President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Dick Hoback provided the prayer.

 

Thought for the moment – It takes no more time to see the good side of life than to see the bad – Jimmy Buffett

 

 

PDG Harvey Smith presented Don Stewart with a PHF + 7. Thanks so much for your generosity, Don!

 

President Brian had some announcements:

 

 

 

Chuck King reminded people to sign the attendance sheet so we can count your attendance.

 

Ginger Clark reported our Operation Warm donations are up to $570, which equates to 28 coats. Our goal is 530 coats or $10,600, so we only have $10,000 more to go…

 

 

Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms today. He congratulated Wayne Davis for supporting establishing an Entertainment District in Uptown, which has now gone to the State for final approval. Currently there are no liquor licenses available for that area, but this designation will allow 15 additional liquor licenses, which will help attract restaurants to locate here. The goal is to bring people to the Uptown District and make it walkable. A 1920’s speak easy considering locating here, along with an upscale restaurant.

 

Generous Rotarians gave many Happy Bucks today:

 

 

Arnie Biondo introduced Carolyn Rice, who he first met when serving on the Rotary Youth Exchange committee. She was the Montgomery County Treasurer then and now a County Commissioner and Dayton Rotarian.

 

Carolyn distributed copies of the Montgomery County strategic plan and said she is Interested in keeping conversations going. She is in the Dayton Rotary Club, noting once you’re in Rotary, it becomes part of who you are. Rotary’s first big philanthropic service project was the Dayton 1913 flood relief. The pandemic has been tough on everyone but it has brought us together in many ways and has shown we are very resilient.

 

Carolyn then provided a COVID update for Montgomery County. 46% of people in the county have received at least one COVID shot and 43% are fully vaccinated. 70% is herd immunity level, where we need to be. There are plenty of vaccination locations and appointments available. In Centerville/Washington Township, more than 60% of people had at least one shot by May 1.

 

Economic Development update - the County had to pull back on some projects during COVIC. They made $30 million in cuts, but didn’t have to lay off or furlough any employees. Some went virtual but many County jobs can’t be done virtual such as garbage collection, and care facilities.

 

The Business First program is a model around the country. Centerville was the first area to do a walk in the business district where community leaders get together and talk to business owners directly to hear their concerns and needs.

 

 

Centerville was recently the site of the new drone express at Kroger. Miami Valley has been nurturing the drone industry for many years. Now you can order 5 pounds or less of groceries and have it delivered to your front lawn. Carolyn noted we have to continually evolve along with getting young people engaged and interested in staying here.

 

The Youth Works program pays for high school students to get real job experience. There are some Centerville businesses who participate.

It is a good way for students to find out what they like and what they don’t want to do, which helps them help make future decisions.

 

Montgomery County provides water and waste collection. They have 250,000 water customers, which is not very common in other counties. The County invested in painting water towers in our community. During the 2019 big water outage on Valentine’s eve, they learned a lot to ensure it doesn’t happen again. They Invested in onions - bladders that can be filled to carry water into areas. Out of disaster comes an opportunity to be better prepared.

 

Road improvements in our area include a roundabout at Alex-Bell/Mad River Road that was recently approved. There was a high accident rate there and traffic backups. Roundabouts really cut down on accidents. Whipp Road was also recently updated. Montgomery County has more bridges than any other county in the state, which takes an incredible amount of resources to maintain.

 

After the foreclosure problem 14 years ago, the County created the Land Bank, which acquires tax delinquent properties, and removes or rehabs them. They have spent $40 million to take down thousands of blighted properties and the State just approved $500 million in their budget to clean up brownfield sites and blighted commercial and residential properties.

 

These items may not seem that exciting but they all improve the quality of life for everyone.

 

Our State First Lady supported Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library/Ohio’s Imagination Library and Montgomery County joined on as the first urban county 1.5 years ago. Now all 88 counties participate. Children ages birth to 5 years old get a free book delivered to their home each month. Not only does that encourage bonding, but also helps children learn pre-literacy skills. 1,000 students signed up the first day in Montgomery County. 80% of eligible children in Centerville are signed up.

 

Montgomery County received $92.8 million in CARES Act money that included a program for small businesses. 90% went out to the communities. State got money too and Carolyn encouraged businesses to reach out to legislatures to make sure they understand local needs.

Wayne Davis commented on the great partnership between Centerville and Montgomery County, leadership of Rotarians from our district, the value of Infrastructure investments in our community, and the value of the partnership.

 

Carolyn noted the Dayton Rotary is involved in the Peace committee. They are working with Carol Hughes for expansion of RYLA this October, program monthly Zoom meetings on peace and leadership, a day of service, day long symposium, and culminating at District Conference in April.

 

President Brian thanked Carolyn for the great update and led the group in the 4 Way Test.