The Weekly Bulletin
August 13, 2018
Call to order: Ed Musterman, President
Invocation: Mary Dewey
Pledge: Ken Oster
Introduction of Guests
Tom Luckenbill, Kids First Optimist, came to update us on his club and his acceptance to become next year’s Lt. Governor. The Kids First club has experienced explosive growth this past year largely due to its Friday night poker events at the American Legions Hall. They have doubled their membership to 30. Also they are holding an event at Central Missouri Adoption, 105 E. Ash St. on Tuesday, Aug 14 at 6:00 pm. On Tuesday, Sept. 4 they have a dinner meeting in the back room at D Rowe’s featuring Woodhaven Circle Tech. And, On Tuesday, October 2 they will be holding a Wine Tasting event at Serenity Valley featuring Tom’s private fermentation collection of Pinot Noir. Bring your own food or snacks to better enjoy this event.
Jack Andrewson of Sunrise Optimists came to update us on events of his club. Their fundraising season starts with the concessions at Columbia College. They expect a strong soccer season this year. Also, as a member interest, they will be holding their annual Wild Game Dinner on the 2nd Monday of January, 2019.
Becca Winters joined her dad, Steve for lunch today
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Ed Musterman announced the birth of a new granddaughter.
Mystery Person
Shirley Beckett, a first time Mystery Person, had a hard time choosing to whom she should award today’s prize of a Hy-Vee gift card. With some many active members doing so much for the club, she finally landed her choice on Carl Scott.
Greeter –
Greg Grimes told of a harrowing week in which he moved his 81 year old mother from Independent living to Assisted Living. In the end it was a worthwhile task; everyone was happy with the change.
Announcements
- Sign In or Pay the Pig
Carl Scott put in four quarters today: one for Ken Oster who puts together the club activities in the AA Report to the District. Our club placed 1st this past quarter with 56,000 points largely due to the Soap Box Derby activities. The club received a check for $75.00. The next quarter was for Mary Dewey’s work on the club scrapbook. It tied for 1st place with the Twin Cities Optimists. The newsletter was mentioned as 2nd place. The 3rd and 4th quarter were for Jim Murphy and Larry Fick for the work they do at the Food Bank.
- Welcome any new or returning members.
- Food Bank – Jim Murphy/Larry Fick
This past week they packaged Wisconsin Delicious apple.
- Koeze- Steve Winters
Steve set new goals for this year’s annual Koeze Nut fundraiser. Last year the club sold $98,000 worth of Koeze Nut products to 3,930 customers. This year’s goal is to increase sales by 5% to $103,000. Sales sheets will be distributed to members soon.
- Restaurant Certificates – Jake Jolley
This year the club will offer certificates to: Chris McD’s, Shakespeare’s, Addison’s/Sophia’s Murry’s and a yet to be determined locally owned Mexican restaurant.
- Tree lot – Jim Murphy/Rick McKernan/C.O. Scheffer
Steve Winters has obtained the services of the MU Baseball team to unload the trucks when the tree shipments arrive. Also, he is still searching for Santa Claus art work for a Christmas Tree Banner to be hung on the sign gallows on Bus Loop 70 and Grand Ave corner. John Sapp put together a flow-chart map for the Christmas tree placements from delivery though drilling to trees on display stands and storage piles for continuous display replacements. Ed Musterman mentioned the club’s intent to put this map on a plywood sheet. Steve Winters agreed to prepare the plywood sheet for the map.
Jim Murphy will assume charge of the two drilling teams. He will need 10 able bodies to move trees from their unloaded spots to the drills to their storage and display locations. The work will last one to two weeks.
- Club Social – Steve Winters: August 29th, 6:00 at the Club House, Pork Steak and Baked Beans, Family Games, Guest Speaker is Adam Saunders with Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture; Program includes an update on the new Ag Center and partnership with Columbia Public Schools. Cost is $10 per person. See or call Larry Fick at 573-424-2820 no later than Monday Aug 27 to sign up for this social and/or to bring a guess. This will be a NOW event for potential new members to get acquainted with the club.
- Club Social – Steve Winters: Oct 30th, Shrimp Fest.
- Board Meeting – Thursday Aug 16th. One grant request, Mary Lee Johnston Community Learning Center.
- Announcements from the floor.
Carl Scott attended the district meeting in Cape Girardeau. In addition to the honorable mentions and award noted above, he relayed the District’s decision to pay for the club’s banner. He mentioned Governor Mary Hatfield and Governor Elect Michael Bowls and training for Lt. Governor and Governor. One of the topics discussed for each club to weigh was the kind of a club they are or wish to be: a meeting club or an activity club. He suggested this could be a topic for our club to consider.
Today’s Speaker
Bill Cantin, Neighborhood Services, City of Columbia
Bill Cantin moved to Columbia over twenty years ago with the aspiration of attending the J-School and becoming a Journalist. However, upon graduation with a degree in English and seeing other career opportunities through university studies, he decided to change his career plans. After continuing his education and graduation with Master’s degree in Public Administration he joined the City of Columbia in 2001. He is currently the Community Liaison for the City. He is married with two kids.
Bill first thanked the Optimist for the use of our clubhouse for community meetings. The area around the clubhouse has been identified by the City as one of four of its Strategic Areas. Neighborhood associations are invited to meet to express their needs and learn of resources available to meet their needs. The Ridgeway NA and North Central NA meet for these events in our clubhouse.
Bill works within the Office of Neighborhood Services. His job entails making the multitude of city services known to the public. He listed many of these services for club members to hear. There is Operation Clean Neighborhoods. City employees are offered a half day to help with these projects. There is funding up to $250 annually offered to neighborhood associations for special needs. With over 90 neighborhood associations, priority is given to those in an identified strategic area. There is an Office of Volunteer Services where citizen can find activities to help. The Housing Program headed up by Randy Cole has a budget of $1.5 million for housing construction. Bill mentioned two projects; the recently completed eight houses on Lynn Street for first time home buyer who qualify and the storm water abatement project between Lynn Street and Sexton. Also, for first time home buyers, a project is scheduled on North 8th Street in the near future. The City’s Inspection Services for occupancy of rental properties sometimes creates opportunities for affordable housing construction. They sometimes work with the Health Department on Health Code enforcement. The worst houses are demolition candidates providing land for future habitable dwellings.
Other departments in the city include Community Development that works with developers on building site development. They work with neighborhood association to ensure a certain neighborhood quality and respect the need for affordable housing. In cases in the West Ash and Benton-Stephens neighborhoods this has led to petitions for down zoning to protect single family neighborhoods from large apartment and condo developments. Bill showed the limits of his communication of city services when asked a question about the revival of roll carts for refuge collection. This has become too hot of a political issue for him to handle.
UPCOMING SPEAKERS
August 20 – Randy Kiser, Counselor w/ CLAIM, – Medicare 101
August 27 – Greg Grimes, Member Spotlight
Sept 3 – Labor Day, No Meeting
Sept 10 – TBD
Sept 17 – John Baker, Community Foundation
Sept 24 – Meredith Lehman, Child Life Program at Women’s and Children’s Hospital
Adjourn with the Creed: 1:00
Optimistically Yours,
Sid Sullivan
Downtown Optimist Club 