meetings.  Since there was no audiovisual support other than microphone, the meeting was somewhat 'bare' by our usual standards, but nevertheless it presented an option that the Club has not explored for some time.  More on that later.

 

 

 

Because he recognized that a number of Rotarians are directionally challenged, the greeter, PPP Chapman, met most by the front door and led them back to the back room where the meeting would take place.  Upon entering the room, Rotarians were asked to select their lunch from a 3-option menu, and pick up a corresponding colored tag so that the server could deliver the correct dish.  As folks circulated and moved toward their seats, our server, Mo, came around and took drink orders.  And with that, the meeting took off like Forrest Gump running for the University of Alabama. 

 

 

President opened the festivities and asked Bob McBee to lead the Pledge, followed by choirmaster Gary Spainhower conducting God Bless America.  Since we had no slides, the Prez asked if anyone could recite the 4-Way Test from memory and Navin Naik jumped to the challenge and got it all right!  With the introduction of breakfast club member Dru Torvend and visiting  honorary member Pat Murphy, everyone sat down and waited... for the first course of soup or salad to arrive.  (Lesson #1: start the first course early and have it in place at meeting start.)  

 

 

Lunch progressed with diners enjoying either a reuben sandwich, or a salad, or mizithra cheese and brown butter pasta.  Finally, about 12:30, the Prez got up and made some announcements which your reporter was not quick enough to record, but one of them was for the District Foundation Dinner coming up in October and some other stuff too...  For instance, in two weeks District Governor Sandy Sava will be visiting the Club on her annual inspection tour and it is of paramount importance that we have as many members as possible show up for that meeting.  At this point, visitor Dru Torvend from the Sunrise Club invited all of us to a social hour his Club is sponsoring at the Fort Rock Brewing Company right across the hall from the Spaghetti Factory in the Nimbus Winery.  I  lost the date in all the hubbub, but will get it for the interested reader.

 

 

  Following announcements it was time for the weekly golf ball drawing and this time, Gary Spainhower's number was called and Gary 'took one for the team' and snatched a white ball from the can.  Don't recall the prize, but at this point, as Hilary would say, "What difference does it make?"

 

 

Apparent to all concerned, there was another luncheon going on on the other side of the curtain room divider and it pretty much drowned out much of the rest of the talking at our meeting.  Nevertheless, never one to leave a microphone standing alone, Sergeant Clarence strode to the front of the room and began a fundraising campaign the likes of which this reporter hasn't seen since the Payola scandal that rocked the radio world back in the late 70's...  Having located only Navin with a pin infraction the previous week, the Sarge then turned his attention to the 'happy' dollars haunting the room.  First up was PPP and greeter Chapman who was proud of his Chicago Bears the previous weekend and he chipped in a Takehara to kickstart the collection effort.  Gary Spainhower threw in some moolah and the Sarge promptly abandoned the podium on the basis of the noise level being too high... (I want my Takehara back...)  With that, the Prez resumed his post at stage center and introduced.... Clarence... who retraced his steps and presented the recommendation of the board to consider changing venues from our ancestral home, City Hall, to the Old Spaghetti Factory.  He laid out the pluses and minuses and there ensued a lively discussion about the factors that bore on the subject. 

 

 

Pardon my sticking my big nose into the debate, but here is more or less what I gathered from the various discussions that erupted around the room, in 'pro and con' format:

 

 

  Financial: The Club pays the City $50 every time we use the meeting room in City Hall (45 meetings a year X $50 = $2250/yr).  In addition, the Club pays our caterers, Dave and Jan, for a minimum of 20 meals a week (and they are undoubtedly not making anything off us) and we are getting an average of about 15 eaters per week.  The Club pays $13.25 each for the average 5 empty places which represents an additional cost of  $2980 (5 empty seats X $13.25 X 45 weeks = $2980)  Taken together, the cost to the Club is just over $5000 per year.  At the Spaghetti Factory, there is no room charge and no minimum and meals price out at almost exactly what we pay West Coast Events.

 

  Menu:  At City Hall, each meeting has one entree, with fixin's and bottled water.  At Spaghetti Factory each week will feature 3 different entrees, with fixin's and a choice of soft drinks, iced tea or water and it is a served meal rather than a buffet.  As we saw today, members pick the colored slip representing the dish they want, put it at their seat and they get what they want.

 

  Ambiance: Could be going out on a limb here, but the Spaghetti Factory seems like a nicer venue for our meetings.  City Hall is nice, but institutional; Spaghetti Factory is more user-friendly and could be used for other events, such as Charter Night.

 

 

  Financial: There will be some start-up costs; we will need to purchase a tabletop projector and screen to support audiovisual presentations.  We will need to purchase a few stands if we want to keep hanging banners for the meeting, since we cannot hook them on the walls.  There is no 'buyout' required at City Hall; we are week to week for that room we've been using. 

 

  Location: the Spaghetti Factory is about 5 minutes farther down Hwy 50 than City Hall, depending on which way you're traveling.  For a few it's closer; for a few, not.  

 

  Noise level: It was quite loud today, with that other group next door.  We have been assured by management that this should be an extremely rare occurrence and we should ordinarily have sole possession of the back of the restaurant, since it is normally closed off for lunch traffic.   

 

In any event, once the talking died down, Gary Spainhower offered a motion to try out the Spaghetti Factory for 4 months to see how it works out with the proviso that we can always make a different decision if it doesn't.  Seconded by Ross Johnson, the motion went to a vote and carried by a tally of 7 to 6.  With that, Clarence sat down, President Brett reclaimed the podium and pretty much closed the meeting.  The room emptied faster than Usain Bolt on the final leg of the 4 X 100 relay.  Next week's meeting: same place, same time.