Rotary Club of Bellingham Tattler - SEPTEMBER 23, 2024
Tattler Reporter: John Moffat
Tattler Editor: Sandee Lindhout
Photographer: Aaron Booker
Getting to Know the
Charter Review
Opening Welcome:
President Steve opened the meeting by noting the large attendance. Following Paula McCandlis’s invocation mentioning that today is the first full day of Autumn, Steve noted that at the equator, sunrise is at 6:00 a.m. every day and sunset at 6:00 p.m. Days don’t change lengths with the seasons as they do elsewhere around the globe.
Steve’s quote of the day from Paul Harris is, “The world needs more kindness, compassion and understanding.” It needs kindness to recognize the inherent worth of every individual, compassion to understand the difficulties of others, and understanding to listen to others and seek common ground among different views.
Guests:
Nathan Twining introduced our speakers, John Westerfield, Colton Kaltenfeldt, Jessica Rienstra and Jennifer Wright.
Harold Phillips introduced additional guests related to the program: Maya Morales, Sandy Phillips and Cleveland Harris.
Dominique Zervas introduced a new law clerk who recently passed his bar exam, Chibueze Okoli
Zoom Rotarians: Dick Tucker, John Dunne and Loch Trimingham
Club Events and Committee Announcements
The canteen will reopen next week with the start of classes.
Steve reminded everyone of the President’s Picnic at his home this coming Saturday, September 28. Please sign up on the Tattler or the website. Click here to register
Doug Cole will reprise his award-winning effort last year of purchasing and cooking the salmon. Members should bring appetizers, salads or side dishes (we have enough desserts). Please let us know what you are bringing when you sign up.
Preempting any effort to fine him, Monty McAllister threw himself on the mercy of the court by admitting that he showed up at Steve’s house last Saturday night for the picnic. Unfortunately, Steve and Janis were watching three grandchildren while their daughter and son-in-law were on a date night. They urged Monty to stay and join in the fun, but Monty beat a hasty retreat.
Jim Lemerond, Bellingham Technical College President has completed his new member checklist and received his permanent badge and certificates. Congratulation and get to have you in the club!!
Shauna Naf provided additional information about our upcoming major Club fundraiser, “Mountainfilm”. What is it about? Documentary films compete in film festivals. From this competition, the best are selected and they go on tour. That tour is coming to Bellingham. Mountainfilm “inspires audiences to create a better world.” Our club is going to sponsor the local event as a fundraiser. It is to be held in the Syre Theater on November 16th at 7:15 pm. Doors open at 6 pm. It lasts for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Tickets are $25. It will be a fundraiser to support our Club. Food and beverages (and a raffle) are available for purchase. Shauna encouraged members to sign up their household, volunteer to work at the event, indicate you plan to attend on Facebook, invite friends, help sponsor the event (or find sponsors) put up a flyer, help bake goods for the event and more. Here is the link for information and ticket purchases or contact Shauna for more information.
Shauna is creating a weekly graph to show were we are on our goals. Please buy those tickets!
Your Job this Week
1. A) Buy tickets for your household OR
B) Volunteer to work the event
2. A) Indicate that you are "Going" or "Interested on the Facebook event
B) Invite anyone on your friends list who might enjoy a night on the town!
3. A) Invite 4 other people - directly
BONUS: A) Help us find sponsors and/or donations
B) Get a flyer/poster up somewhere
Board Briefs September 18, 2024
The Service Fund Committee, chaired by John Moffat, and the Board of Directors approved the following grant requests from the RCOB Foundation for $1,000 each. This exhausts the funding for the 2024-2025 Rotary year and the board is going to ask the RCOB Foundation for additional funding in the months to come. Sandee reminded us that these funds come from the RCOB Foundation donation (tax deductible) portion of your dues of $200 annually.
Brigid Collins (sponsored by Larry Halgren)
The funds will cover the cost of 66 books used for community members who take this 2-hour class on breaking the cycle of child abuse
Wildbirds (sponsored by Del VandeKerk)
The funds will provide almost 300 kids with a sack of food for the weekend.
