The Rotary Club of Kirkland held an in-person meeting at Madison House Retirement Community. Past-president Joanne Primavera acted as president for this meeting, and called the meeting to order at 6:29 p.m. The delay was caused by glitches in the Zoom set-up process.
Acting President Joanne gave us a Rotary Minute, discussing her rewarding experience of doing make-up Rotary meetings in distant countries.
Members attending were: Pete Anderson, David Aubry, Rich Bergdahl, Michelle Cazeau, Gary Cohn, Terry Cole, Donald Dicks, Sandi Ekins (Honorary), Jocelyn Ellison, Doug Evanson, Monica Fratita, Isabelle Kalisa, Kate Koslosky, Jim Meniketti, Rick Ostrander, Peter Peaquin, Joanne Primavera, John Pruitt, Josephine Shi, John Storbeck, and Rick Walter.
The greeter this evening was Michelle Cazeau.
John Pruitt led us in the Pledge.
Guests:
Our guests included our speaker, Washington State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti, and Anna Borris, his chief of staff, as well as prospective Rotarian Daniel Sada for his second in-person meeting. We also welcomed Rotary Student of the Month for March Subhasheni Venkatesh and her parents Prithy Sukumaran and Venkatesh Padmanabhan. (The February and March students of the month switched presentation months due to unexpected conflicts with school commitments.)
Announcements:
John Pruitt, president of the Kirkland Rotary Foundation, reported that we will be giving away $23,000 in the next few weeks, with $13,000 raised at last October’s Gala and an additional $10,000 coming from the Foundation’s reserves. As voted on by attendees at October’s Gala, we will distribute 54% to Hero House, 32% to Helen’s Place, and 14% to Kidvantage. The percentages work out to $12,420 for Hero House; $7,360 for Helen’s Place; and $3,220 for Kidvantage. We will personally deliver the funds to a representative of each organization, one organization per meeting, at an in-person club meeting over the next few months. Mr. Pruitt encouraged club members to become involved in the Foundation.
David Aubry announced that we will hold a community service work party Thursday, February 29, from 10 a.m. to noon at Hopelink in Kirkland. We still have a few openings, so let Dave know if you would like to participate in this fun, productive contribution to our community. We will be sorting packaged foodstuffs for distribution.
Doug Evanson reminded everyone to sign up for the Rotary Valentine Dinner & Gala next Monday, February 12, at the Kirkland Woman’s Club. Sign up on the club’s website by February 8 – everyone is welcome – bring a friend and take the opportunity to socialize.
Rick Walter announced that we have donated a wine gift basket to Harvest Against Hunger through our community service program, to be used to assist their fund-raising efforts at an upcoming gala.
Pete Anderson brought us up to date on the upcoming Rummage Sale. This is now our major fundraiser, and will take place at Kamiakin Middle School on July 13. Set-up and taking items to the site will begin July 8. There will be a special club meeting for all members on Zoom next Wednesday, February 15, at 5:30 p.m., during the first half hour of the club board meeting. The special meeting Zoom link is in the email from President Gary Cohn dated February 4, and will be in this week’s edition of The Spokesman and can be found on the club’s Calendar.
Student of the Month:
Jocelyn Ellison introduced our Rotary Student of the Month, Subhasheni Venkatesh, and her mother and father. Subhasheni is a senior at Lake Washington High School and is very involved in “Girls Who Code”, which supports young women who want to go into computer programming. She is in the National Honor Society, and volunteers, among other things, as a math tutor and in parks restoration. She has an understanding of Rotary International and of the Rotary Club of Kirkland. She is considering attending the University of Washington.
New Business:
We then considered a proposed amendment to the club’s Bylaws Article 7, Method of Voting, that would allow other than in-person voting, such as on-line voting. The full content of the existing and proposed language was emailed to all club members on January 18, 2024, providing more than the ten-day notice required for membership consideration. It was moved by David Aubry, seconded by Don Dicks, to approve the amendment. All members voted in favor of the amendment, and a quorum being present, the amendment was adopted.
Program:
Our speaker this evening is Washington State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti, who discussed his role as Washington’s chief financial officer, “his dedication to financial transparency and protecting Washington’s financial health, and advancing policies that best serve our state’s working families and retirees”. He noted that the treasurer is a directly-elected office in the state of Washington.
Treasurer Pellicciotti has spent much time personally going to the meetings of various state boards and commissions to which he is appointed a member, in order to determine how they all can best function together, and how their activities might affect the state’s financial health. He has tried to best-align the state’s finances so as to take advantage of rising interest rates, where appropriate, and falling interest rates where appropriate.
He views his job as having three core functions:
- Managing the $35 billion of state investments
- Managing the state’s debts, such as various bonds that have been issued in order to finance approved projects.
- Managing the state’s cash flow [money in-and-out] in order to maximize gains and minimize outflows.
He has created a report on various issues for the Washington Legislature in order to help legislators make informed decisions involving financial risks and obligations. He has also:
- Advocated fully funding various obligations, such as pensions.
- Advocated the maintenance of sufficient reserves, and the replenishment of reserves when depleted.
- Advocated the maintenance of serviceable levels of debt.
These actions have contributed to the maintenance of Washington’s AAA credit rating. A better credit rating can result in lower borrowings costs, such as interest rates on bonds.
There were a number of complex questions from Rotarians regarding such things as a possible court decision that could nullify the recently enacted capital gains tax.
Acting President Joanne reminded everyone that Chinese and Vietnamese New Year is approaching, so she has brought fortune cookies to celebrate the occasion.
Our next meeting is February 15, and will be a special virtual meeting to organize ourselves for the 2024 rummage sale.
Joanne thanked everyone who assisted in making the meeting a success, and adjourned us at 7:27 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted
David Aubry
Acting Scribe