05/25/2017 Butch Spencer and Rick Terhune

06/01/2017 Raj Grandhi and Dave Trout

06/08/2017 Deb Dulaney and Jim Harris

 

 

The greeters at the next meeting will be Butch Spencer and Rick Terhune

 

The Centerville Rotary Club met at noon at The Club House at Yankee Trace Golf Course. President Ron Hollenbeck led the Pledge of Allegiance, PDG Sivaji Subramaniam gave the prayer, and when Ron nodded for someone to lead the singing of God Bless America,    

no one started and then someone did, but it was a bit high, so there was some hesitation and a weak start but then the group got it all together and made a recovery to end up with a strong ending.

 

Chea Taylor, daughter of new member Kisha Taylor; our speaker Erik Collins, executive director of the Montgomery County Planning Commission; Mike Norton Smith, community and economic development specialist, accompanying and assisting Erik Collins; Mike Kelly, District 6670 Governor, and his wife Melinda; Pat Edwards, PDG from 2008-9, and his wife Suzanne; and the Kellys' friend Julia Hill, of southern California. Julia is originally from Greece, and has lived and traveled all over the world, including in Afghanistan. She met and became friends with the Kellys when they were out West and she had dinner with them. The two women exchange recipes and when Julia expressed an interest in visiting a Rotary Club meeting, the Kelly's invited her along to partake of Centerville's May 18, 2017 meeting. The Edwards accompanied them, so it was fun for all. Julia came as a 19-year old to the states and became a physicist, earning her degree at the University of Minnesota. She later married an Australian and traveled more, and later joined AT&T where she became more of "an International Gypsy" heading up their wireless program and traveling all over Asia.

 

Below you see Kisha Tayor with one of her three daughters, Chea Taylor. Chea is a Bellbrook High School graduate who got a full ride at Kent State for her basketball prowess. She's now at the University of Detroit-Mercy, working on her master's degree, where she's a history major, also studying educational leadership, with the goal of becoming a college professor.

 

 

 

Above is:

Erik Collins, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

See more below under the Speaker info.

 

  

 

 Above you see our greeters again with District 6670 Governor Mike Kelly, who brought with him the news that the Rotary Club of Monroe, Ohio, was officially admitted to membership in Rotary International on May 15, 2017. They chartered with 26 members. "This is very exciting and it's fantastic for our District," he stated in his Rotary Club and Membership Update.

 

 

Erich gave $20, blaming something on his son-in law, who later said he got thrown under the bus by Erich, and then went on to collect from the others.

John Beals gave, noting that our club member Centerville City Manager Greg Horn, landed in the Cincinnati Hospital this past week after having some health problems. John said Greg complained of having pain in his hip and then his knee and then his back. He had CAT scans to try to find out what was wrong, because he could barely walk, and had to leave a Monday night meeting early, but that hadn't found out the cause yet, he said.

 

Ron Hollenbeck gave $10 for the current and past District governors and their guests visiting us. Mike Kelly and Pat Edwards each gave for them and their guests and Brad Huffman gave for Kisha getting her yellow ribbon off.

Matt Kuhn, Frank Perez, and Jim Hester gave for being Happy. Joyce Young gave for her grandson getting his masters degree at Wooster College. 

Doc Hoback gave in honor of our new member and Jim Harris gave for our new guests.

Ed Flohre came back with a tan for being in Florida, which he said was too smoky.

Mike Wier gave to thank the people who attended the Ohio Valley British Brass Band's recent concert at the Kroc center, and mentioned two upcoming concerts, Saturday and Sunday.

Dan Johnson gave to welcome Jennifer Gibbs to the club, and Deb Dulaney gave to tell about being at CHS's Recognition/Award Ceremony, in which $2,000 Rotary scholarships were awarded to seniors chosen from the group.

Sivaji Subramaniam gave for the district governors and Erik, our speaker.

And Mark Balsan gave for "being thrown under the bus" by his father-in-law. Ann Blackburn gave and Kisha Taylor gave, noting her daughter was a bit modest in telling of her basketball and other accomplishments.

