12/4: Senator Sandy Senn: I-526 Project

December 4, 2018:  Sandy Senn, SC Senator for District 41, visited our club this past Tuesday and provided a very informative update of recent developments in Columbia. We learned many “insider” details and insights that one doesn’t typically pick up from regular media reports.

Although she has been in the Senate nearly two years, Sandy explained she will still be a “freshman”  Senator through the remaining two years of her term. But despite her lack of seniority, Sandy has played a leading role on many issues and has had several significant achievements.

Sandy shared that there are upcoming rules changes that would take some of the powers of the Pro Tem and place them under the President of the Senate.  She also shared some insight on I-526 and the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB). The chairman of the SIB, appointed by the governor, voted to wind down the project in June. However, Henry McMaster came out in strong favor of the project, especially after the shutdown of the 526 Wando Bridges earlier this year. The board voted 5-2 in October to revive the project with the chairman voting in favor.

Regarding the SCANA nuclear project debacle, Sandy said she wanted a higher rate cut than the 13% that Senate bill proposed, and she therefore voted against the bill. After negotiations with the House the rate cut was closer to where she thought it should be. Sandy explained that it was not possible for ratepayers to get everything back that has been put into the project. In her opinion, SCANA was being above the board in managing the project up to a point in time. Money that was brought in after they stopped acting in good faith, needed to be refunded as much as possible. She is hopeful that the deal with Dominion will end up in a fair resolution for ratepayers.

Sandy talked a good bit about another hot issue on everyone’s mind in the lowcountry – flooding. She is proud of the work that the Flood Prevention Taskforce has been able to accomplish. She became familiar with the problems of having multiple entities being responsible for drainage by dealing with the complexities on James Island. The same ditch could be the responsibility of the City of Charleston, Town of James Island, or Charleston County based upon where it was in the same neighborhood. The taskforce brings all the governmental entities together every three months and they inspect known trouble areas and come up with solutions. Many of the issues are due to lack of maintenance. One example Sandy cited was near her office on Folly Road. They discovered that the main drain lines that drain from Byrnes Down through Windermere and the Crescent to the Ashley River were nearly full of dirt. Sandy thanked Mayor Tecklenburg for his involvement and support of the task force and the mayor commended Sandy for her leadership on the issue. He said she had greatly reduced the fingerpointing that used to happen between the various governmental departments. Sandy said there were still some issues to overcome: SCDHEC-OCRM has been denying permits to do maintenance work on existing infrastructure. She has written them to question their authority in doing so and they have seemed to become more cooperative.

After her remarks, Sandy took questions from the club. First came a “thank you” for her work on the flooding issues in Byrnes Down. There was a question about a flyover at the Main Road and Highway 17 South, which Sandy said she did not think was likely to happen soon because of other commitments for highway funds. A question was asked about funding for education in light of the recent Post & Courier series on SC Public Education. Sandy said that is the committee that has been most frustrating for her to work on. In her opinion there are too many administrators that take vital funding away from teachers and classrooms. She also said she hears from teachers that the amount of testing is taking away from instructional time. The final comment from the audience were more words of gratitude for the work Sandy has performed with the Department of the Aging, which is now a cabinet level post and getting much needed attention from the governor and legislature.  Sandy closed by encouraging everyone to sign up for here email newsletter and to fill out a survey on her performance. Sandy can be reached at [email protected].

Jeff Webb, Keyway Committee

IN OTHER MEETING NEWS
  • Debbie Barton gave the Invocation and led us in the pledge.
  • Bob DeGraff introduced our Visiting Rotarians and guests.
  • President Alex Dallis presented Health and Happiness.
  • Howard Chapman introduced our keynote speaker, Senator Sandy Senn, who discussed the I-526 project.

MORE IN THIS WEEK’S KEYWAY
December 11, 2018 | Issue 4913 | President: Alex Dallis

COMING EVENTS
  • Dec.  11 – Holiday Luncheon, 12noon / Holiday Wrapping for Seniors
  • Dec. 12 – Holiday Party for Seniors
  • Dec. 14 – Salvation Army Bell Ringing
  • Dec. 17 – Operation Warm @ Mitchell Elementary, 1pm
  • Dec. 19 – Operation Warm @ James Simons Elementary, 8am
  • Dec. 18  – No Meeting — Happy Holidays!
  • Dec. 25 – No Meeting — Happy Holidays!
  • Jan. 1 – No Meeting — Happy Holidays!
  • Jan. 8 – Allison Lee & Lauren Lockridge, US Women’s Open Golf Tournament
  • Jan. 15 – Board Meeting / Mayor John Tecklenburg, State of the City
NEWS BRIEFS

Holiday Parade of Boats Sponsors

Thanks to all our 2018 sponsors of our annual Holiday Parade of Boats Viewing Party. It’s our biggest fund raiser of the year and we depend on the generosity of local businesses like these to help meet our goals.

