Meeting |
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Report |
Meeting |
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Report |
November 16, 1999 |
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President Worth Williamson called the meeting to order shortly after
12:30 PM. Brain Shick provided an up-beat Health and Happiness Report by announcing
that we have no health issues to report and telling an amusing true story about how Sen. Strom
Thurmond introduced his young aide, a friend of Brian's from S.C., to King
Hussein. Mary Rinehart introduced six visiting Rotarians and ten guests. After the Pledge of Allegiance, club members were led by Don Sanders in singing "America the Beautiful". Sadler Barnhardt offered the invocation. Teresa Evans introduced a delegation of visitors from Limoges, France, one of Charlotte's Sister Cities. President Worth reminded club members that we will be receiving donations of clothing for Crisis Assistance Ministries throughout November, and said to call Jim Adams if we have a large quantity of items to donate and need help transporting it. Don Haack reported that our club received an award at last week's Rotary Foundation dinner for the largest contribution for the district. 12 of our club members attended the dinner. Larry Sagehorn announced plans for a one-day hike and asked interested members to see Lee Derby after the meeting. Tom Robertson asked members to sign up to help with the Salvation Army's Christmas Kettle Collection at the Square from 11:30 - 1:30 Dec. 1-23. Club members were reminded to reserve Jan. 22, 2000 for a millennium celebration. Richard Bailey announced that we would have a special program on Dec. 7 to remember Pearl Harbor Day and pay special tribute to survivors of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Harry Weatherly introduced new member Susan Hutchins, who works in Mecklenburg County's Human Resources Department. Susan is a native of Mecklenburg County and graduate of Queens College. She and her husband Mickey live in Huntersville and are members of Davidson College Presbyterian Church. President Worth introduced the following members seated at the head table: Frank Martin, Tom O'Brien, Martin Waters, Sadler Barnhardt, Mac McCarley and John Nicolay. Martin Waters introduced our speaker, club member John Tabor, Chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission and Commission member since 1990. A graduate of Clemson University, with a masters in Architecture from Clemson and an MBA degree from Duke, John moved to Charlotte in 1984. He owns Tabor and Associates, an architectural consulting firm, and formed US Mortgage Group in 1997. John's topic was "Smart Growth," a new political "buzzword" to describe an approach to community planning which aims to meld components normally kept separate, such as land design, uptown revitalization, transportation, urban sprawl, infill development. John recognized other club members who have served on the Planning Commission, including David Anderson, John Lassiter, and Tom O'Brien. He defined the "Smart Growth" process by describing the projections for population growth world-wide and in Charlotte, and citing a study by the American Institute of Architects on the most important issues facing our nation in the future. Urban sprawl, land use planning, and transportation ranked second behind education as the most pressing issues. He compared Charlotte's size and population today with 50 years ago and with projections for 50 years hence. Charlotte now has approximately 540,000 people living within 240 square miles, compared with 135,000 people within only 30 square miles 50 years ago. 50 years from now, we will have over one million people within a geographic area of 380 square miles. The City Council and County Commission established a "Smart Growth Initiative," and appointed a committee to assess our current situation and plan where we should go from here. A Citizens Task Force of 30 people was selected to address four aspects of community planning:
Though there were many definitions of Smart Growth, 14 guiding principles were set forth as goals or policies that, together, constitute an operational definition of Smart Growth. They are grouped into four categories and provided the framework for an audit of our county:
The audit team made recommendations in six
areas and the Task Force will receive public input over the next several months. John
cited four examples of Charlotte successes which showed long-range vision, including our
2025 Land Use-Transit Plan, Greenway Plan, Land Banking, and Surface Water Improvement
Management (SWIM) Plan. President Worth adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM. * * * |
New Member
Joined 1999 Human Resources, County Government
600 E. Fourth St. (28202) 336-5776 FAX 336-7930 Susan Hutchins is the director of the Mecklenburg County Human Resources Department. She joined the County March 1, 1993. As director of the Human Resources Department, Hutchins oversees the management of county personnel functions such as recruitment, new employee orientation, job classification, employee relations, compensation and other employment benefits, training and development, performance management, employee health and wellness programs. She manages a staff of 25 and a budget of $2.7 million to provide services to 4,500 county employees. Prior to joining Mecklenburg County, Hulchins served as personnel director with the N.C. Department of Human Resources from 1989 to 1993. In that position, she provided leadership in personnel administration for the largest department in state government, with jurisdiction over 17,000 state employees and 20,000 local government employees, as well as administering a budget exceeding $2 million. Prior to her post with the N.C. Department of Human Resources, Hutchins was personnel director with the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development from 1985 to 1989. She also served as personnel officer of the N.C. Department of Labor from 1975 to 1977, and personnel officer of the N.C. Department of Commerce from 1974 to 1975. Hutchins was born in Charlotte, and from 1968 to 1972 attended Queens College, graduating Cum Laude with Honors Thesis in History. She also is a graduate of the Governor's Executive Management Program (1988), Duke University's Strategic Leadership for State Executives program (1991), and Leadership Charlotte (1996). In 1990, Hutchins was nominated as Outstanding Business Woman of the Year by the Heart of Carolina Council of American Business Women's Association. She was appointed by Governor James Martin to the State Personnel System Legislative Study Commission, serving on that panel from 1990 to 1993. She also served on the State Government Reorganization and Privatization Study Commission for the N.C. General Assembly in 1995 and 1996. Hutchins is married and has three daughters. * * * |
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