Meeting Recap, 1/12/2016
Posted By Scott Jones
Happy Tuesday, Rotarians.
Need to Know:
- Activity for our Romance Raffle is ramping up. Our 3rd Annual Romance Raffle will be held on Friday, February 12, 2016. ****Tickets are now available!!!!**** They are $140.00 per couple again this year. Checks should be made out to “Romance Raffle”
****Start soliciting sponsors now! If the donated item is a gift certificate/card, please turn it in with the form. We need items for the live and silent auctions or cash donations to pay event expenses.
- Please turn in your pecan money. Pecans are now at Southern Missouri Bank if you need any.
- Upcoming speakers: on January 19th, Rayanna Anderson with MSU’s Small Business & Technology Development Department will be with us; on January 26th, Connie Stockton will be talking about the City’s Tree Committee. There are lots of great speakers on the calendar, so invite a guest!
- Our next board meeting will be Wednesday, January 13th at noon. It will be held at Southern Missouri Bank. All members are welcome.
- Webster County Friends of the Library will be hosting a trivia night at the United Methodist Church on January 23, 2016 at 6:15 PM. The cost is $50.00 per table.
- Go ahead and put this on your calendar now: the Marshfield Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2016, with a rain date of March 19th.
Meeting Recap
Mary Bransfield from Central Bank has submitted an application for membership. There is one week left to comment if you have any questions or concerns. Please contact Scott Jones with any feedback.
Our guests today: Our speaker, Mayor Robert Williams and his son-in-law, Max, acting City Manager Sam Rost, and new Southern Missouri Bank president, Chris Owens.
We “sang” to celebrate the birthdays of Teresa Housholder and Misty Troyer.
We all signed a “get well” card for Marlena Clopton, who recently had surgery.
Our speaker this week was Marshfield Mayor Robert Williams. The focus of his speech was about the need for the City and all of the local organizations to work in harmony by embracing a common vision, sharing information and ideas, and by building a cohesive brand for Marshfield. Per Mayor Williams, economic development is better if everyone does it together. He has three main focuses: creating the right space for development; developing the local workforce for today’s economy; and improve the marketing of the city.
To address the issue of development space, the city has had monthly meetings with MoDot, the railroad and the county to develop a plan for when MoDot funding is available, and to discuss projects the City can do now to improve access, roads, etc. Since the Spur development debt is now paid off, there is a revenue source for road improvements. The City will begin the first phase of an 8-year project to improve the Square this year.
As to the workforce issue, if Marshfield wants to attract employers with better paying jobs, then we need to have a better-trained workforce. Right now this community is below average in tech training. The addition of higher education classes offered by OTC here now is a step in the right direction.
Mayor Williams’ third focus is improving the marketing of the City. Marshfield needs to do a better job marketing itself as a great place to live and work. Mayor Williams is asking leaders of all of the organizations in Marshfield to meet together as a group to exchange information, ideas and promote a brand for the community.
Final Thoughts
“Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then we shall find the way.”
Abraham Lincoln
The world lost a true original this week – the brilliant, innovative and influential David Bowie. It was so hard picking which weird and wonderful video to link to this week.
Marshfield Rotary Club: Raising the bar through leadership, giving and education.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Kristin Grace Krebs