Don Stewart told about a dancing competition that he attended in Lansing, and about visiting the Lansing Brewing Co. and a tower there dedicated to Rotary and its 4-Way-Test, etc.

Harvey Smith gave $20 for announcing that he has been elected to the board of trustees at the United Theological Seminary.

Jennifer Gibbs gave for becoming a new member and for being on vacation next week in Canada.

Jeff Senny left $5 in apology for running off in the midst of the meeting. 

 

 

PDG John Beals introduced our speaker Erik Collins. He said he leads the day-to-day functions of Building Regulations, Planning, Community Development and Economic Development and is actively involved in business attraction and retention, as well as the county's incentive programs.

 

He was instrumental in developing the internationally recognized Business First! For A Greater Dayton Region which includes 33 jurisdictions in five counties. Since 2001, the program has connected 7,000 local businesses with almost 100 resource partners to help them move their businesses forward. In addition to business retention and expansion, he has played a key role in bring new investments to Montgomery County, including: Spectrum Brands Global Auto Care Division, Collective Brands, the largest shoe retailer in the western hemisphere, CAT Logistics, which built the second largest CAT Logistics facility in Clayton, a 1.8 million square foot P&G facility, and WilmerHale, the fifth largest law firm in the U.S. He is also involved in the Ohio Economic Development Association, The Rotary Club of Dayton, and Operation 1,000 Cherry Trees five of which are planted in front of the Centerville Library, and others the Centerville Rotary helped plant at Dayton's U.S. Air Force Museum. 

 

Erik said he planned to present the Big Picture of what the county is doing and where things are going in the future. His work involves not only business attraction to the area, but also retention and expansion of the businesses here. It also involves connection resources to businesses and helping them develop. He said it all involves teamwork, and it's Dayton Against the World. 

 

The Dayton region has been in the top ten over the last ten years in the Governors Cut Ranking for attracting businesses, he said. Everybody benefits, as there is a labor shed, he said. The business may be in West Carrollton, but the workers may be in many different areas. He cited NUVASIVE in West Carrollton, which had been in Fairborn. He said it manufactures medical devices, like implants, and is a high-end manufacturer. He talked of Johnson Electric, a Chinese company, that has a 30,000 square-foot building, and P&G, and HEMATITE, which has its U.S. headquarters here, and Fuyao, and Spectrum Brands, which is doing the R&D for ArmorAll. He said it has a 570,000 square foot building, and is doing light manufacturing and distribution. It also has 225 square feet at the Dayton Airport, he said. 

Erik cited Business First as their regional BRE program. They have 600 resources on their Web site and have made 7,000 visits since 2001, to help out businesses and get them the resources they need. With 10,000 Boomers retiring every day, the workforce needs to be replenished and the proper science/tech/engineering/ and math components need to be taught to keep up with the new innovations and changing needs of today's workforce, he said.

 Erik said Gorilla War Tactics need to be used at times, and that we can learn from BRAC, and get companies to relocate here and learn about the region. He mentioned the ED/GE program, begun in 1922, which gives $2 million in grants per year to help create and retain jobs. He also talked about the Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance, and WOOSH, which makes water bottle cleaners so that they can be reused again. He talked of the Business Solutions Center, launched in 2016 as a one stop shop for business owners. On the third floor is office space that can be used at no charge. There is room for 96 people with tables, and it's wired for training. There are also grants of $2,500 to $25,000 for micro enterprises with five or fewer employees and less than $500,000 in sales. You have to be in business for a year, and must have a commercial business.

Erik said he learned from Leslie Clark, who wrote about unlearning outmoded and ineffective ideas, and said "when you are finished changing, you are finished." You have to be adaptable and embrace the changes, he said. Drones are changing the way the world is operating and drones may be used to replace bees in pollination when needed, he said. Artificial intelligence and new computer models will make the changing pace faster, and the need to keep up will be the challenge, he said.  

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John Beals is seen sitting with Mike Northon Smith as Erik Collins explains how the businesses that have been attracted to the area, shown by their logos on the screen, have benefited the whole region.

 

The meeting ended with the reciting of Rotary's Four-Way Test.

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