Westport Sunrise Rotary Board of Directors
July 2, 2019 Minutes:
Members in Attendance: Karen Kleine, Jeff Cohen, Rob Hauck, Joe Renzulli, Yvonne Senturia, Jane Ross, Abby Safirstein, George Masumian, June Getraer, Justin Phillips, Eileen Flug and Bruce Paul.
Meeting called to order at 5:30 pm.
President's Report: Karen Kleine
- Reminder that Friday July 5th meeting will be at the Sherwood Diner at 8am.
- Goals: (a)Increase the club's Social Media Presence -
Hands On Committee will work on establishing a presence on Instagram
(b)Increase Membership to 75 from 65
Encourage members to bring a guest to breakfast. After discussion, board agreed to let members know when there have been resignations, by publishing in The Crier.
(c) Promote Engagement
Interact more with other clubs and add monthly member bios on the last Friday
- Westport Public Library
(a) Congratulations to fellow Sunrise Rotarian Bill Harmer on the grand re-opening
(b) Currently unable to schedule breakfast meetings at the library
(c) Monthly board meetings will move to the McCall Room 210 beginning in September:
September 10, October 1, November 12, December 3, January 7, 2020 and February 4 have been reserved.
(d) Circulated a photo of the stack in the children's library that we sponsored.
- Westport Inn Contract
Currently not providing hot and cold cereal and fruit every week, as required by the contract. Meat should also be provided once a month, and all food should be ready by 7:35. After discussion, agreed to monitor for three months, using a new form that can be easily completed by the greeters each week. The board agreed that it would not make sense to allow an increase in the charge until the terms of the current contract are being met. Karen will use the data gathered when she meets to renegotiate the contract going forward.
- Monthly Board of Directors meeting dates:
July 2, August 6, September 10, October 1, November 12, December 3, January 7, 2020, February 4, March 3, April 14, May 5 and June 2.
Secretary's Report: Yvonne Senturia
Minutes from June 2019 were approved unanimously (Karen moved; Rob seconded). Abstentions: Jeff, Yvonne, Joe, June and Abby due to absence from June board meeting.
Treasurer's Report: Jeff Cohen
Budget for 2018-19: Income from dues lower than expected (by $7,000) due to fewer members. Expenses increased due to transfers to the foundation, and conference expenses exceeded budget by $800.
Budget for 2019-20 assumes 69 total member (57 regular and 12 R85) for dues revenue of $46,000. Budget does not include $1 increase in breakfast fee requested by Westport Inn. Allocation of $500 for Paul Harris breakfast, to account for subsidizing attendance by non-members. $1667 sent from FCCF to sponsor a book stack in the children's section of the library ($5,000 pledge over three years).
$10,400 in bank currently. Bills for July - December will go out in mid-July.
Motion to approve the treasurer's report (Eileen moved and Bruce seconded) was approved unanimously. Joe abstained.
Motion to approve the 2019-20 budget (Eileen moved and Jeff seconded) was approved unanimously. Joe abstained.
Hands On Committee: Rob Hauck
Upcoming dates include: July 6th barbeque at the Gillespie Center; July 20-23rd volunteers for the library book sale; September 14th food collection in support of Person-to-Person, Norwalk Food Pantry; October 17th Read Aloud Day at Marin School in Bridgeport; September 21st volunteer at LobsterFest; November 28th volunteer at Thanksgiving day Community Feast at Saugatuck Congregational Church. Mercy Learning Center seeks mentoring volunteers for August 25, September 14 and September 28.
Eileen suggested coordination in the Fall with the new Interact group being formed at Staples High School.
Youth Services: Justin Phillips
(a) Interact: Assuming Federica becomes president, would like to invite her to board meetings.
(b) Next Generation: Would like to send ten students (five from Staples and five from Bridge Academy). Motion that the board recommends to the 21st Century Foundation (Eileen proposed; Jeff seconded) funding for these ten students from FCCF or the youth portion of 21st Century Foundation was passed unanimously. Justin will provide the 21st Century Foundation board with the total amount required to register ten students.
(c) RYLA: Would like to send four students (two from Staples and two from Bridge Academy) in the fall and four more in the spring. Motion that the board recommends to the 21st Century Foundation (Justin proposed; Eileen seconded) that the $1200 be withdrawn from FCCF or the youth portion of the 21st Century Foundation passed unanimously.
(d) Student of the Month: Would like to include a report from Interact. After discussion, Joe Renzulli suggested scheduling member bios for the same week as Student of the Month. In lieu of an outside speaker.
Membership: June Getraer
Terrence Gibbons' application for membership ( June proposed; George seconded) was accepted unanimously.
International: Abby Safirstein
- Initial priority will be to reexamine what the committee did last year and determine if there are opportunities for reinvestment. Would like to create maximum impact with our money
- Bob Galan is researching opportunities to contribute to global grants
- Would like to consider creating a standing fund for emergencies, with due diligence about organizations to be funded. This would be a pool of funds set aside that is protected, with a short list of organizations that typically respond to crises. Any good NGO will have a designated fund for crisis response. Donation would also be contingent upon promise of a written report explaining how the funds were used.
Rotary Foundation: Joe Renzulli
Approximately $10,000 received from club members, with 100% of members contributing at least $100.
There is a total of 9,453 Foundation Recognition Points available in our Rotary International account. These points are available for our Club to use to give Paul Harris awards to anyone in the community selected by our Club. Bob Galan has agreed to assist Joe Renzulli in planning for Paul Harris breakfast, probably in February. Bob and Joe will convene a committee.
Program: Jane Ross
July 12: Jack Solomon, District Governor
July 19: Nadja Streiter, Technology Addiction
July 26: Dan Woog, 06880 blog
August 2: Jeff Schon, Akili Network, Kenya
August 9: Bob Kunkel, Hybrid boats
August 16: Marla Cowden, Cybersecurity for Elections
August 23: Jen Fava, Parks and Rec beach update
August 30: New member bios
Meeting adjourned at 6:45pm
Next meeting: August 6th
Respectfullly submitted, Yvonne Senturia, Secretary
