Sundial

January 14, 2009
Volume XXXVII No. 16

Ugh! Just another “miserable” January day in Carefree/Cave Creek – NOT! (Sunny and 75)
We were welcomed with smiles (and hands out) by Kathy Haugner and Sam Brooks. Bob Hutson provided a very thoughtful invocation and Richard Saunders led us in the club song followed by My Country ‘tis of Thee. President Dave then thanked the room set up crew for another great job of getting everything ready for our meeting and we all sat down and enjoyed each other’s company and lunch.

Next week’s greeters will be John Skarda, who stated he was employee of the month for 240 months straight … of the Skarda Company, and Ed Knight, who indicated he wrote a reply to Jon Kyl asking what they were going to do with corporate crooks and reminding him of the complacency of congress.






Guests: Our guests today were Pete Gross, guest of John Skarda; Brian Jones, guest of Richard Saunders; and Chuck Harstad, guest of Bob Swan.

Wellness Report: Lou Snodgrass reported Wally Joachim was currently at the Care Center at 92nd and Shea in Scottsdale recovering from a staph infection and Blaine Keith, although having lost quite a bit of weight and having another fall, was doing pretty good.

Announcements
Salvation Army: Jim Shaw was all smiles when he reported this year’s bell ringers brought in $23,350 in donations. Great job ringers!

An Evening with Barry Goldwater Jr. – Jon Coates and Kris Proskus reminded everyone about the book signing at Desert Foothills Library featuring Barry Goldwater, Jr. on February 16th at 6:00pm. They asked those planning on attending to let them know as soon as possible as they need a head count for food and drinks. Books will be available; however, you need not purchase one to attend.

Funds Requests - If any member is approached by anyone requesting financial support from the Club, they should be informed by the Club member that we have a Funds Request form that must be completed prior to consideration. Applications are available from the Chairman T Lyons, call 480-575-3191

Help Wanted - The Sundial Committee is looking for a few good reporters and photographers. We're currently staffed such that each member contributes once a month. We'd like to get additional help from folks who would like to share their creative writing and photography skills with the club. As far as the time commitment, our consensus has it that the reporter invests approximately 1 hour, and the photographer has to simply upload photos to their computer. If you're interested in lending a hand, please give Tim Pitel a call at 623-308-2916.

Sundial Changes - In an effort to trim some costs, we've decided to reduce the postal mailing of the Sundial to once a month. Each issue will contain an entire month's worth of our club's news. This change will become effective with the first issue on April 1, 2009 which will contain the club news since March 1. Please note the online version will continue to be emailed weekly...whew!

Program
Herb Hayde introduced our guest speaker today, Bob Littlefield, Scottsdale Vice Mayor and councilman. Mr. Littlefield is a graduate of Arizona State with a B.S. in Engineering. He has lived in Arizona for 29 years, has been married to his wife, Kathy, for 38 years and has two children. He was also a past member of the Kiwanis Club of Carefree before moving out of the area.

Vice Mayor Littlefield indicated he felt Scottsdale was at the “end of an era” with Mary Manross leaving as Mayor after 8+ years. He stated he was an avid supporter of Jim Lane getting into office and is excited about the changes to come. In particular, he reported Mayor Lane’s centerpiece for City Hall is to be “more open and responsive to the citizens” of Scottsdale, and encouraged everyone to let the town know how they feel about upcoming issues. You can contact any or all of them online at scottsdaleaz.gov and clicking on the “city council” link.

He stated that Scottsdale fortunately had prepared for the possibility of a decline in the economy a couple of years ago by putting money away and, as a result, ended last fiscal year with a $12M unspent balance. This has allowed Scottsdale to be in a much better position to weather the shortfall. He also touted the efficient and aggressive department of tourism for Scottsdale as assisting in making up for some of downfall.

The Vice Mayor further spoke on land preservation, indicating Scottsdale had committed to keeping one-third of the city as open space, of which about one-half has already been acquired. The balance of the land is still available; however, with the decrease in sales (resulting in a loss of sales tax income dedicated to purchase land) and the competition from developers to purchase the land at higher prices, they’re work is cut out for them. He called the next two years as a crucial time for land preservation and to look and study carefully the State Trust Land Reform that will hopefully be on our next ballot. He is also hopeful that Mayor Lane and his new regime will be able to establish a better rapport with the State Land Department in order to fulfill their open land commitment.

Mr. Littlefield touched briefly on the Transportation Master Plan, more specifically bus service from Scottsdale to Carefree/Cave Creek, indicating the town of Scottsdale feels the demand is “too small” and if we are interested in having bus service offered, we need to let them know (by phone or email via their website).

This week's reporting and photography was handled wonderfully by Janie French and Joe Devito, respectively.