Vamos Outdoor Project (sponsored by Catherine Riordan) Whatcom County Fiesta de Libros (Book Parties) program are bilingual literacy clubs hosted at different school sites in the Bellingham School District. The funds will be used to purchase updated bilingual books and supplies for this program.
SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention (sponsored by Rick Kaiser)
The funds will be used for the specific purpose of purchasing a Van de Graaff generator. This piece of equipment will be the centerpiece of an interactive and fun family-friendly mobile museum experience teaching the principles of electricity at schools and public events across Whatcom County.
For many years the Board has discussed the possibility of making dues and entrance fee adjustments for new members to gain younger members. We had a great discussion and ended up deciding that we should refine our target to a 40–50-year-old audience with better marketing and do an internal visionary process. Thoughts were there are a lot of alternatives for young people, ie Rotaract.
Scott Herman brought up the subject of bringing recent college grads to lunch who are looking for job opportunities, like we have done with the Take a Vet to Lunch previously. The board felt it was fine if a member has a young person to bring and do a brief introduction, but not scheduled on a regular basis. This would also be a great opportunity to direct them to Rotaract.
Shauna and Ward Naf attended to give us an update on the soft rollout of the Mountainfilm fundraiser for the RCOB scheduled for November 16, 2024 in Syre Theater.
MountainFilm fundraiser: Mountain Film on Tour is a travelling festival that is comprised of short documentary films, focusing on some aspects of the outdoors, activity, overcoming adversity, expanding understanding of others or building community. These films cover many aspects of the Rotary Areas of Focus.
We are going to need volunteers to check ID, servers for pouring, etc. We need 5-6 people with MAST certification to sell wine and beer. Need to be 21. The certificate is through the state for $19.99 and takes 3 hours, good for 5 years.
Upcoming Event announcements:
September 28, 2024 RCOB President's Picnic at Steve & Jan's home. Click here to register
What to Bring:
A dish to share (e.g., dessert, salad, side, bread) and your choice of beverage. Please do not bring pork dishes. Other dishes are fine. When registering for the event, please list the dish you plan to bring.
Your preferred beverage.
Water, ice, paper plates, composable tableware, glasses, etc. will be provided.
Parking:
Carpooling is advised as parking is limited. Please park at the bottom of the hill, on the shoulder of Bayview, and walk up. The driveway is the closest one to the mailboxes for 403 and 405 Bayside. Facing the mailboxes, the driveway goes up to the right. Walking up that driveway, go past the first house, to the top of the hill to find the Ban's beautiful home and amazing view of the bay.
Accessibility. For those who need it, there are five accessible parking places at the top of the hill, close to the house.
November 2, 2024 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Brad Burdick announced that our “Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner” is scheduled for November 2nd. The hosts are in place. We have openings for 27 guests. As a reminder, members and guests sign up for a dinner at the host’s home. The host has no idea of who is coming. Always a fun event. Call or text Brad Burdick at 360-303-3485 for more details or to sign-up.
Great food and conversation! Everyone brings something! Once you register, you'll receive an email with your secret location and instructions on what to bring. Options are either a salad, bread and hot side, or main dish or Dessert. But keep what you bring, and where you go a secret until you get to the host's door with your dish! That's part of the fun!
Singles and guests are welcome. Please check your calendar and contact Brad to sign up. You will get a confirmation email that will provide directions and food assignments. Let Brad know if you or your guest have mobility or dietary concerns and we will do our best to accommodate if possible.
Text or call Brad Burdick to sign-up at 360-303-3485 Today!
Tickets to Mountainfilm On Tour, our Fundraiser are ON SALE!
Mountainfilm is not only a collection of short films on nature, recreation, overcoming obstacles, and celebrating LIFE! – but it is also the Rotary Club of Bellingham’s fundraiser and we need ALL Rotarians to help spread the word! Here are a number of resources to help you do just that:
EVENT DETAILS: The evening will consist of the films, a raffle (tickets are $5 each, more info to come, we need donations of items to raffle), baked goods, beer and wine sales, tables with sponsors, and a celebration of Rotary!
