Opening/Chair: President Alana Hirtle called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. She was the chair for the day and she asked Mark Mason to lead the group in the singing of O Canada.
Visitors/Guests: Wayne introduced Jim Harman. Jim has been at previous meetings. He was with an Ontario Rotary Club prior to moving to our area.
The following guests were introduced:
Steve Barteaux
Andrea Jackson
Craig Johnson
Anna Rutherford
Member Health: No report
Happy Mug:
Brian was happy that he, Mike Topley, and others participated in a curling bonspiel in Pugwash the past weekend and were rewarded with first place!
Kirk was happy to announce that his son got engaged to a woman from Prince Edward Island.
50/50: Tom Savary held the right number, but the wrong card. The prize carries forward!
Announcements and Reports:
Alana spoke about the Town of Truro’s ‘Nominate Your Neighbour’ promotion which is inviting citizens to nominate someone for their contributions and good work they do for the community.
Alana noted we need to talk about our Sherlock evening event and decide if we are going to link it to the vocational visits, or not.
Lech reported that copies of the Yearbook were available for members to pick up after today’s meeting and share with the community and sponsors. He and Larry distributed photos for Rotarians to drop off at the sponsors.
Tom Savary reported on the mentoring initiative members have undertaken with NSCC students. He thanked members for the response to his email re: same. Tom also spoke about the vocational-business visits and encouraged members to participate in them. He thanked Derrick Higgins for hosting a visit at his insurance office Thursday evening past.
Wayne reported for the Recognitions Committee re: upcoming Charter Night and invited members to submit nominations for Four Avenues of Service, Rotarian of the Year, and the Community Service Award. Wayne noted the committee consists of the following 8 past Avenues of Service Citation recipients who are still active club members. Grant Langford, Les Mosher, Clyde Weldin, Garth Coffin, Lloyd Coady, Lydia Sorflaten, Dave Mills and Wayne as Chair.
Jim Gould shared the upcoming Training for Leaders of Clubs (TLCs) information and invited members to participate in the upcoming session here in Truro on Saturday, Feb. 17. Jim noted we are the only club in the district that has 27 goals in place. 35 clubs do not have any goals set.
President's Report: No report.
Speaker: Mayor Bill Mills was introduced by Chair Alana.
Biography: Mayor W.R (Bill) Mills Mayor Bill Mills was born and raised in Amherst, Nova Scotia. 2016 marks 30 years in service to Municipal Government for Bill. Bill, who has always had an interest in politics, was first elected to Amherst Town Council in 1979 where he served for one year as Councilor before moving to Truro in 1980. He has resided in Truro ever since. Bill and Phyllis have since extended their family to include seven children (5 girls and 2 boys) and five grandchildren.
Bill spent 30 years in broadcasting and the last 10 years in the print industry in sales and marketing.
Continuing his political career, he was elected to Truro Town Council in 1987, where he served as Councilor for Ward 3. He was elected Mayor of Truro in 1997, and remains in that position today. Mayor Mills has also taken on the responsibilities of being Deputy Mayor; Chair of the Police Commission; Chair of the Fire Station and Civic Hall Construction Committees; Chair of the Co-Generation & District Heating Committees, Past Chair of the New Library Committee and Chair of the Farmers’ Market Construction Committee; as well as many other committees and organizations throughout the Town. He has strong leanings toward clean energy opportunities such as solar power and currently sits on the Alton Gas Liaison Committee.
Interests include hockey, reading and politics, along with meeting new people. Bill is always looking for ways to increase opportunities for growth in Truro and cooperating with our partners in Colchester County.
Mayor’s points shared:
Expressed gratitude to be invited and share Town updates with the club.
Note he is working with a great staff, and noted town CAO/Rotarian Mike.
The town has a new ‘swagger’… library, skating oval, Farmers Market, Hometown Hockey, Rogers/Scotiabank
Truro Fire Brigade just celebrated 150th anniversary… founded 1868.
RECC – some challenges but working through them. Just installed a new de-humidification system to reduce ice fog during events; World Junior Hockey event showed the facility’s capability and the volunteer capacity of the town and area; the setup and take-down time has gone from 3 days to 24 hours.
New signing strategy underway re: parking and points of interest. Truro has 3000 parking spaces. Gave credit to the Planning Department for the work on this project.
Town and County have a great relationship; for example, the county invested $2.2m in the new library. Both Mayors meet regularly over coffee to chat about things. A good relationship also exists with Millbrook.
Victoria Park is a N.S. jewel.
The new economic development agency (REN) that replaced CoRDA has a newly appointed Executive Director.
