College of Governors Meeting January 6, 2018

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1 In attendance: College of Governors Meeting January 6, 2018 DG Debbie Alexander-Davis DGND Ron Appuhn PDG Jack Bailey Treasurer Jenifer Campbell Secretary Patty Daughtrey PDG Bobby Davis PDG Jim Devlin PDG Carol Foster PRIP John Germ PDG Fred Heitman PDG Ray Knowis DGN Greg Maciolek PDG Frank Rothemel DGE Jim Roxlo PDG Beth Stubbs PDG Jerry Wear PRID Karen Wentz Call to Order: Debbie Alexander Davis DG Debbie called the meeting to order at 8:38 and welcomed everyone. Carol Foster led us in the invocation. Fred Heitman led us in the pledge of allegiance. Nominating committee report: Jack Bailey Jack Bailey announced that the nominating committee had selected Ron Appuhn, Rotary Club of Maryville as Governor for Debbie also gave us a brief update on the members who couldn t attend: Art Pickle, almost came but the cold kept him away; the Lacys couldn t come because Claudine is ill with fluctuating blood pressure issues. Sara Fields just had shoulder surgery so the Fields couldn t make it. The Buckners had to cancel because of a neighbor s death. Shot Nunley and Don Collette sent best wishes to the group. Secretary s Report: Patty Daughtrey The April, 2017 minutes were approved with one correction, re: exchange of the word restricted for fenced on p. 4 paragraph 5.

2 Invited Comments: John Germ and Karen Wentz With respect to the Rotary year , PRIP John Germ noted that D remains one of the best districts in the zone and the world based on our strong leadership. Rotary had a great year and there was more involvement by clubs on global grants. Ravi Ravindran, Ian Risely and John worked together for continuity. While the 2016 COL provided more flexibility, the changes did not seem to filter down to the clubs; (attendance requirement is one the greatest examples.) Membership remains a challenge. 883 new clubs were started last year, but we lost 1000 members. Increases were made in female membership, (20.87%) and in members under the age of 40, (5.4 %.) There were 33,360 attendees at convention with $2.1 million in revenue. The new Presidential Peace Conference at the convention was extremely successful with great participation. Polio pledges by nations equaled $1.2B, and also announced at the Atlanta Convention is a new 3 year agreement with The Gates Foundation. RI pledges $50 million every year with $100M match each year from Gates. Rotary has already raised $23M this year. John attributed the year of success to his BOD who worked as a team. The board faced many controversial issues, (i.e. the use of guns as a fund-raiser and rezoning.) John shared that Karen was helpful with both issues. John will be returning to the Board of Trustees and also spearheading the Gates polio fundraising challenge. PRID Karen shared it was a great experience being on the board with John, and she followed with remarks about the Presidential peace conference held at the conference which had 2500 people in attendance. Great speakers drew great crowds including an assembly of 70 peace fellows. In addition, there were no costs to the Rotary Foundation! Karen complimented the staff at RI. With respect to the new Zone realignment, Karen headed up the committee to review. She reminded the COGs that the purpose of the Zone is to elect a director so the board can fairly represent Rotarians. The review needs to occur every 7-8 years and with North America s decline in membership and the membership increases in Asia, realignment was necessary. The goal of the realignment committee was 36,000 members per zone. This led to the elimination of 2 zones in North America. One American on the board was eliminated while India picked up another director. It was a complex and painful process. Zones 30 and 31 added 3 more districts to our Heart of America. The 2019 Fort Wayne, Indiana Zone Institute is when the Zone shifts will be implemented. As our district s representative to the COL, Karen also reminded us the Dec. 31 was the due date for enactments to be considered for the COL. Treasurer s Report: Jenifer Campbell