Here is what we need you to do THIS WEEK!:
Buy tickets for your household OR volunteer to work the event
Invite your friends by clicking on the “Invite” button (see circles below for what to look for)
Personally invite 4 other people – Call people, send an email with a link, print out a flyer and give it to someone, etc (resources linked below). Let’s get those ticket sales up!
BONUS: We also need some additional help with:
Getting sponsors and donations for the raffle
Putting up flyers and posters around town and
We do need a few other bakers to provide cookies, brownies, and muffins to sell.
MARKETING RESOURCES: If the links don't work for you, copy the address and paste into a new tab on your browser.
Presenters in photo: Maya Morales, John Westerfield, Jennifer Wright, Jessica Rienstra and Colton Kaltenfeldt.
Nathan Twining introduced our Program, which is a discussion of the County Charter Review process presented by several candidates for the Charter Review Commission. After a few introductory remarks by Harold Phillips, facilitator for the project, John Westerfield spoke. He outlined the program, which is a discussion of the Charter review process, its history and other facts about it. It was presented in a non-partisan, collaborative manner by a few of the candidates running to be on the Charter Commission. They are: Colton Kaltenfeldt, Jessica Rienstra and Jennifer Wright. Also weighing in, though not formally presenting, were additional Commission candidates Sandy Phillips and Maya Morales.
Colton gave a history of the Charter. Under the state Constitution (Article XI), counties have a commission form of government, where the commissioners act as both legislative body (adopting policies through ordinances), and executive (running the county government day-to-day). However, counties have the option of changing to a charter form of government, which Whatcom County did in 1978, becoming the second county in the state (after King) to do so. There are now 7 charter counties. Adopting a Home Rule charter gives the county more local control to shape the government to address local needs. Under the Charter, there is both a county executive to operate the county day-to-day and a county council (7 members) vested with the authority to set legislative policy through ordinances.
The charter review process is how the county amends the Charter once every 10 years. The Charter Review Commission consists of 15 commissioners, 3 from each of the 5 commission districts. (Charter amendments can also be proposed through citizen initiatives and a super majority vote of the county council (5 votes of the 7 council members).
Jessica Rienstra provided commentary on how the commission works. She said the commissioners hold public hearings in different parts of the county to gather information from the county residents. After receiving the information, the commission makes proposals to the County Council. Then the voters vote on them (this will be in November 2025).
Jennifer Wright gave a brief description of past charter amendments, many of which had to do with how county council members are elected (by district or at-large), term limits and changes to the initiative and referendum system.
John Westerfield summed up the presentation and took questions. The following information came out in that process:
-Each proposed amendment will be voted on separately by the electorate. A proposed amendment needs only a simple majority to pass.
-There were about 50 candidates who filed for the 15 charter review commission positions. A few have dropped out. There are now 46 remaining. There are approximately 9-10 candidates running for 3 positions in each of the 5 council districts.
-The Charter Review Commission terms are from January to July 2025. People will vote on them this November. People can vote for up to 3 candidates in their council district.
-There is not a great way to learn about the views of the different candidates before voting. Candidate Sandy Phillips said the League of Women Voters will have a forum where it will ask each candidate the same three questions (he would not say what the questions are). You might learn something about the candidates from their answers.
-The commission will conduct forums all over the county to hear from the citizens what issues they would like to see voted on. These forums will be advertised and are subject to the state Open Public Meetings Act.
-The commission will vote on the different charter amendment proposals. A proposal must get 10 votes out of the 15 commission members to move forward. At least two members will then be in charge of drafting the proposal for the voters, with the help of the prosecuting attorney’s office.
Closing: President Steve thanked those who helped with the meeting.
Facilitator Harold Phillips
Jennifer Wright, Jessica Rienstra, Colton Kaltenfeldt and Sandy Phillips
RCOB apparel, including polo shirts, dress shirts, vests and hats is now available. These are items that every Club member simply must have in his/her wardrobe! Besides looking great, Club members will be contributing to branding for the RCOB as well as supporting our Club's Foundation, which will receive part of the proceeds.
Click on the button below for the the clothing catalogue, with the Order Form on the last page. Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com.
