Chips January 12th, 2015

Visiting Rotarian, Paul Garland of the South Club

Tom Leypoldt, executive director of PEG TV. Guest of Tom Donahue

Nancy Greenwood, Guest and co-worker of Joan Watson

 

Ed Bove, Executive Director of Rutland Region Planning Commission

 

Joan bragged about her daughter, Darcy. Darcy has 3 small children, manages several credit unions in Maryland and still found time to take classes and finish her bachelor's degree!

Tom Donahue announced the chamber mixer coming up at Frank Webb Bath Showroom on Cold River Rd. Then said he thought he was a cool grandpa until Bernie Sanders endorsed rapper, Killer Mike and other politicians quickly endorsed other artists like Usher and Waka Flaka Flame. Yes, you read that right...someone named themselves Waka Flaka Flame.

Maria bragged that her dog came really close to winning a contest, but missed by one? point! Dog has officially retired now!

Nicole bragged about her birthday and that she got to spend it with her kids. She also said that birthdays are nothing to brag about anymore at "her age"! If anyone is wondering, she turned 37.

Nick rebutted her statement saying that being a grandparent looks way better on her than it does on him haha

Terry gave us the hockey update. Castleton women's are 2 in the conference and the men's team picked up a couple wins. Even their goalie got in on the scoring with an open netter.

Kevin said he finally got to live out a childhood fantasy: He fought a fire at Templewood court in one of the units!

 

Steve said the Rutland parent Child Center Golf Tournament is on Groundhog Day (Feb 2nd). It will be at Stonehenge. See him for details.

Brian thanked Rich Carlson for the wonderful job he did with not only the trees, but the celebration at the tree shed on Saturday. It truly was great. Thank you for everything, Rich!

Stephanie said that she is trying to coordinate a City/South Club co-mixer for later this month.

Caprice is still looking for help with the Snowball Dance on January 30th

Will said that we handily beat the South Club in the GOLM both with and without Steve Costello's enormous helping numbers. Glad to have you aboard, Steve. A great addition to our club.

Chuck said the Mentor Connector Bowling is on Saturday, Jan 23rd. I believe one spot still available, as I, your author, had to back out.

Kevin is having an Admin Committee at his office on the 28th.

 

Gross revenue from trees:$37,874   Expenses $18,813   Net income of $19,051

Santa Raffle Grossed $3,275, Expenses of $1391   for a net take of $1883

 

No meeting on MLK DAY!!!!

Board meeting on Thursday at RRCC at noon.

 

$36 small pot $369 in the big

Dick Rohe won the small pot, not so lucky on the big'en.

 

Ed Bove is the Exec. Director of The Rutland Region Planning Commission. He is a native Vermonter who left to go to school at The University of Arizona where he studied City and Regional Planning. After earning his master's, he came back to Vermont and took a position with the City of Manchester, Vt as their zoning administrator. He currently lives in Sunderland with his wife Kate and their 2 children.

 

The RRPC works for the 27 towns and municipalities in Rutland county on issues such as planning, water quality, land use, emergency planning, and other grassroots initiatives. Ed often finds himself working closely with Mike Coppinger and Tom Donahue.

Ed shared the 5 top ways that planning commissions such as RRPC help communities;

5) Environmental costs- How can we help save the environment through building desing and transportation networks. He cited Lake Champlain as an example of how planning could impact the water quality.

4) Health Care Costs- Ed said that the number one reason people are unhealthier has to do with the lack of simple walkability and choice of people NOT to walk in communities. Also, the us has the highest number of auto fatalities per capita. He associated this with big, wide open intersections and higher speed limits.

3)Tourism dollars spent- People come to Vermont to see something different than New Jersey. Our state has ample natural beauty and it is important that we don't let strip malls erode the uniqueness of our state.

2) Protection of Farm and woodlands. Ed said that Farmers in Vermont have grown rapidly over the last few years and the locavore movement has fueled the growth. He wants to make sure that these farmers have every chance possible through marketing, sales locations, etc.

1) Certain design plans or concepts lead to higher property values during assessment, which leads to higher taxes, which leads to a more profitable local government that can offer better services etc. Ed said that the one major question folks should ask before undertaking a major project is "Will this project pay for itself in some way?"