President Greg opened the meeting with 34 members and 10 guests. The flag salute was led by Emma and the Four Way test was led by Richard. Guests welcomed were: Guest Speaker Nita Wracker, Visiting Rotarian, Kevin O'Kelley (Greg), Vicky Torney (Lindsey), and Doug Bullwinkel (Truman). Students of the Month guests, representing 12 Bridges High School, were: Gabriella Brandi, and her parents Becca and Robert), Joshua Stahlheber and his mother, all introduced by School Counselor, Tom Kelly.

Edgardo, attired in his Marine Uniform, thanked everyone who supported Salvation Army's Toys 4 Tots. He planned to pick up the toys following the meeting. Kris reported that 48 Interact Christmas Stockings had been delivered to Veteran's at Mather hospital. Lindsey shared that the PR Committee plans to look into signage for Lincoln that includes non-profits like Rotary. This is under current discussion by the city and Lindsey plans to see how Rotary can be involved. Karen Johnson shared a story about the house fire in rental property that exceeded the occupant insurance especially at Christmas. Jerry is shown presenting a check, from the Lincoln Club Foundation, to this person. Bill Alston provided a photo to the Rotarian Magazine, and he was very pleased (and surprised) that he was asked to provide background information for the photo. RI has told him that this article and photo will appear in the February edition of the Rotarian Magazine. (This information regarding the Rotarian article is a "teaser". A more detailed report will be in the next Bulletin.)

Nita Wracker, Assistant City Manager for the City of Lincoln, was introduced by Joann Hilton. Nita's Agenda included a discussion of the Transparency Portal that allows citizens to learn what the city is currently working on, to build trust with easy access to current information. (This is easily found online via Google.) She defined, and discussed the Biennium budget, which is a two-year budget, that allows city departments time to work more effectively at their jobs vs spending time creating budgets so frequently. Another topic that she discussed was the money left over from the Covid Grants, ( in 2019) and some of the disadvantages of the Sales Tax rules. For example, Sales Tax money goes to the businesses paying the taxes. Online shopping has become more common and thus local business are affected and thus tax revenue decreases. Lincoln was funded 11.5 million dollars and spending was fast and became chaotic for the community. Rules and oversight was needed. The city decided that Public Safety was a primary use for the remaining money. Thus 9 Firefighters were hired. The city has confidence that the expense for the 9 firefighters, can be sustained after the Covid funding is exhausted. Other priorities of the city include the Homeless Situation, Mental Health especially for the children, and Small Business Grants to offset lost revenue.