Club Meeting - Featuring Robin Persiconi and Kayleigh Kavanaugh Reid, Candidates for Livonia City Council

Our meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the Invocation given by Larry Stevens, and Happy Bucks were collected by Sharon Pommerville.

Club President Nancy Darga provided an inspirational message about finding happiness even through disappointment and pain. “We see the Happy in the World”

Nancy also suggested that we start referring to Rotary Club Events as “Experiences".

Tammy Bonifield asked the Club to allow her to purchase an inflatable Rotary Wheel for special events and parades at a cost to the club of $450. The purchase was approved.

An update was provided on the Touch a Truck event scheduled for Saturday, August 23. Military helicopters would no longer be participating, just one 4-seat helicopter landing around 9:30 AM. As of this meeting, we now have 76 trucks that have confirmed participation at the event. The Committee has also raised $8,800 so far. Livonia TV will stop by in the morning and the District Governor, Linda Morrow is expected around 10:30 AM.

Nancy updated the club on the Rebuild Rotary Park initiative.  Even though the engineer's replacement cost estimate had been $600,000, out of the 9 bids the city received, they ranged in price from $829,000 to $1.2 million. At the August 11th City Council meeting, the item was pulled from the agenda and referred to a study session. It had been suggested to save money, a cheaper cement block prefab structure be installed. Currently, the Rotary has raised $29,003.

The first Candidate to speak to the club was Robin Persiconi. She started with a short personal history. Robin was born and raised in Livonia and attended Livonia Public Schools. She then attended Universities in Michigan and obtained her Law Degree. She opened a law office in Livonia after graduation and has been an attorney for 22 years. She and her husband and 2 daughters live in Livonia.

Her skills are asking the right questions and determining a solution. She would bring that same skill to the City Council for any issue brought before the council by residents or anyone else. She currently is VP of the Livonia Housing Commission whose mission is to provide adequate housing and community development assistance for low and moderate income seniors and families.  Robin is running for Council because she believes Livonia can do better. Also Public Safety is the foundation and a #1 priority of her campaign. 

2nd in importance is the local economy - she will help bring businesses including small businesses to Livonia, and believes the city needs a vocational Tech program in conjunction with the public school. She would also like to see a city beautification commission.

Find out more information about Robin on her website: PickRobin.com.

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The 2nd Candidate for Livonia City Council to speak was Kayleigh Kavanaugh Reid. She is a lifelong Livonia resident and attended Livonia Public Schools. Her husband and 3 sons live in Livonia. Kayleigh has been the Executive Director of the Livonia Spree for 3 years. When she first became director of the Spree, a lot needed to be done to bring in more people, vendors, and cash. She was happy to report that the relationship with vendors has vastly improved, and this year the Spree was able to give almost $58,000 in Grants to local groups that had applied.

The main reason Kayleigh is running for City Council is family. She started taking her sons to the Livonia Parks and was disappointed to see that many of the parks were not being updated or even maintained like they should be. The equipment was in need of repairs, grass was not always cut, and in a lot of the parks, it was mostly weeds. When other friends of hers with young families wanted to take their kids to activities in Livonia, there were none or very few so they had to go to other cities that had more to offer. So she decided that something had to be done.

Kayleigh wants to make sure, as a council member, that Senior resources are protected, invest in our infrastructure, and make sure our public buildings are properly maintained.

Since the Bond failed there is not money for the improvements that the city needs to rehab any of the buildings so she wants to be a part of the council so the city can move forward.

To find out more about Kayleigh visit her website: kayleighforlivonia.com.

Rotary soccer balls were presented to both candidates.

Greg Greene had time to provide us all with just one of his famous Dad jokes this week.

Marlene Katafias