December 13, 2010 Spokesman
The Kirkland Rotary Club meeting of December 13, 2010 began at 6:30 p.m. and was led by President Pat Dye. Terry Cole led the Pledge of Allegiance, and President Dye thanked Debbie Gregorek for greeting and Sue Greenfeld for scribing.
Inspiration Rich Bergdahl gave a moving tribute as he described “Celebrating the Life of Jerry Marsh” who had beeg a Kirkland Rotarian since 1969. Rich provided details of Jerry’s life including his WWII service, his work at Boeing, marrying his childhood sweetheart, later his 12 years as a bachelor along with meeting Patty. Jerry was 87 at his passing. Rich stated that “it was an honor to know Jerry.”
Visiting Rotarians: Gary Schuster, Senior Retired, a visiting Rotarian from Leavenworth, WA. Gary was also a Kirkland Rotarian for many years.
Guests: Jann Sonntag, wife of the speaker Brian Sonntag, Rosemary Mitchell, who recently moved to Kirkland from Ohio, Destry Seiter and Alex Burt, both students of the Month, from Juanita High School. This was Alex’s first meeting with the club.
As this was Destry’s last meeting, she gave a short presentation and stated how her missionary work with her church in Tijuana, Mexico, inspired her to pursue a college degree in civil engineering. She indicated that, due to a house fire in 2004 in which her family lost all their possessions, she is empathetic to the needs of others. With a civil engineering degree, she believes that she can be of assistance to the people of the world. She has been accepted to both Washington State and Colorado State. She expressed appreciation that attending Rotary has been an affirmation that she is on the right path.
Announcements: Chuck Brockway presented the slate of officers for 2011-2012. They are Brandon Honcoop (President), Patti Smith (President-Elect), Rich Bergdahl (Vice President), Makaylaa Powers (Secretary) and John Pruitt (Treasurer). A voice vote elected these officers unanimously. President Pat Dye commended these individuals for their willingness to serve.
Dan Bartel stated that Jason (Rotarian Exchange Student) has wrestling practice on Monday nights and that is the reason for his absences. Dan thanked the Club members for their donations for the families at Thanksgiving and passed around a signup sheet for food for two families for Christmas. Both families are composed of seven individuals.
Sarah Brooks presented President Dye with a banner from the Denver West Rotary Club in Golden Colorado, home of Coors Brewery.
Rick Ostrander thanked the many club members who participated in the bell ringing for the Salvation Army. President Dye stated how much she enjoyed the bell ringing (even in the raining), and how she appreciated the generosity of people at this time of year.
President Dye mentioned that the club has adopted a new system regarding “Who will be the Head Duck?” She thanked Patti Smith for taking on the “Head Duck” responsibility for the upcoming duck race in July 2011.
Chuck Brockway announced the results of the Cougars vs. the Huskies game. First quarter winner was Alice Volpe, second quarter winners were Jim and Karen Styner, third quarter was Joanne Primavera and final game was Steve Shinstrom. (Editors Note: Yahoooooooooooooooo!!!)
Rotary Foundation: Don Dicks, Foundation Chair, made three Paul Harris Fellow presentations: 1) a certificate, a lapel pin and a medallion to Alice Volpe, 2) a lapel pin +1 to Chuck Brockway and 3) a lapel pin +2 to Rich Bergdahl. Don thanked all club members for their support to the Foundation and stated that this year’s $10,000 goal is close to being met.
Induction of a New Member: President Dye inducted new member Doug Carter, classification Telecom Consultant. Doug’s mentor is Rick Ostrander and Joanne Primavera is his sponsor. President Dye provided a short overview of Rotary and the Four-Way Test.
Program: Patti Smith introduced Brian Sonntag, Washington State Auditor. He titled his speech “Accountability: Now More Than Ever.” The following from the State Auditor’s website and is similar to the description Patti read.
“Ever since he was first elected State Auditor in 1992, Brian Sonntag has been a passionate, leading advocate for citizens of the State of Washington.
“Now in his fifth term, Brian remains committed to ensuring state and local governments are accountable, accessible and responsive to citizens. This year, the Washington Policy Center recognized his years of dedication to public service by honoring him with its Stanley O. McNaughton Champion of Freedom Award.
“Brian also serves on the Board of the Washington Coalition for Open Government. In 2009, he received the Coalition’s James Anderson Award for his advocacy for open government. The Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s gave him the Freedom’s Light Award in 1999. For his efforts to improve local government operations, Brian received the Warren G. Magnuson Award from the Seattle Municipal League in 1999.
“He has a distinguished career in public service. He was elected Pierce County Clerk when he was 26 years old and served eight years in that office. Brian was also elected twice to the office of Pierce County Auditor (an office his father held for 22 years) before being elected State Auditor.”
Brian Sonntag gave a lively and entertaining presentation on his thoughts related to being the State Auditor. There are 350 auditors in his division and as an elected official, his position is quite different than in other states as he is very independent of the governor and the state legislators. His office is to audit, find problems, make recommendations and help make state units operate more efficiently. This is a real challenge as there are over 2700 state government units, each with its own budget, yet there is no one central chief financial management office. In 2005 his office initiated a quality assurance program, but that was threatened as a budget cut by the legislators. The governor vetoed the legislation killing quality assurance programs as this is one state effort to save money and eliminate waste. At the end of his speech, the State Auditor entertained questions. The most provocative question dealt with his view regarding the recent Liquor Initiative that was on the ballot, but got defeated. In his view, passage of the initiative getting the state out of the liquor business would make financial sense to the tune of $270 million a year.
President Dye presented Brian Sonntag with a certificate indicating that 500 lbs. of food would be donated in his honor to Rotary First Harvest.