The Scoop...April 23 Annual Meeting

      President Jerry Courtney called to order the annual business meeting of the Lima Rotary Club before nearly 90 members at the Civic Center.

     Philip Tamayo led the group in reciting the Four-Way test, David Runk  led the group in song, and David Rodabaugh led the group astray (actually, he held fellowship).

     Two people asked for special floor privileges.

     Billi Dray alerted members to the fourth annual Young Life Golf Scramble to be held on June 22 at Colonial Golf Club. There are still openings for sponsors and teams to sign up by June 8.  Young Life is a nonprofit outreach ministry for high school and middle school students. All proceeds will go to support reaching more kids for Christ.

     Jonalee Schmidt said she was looking for 10 gentlemen who would be willing to spend an evening surrounded by 400 women. It’s part of formal dinner on May 11 that is raising funds for breast cancer projects.

    During the business meeting:

    There was plenty of discussion on “The Next Big Project.”  Building a performance pavilion on the Riverwalk near the old Lima Senior High School property at a cost of $26,000 was the winner. The other project options were: a mobile produce market; building a baseball field for people with special needs (two scenarios) and not doing any of the before mentioned projects (which had the least amount of votes). Concerns were expressed about maintenance issues. In the end, the project passed by a 64-5 vote.

    Jerry Courtney gave a report on last week’s district meeting. He noted that 33 of the 63 clubs attending had special booths, and the Lima Club’s booth was clearly among the best. Rotarians who helped put together the display were Anne Decker, Mike Powell, Harold  Bischoff and Dennis Vondrell. Michael Ayers and Bill Timmermeister provided photos along with The Lima News. Attending the meeting were Harold Bischoff, Jim Osmon, Billi Dray, Jerry Courtney, Mike Schoenhofer and Bob Ruehl.

     Phil Buehl gave a report on behalf of the auditing committee. The group focused primarily on verifying the monthly balance sheet to the general ledger and bank statements. Transactions included deposits and withdrawals for 2010-11. When all was said and done, the books received their blessings. Members of the committee included Carol Buettner, Tim Stanford, Dan Best, Jim Shine, Barry Rydell, Mike Swick, Charles Butts and Phil Buehl.

     Harold Bischoff offered  the International Service report. It was involved in numerous projects and he sees the scope getting even bigger next  year. He said local clubs will be urged in the future to be even more active in international service.

    There Lima Rotary Board and Foundation issued a  report on the four major objectives deemed important to all Rotary members. This included:

     1. Achieving a consensus of Rotarians  regarding club projects, activities and community needs.

    2. Support of the membership for specified fund-raising, club and partnership projects.

    3. Establish fund-raising targets to finance endorsed projects

    4. Provide a structured process to compare strategic plans goals with community needs.

    They provided goals for next years fund-raising projects: $3,000 from the fitness ride; $15,000 from the Christmas auction; $12,000 from the blood clinic and $35,000 from the golf outing.