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President Maureen Merrill rang the bell at 7:30
Alison Huber offered a few words of inspiration
David Ruprecht just got back from a movie filming and offered a rousing version of California Here I Come.
Scribe duties were offered by Tom Boylan
Guests of Rotarians
Bill Bolster introduced Windsor resident Weylon Pigg
Beth Emery with the Mark West Chamber dropped in
Merideth Rennie was introduced by Brian Ling. She is a Windsor Parks Commissioner and with Mengali Accounting
Announcements:
Carol Martin and Bill Conklin teamed up to announce the current status of Tri-Tip Tuesday, October 8th. It is time to order up to go online at windsorrotary.org. Bill says the money raised will be going toward the Windsor Rotary Foundation and the Windsor Vineyard Academy. Even if you don’t plan to eat tri-tip that evening, you can still buy a meal and have Bill take it to Catholic Charities. Our goal is to raise $10,000 and we are currently at $6400.
Pres Maureen let us know the Powerhouse Rotarian for October is none other than Bill Conklin.
Please remember to drop any comments or concerns about our club in the brown paper bag that doubles as a centerpiece on our tables.
Our speaker for the day… Supervisor James Gore… was delayed at home, so we took the time to have a little social time with our table mates.
Windsor Police Chief Ruben Martinez and the ever artful Heather Cullen were asked to allow the rest of the club the opportunity to extend a hearty handclasp and officially welcome them into the club.
Recognition:
Leslie Lewis had an opportunity to allow for members to catch up on their recognition.
Michael (Rags) Ragsdale let us know he just celebrated a birthday and is now trying to get the heavy equipment out of the way so he can hold a wedding for his son Zach in the coming weeks.
Tom Hassur was asked to share a Shark moment.
Bill Arnone opted to provide a donation for a cousin.
Rich Mucci went to another organizations fundraiser and spent time with an old friend who originally came from Kenya only to spend time in Santa Rosa for high school and then on to UCLA for law school before heading back to Kenya to start a non-profit foundation.
Dennis Wilkinson was targeted, recognized, for a 16th club anniversary and then went on to catch us up on his adventures, including finishing in 7th place for a national pool competition in Vegas, then off to DeMoine, Iowa (for business), then off to North Dakota where he got to join a group of motorcycle enthusiasts known as the Mongrels. He also shared some time together with Brian Ling for their annual golf tournament in Tahoe… which eventually led us to the announcement of his new granddaughter, Mia. Next week he is heading to Hawaii so he should just plan to pay for recognition on a monthly basis.
Program:
Supervisor James Gore arrived and let us know he is a father first and a supervisor second and that is why he was running late. Something about his daughter’s announcement that she forgot her backpack and he had to reroute back home before heading to Rotary.
Sue Nelson introduced our supervisor and shared that he has been on an amazing journey that took him from our district to the jungles of South America where he participated as a Peace Corps volunteer and eventually to a position with the Obama administration in Washington, DC. We also found out he is an occasional Bingo caller.
In a back and forth interview he shared some opinions and information on fire and police services from a county perspective. Problems with mental health and prisoners in our local jail were discussed. It was Supervisor Gore’s opinion that the crisis we are dealing with was due to a realignment of the prison system several years ago that redirected criminals from State prisons to local jurisdiction. Our jails are crowded and dealing with the problem of limited staffing for officers to prisoner ratios.
It was recognized that upstream solutions are needed to deal with the drug and mental health issues that the homeless face and that opens problems from a budgetary perspective on the County’s part. He also shared that there are no savings to be found when our hospitals are still dealing with mental health issues through their emergency services, which are being used more frequently.
He discussed that there was a disparity that had to be dealt with at the State level with regard to support for rural communities over the cities, which is where Governor Gavin Newsome is focused.
We discussed fires and the rolling blackouts in our future. He shared that a visit with a district in San Diego gave some hope that there are solutions we have yet to explore, but knowing there are solutions is good for our area. There is a concern that PG&E needs to step up their efforts for fire prevention and blackout prevention, although it was noted that the circumstances of the 2017 fires were more of an oddity based on extreme conditions aligning.
On the County side, he is working to assure the citizens that new measures are being rolled out and discussions regarding the early warning systems failures are ongoing. We learn from our mistakes.
One of the problems we deal with like a 95% privately owned county is with our vegetation control program. Jim shared that he became aggressive in comments to landowners who failed to comply with keeping their property mowed and wound up getting heat from The Press Democrat. In the end, he felt that the exposure did some good and sometimes the message has to be harsh to get a response, so the messaging had a positive effect.
When asked to comment on the newly formed fire district, Jim was quick to single out club member and past Windsor Fire Chief Doug Williams. Doug’s efforts prior to the newly formed district were the building blocks for the move. The consolidating of districts gave an opportunity to hire 19 new firefighters. Most important is the development of an alert system that is improving daily, which benefits us all.
Sue gave special recognition to the Windsor Police for their wanting to be a part of Rotary and for their protection of our community. Chief Martinez and Mike Rousch were thanked.
Although the meeting drew to a close, Supervisor Gore stuck around to answer any questions that were not covered in his short time with us.