Windsor Town Manager
Minutes from the February 21,2023 Rotary Meeting.
The meeting began at 7:30am with Jo Timson leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. This was followed by an inspiration from Mike Raascho who essentially encouraged us to “Be and Do our best!” JB lead us in singing “If I had a hammer”, which actually everyone seemed to be able to do without the “cheat sheet!”
There were no visiting Rotarians but there were a ton of guests, including Domingo, our Chilean “son”, our German “son” Stefan, the student of the year, Esperanza Marquez and her father, Paul Jolly the WHS advisor ,Aron Holiwinsky from the 20/30 club and Gina Fortina-Gibson from the Planning Commision.
•Announcements started by having Daniel Myers, who introduced Paul Jolly, who introduced the student of the year from the STEM core, Esperanza Marquez. What an amazing resume this young woman has with President of MECHA, member of AAUW, and a dancer with the Aztec Dance troupe, on her resume!! To add to that, sh eis playing WHS basketball and soccer, is tutoring students in math, is a soccer player and coach, and plans on going to the University of Arizona to pursue a career in Engineering! She was presented with a Plaque and a check from the Rotary Club by Daniel Myers! BRAVO Esperanza!!
•Carol Martin reminded everyone that there would be a ZOOM Budgetary review meeting on Wednesday evening! It would be an opportunity to review and plan for next year’s projects!
•Stefan reported out on his wonderful trip to Hawaii with JB and Carol. Looks like Maui offered opportunities for him to eat, swim, surf and climb on volcanic black sand beaches! LUCKY GUY!! He also expressed gratitude to both Carol Martin and JB Leep for the trip, and to Sandi and Wally Krutz for taking him to the symphony!!
•Beth Smith alerted teh club members of the upcoming fundraiser for PROJECT GRAD on Friday, FEb. 24th, from 4pm to 7pm at Mutt Lynch Winery
•Joan Mora, dressed in the perfect Roaring 20’s garb, reminded the members of the updcoming 35th Anniversary party on MARCH 25th at Staubli’s! It will be held from 6-10pm, with tickets selling for $75!! Great food, wine, cocktails, dancing and FUN!! BUY YOUR TICKETS now – and DON’T forget to BRING IN a BOTTLE OF NICE WINE or contribute $25!!.
•Monica McCabe put out a request to the club members to “LOAN” plants to the decorating committee for the March 25th event!!
•Michael Juric reminded everyone that it is SCHOLARSHIP season! The application will be on line both for the regular Rotary Scholarship, as well as the Ken Moulton Scholarship, as of April 3rd. Looks like awardees will receive $2000 each!!
•Barbara McChesney reviewed what is coing on in the world of the Environmental area. She reviewed that due to Bill Bolster’s suggestion, we have contributed money to the Newport Beach Club to support the Rotary Coral Reef in Panama. There will be 118 Rotary coral reefs “planted” to represent the 118 years of Rotary service. They will also be honoring the first woman president in Rotary! Our club received a Plaque citing their gratitude for our participation in this collaborative project!!
•An announcement was made about the APRIL 22nd Rotary Golf Tournament that will be held at Charlie’s and will support Youth Services at the District Level.
•John Hackenburg, Foundation Chair, gave background on the different ways in which people can contribute,to the Rotary Disaster Relief fund. He gave focus to the needs that have developed as a result of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Susan Cole made a request for the club to contribute $2500 to this fund,in part, due to her personal history with Turkey! She mentioned that her mother was born in Turkey and was relocated to Aleppo.There was a personal invitation to the Club Members to contact Ed Turner or Carol Martin should anyone want to donate to this fund. Members were reminded that they would receive Paul Harris Credit with this donation.
•Mike Ragsdale andMaureen Merrill announced that the District Training Assembly, where you can “learn about all things Rotarian!” will be held on March 31st (social at the Grace Hudson Museum) and April 1st (at the Civic Centr) in Ukiah.
SPEAKER:
Jon Davis, Windsor Town Manager
Jon Davis hails from the City of Irvine. He started working for the Windsor Town, in 2003. Since that time he has worked for the Town Park and Recreation Department, was the Interim Town manager in 2021, and was appointed to the Town Manager position in August 2022.
He review the roles and responsibility of the Town Manager’s office listing the eight areas of focus, which included:
•Employee focus to attract and retain employees
•Building a new budget addressing teh deficit
•Assess the Civic Center Bldg
•Update the Emergency Plan
•Evaluate the Bluebird project (formerly it was approved for low income housing)
•Develop the Town’s strategic plan. Emphasis , wit hinptu from the council, commuity a demployees gave focus to fiscal stability
•Strengthen the relations with the Lytton Tribe
•Complete the Roundabout (the Ribbon Cuttingwill be on March 2nd at 5:30pm)
Mr. Davis highlighted the four specific goals of the Town which included:
•Fiscal Health (looking for difference revenue streams by 2025!)
•Infrastructure
•Livability(creating bike paths, the town green and traffic issues)
•Organizational effectiveness
He also talked about the specifi focus on economic development(2024 sales tax, tourism,etc) , public works (improvement of pedestrian crossing, etc), creating NET ZERO programs (for water reclamation and the development of detention basin projects), Community Development (parklet inthe downtown,food trucks to the Beverage District),restricting locations of Short Term Rentals. He commented on what is going on in the Police Department(increased outreach to the schools, placing cameras around town to reduce criminal activity “off hours”), in Park and Recreation (Windsor Day Parade, Summer nights on the Green, Levi’s Granfondo, partnership with Somos Windosr, creating pickleball courts at Hiram Lewis, developing a Veteran’s memorial wall in the downtown area, remodeling the Senior Center, Holiday Tree lighting,etc.).
He answered a few questions on issues related to the homeless situation in town, the North bound Arata on ramp, the hotels across from the Snoopy sculpture and north of Olivers, and how does he keep himself organized with all the stuff that is going on??
Jon gave great credit to the team that supports him at the Town acknolewdging that getting things done is a TEAM EFFORT!
Busy GUY!!
Brian thanked everyone for coming and reminded us of our need to sign up fo rthe Anniversary Party, contribute $25 or a bottle of wine and loan some plants to the team for DECORATION!
The meeting ended at 8:33am
respectfully submitted and likely with some level of inaccuracies by,
Pam Moulton