This year’s sponsors include:

Post & Courier
105.5 The Bridge/98 Rock
Live 5 – WCSC
Eventworks
Swing & Swine
Palmetto Boat Sales
Sea Fox Boats
Skirt!

Gold Sponsor
Charleston Riverdogs

Silver Sponsors
Belk/Lucy
CresCom Bank
Daniel Ravenel Sotheby’s International Realty
Francis Marion Hotel
GrandSouth

VIP – Friends of Rotary
Charleston Southern University
College of Charleston
Dallis Law Firm
Digit Matheny/Carolina One
McGuire & Company
Kay Minson/Carolina One
Professional Non-Profit Solutions
John Cowan & Marie-Anne Erki
Bill Raver
First Citizens Bank
Patterson Smith Company
Soil Consultants
USB/Karl Riner

Holiday Parade of Boats

Santa called his crew off the water Saturday night, but that didn’t stop him and Mrs. Claus from making a special appearance at our club’s annual Holiday Parade of Boats Viewing Party! We thank the wonderful crowd of merry-makers who braved the wet, cold night to attend our annual holiday party. A fun, festive time was had by all in attendance! There was delicious food from Swig & Swine, live entertainment, and a special visit from Santa.  The evening wrapped up with the all anticipated drawing of the SeaFox Boat! Congratulations to our winner Melissa Capps, who is HR Director at Wild Dunes.  Our other raffle prize winners were:

Brunch for 2 – Gift Certificate to Post House – Sarah Slayton
Dinner for 2 – Git Certificate to High Cotton – Robin Herrera
$100 Gift Certificate for Charleston Hospitality Group – Scott Cataline
$100 Gift Certificate for Charleston Hospitality Group – Jermaine Husser
Saturday Brunch for 2 – Slightly North of Broad – Casey McIntyre
Family 4 Pack at Riverdogs – Jane Blewer
Lunch for 2 – Ritas Seaside Grill – Tom Carico
Bottle of Firefly Whiskey Jam – Dan Ravenel
Bottle of Firefly Whiskey Jam – Frank Blanchard
Golf for 4 at Wild Dunes – Debbie Smith

A big thanks to all Rotarians who supported our event!  We couldn’t have had a successful event without everyone doing their part!!

Rotary Foundation Giving

The District March is Back …. Effective November 10 through December 31, 2018, Rotarians will receive 1 recognition point for every dollar when a contribution of at least $100 up to $500 is made.  This is a limited time offer.  The points are available and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.  When the points are gone — they are GONE! Please contact our Rotary Foundation Chair, Karl Riner at [email protected] to take advantage of the program.

RCCF Presents Grant Check to Reading Partners of SC

The RCCF Committee made its final check presentation this week. Committee members visited Reading Partners at North Charleston Elementary.  The committee was able to see first-hand how our club’s donation will be used to purchase additional books for their Read Aloud Library. The program at North Charleston Elementary serves 40-60 students with the help of 50-70 community volunteers.  Each of the 1 on 1 tutoring sessions begins with tutors reading aloud to the students a book from the Read Aloud Library to model mature, fluent reading. Reading Partners has programs in schools throughout Charleston and are looking for volunteer tutors.  They currently have around 200 students on the waiting list for this program.  If you would like to get involved, Carroll will gladly put you in contact with the appropriate person.  RCCF Chair Paul Stoney, Robert Sullivan, Charlie Palmer, Lisa Van Bergen, Rob Byko (grant sponsor) and Carroll Schweers represented our club and the RCCF Committee on this visit. Congratulations to Reading Partners!  Our club is pleased to support their efforts to build the next generation of reading lovers in our community.

 Holiday Luncheon 

Our Annual Holiday Luncheon will be held at Faber THIS Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 12:00noon.  We will be having a plated meal just as if we were at Hall’s.  There will also be a cash bar for those who want to celebrate the season. Reservations for this event are now closed. There is no charge for Rotarians and spouses/guest will be charged $40.

