Club Meeting Featuring Aarica Smith, Community Outreach and New Government Affairs for the City of Livonia

The meeting started a little late due to the snow accumulation and frigid temperatures. Thanks to Tammy for getting us started until our President, Nancy Darga, arrived. An additional shout-out to Bill Friske and Pat Zucal for getting all the technology up and running so that those of us who stayed home could attend the Zoom meeting, and kudos to those who braved the weather to attend the meeting in person. Bob Carris gave an Invocation and Sharon Pommerville conducted Happy Bucks, and President Nancy provided a slide presentation of today’s meeting topics and recent correspondence.

President Nancy received a request from a student requesting a letter of recommendation from the Livonia Rotary AM. After a short discussion, it was decided to adopt a policy that anyone requesting a written letter of recommendation from our Rotary Club must have a direct association with our Club in some shape or form. The policy was proposed, voted on and accepted. 

Erin Dobbins spoke to us about the project called “Save Sibley Prairie”, an endangered nature preserve that is up for sale. There are 11 organizations that have come together to save the land from being sold and to ensure that the land remains a nature preserve. The land is 440 acres near Brownstown and is currently up for sale for 6 million dollars. Erin believes that pledging $6,000.00 from our Rotary club would be a worthy contribution and in line with Rotary principles. President Nancy asked to table the discussion until the Giving Committee can explore Erin’s proposal.

On a fun note—President Nancy reminded members that Bocci Night is approaching, Jan. 27. This is an evening to socialise with all the local Rotarian Club members: AM, Nooners, and Garden City, at the Italian American Club (19200 Five Mile Rd) starting at 6:00 PM. Cash bar and food, and most importantly, Bocci Ball. Nancy gave some tips on how to survive this brutal game (lol) and said to bring a tape measure?

The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) training program is scheduled for May 15-17. The goal of the program is to provide an intense experience that brings together young people, ages 14-18, to further develop their character, leadership skills, learn about Rotary and create service projects in their community. Pres. Nancy is hoping that a student from each of our club’s Interact groups will attend this training. Nancy proposed that one of our club members (perhaps Claude?) give a talk to each of our Interact Clubs about the importance of developing leadership skills. Members agreed this would be valuable to the students. Registration for RYLA is now open.

A summary of the funds allocated to the Rebuild Rotary Park project was provided. $586,245 was awarded to the contractor, George H. Pastor, $260,828 came from the insurance settlement, and $300,000 came from the grant submitted by State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky. The Livonia Rotary Club’s request for donations to support this project is now concluded and the collected funds will go toward additional improvements to the rest stations and the shelter. The city already spent $50,000 to repair the roof of the smaller pavilion.

Today, we were expecting our speaker to be Ted Davis, Superintendent of Livonia’s Parks and Recreation. Unfortunately, he had a family emergency.

However, we were lucky to have Aarica Smith take Ted’s place. Aarica works for the Livonia Mayor’s office in Community Outreach and New Government Affairs. She is the liaison for the City Council. Aarika was raised in Livonia and graduated from Franklin HS. Aarika filled us in on what is happening with the Noble Library that has been a hot issue for residents who want to save it versus the city that believes it needs to be torn down. Currently, the library is closed, and the interior is not being maintained although the exterior is still being taken care of. The cost to remediate the mold in the interior of the building is 2 million, and total renovation costs are estimated at 6 million. A task force has been formed to weigh the pros and cons of the building’s future. 



Victoria Haltom