Our meeting was called to order at 12:36.52pm after a scrumptious Cinco de Mayo lunch of Caesar salad, fruit, rice, beans, fajitas, tortillas, salsa and of course guacamole.  Absolutely muy bueno!

The Pledge to our Flag appropriately led by Dan Kiernan.

J Richey gave an appropriate good old fashioned invocation asking the Lord’s blessing for the gifts we had already devoured.  Wonderful traditional words that reminded me of home.

Man, can we sing!  Howard, Dr. Bill, Randy, Nate, Bob and Don had us all Strolling Through the Park One Day followed by Nate and Bob having a lot of fun with “Smile”.  On a personal note, I always look forward to those special moments and wondering what song Howard has picked for our enjoyment.

Our guests for the day were introduced by a great Trojan, Bob Radde.  We welcomed Russ Moore from the Orange Noon club.  Councilman Don Bankhead’s guest was Ann Mezzacappa an attorney and special assistant to Harry Sidhu, a current Anaheim Councilman running for State Senate.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:           

Tom Meyer bragged about how Pricilla, a student from Fullerton High School, took first place at the District dinner the night before along with a $25,000 scholarship to Bradley University!

Randy McFarland informed us about June 16 is our hospitality night and he needs help from friendly people and vans for transportation.  He also needs lovely parting gifts too.  Speaking of parting, he also let us know that the July 16 will be good humor day at the club.

CFO Don Ludwig gave us comfort in letting us know that we didn’t get off easy with the concert billing.  A separate one will land in our mailboxes in a few weeks.  Thanks Don.

Lonny Blake is now selling Rotary shirts.  He will have lovely samples available at the podium for the next few weeks.  Prices are a mere $18 - $30 depending on how much material is needed.

Leslie McCarthy asked for volunteers for the Top 100 Banquets.  In addition, as the story goes, I guess Jim Williams is going to the outskirts of town to round up some turkeys.  Although a professional, he might need some help and guidance.

Jim Williams stepped up to the plate telling anyone who would listen that demotion night will be in 7 weeks.  Through a thunderous applause he asked that we save the date.  I just want to know if clocks are involved.  Risking a very large fine he asked us to attend a gathering of Dick Jones supporters for a kickoff of Dick’s campaign for Council that night at Hildagos.

Past President Bill Mathy has put together another car show at the Muck at next weeks meeting.  South and Sunrise will be with us and your cars are needed for a fun show.  No awards just good gawking!

Tom Meyer came back to the microphone and thanked Randy McFarland for making our club look so good.  Randy continues to put together the Rotary book of all our activities which gives our club much deserved recognition.

Don Bankhead received four tickets from Harry Sidhu to a future Angels game against the Tigers.  They went to highest bidder with Prez. Tom doing the calling.  Bids started at $100, Griff taking it to $200, Jim Williams pushed it to $250, Griff took back the reigns at $300 only to be outbid by the absent Rick Crane courtesy of Jeff Hutcheson at $350.  Not to be outdone Rick Crane outbid himself at $400 by way of Scott Dowds.  And the winner was Rick Crane at$400.  We hope Rick makes it to the game and proceeds go to our Rotary Fund…

RECOGNITION:

Mike Oates and a great looking hat started out looking for a missing Allyn Lean who was fined in absentia for a birthday, $25.

Fred Johnson with a very bad shoulder and a sad story to boot.  Hoping to be able to use insurance money to pay his fine.

Dick Jones invited everyone out to patronize Café Hildago to spend time with good friends and talk about the future of Fullerton.  As if 12 is not enough he hopes to come back for more.  Go Dick…

Wolf Knabe and the Fullerton Fire Department are celebrating 100 years with an open house on Saturday.

Still looking for a fine Minard Duncan was hit for $25 for receiving the 2008 Outstanding   Contributor to Education Award.

RECOGNITION: (continued)

Hey, what’s goin on here, the Reverend Jon West also a no show for his birthday will see a $25 bill on his next statement.

Julia Kemp did brave the masses and was fined $25, happy birthday on the 10th.

And finally, happy anniversary to John and Kerry Phelps on May 11. 

Mike had to close with a joke;  He who laughs last didn’t get it! 

DRAWING:

Bob Radde had ticket number 970876 and drew the 3 of spades again?  $10 from bare legged Keirnan.

PROGRAM, GET YOUR PROGRAM HERE!!!

Doing a great job pitch hitting this week was Bob Savage, a 19.5 year Fullerton employee presently Director of Maintenance Services.

There are 6 operating divisions as follows;

Administration……………………………6 People
Equipment Maintenance………………...13 People
Street Maintenance……………………...35 People
Sewer Maintenance……………………...19 People
Water…………………………………….29 People
Landscape……………………………….50 People
Facility…………………………………..23 people

I count 7, who goofed, I’ve got to know!

He has a $26,344,000 budget with only $5,383,000 in the general fund.  All other funds are restricted.  Gas taxes can be used on the streets but not the alleys.  Landscape and tree maintenance are 20% of the budget.  They receive about 1,000 requests for service each month and depend on the eyes of our citizens to help out.  Calls for service can be made at 714-738-6897.

The facilities department takes care of 70 buildings with approximately 658,546 square feet of space.  He only has one air conditioning guy who unlike the Maytag guy is very busy.

Equipment maintenance takes care of the city fleet of 430 vehicles.  They provide 1,172 preventative maintenance inspections each year and conform to the requirements as set forth by the California Highway Patrol.

The street division drops 3,800 tons of asphalt and about 1,119,000 linier feet of striping.  They clean 575 miles of channels and 2,600 catch basins.  And then they steam clean 2,000,000 square feet of downtown sidewalks to keep our city clean.  As a sidebar, he is constantly under audit and if he can save money by contracting privately he does it.

Our landscaping division takes care of 1,037 acres of city parks.  More than 13,000 trees are trimmed each year as Fullerton is a Protected Urban Forest with more than 40,000 trees.  Basically a tree must be seriously diseased or a safety hazard for it to be removed.

Fullerton’s water system has over 29,500 meters that monitor 35 million gallons of water to residents and businesses every day!  They replace 1,800 meters each year and are always checking.  He wouldn’t want to overcharge its customers or undercharge as the amount charged is constant regardless of the source and how much the suppliers are charging.  We are also a member of the Metropolitan Water District.

Our sewer division cleans about 190 miles of sewer mains each year while maintaining enough lines to go from Fullerton to Las Vegas.  Talk about a stinky ride, keep the windows up!  Root cuts and chemical treatments about 80,000 feet of mains each year too.

Fullerton currently contracts for its custodial services, street tree maintenance, large scale vehicle repair and its telecommunication services.  Graffiti is sadly one of Bob’s biggest challenges along with the rising cost of fuel, alternate fuel vehicles and smoke traps required by the AQMD.  He also let us know that products being sold as a “flushable” aren’t really flushable.  They are literally causing many backups along the sewer lines.  

During a quick closing of his presentation Bob also let us know that on the bright side Fullerton has won many awards which I am sure will be a topic at a later meeting.  Bob Savage did a great job stepping in at the last minute and certainly knows his job and is able to perform at the click of a heal!

ADJOURNMENT:

12:33.41pm

Tom Meyer and a closing thought attributed to Ben Franklin;

“Don’t interfere with something that aint botherin you non.”