President Brandon called the February 6, 2012 Kirkland Rotary Club meeting to order at  6:30 pm.  Shellie Gehring led us in the Pledge, and D.V. Hurst offered an impromptu inspirational moment centered around a story about his “duck boat”.

Guests:

Riley (didn’t get last name)- our new Student of the Month from LWHS;  Carl Behnke – Seattle 4 Rotary;  Merrilee Dicks – wife of Don Dicks;  Sam Schwabacher – Student of the Month for Jan. with parents John Schwabacher and Joanne Shellan  

Announcements:

·         Megan Nakanishi - update on Duck Dash meeting that was held at 5:00 – we are hoping to raise $30K to $50K for sponsorships

·         Rick Ostrander – has a truck he can lend for anyone who wants to take on the job of managing and setting up Duck Dash venues during May and June

·         Joanne Primavera – Seattle Children’s Hospital is having an Academy Award fundraiser.  You may attend a showing of the Awards ceremony at Lincoln Square Cinema on Feb. 26 at 4:30.  Cost is $50.

·         Dan Bartel – Rotary First Harvest service project will be March 10

·         Pat Swenson – John Muir elementary wants to set up a math buddies tutoring program similar to our reading buddies program. If interested contact Pat at pat@1brg.com or at her office at 425-451-7919.  See Pat’s all-club email for more details.

·         Eric Olson – Scholarship Program interview volunteers are needed.  You may contact individuals in charge of specific school locations or Eric.  Contacts are Ann Hamilton, Brian Tucker, Eric Olson, Jim Going, or Joanne Burns.

·         Rich Bergdahl – our New Member/ After Hours social will be held at Hectors on Feb. 23rd at 5:00 pm.  Cost will be $5/member for appetizers with a no host bar.  All members are encouraged to come and get to know our new members.  Feel free to invite potential new members as well.

Shellie Gehring – announced that she met with Neal Johnson, COO at Evergreen Hospital to discuss membership in our club.  She indicated that he is eager to join us.

Student of the Month:  Sam Schwabacher shared his many interests with our club.  He said that things have been a real jumble this last year.  Athletics have always played an important role in his life and he has been involved in many club activities at Juanita High School.  His love of music, indicated by playing in the Seattle Youth Symphony, will lead him to a double major in music and engineering at one of many potential colleges.  Final decision has not yet been made.  We wish Sam the best and hope to have him come back and visit with us in the future.

Happy Dollars – in Chuck Brockway’s absence, Dave Aubrey served as the “collector” of happy dollars.

Program:  Our guest speaker, introduced by Patti Smith, was Ray Steiger, P.S., Kirkland Public Works Director – subject “Transportation Business Districts”

Ray started working with the city of Kirkland in 1989 as a project engineer and now is in charge of the “Transportation Business Districts”.  He spoke about street preservation and how the infrastructure grew with the annexation.  A city survey was done with 450 Kirkland residents, covering 20 different city services.  Road maintenance was rated in the top one third in importance, but in the bottom one third in resources.  Ray shared a video that illustrated the different levels of street maintenance using the Pavement Condition Index (PCI).  Optimal PCI is 85 or better, while the average PCI in Kirkland is 64.  As PCI declines, cost to repair goes up exponentially.  He shared some actual cost figures, but since I didn’t capture them accurately, won’t try to repeat them.  His point was that as the condition of roads deteriorates, it costs more and more to repair them.  Preventative maintenance using a “slurry seal” helps to lengthen the life of streets and is used as much as possible to limit costs.  Potential sources of revenue for repairs would be an increase in property tax which would generate $1.1 million a year ($39/year on each $500K of value of the home).  The Transportation Benefit District can create revenue through a city council authorized tax of $20 on car tabs, or through a voter approved tax of $100 on each vehicle.  Community feedback suggested that best options were to reprioritize expenditures with no new taxes.  The city council will hold a retreat at the end of March, with a decision to be made by April 12th.    There followed a Q&A session.

 

Joker Pool – Chris Morgan had the winning ticket but did not pull the joker.  The pot will grow to more than $1,800 next week!!

 

Submitted:  Pat Dye