It was a sunny cool day in March and
Karan Bates-Gasior called our meeting to order today at 12:15 p.m.
Glenn Burton led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem.
Mary Ann Hosey led us in “The Four-Way Test” and
Tom Davies led us in prayer. We had a delicious lunch with salad, bread, potatoes, breaded chicken with bacon and cheese, green beans, and some delicious cookies (which made the club some money at recognition time).
PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Congrats to Ted DeVantier for appointment to the role of foundation board treasurer for the next two years
Ellen, Ken, and Julie went to some Rotary meetings in Florida at the Ft. Myers and Cape Coral clubs and brought back the club flag.
GUESTS AND VISITORS
Beth Pryor announced Tony Wickersham, Macomb County Sheriff, and our speaker today as our only guest - or should I say visitor. Beth tried to apply some pressure to join the club but I don’t think the sheriff was taking the bait.
Member Birthdays and flowers:
Patty Kaufman handled the flowers.
Birthdays:
Cecilia Moloney had a birthday!
We had some club anniversaries, but nobody was there to celebrate their anniversary:
Eric Pierson
Mashell Carissimi
Keith Lesperance
Dana Camphous-Peterson bought a flower for Sheriff Wickersham (trying to get out a future ticket?)
Ken bought a flower for Cecilia because she deserved two for her bday
Patty bought a flower for Ellen for going to visit clubs in Florida
Ryan Murphy bought a flower for Ted for volunteering to be foundation treasurer
Gary bought a flower for Ed Mastry and Ken for help with set up
Mary Ann Hosey bought a flower for me (thanks!)
Patty bought a flower for Tom Davies for healing from his injuries (and likely sucking up for a future possible recognition fine)
MUSIC
Ken Steele did music today and we sang “America” and “Rotary my Rotary.”
SUNSHINE/GOOD WILL REPORTS
No real Sunshine report but as Steve Krankota pointed out, the sun was shining.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Sam announced that the district approved a grant match application for $2,500 for a Rotary park.
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- Dana announced that when she discussed the fundraiser with the Shelby club they bought some 50/50 tickets and possibly some event tickets coming as well.
RECOGNITION
Tom Davies was on recognition today!
Doug Norris was fined for his phone ringing because of Tom’s “catlike ears”
(whatever that means)
I was fined for buying out my partner, Tom Hosey, and also for an upcoming ski trip
Mary Ann was fined $3 for her husband Tom “retiring” in the next few years!
Beth was fined $5 for hurting our guest’s feelings by shaming him to join Rotary and also for her trip to Jamaica.
Ellen was fined for her 2-month vacation in Florida and for getting into the Ft Myers rotary news letter which also cost Ken and Julie.
Ray was fined for “losing” his hat
Everyone at the back table was fined $1 for having more than one cookie.
Scott Chabot was hit for $2 (unfairly in my opinion) for bringing a cookie to a hungry friend who was trying to do a good job with the minutes for the meeting
Patty was fined $2 for a trip to Ft. Myers.
Tom fined himself $1 for extra cookies.
Sarah Lee’s table was fined for the privilege of enjoying her singing of “America.”
We had the privilege of having Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham presenting today.
The major topic we discussed was the proposal for the new jail and sheriff’s offices.
The current jail and offices were originally built in 1954 and was used for staff and prisoners. They have had some additions to the facilities over the years. However, the facilities are now out of date. He said that they spend approximately $5 million per year on upkeep for the jail. In 2018 there was an average daily occupancy of 1,500 inmates per day. He said that they have been trying to use different programs to decrease this number. Some of these include almost immediate determination by a judge or magistrate upon arrest to determine if the arrested party is a danger. If he/she is a danger, they place them directly in prison awaiting trial. If not, the person is released pending trial to determine guilt or innocence and sentencing. Another program has been allocating certain amount of spots to judges so that they can prioritize inmates. These programs have helped to decrease the amount of inmates so that in 2019 there was never over 900 in the prison on any day.
The new jail will house 1,100 inmates based on these numbers which is down from the original thought of 1,500. This decreased the overall project cost from $370 million to $300 million. It also decreased the amount of the millage that is going to be on the ballot from 1 mil to 0.6 mil.
Sheriff Wickersham answered questions as well about domestic violence calls, marijuana legalization, and others.
