General News

The Club will be sponsoring a two person 6, 6 and 6 golf tournament at the Rivers Wild Golf Course on June 21st.  The entry fee, which includes 18 holes and a cart, steak dinner and flag prizes, will be $120 per team.  Flights will be determined by the number of entries.  It is estimated that the club can clear about $1,000 on the event.  Please contact Bob Hill if you'd like some brochures to post in your place of business.  Any members interested in participating or helping with the event should call the River Wilds Pro Shop at 426-2941.

The Club will be sponsoring a circus on Sunday, July 7th.  Please watch future newsletters and attend meetings for details.  Proceeds from the event are expected to be around $2,000.

Club members are reminded that there is now an electronic way to do make-ups.  Please go to the following web site for details:  www.rotary5450.org/eclub

Notes from the April 30th Meeting – Program Chair - Mary Jean Rahlfs

Mary Jean's guest for the day was Lorelee Byrd, Treasurer for the State of Nebraska.  Lorelee is a Washington County resident living on an acreage just west of Blair.  In October of last year Ms. Byrd was named the State Treasurer having worked in the department for over 6 years.  Prior to this work Ms. Byrd was an assistant for Congressman Doug Berueter.

Ms. Byrd has seen a  great number of  changes in the Treasurer's Office in the past 6 years.  She has been involved with the automation of the office and worked on a total process redesign of the operation.  Prior to the redesign there were multiple entries which prohibited the ability to obtain the best interest on state investments.  Although the redesign and subsequent computer system cost about $80,000 it was well worth the investment.  Now office personnel can record and process payments more quickly which allows for better investment strategies.  The estimated time to process a payment has been decreased from 10 days to less than three.  

A major accomplishment of the Treasurer's Office has been in the area of unclaimed property.  Since 1995 there has been a major push to get these funds back to the rightful owners.  In the past only newspaper ads were used, now the office is using TV ads and the result has been tremendous.  The current amount of unclaimed property is at a 24 year low and the state has one of the lowest amounts of unclaimed property in the country.

The Treasurer's Office is also using direct presentment of checks which gives the state access to payments within 24 hours.  In addition, the Office is utilizing a database to re-run bad checks on the projected payroll dates of those who wrote the checks.  This unique system costs about 4¢ per transaction.  Ms. Byrd indicated that this technology is available to any business that might be interested.

Treasurer Byrd has also been involved with the College Savings Plan of Nebraska.  This plan is one of the model plans across the country and thus far more than $101 million has been invested in the plan.  If you are interested in this plan, which allows a person to set aside funds for educational expenses of children, grandchildren and extended family members,  you should check with a financial advisor. 

In closing Ms. Byrd said the recent budget crunch felt by the state is not a tax problem but rather a spending problem.  There are ways to improve processes and resource allocation that could save significant dollars. 

Rotary Question of the Week

What is the Global Quest?
What is the goal for Rotary's Global Quest?

(If you don't know see page 14 of the January issue of The Rotarian or take the following link to the RI website http://www.rotary.org/newsandinfo/rotarian/0201/page08.html

Rotary Fact of the Week - from www.rotary.org/newsandinfo/newsbasket

The deadline is 24 May for Rotary's Global Quest—an ambitious campaign for every club across the world to bring in a new member every month and to increase net membership by at least five new Rotarians per club, and for each district to form a minimum of three new clubs in 2001-02.

Outstanding districts and clubs will be recognized at various levels with awards. Fifty districts and 100 clubs, identified as Global Quest winners, will receive a beautiful globe of the world made of semiprecious stones.

Thought of the Week

"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." Dr. Denis Waitley

May Birthdays
Ed Jipp 12th
Jim Petersen 16th
Ken Rhoades 22nd
Blake Dillon 27th
Dan Veskrna 28th

Service Above Self!