President Dale Chilcote opened the meeting with a moment of silence for Ben Marentette whose father recently passed. Gary Hogue provided the invocation. Marlene Bevan, accompanied by Byron Hanson, led us in the singing of 2 songs with themes that underscored how Rotary and the work that Rotarians do connect families, communities, and the world. Lisa Pointe introduced visiting Rotarians and guests, and Marsha Minervini mentioned that this week’s Northern Express includes an article about our 3 lovely Youth Exchange students, Greta, Eva and Vanessa!
Announcements: James Tobin will be talking about how polio transformed the life of FDR at this week’s National Writers Series event. Al Bonney reminded the Happy Dancers in the Rotary Show video to select the venue/time of their performance by February 3rd. Al also relayed that when our club sells 250 Rotary Foundation raffle tickets, those who have purchased tickets will be eligible for a drawing for 5 additional tickets! Please purchase your tickets by the end of February, and support the Rotary Foundation. 125 tickets have been sold so far. President Dale informed us that there will be a Rotary Open House, hosted by all 3 TC Rotary Clubs, at the Top of the Park at 5:30 p.m. February 25th. If you know someone who is interested in learning more about Rotary, or you would like to attend as a host,
please see Katy McCain or Dale Chilcote. Heavy hors d'oeuvres will be provided; cash bar. Trevor Tkach, in his always enthusiastic manner, reminded us to sell those Rotary Show Ads! Ten teams have been assigned sales goals, and everyone is encouraged to double the size of their ads to help us reach our goal of $10,000. At next week’s meeting, Vern Gauthier will be asking for pledges to support Fit For You’s fundraiser for local veterans. The Club has a total of 249 members with 125 being present at this meeting.
Tom Menzel introduced John Sych, the Grand Traverse County Planning and Development Director, who provided an overview of the steps the County and the County Planning Department are taking to enhance provision of service in the face of continuous change and transformation of our community. Mr. Sych described the organizational redesign that is underway within the County government to improve operations and position it for the future. An example is the merging of Construction Code and Soil Erosion into the Planning and Development department in order to improve construction inspection operations and shift this from a regulatory function to a partnership in the investment being made by community developers and builders.
A second step in facing change is increasing collaboration and thereby reducing rework. Ensuring that key people are involved and that correct data are available early in the process have been identified as important aspects of planning going forward. To that end, a 5 day charrette is planned for May/June of 2016 in which city and county staff and other interested parties in the community will create a feasible plan for the Eighth Street corridor. Multiple feedback loops during the 5 day process using community input will allow for refining ideas in an efficient, compacted time frame. It is hoped this approach will serve as a new template for addressing other future corridor projects in the area.
Mr. Sych stressed the importance of recognizing the opportunities for change, using community-wide communication, and encouraging private and public partnerships which are mutually focused on the challenges at hand to find new ways to plan and develop our community. He described the conversion of the former Traverse City Iron Works facility to River’s Edge and Midtown, as well as the $5.4 million payoff that will be added to the general funds of all the taxing jurisdictions that support brownfield redevelopment (from now until 2020) as a result of the single County brownfield redevelopment program.
CURRENT CAREER – Communications and Community Relations at Hagerty
EDUCATION – Bachelors in journalism and minors in Environmental Science, Anthropology and Peace Studies from Loyola University Chicago
FAMILY- Married to Joey DiFranco, one son (Renzo) and one pooch (Dayton)
FAVORITE DESSERT - Ice cream, preferably with sprinkes
FAVORITE HOBBY, ACTIVITY - Hiking local trails
LAST BOOK READ – “Station Eleven”
FAVORITE MOVIE – “The Martian” (current favorite – it changes often!)
FAVORITE SONG – Any song by David Gray.
TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF NO ONE IN THE CLUB
LIKELY KNOWS – I was a Girl Scout until I went to college.
LIFE ROLE MODEL – Winnie the Pooh; an odd-choice, I know, but he was resilient and always looking for another way to get to the honey jar.
MOST SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENT – Choosing to relocate from Chicago to Traverse City and finding a welcoming, thriving community.
PROUDEST MOMENT – Stubbornly climbing up Pyramid Point without my inhaler.
FUNNIEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU - I am an incredibly timid dancer, yet love to actually bust a move. A few years ago a friend’s wedding, the only way I would get on the dance floor was to wear sunglasses. Inside. I continue that tradition to this day.
SECRET AMBITION – Be a book-on-tape artist .
IF YOU COULD BE ANYONE IN THE WORLD FOR A DAY (present or historical), WHO WOULD THAT BE---AND WHY? I’d be Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953 as he and Tenzing Norgay summited Mount Everest for the first time. The amount of effort, perserverance and grit it took to get to the peak of the highest mountain on the planet is admirable.
MOST FAMOUS PERSON MET - Author Elizabeth Gilbert
ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO SHARE – I’m honored to join our local chapter and am looking forward to meeting fellow Rotarians.
EDUCATION – Undergrad Michigan State University, University of Michigan M.D, M.S.
FAMILY- Wife Patricia (for 55 yrs.); son John, age 55, electrical engineer and physicist; daughter Jean Brooks, 47, German language teacher. Five great grandchildren. ages 8 to 18.
FAVORITE HOBBY, ACTIVITY – Amateur radio/electronics; sailing, skiing, antique cars, fishing, some golf, and fixing broken things.
FAVORITE MOVIE – “The Train” (black and white); “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (color).
FAVORITE SONG – The Victors!
TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF NO ONE IN THE CLUB
LIKELY KNOWS - My maternal ancestor, Thomas Deane, a carpenter, came to Concord, Mass. from England in 1635. The house he built is still in Concord. My ancestors fought in King Philip’s War (1675-6), American Revolution, Civil War, WW I and WW II. My paternal grandfather homesteaded in Dakota Territory and later served in the first North Dakota House of Representatives, and later as North Dakota state senator.
LIFE ROLE MODEL – Many family members, my high school chemistry teacher, my colleagues, and many U of M med school professors.
MOST SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENT - When I was elected President of the Michigan State Medical Society.
PROUDEST MOMENT - Watching my children’s and grandchildren’s accomplishments.
FUNNIEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU - When I was about five, a very large pig on my uncle’s farm butted me with its nose and tossed me over a low fence. It was hilarious according to others.
SECRET AMBITION - Outlive my mother (102) and still have all my faculties, as she did!
IF YOU COULD BE ANYONE IN THE WORLD FOR A DAY (present or historical), WHO WOULD THAT BE---AND WHY? A world class magician/illusionist like my friend, Franz Harary. I could make annoying people disappear!!!
MOST FAMOUS PERSON MET - Had dinner with Sergei Kruschev (son of Nikita) and discussed the cold war for about two hours at the Grand Hotel.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO SHARE – It is great to be a Rotarian.
Ad Sales deadline is fast approaching, please have your ad's in by March 11th.
It’s that time of year again where we come together with that one common goal, raising money by selling Rotary Show Program Ads. This year we are aiming to raise $100,000 for the Good Works Committee which means we need every members help!
If you are looking for order forms, ad sizes, Good Works information, talking points, or last year’s ad…we have placed all these documents in one easy location: http://bit.ly/207W95m
Once you have clicked on the link, you will see the following…just click on any of the forms to download to view or save to your computer. It’s that easy!
IM Rotary is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 9th
Community Service
NMC BBQ, Bell ringing, Christmas Baskets, One Way Coat Day, Game Dinner & Munson Manor
Committee for the Handicapped/Tag Day
Please RSVP to Lou Anne Ford at louannef@gmail.com.
Please check in with me in the Dome Room, get your lunch and bring it back to the Executive Board Room. The IM Rotary meeting is held in the Executive Board Room off the front lobby.
The STRIVE Committee is preparing for Career Networking Day 2016 for the student body at Traverse City High School, the alternative high school located on 3 Mile Road. We are looking for 40 volunteers in a variety of fields to provide career exploration and community fellowship for the youth at TC High. Please email sakurar@goodwillnmi.org to sign up! The event is on Wednesday, February 17th from 12:45 to 2:45 pm at Traverse City High School.
When you ask the Traverse City Rotarians for help getting a tough job done, Boy, do they step forward!!
We asked for help selling 250 Rotary Foundation Raffle tickets by next meeting (2/23 - the last day for ticket sales) and you came through IN SPADES! At the end of last Tuesday lunch we had 198 tickets sold. Al, Dale and Roy wrote an email asking again for help from the out-of-towners and 30 responded within 24 hours!!
We are now only 22 tickets short of success. That is almost on the doorstep, but we have to get this done on Tuesday 2/23 so we can have our drawing for the 5 unclaimed tickets before sending the stubs and money in.
Come on Rotarians - We can do this. Lead the District! Get in line for that $5000 club drawing and another $5000 individual drawing! Let's get 'er done next Tuesday! Cash, check or charge, but come ready to purchase the last 22 Raffle tickets at lunch on Tuesday.
President Dale Chilcote opened the meeting with a moment of silence for Ben Marentette whose father recently passed. Gary Hogue provided the invocation. Marlene Bevan, accompanied by Byron Hanson, led us in the singing of 2 songs with themes that underscored how Rotary and the work that Rotarians do connect families, communities, and the world. 
Lisa Pointe introduced visiting Rotarians and guests, and Marsha Minervini mentioned that this week’s Northern Express includes an article about our 3 lovely Youth Exchange students, Greta, Eva and Vanessa!
Trevor Tkach, in his always enthusiastic manner, reminded us to sell those Rotary Show Ads! Ten teams have been assigned sales goals, and everyone is encouraged to double the size of their ads to help us reach our goal of $10,000. At next week’s meeting, Vern Gauthier will be asking for pledges to support Fit For You’s fundraiser for local veterans. The Club has a total of 249 members with 125 being present at this meeting.
Tom Menzel introduced John Sych, the Grand Traverse County Planning and Development Director, who provided an overview of the steps the County and the County Planning Department are taking to enhance provision of service in the face of continuous change and transformation of our community. Mr. Sych described the organizational redesign that is underway within the County government to improve operations and position it for the future. An example is the merging of Construction Code and Soil Erosion into the Planning and Development department in order to improve construction inspection operations and shift this from a regulatory function to a partnership in the investment being made by community developers and builders.
A second step in facing change is increasing collaboration and thereby reducing rework. Ensuring that key people are involved and that correct data are available early in the process have been identified as important aspects of planning going forward. To that end, a 5 day charrette is planned for May/June of 2016 in which city and county staff and other interested parties in the community will create a feasible plan for the Eighth Street corridor. Multiple feedback loops during the 5 day process using community input will allow for refining ideas in an efficient, compacted time frame. It is hoped this approach will serve as a new template for addressing other future corridor projects in the area. 
CURRENT CAREER – Communications and Community Relations at Hagerty
CURRENT CAREER – Semi-retired Ophthalmologist
The STRIVE Committee is preparing for Career Networking Day 2016 for the student body at Traverse City High School, the alternative high school located on 3 Mile Road. We are looking for 40 volunteers in a variety of fields to provide career exploration and community fellowship for the youth at TC High. Please email 
