Rotary Ramblings - 8/5/08

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Rotary Ramblings – August 5, 2008
 
Our very sparselyattended meeting was called to order by President, Steve Bates.  Gerry Meeks led us in the invocation followedby a lively rendition of “Smile” and “Home on the Range” (complete with coyotes)led by President Bates.  We all sang“Happy Anniversary” to Mickey Manning on his wedding anniversary and “HappyBirthday” to Sarah Martin.
 
Harvey Brownintroduced our visiting Rotarians, both from Lake Worth, and discussed the several makeupsall of which were done the old fashioned way. Sarah Martin introduced her lovely daughter, Cameron, who joined her forlunch today before they headed to Disney. (Take note fellow Rotarians she still made it to the meeting.)  Sue Miller introduced Tresa Nowak from heroffice, Crossroads, and Kate Handley the president of a private nursing firm,who joined us again today.   In addition,Abbe Wollens was introduced for the last time as a guest.
 
Fred Bonardi was inattendance, as the stock market was up (Dow 211 points, NASDAQ 40 pointes andS&P up as well, with oil being down). Fred did double duty again today wearing the Sargeant-at-Arms hat collecting$105 including the birthday and anniversary as well as lots for incoming sportsteams (football season is upon us again). 
 
Announcements:  Applications/nominations are being acceptedfor the Service Above Self Award.  Youcannot just name someone, you must have a bio for the individual.  
August 23rd,there is a Foundation/Membership Seminar at Indian River Community  College.  Allmembers are welcome to attend.
 
Abbe Wollens wasinstalled.  Abbe is an investmentcounselor and has been in Delray Beachfor 4 years.  He is happy to be joiningRotary and looks forward to expanding the friendships he is already developing.
 
Jess Sowards is incharge of the August speakers and he is choosing to concentrate on speakers whoare knowledgeable about “going Green” and other issues related to beingenvironmentally responsible.  His firstspeaker, Joe Snider is Founder and President of Building Green Generations, aconsulting company specializing in green design, building, and businesssolutions.  He is a licensed architectwith masters in architecture and historic preservation having workedextensively in the field of sustainable design and planning.  He is on the board of the South FloridaChapter of the US Green Building Council and the City of Delray Beach Green Task Force.  He indicated that our own Sarah Martin alsosits on the Task Force.  We are allconscious of the issues of oil and energy costs, water and drought, nationalsecurity and foreign policy, climate changes – consumers and voters are alldemanding that government, local, state and federal become environmentallyresponsible.  We are years behind Europe in this regard. However, the federal government, GSA (General ServicesAdministration-the largest property management company in the country), isinsisting on all buildings being green certified (meeting certain criteria atdifferent levels to reflect the methods of building and operating that have theleast impact on the environment).  Atthat state level, Governor Crist in June signed off on a bill requiring allstate funded buildings be green certified. Palm Beach County has agreed toappoint a task force.  Delray Beach has been ahead of the curve inthe county by appointing this task force to ascertain what is and is not beingdone in the city buildings and offices and make recommendations to the CityCommission to improve those conditions. Former mayor, Jeff Pearlman, began this process.  The Task Force is working on evaluations andrecommendations that will assist the City in meeting the commitments that havebeen made.   One of the recommendationsthat were made was recycling during community events.  For additional information, feel free tovisit www.sustainabledelray.org
 
Green hat was upagain despite our low numbers.  Ira Finegot his $5 but did not win the big pot. Better luck next week.
 
Meeting was closedby President Bates.
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