 Board Members Elected

President Alex, Digit Matheny, Karl Brady, Paul Stoney & Charlie Palmer

We are pleased to announce that Karl Brady, Digit Matheny, Charlie Palmer and Paul Stoney have all been elected to the 2019-2020 Board of Directors.  On July 1, 2019, they will join President-Elect Sandy Morckel, Rob Dewey, Karl Riner, Heidi Finniff and Kerby Teller on the Board.  We had a strong slate of candidates and sincere appreciate all candidates’ willingness and desire to serve our club.  Congratulations to all!

Holiday Senior Giving

We are gearing up for our Annual Senior Gift Giving and Party for the residents of the Ansonborough House. The Historic Rotary Club of Charleston is very proud that we have the opportunity to make sure every resident of the Ansonborough House has a wonderful holiday. We need your support to make this a success! Gifts have been purchased.  We now need volunteers to  wrap the presents immediately following our holiday luncheon on Tuesday, December 11 and host the party at the Ansonborough House on Wednesday, December 12 at 12:00noon.  If you can volunteer or have any questions, please contact Mark Smith @ [email protected]

Ringing Bell for Salvation Army

Our Annual “Ringing of the Bell” for Salvation Army will be held on Friday, Dec. 14.  We will have two stations – one at King/Market and one at Meeting/Market.  There are still volunteer slots available. Please contact Karl Brady at [email protected].

Operation Warm

We are again supporting Operation Warm and have purchased winter coats for children at both James Simons Elementary and Mitchell Elementary downtown.  Volunteer elves are needed to distribute the coats to the children on Monday, Dec. 17 at 1pm at Mitchell Elementary and on Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 8am at James Simons Elementary.  Please reach out to Trey Lucy at [email protected], if you can help spread a little cheer to the students at these two schools.

International Committee to Meet

The International Committee will meeting on January 8th right after our luncheon.  We are looking for anyone who would like to participate in the evaluation and selection of our budgeted funds to international service projects around the globe.  Please join us if you can or reach out to [email protected], committee chair.

Our Club is on Instagram

Our club launched an Instagram account this week.  Please be sure to follow us at @ChasRotaryClub, which is our Twitter handle, as well.

Members are encourage to follow all of our social media channels and share posts with their followers too!  We also need members to send us picture of anything they do that relates to Rotary – service projects, meetings, events, etc.  We would love to keep our accounts full of smiling Rotarians! Photos can be send to Mike Sottak, [email protected], or Rob Byko, [email protected].

Join the PR Committee and Earn Service Hours, too! (Fame, notoriety and recognition from your peers is FREE!)

We’re looking for 3 to 4 Rotarians to help us spread the word about our Club through various communications channels. Your contributions will reach countless Club members, family and friends, as well as the local community at-large more than 36-times a year! Your feature stories and timely coverage of Rotary Club events may also be picked up by District, National and International Rotary news channels.

Don’t worry if your’re not an expert techie, can’t write like Hemingway and Pat Conroy, or wield a camera like Steve McCurry or Annie Leibovitz – our super-qualified A-team will be right there to support your efforts with training and guidance you’ll need to see your by-line and photo-credit circulation grow to an epic scale.

Social Media Manager:  Work with team members, committee heads and the Board on developing, publishing and promoting social media content for the Club. Active channels now include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Familiarity with these or emerging platforms will be helpful, as will knowledge of what makes for successful SM content. Experience with search optimization techniques will earn you immediate MVP status. While your own exposure to Social Media is helpful, it is not essential. The team will gladly train our e-challenged volunteers, too!

Keyway Production Manager: Work with co-chairs, Keyway editor and our content development team to publish our weekly newsletter on club web site. Familiarity with web publishing and content managing systems (e.g WordPress) a plus.

Keyway Content Developers: Copywriters & storytellers who can develop short-form, original content including summary articles, possibly combined with team-generated photos and/video content, to provide coverage of weekly meetings and presenters, as well as occasionally produce special features on past or upcoming club events, special projects and fundraisers.

So if you are interested in maximizing your Rotary experience, this is your chance to create an immediate and long-lasting impact on how our Club is regarded by current and prospective members. You will also be shaping how our Club will be recognized by our peers, our community and by Rotary International for the good work of our members.

Join the Charleston Rotary Press Corps and help generate that buzz! Contact Mike Sottak, [email protected], or Rob Byko, [email protected], for more information.

MEMBER NEWS

Member News

We are sending healing thoughts to Rob Dewey and Fred Sales.  Rob had last minute rotator cuff surgery this past Tuesday morning and Fred has been hospitalized over the weekend.  We are keeping both these Rotarians in our thoughts and prayers as they recover!