In terms of the Urban Strategy being promoted by Don Mills – Truro and the County are using a cautious ‘regional’ approach.
Downtown train to be mobile by summer to shuttle people around to key points of interest… Signs for train stops in the works. Should be a plus-plus for Truro and tourism.
Invited members to see Douglas Street School and the lawn bowling facility
Town received an award for the Library design and for its International program.
Deficit reduction: on target to cut by $1.5m a year. Explained the town debt that is included in a provincial report on municipal financial indicators: the primary sources of debt are due to the hospital, library, RECC – projects that had to go ahead.
On the discussion table: Willow Street roundabout; Hilden Overpass; (needs provincial investment and will open up considerable land for development).
Town has a vacancy rate of 2%... an excellent indicator of growth.
Dave, Joanna had Larry questions on RECC parking (Dave) and on the traffic holdup when people want to turn left to Truro Heights just past Lawton’s Drugs (Joanna) and the Kiwanis Park name change to Rotary Park (Larry). All issues are currently being discussed.
Mayor Mills final point was about getting rusting traffic lights painted as a ‘first impression’ item for visitors, and a focus overall in planning is ‘low investment’ and ‘high impact’ strategy.
Sam Abushenaf thanked Mayor Mills and presented him with a token of appreciation.
This year’s Recognition Committee for our Club held their 1st meeting on Jan. 29th. Committee Members this year are former recipients of our Club’s “Avenue of Service Citation”. 14 “Citations” have been awarded over the last 16 years, and 8 of those recipients are still members of our Club, and all agreed to serve on this Committee. They are: Grant Langford, Les Mosher, Clyde Weldin, Garth Coffin, Lloyd Coady, Lydia Sorflaten, Dave Mills and Wayne Gillis. Over the next few weeks, the Committee will be nominating and receiving nominations of candidates for 3 recognitions:
The Community Service Award – to honour a non-Rotarian who has “provided outstanding service through volunteer work or financial support to organizations or families in need”.
The Avenues of Service Citation – to honour a Member of our Club “who has provided outstanding service to our Club and Rotary over multiple years”.
The Rotarian Of The Year – presented to a Member of our Club “who has provided outstanding service to our Club and Rotary in the past year”.
The recognitions will be presented at our Club’s Annual Charter Night on April 19th.
The Committee welcomes any suggestions from Members for any of the above Recognitions.
The Town of Truro is looking for submissions for the “Nominate Your Neighbour” campaign. Please help identify those individuals, couples or families who make our community neighbourhoods great. Those who through their selfless efforts, help to create a more connected, friendly and safer community and those who are working to make their community great.
You may find more information on the Town’s Facebook and website:
The spring Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) session is being held in Dieppe NB on Saturday April 7, 2018 at the CCNB Campus, 505 Rue du College located off Champlain St in Dieppe, NB. The sign in desk opens at 8:15 am and the sessions will run from 9:00 am to about 4:00 pm.
Depending on there being enough people who register in advance, all three Parts of the program will be offered. If there are not enough registered for any of the Parts before the cutoff date of Mar 21st, that Part will be cancelled.
Registration is all done on-line by clicking this link. The fee payable by cheque (or cash) at the door is $125. Breaks and lunch are included in the fee. When you register, indicate you are paying by cheque.
The Rotary Club of Truro will support members who want to attend by paying the registration fee.
(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)
Please add mailservice@clubrunner.com to your safe sender list or address book.
To unsubscribe from future e-mails, click here.
To forward this email to your friends, click here.
To view our privacy policy, click here.
ClubRunner
905.829.5299
102-2060 Winston Park Drive, Oakville, ON, L6H 5R7
Biography: Mayor W.R (Bill) Mills Mayor Bill Mills was born and raised in Amherst, Nova Scotia. 2016 marks 30 years in service to Municipal Government for Bill. Bill, who has always had an interest in politics, was first elected to Amherst Town Council in 1979 where he served for one year as Councilor before moving to Truro in 1980. He has resided in Truro ever since. Bill and Phyllis have since extended their family to include seven children (5 girls and 2 boys) and five grandchildren.
The Rotary Club of Truro was recognized by the Rotary International Foundation for contributions to the End Polio Now Campaign last year.
The spring Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) session is being held in Dieppe NB on Saturday April 7, 2018 at the CCNB Campus, 505 Rue du College located off Champlain St in Dieppe, NB. The sign in desk opens at 8:15 am and the sessions will run from 9:00 am to about 4:00 pm. 
.jpg){kind=logo}
.png)
