Next week: Dr. William Rohr, MCDH Board Member, will talk about the future of our local hospital.

Prez John Cottle opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thought for the Day, from the Prez: “Every woman needs a man who will ruin their lipstick but not their mascara.” Hmmm…

Guests Jenny Heckeroth from MAPA; Debra Lennox, a local architect, and Loren Rex from State Parks (all three are speakers today). Also back with us today, Frank Engelhardt! Hooray!

Happy Dollars:

  • Gary – $5 “just because”
  • Tom – happy that he won his appeal at court of appeals, but has to wait 40 days to see if it will go further.
  • Donna- happy to have a couch surfing guest coming in tonight to stay!
  • Sean – happy about his son’s birthday yesterday and the fun weekend they spent celebrating it, and also happy that his oldest daughter has been accepted to Vassar College. Congrats!!
  • Frank – received poem from someone (Wilma) that was very well received, and a reminder of the fellowship he was missing at Rotary; he’s happy to be back.
  • Guenter – happy his sister will be visiting tomorrow.
  • John C. – happy that Frank’s back. (Applause!)
  • Loren (guest) – happy that volunteers are coming out Saturday to clean up headlands for Earth Day.
  • Heather – happy that she has a B Corp presentation at UC Davis coming up on Monday!

Sunshine Report
Annie had surgery, and is recovering. Joe S is still suffering with shingles… Jerry is up and walking and feeling better. Word is he’s been spotted at Patterson’s Pub… 🙂

Wilma added, “A negative person sees the glass half empty, a positive person sees it half full, and a realistic  person adds a shot of whiskey and two ice cubes and says, Cheers!”

Announcement
The Rotary Park Art Competition deadline has been extended so that schools have enough time to participate. The entries so far are stunning and complex… Deadline extended to May 22. The Mendocino Community Center is accepting entries — they can be delivered there. Entries will be on display after May 22 for public evaluation and input.

Rotary Park looks fabulous, thanks to Matt O’Halloran!

Donna has scholarship applications from Mendocino High School, they are ready for review. She also brought extra dictionaries ($20) for sale.

Our club’s International Committee met last week, under Jeffry’s chairmanship, and decided to support cyclone relief in Vanuatu (South Pacific) with a shelter box and emergency relief kit through Shelter Box NZ and Rotary NZ. They decided to support different regions of the world, so submit your interests, and the committee will narrow down the list as the year progresses.

At end of May, Mendocino and Fort Bragg Rotary clubs will host 5 couples from India as part of a Rotary Friendship Exchange. Please let John C. know if you can host one of the couples the weekend of May 27.

John I. announced that next week’s program will be Dr. Rohr, on Board of our local hospital. It will be important to attend, since the hospital’s fate affects us all. Please let the secretary know if you’re bringing guests.

Today’s Program:
Kevin asked one finemaster question: What does MAPA stand for? If the person asked got it right, then everyone owes a dollar. He asked Wilma, one of the founders of MAPA, who of course got the answer right: Mendocino Area Parks Association. Pay up, everyone!

Kevin explained that rebuilding the bathrooms adjacent to Ford House is a priority. They take a lot of maintenance time by State Parks. He introduced today’s speakers: Jenny Heckeroth, Debra Lennox, and Loren Rex.

Jenny led efforts to restore Ford House — which took 6 years and lots of fundraising efforts. She’s been known as the Ford House Lady, and was a bit dismayed at the idea of becoming known as the Bathroom Lady, but she’s taken on leadership of the project. The job of MAPA is to inspire people to utilize our parks and appreciate the natural beauty of our area… so the bathroom project was a bit of a stretch, but they decided that people can’t enjoy and learn about the park if they’re not comfortable…

Thankfully Jenny’s powerpoint did not include pictures of the present state of the bathrooms. Instead she showed the view from the bathrooms… the ocean view is gorgeous. Our bathrooms need to reflect our status as a world class destination.

Funding will be raised by local Inns donating a percentage of their room rates, which little by little will raise substantial funds (currently they bring in $20K per year this way). The rest of the funding will come from grants, etc.

Loren from State Parks talked about the large numbers of people who use these restrooms. This project has completed its archeological and a few other reviews, and still needs coastal development permits, and more. All permitting may be done by the end of this calendar year, if all goes well. They will not be enlarging the square footage, but they will add ADA walkways, which triggers historical review board review.

Debra Lennox, local architect, has drawn up plans for the remodel. Now they can put it out to bid. Photos of the plans were shared. The number of toilets and entrances will increase, and the walkways will improve. They are keeping the new roof with the dormer window (installed by MAPA in 2012). There will be 2 universal stalls with individual access points. The women’s room will have 4 toilets, and the men’s room will have 2 urinals and a stall. So it’s going from 4 toilet fixtures to 9 fixtures.

Debra is a LEED accredited architect, and believes in natural lighting and plenty of ventilation. Plans are almost ready for submittal. The interior may be tiled with hand-painted tiles, painted by local artists and kids. They’ll use LED lighting, and other environmental choices.

Currently a lot of the vandalism happens to the bathrooms at night, but they’ve decided not to shut down the bathrooms altogether at night. Rather, they’ll leave one of the universal units open at night. They’ve flipped the entrances of the men’s and women’s entrances, so that the women’s entrance is more in view of the Ford House — this should increase the safety of the facility.

The presenters addressed additional questions about risks of vandalism. The designers are researching options for materials and finishes that are both aesthetic and vandal-proof.

Kudos were given to Loren and State Parks for their improvements to the headlands.

Raffle winners: Father Lou, and John I. No one drew the joker, so the pot continues to grow – $249 and counting!