President Alex & Brett Barry

President Alex presented Brett Barry with his BLUE membership badge this past Tuesday.  Brett has been an active new member chairing our Environmental efforts, as well as, coordinating our Member Spotlight last year. He successfully completed his Red Badge requirements.  Congratulations to Brett — you are an “official” Rotarian!

Past President Jimmy Stuckey & Past President Alissa Lietzow

All those in attendance enjoyed seeing Past President Jimmy Stuckey at our meeting last week! We hope he’ll attend more often as we seem to have great attendance in his presence! 

Several members were recognized for their years of perfect attendance this past Tuesday:

Brian Johnson – 15 years
Alex Dallis – 14 years
Rhett Dunaway – 14 years
David Burt – 1 year    

Their continuous dedication to Rotary and attending weekly meetings is be commended!  What an excellent example they set for all of us!

Proposed New Member

The following membership candidate has submitted an application and signed letter of agreement to the Historic Rotary Club of Charleston:

Steven H. Morse – sponsor:  Rob Dewey; classification:  Banking/Operations

In the event you know Steve, please tell a member of the Board how he will serve the ideas of Rotary.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Heidi Finniff 

  • Heidi Finniff

    Joined:  Joined Rotary in 2009 in Ohio and transferred to our club in 2016

  • Sponsor:  Past President David Burt
  • Membership Involvement:  Current Board Member/Membership Director; Rotary Readers; Boat Parade Sponsorship Coordinator
  • Classification:  Commercial Banker
  • Profession:  Commercial Banker, PNC Bank
  • Something Unique About Yourself:  I’m the only Heidi Finniff in the world! Literally, no one else has my name.
Birthdays
  • December 11 – Tom McVicker

By the numbers

Attendance on December 4, 2018:  80

Not in attendance:  Baggs, Bailey, Bishop, Brack, Bullard, Carico, Clark, Cole, Cooper, J., Coxe, Davies, Dewey, Embry, Finniff, Geffert, Gill, Giovaniello, Hudnall, Jones, Z., Kerrigan, Krumwiede, LaMotte, Livingston, Lucy, Marty, McVicker, Mitchell, Plotner, Raver, Rust, Saboe, Savage, Schmidt, Seguer, Smith, P., Stokes, Taylor, E., Taylor, T., Teller, Welborn, Whitaker, Williams, A., Youngs

Out of Town Make-ups:  None

WELLNESS TIP

Practice Fire Safety

Most residential fires occur during the winter months, so don’t leave fireplaces, space heaters, food cooking on stoves, or candles unattended. Have an emergency plan and practice it regularly.  And, know where your fire extinguishers are located and how to use them. 

AREA CLUB MEETINGS

Mondays

  • Summerville – Oakbrook: 7:30 a.m., Monday, Westcott County Club, 5000 Wescott Club Drive, North Charleston
  • North Charleston: 12:30 a.m., Monday, Hilton Garden Inn, 5265 International Blvd, North Charleston.
  • Summerville Evening: 5:30 p.m., Monday, Montreux Bar and Grill, 127 W. Richardson Ave., Summerville

Tuesdays

  • East Cooper Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Cooper River Room at Waterfront Park, Mount Pleasant
  • Charleston: 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, Hall’s Signature Events, 5 Faber, Charleston
  • Goose Creek: 12:45  m. Tuesday, Gilligan’s, 219 St. James Ave., Goose Creek

Wednesdays

  • Daniel Island: 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Daniel Island Club, 600 Island Park Dr., Daniel Island
  • St. John’s Parish (John’s Island): 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, 2817 Maybank Highway, Unit 1, John’s Island
  • Mount Pleasant: 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Harbor Breeze Restaurant, 176 Patriots Point Road, Mount Pleasant
  • Summerville: 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sticky Fingers, Summerville

Thursdays

  • North Charleston Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Embassy Suites, 5055 International Blvd., North Charleston
  • Moncks Corner: 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Gilligan’s Restaurant, Moncks Corner
  • St. Andrews (West Ashley): 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Bessinger’s BBQ, 1602 Savannah Highway, Charleston.

Fridays

SOCIAL MEDIA 

Our Rotary club actively uses social media — and we encourage you to interact with us through social media.

ABOUT THE KEYWAY 

The Keyway has been published weekly as a newsletter for the Rotary Club of Charleston for more than 90 years.

  • President: Alex Dallis
  • Keyway editor: Don Baus [email protected]
  • Executive secretary: Carroll Schweers, [email protected]
  • Mailing address: Rotary Club of Charleston, P.O. Box 21029 ,Charleston, SC 29413-1029
  • Copyright 2018, Rotary Club of Charleston. All rights reserved.