3 Jenifer provided a financial report for the district for the Rotary year As of June 30, the District had $284,549 in assets. The total income was close to the budgeted amount, and we were $7908 under budget in expenditures. She also reported on the District financial statements as of Dec. 31, The district has $245,938 in assets and club invoices are going out this month. We have spent half of our budget mid- year to date, which is on schedule. District is in good shape. So far we have only sold about 200 license plates, so we are far off the 1000 needed. Money will need to be returned, but we are giving it one more go to see if our state representatives will help influence the minimum number criteria. John challenged Debbie to set up an Investments Management Committee to look into how we could make more money with our assets and for the committee to provide suggestions by the April district conference. We could be losing money by not investing more wisely in today s market. Karen suggested we add it to the ROP to make sure this happens. We may need to hire outside investment advisors. Jerry proposed that we establish a requirement in the ROP to have an investment committee. Motion passed. Prompted by Karen, Jenifer reported that the assets in the Bomar Foundation as of December 31, 2017, are $216,653; in November we moved $113,204 into the Rotary Donor Advised Fund. We will need to review to see if we want to move into a more aggressive fund. Karen made a motion to have the district investigate setting up a 501c3 District Foundation and to report back at the April meeting. Beth and Fred offered to look into this. Motion passed. Finance Committee Report: Jim Devlin Jim Devlin turned the report over to Jerry Wear who will be serving as the chair. Attendees all received copies of Jim Roxlo s approved budget in advance. There were many concerns expressed with the use of overruns in ledgers # 6400, 6310, 6220, 6019, 6018, 6017, 6003, 6001, There were several motions made with respect to the budget. Eliminate the paying of overruns by using the district surplus. Budget real expenses for the Governors Team Add $5000 to the Membership Committee To include travel to clubs for exciting presentations Review moving the District Conference to a separate account The following passed: Another budget review by the Finance Committee due by March 15, 2018 (Please send your specific budget recommendations to Jerry and Jim by February 6, 2018) The Finance Committee will review the District Conference as a separate account to be discussed at the April 2018 COG meeting

4 Resolutions Committee: Bobby Davis and Karen Wentz Bobby and Karen are reviewing the ROP for the district. They are asking everyone to read over and send notes to Karen and Bobby about wording and suggested changes. The ROP document should be reflective of the current COL. The team will send out for review with ways to track changes. Emeritus status guideline has been suggested. Please review and provide feedback to Bobby and Karen by Feb. 1. Foundation: Beth Stubbs Beth noted that the district took many top awards at the Zone for last year s giving to TRF. The Million Dollar Dinner was a huge success. Our district provided $700,000 in annual fund giving, a record year of giving. Beth visited 25 clubs to keep up the momentum of giving. To date, we have given $246,000 in annual giving, and $72,000 to polio. We added a matching district grant program totaling $17,000 for clubs for Sam Owari fund for polio. 35 clubs participated. We currently have $4000 left for district grants. The six Knoxville clubs went together to fund a school year exchange for a needy student. They have already signed up for next year. Global grant training has been occurring throughout the district, which is helping clubs understand and participate in these grants. Operations: Greg Maciolek Pack the Rink for Polio is scheduled for February 23 at the Knoxville Collesium, ($5.00 per ticket goes to End Polio Now.) Ben Brady, Livingston is the Communication Chair and he is putting together series of How to Use Rotary Club Central videos for clubs, and an on-line awards submittal application. He is also looking to update the district website. There are currently 74 registrants for Toronto. As suggested by John, the Governor s team will look into assigning an IT officer for the district. Programs: Jim Roxlo Service Projects Committee has a goal to increase global grants, but the projects needs to fit one of the six areas of focus to be approved. Community Service has a new district award for this committee Vocational Service- Primary project is The Four Way Test Speech Contest. Participation is growing, but we need to track club participation going forward Youth Exchange- There are 12 outbound students and 11 in- bound exchange students. There has been more involvement from clubs this year. RYLA had 186 students participate this fall. Interact-Over 550 students attended the conference, and there were 7 new Interact clubs started this year with 50 clubs sponsoring 57 Interact clubs. Fred commented that there is an opportunity for community based Interact clubs. Need to make sure the clubs know about the presidential citation.

5 Rotaract- A new Rotaract club has chartered at Sewanee. Conference in Chattanooga is scheduled for March 17. State of the District: Debbie Alexander- Davis Governor Debbie has finished all the official club visits and participated in 20 installations of officers. She covered the Presidential Citation and Awards as part of her official visit. It appears that one third of our clubs may earn the Rotary citation! Membership is part of the district citation but can include improvement in diversity. Turkey Creek Sunset Club has officially folded, but four of the seven remaining members have joined other Rotary clubs. Rockwood is growing in membership and diversity. Debbie is appealing to our state representatives to declare Feb. 23 Rotary Day in Tennessee. We also hope to be to plant trees on the grounds of the State Capitol or the Governor's Mansion to commemorate the day. Old Business: It was suggested that the District Governor propose a past District Governor to the nominating committee to be selected as the vice-governor for Governor Debbie adjourned the COG meeting at 12:09 Respectfully Submitted by: Patty Daughtrey, Secretary