Clubs in our District were well represented at the First Annual District 5050 Legislative Meeting on March 4.  Thirty-nine of the District’s fifty-four Clubs had representative attendance as well as two of the six active Rotaract Clubs.  Six Clubs that had representatives registered for the meeting did not attend. 

Following a half-hour of socializing that began at 6:30 PM, District Governor Isabelle Martinez Hayer welcomed attendees shortly after 7:00 PM. After confirming that there was a quorum, Immediate Past District Governor Dave Duskin, who chaired the District’s Leadership Plan and Policies review committee, explained that although the Board of Directors governs the District, policy changes must be ratified by the Clubs in the district. This used to be done at a business meeting held during a District Conference.  Recently, Rotary International eliminated the requirement for a District Conference, and a District legislative meeting has replaced the conference's business meeting.

In addition to policy changes, the Clubs in the District must review and approve the Annual Statement and Report for the previous Rotary year, in this case, the 2024-2025 year. So, after IPDG Dave explained the purpose of the meeting, Past District Governor and District Finance Director, Beverly Harrington, shared the report and answered questions.  The 2024-2025 Annual Statement and Report of District Finances was accepted for submittal to Rotary International. 

Following the acceptance of the financial report, the business shifted to approval of policy changes.  The District Policy Manual was amended by DG Isabelle to replace “district conference” with “legislative meeting.”  That change was approved (ratified) by those attending the meeting as the second action item.

The focus then shifted to the revisions to the District Leadership Plan and Polices (DLP) proposed by the Board of Directors. The DLP was first adopted by the Board in June of 2023. In addition to changes related to District Conferences, the primary changes adopted by the Board for ratification at the meeting concerned financial procedures. Electronic transfers have, for the most part, replaced the use of checks/cheques, given the slow postal services, especially since we are dealing with two countries.

Following very little discussion, the District Leadership Plan and Policies document, including the revisions made by the Board of Directors, was approved (ratified) and replaced the District Policy Manual. 

Each Rotary member in our District received an invitation to attend the first annual legislative meeting.  The invitation included links to the documents that were approved at the meeting.  Since the meeting, the revised document (District Leadership Plan and Policies) has been formatted so that each section in the table of contents includes a link to that section.  It can be found in the documents section of the District’s ClubRunner website. To access, click HERE.

Prior to the meeting, DG Isabelle also sent her State of the District Report to each Rotary member in District 5050.  She summarized her report at the end of the first Annual Legislative Meeting.  Her report can also be accessed in the documents section of ClubRunner, as can the minutes of the legislative meeting.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who attended.