Gary Hyde (January 2), was born and raised in Ridgefield, CT. He went to Providence College and graduated from Babson College. Gary then served in the US Navy for 3 years. When got out, he went into public accounting where unlike most of his peers, he has stayed seemingly for ever. Gary was first in Rotary in the 80s for a few years till family responsibilities caused him to leave. Rollie Sterrett badgered him back into the club. Gary, cooking the books, Hyde has served as our treasurer for 15 years and loves the club and its members. A rousing off key rendition of Happy Birthday marked the clubs best wishes to him.
Bob Cave, corrected the omission of his birthday which was on January 5. Bob noted that the Avon/Canton Rotary Club has been going strong for 44 years and that he was lucky enough to be one of the founding members of the club. He was away for awhile and happy that the club took him back although it took 6+ months for them to decide to. He was very happy to be back and values the friendships with those in the club. Happy Birthday Bob from all of us.
Happy Dollars
Bill Barnes saying hello from an old friend of Rotary, Sandy Bailey, who is now the managing pharmacst at CVS in Canton. He has great memories of Rotary and would love to come back and see us.
Ann Clark told the club that she goes on a retreat every year in the first week in January to Holly Famiy. It is a great way to put herself in the right frame of mind for the new year.
Bruce Sayward wanted to remind everyone of an upcoming event.
Donald Rossler was proud of his son, who during the school break, became certified as a life guard, CPR, and in first aid. He hopes to work the water front for the boy scouts this summer.
Don Bonner extended a thank you to Brandon for stepping in at the last minute to be our speaker when there was a mix up over the dates with the speaker we expected.
Announcements
Josh Gillooly reminded everybody that the Taste of the Valley will be on 4/1 and we need everyones help to make this a success.
President Don announced that the club is required to review our financial statements annually and has formed a committee to do so. Phill Ferrari, Robin DiNicola, and Greg DeManche have agreed to serve.
Important Notice
As we've announced several times, we will vote (paper ballots) on our Favarh Initiative at our regular Friday meeting, January, 20. If you cannot attend this meeting, please vote, "yes" or "no" in an email to both Don Bonner (bonnerco@comcast.net) and Paul Mikkelson (mikbenefit@comcast.net) by noon, Thursday, January 19. We need a two thirds vote for approval. We are simply voting to continue working on this Initiative - our Favarh Committee will iron out the details. We will announce the results at our January 20 meeting. Thank you!
Awards, Donations, etc.
Welcome our newest Paul Harris Recipient: Sarah Bonner
Sarah was born and raised in Avon and is the youngest daughter of President Don. Sarah graduated from the Avon schools in 2010. While in high school, she was an original member of the school's cappella group, Rhapsody, and an active participant in the Unified Sports program which is a high school based Special Olympics program. Sarah attended the University of Mass-Amherst where she was a double major in Social Thought & Political Economy and Sociology with a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She graduated in 2014 and entered the Peace Corps as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Sarah was a youth, family, and community development volunteer in a small town on the Haitian Boarder. She recently was a speaker at our club presenting the accomplishments and struggles of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. Sarah finished her work with the Peace Corps in October 2016 and is now working at a non-profit organization in Boston focusing of attaining housing and basic resources for low-income families. In recognition of her "service above self" she was presented as a Paul Harris Fellow.
Presentation
Brandon Robertson
Avon Town Manager
Brandon filling in for the absent speaker reported on a number of issues of importance to not only the Avon members but the Canton members as well. This is a busy period in his office as they are finalizing the numbers from FY 16, executing the FY 17, and preparing the budget for FY 18. All of this has been made very complicated by the state's financial problems and the consequent cut backs in local aid. Avon is very lucky in that only 5.3% of it's budget comes from the state, with the largest portion coming from the educational cost sharing grants. That grant is currently at 1.25 million and is being reduced in the budget year already half over to 730 thousand dollars. Avon was prepared for this and did not count on the full amount in the budget and therefore will only have to make up $28K this year. Going forward they are looking at how to handle continued loss of state funding in terms of both cuts in spending and increases in the mill rate. He also reviewed a last minute change in the law buried in the budget bill that imposed a 2.5% cap on increased spending. This cap does not take into account changes in the town which might require more services such as police and fire, even if growth would support the additional costs without increasing taxes. This is terrible public policy. Nobody can define how this is supposed to work. This type of bill is known as a "rat". He also reported that, if you noticed the big pile of dirt off 44 behind the town hall area, construction has started on the Avon Village Center project.
Your newsletter editor had to leave at this point so the rest of Brandon's remarks will remain a mystery to those of you who didn't attend.
Mail Bag
No mail today!
Photo Credits
Photographs courtesy of Phil Worley, unless otherwise indicated.
Editors Notes
Submission Deadline: Members are kindly encouraged to submit all materials for each week's Early Riser as quickly as possible. Please note that some editions may be published and distributed as early as the Saturday following our meetings, and during those weeks further contributions to the Early Riser will be included in the subsequent week's edition.
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