Presiding – Jim Smith

Attendance – 110

Invocation – Luke Becknell

Greeters – Shannon Jenks

Guests – Several guests visited today

Announcements

• End of year Banquet – September 28, Owl’s Nest, Syracuse, IN, no morning meeting that day
• Need assistance with Fall Displays
• Scott Clay announcement on First Friday
• Annual dues will be $440 beginning January 1, 2023
• Golf Outing was successful, at least $12,000 in profit

Birthdays – Two weeks of birthdays due to the upcoming banquet-Tony Ciriello (19th), Bob Jackson (19th), James Lancaster (20th), Gina Voelz (24th), Carol Presley Ousley (25th), Dave Turner (28th)

Speaker – Mitch Daniels – introduced by Brooke Hamstra

Daniels came to Purdue University at the conclusion of his term as the 49th Governor of Indiana. He was elected Governor in 2004, in his first bid for any elected office. He was re-elected in 2008, receiving more votes than any governor in the state’s history.

During his first term, Governor Daniels spearheaded a host of reforms aimed at improving the performance of state government. These changes and a strong emphasis on performance measurement have led to many state agencies, including the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Department of Child Services and Department of Correction winning national awards.

In 2005, he led the state to its first balanced budget in eight years and, without a tax increase, transformed the nearly $800 million deficit he inherited into an annual surplus of $370 million within a year. The governor also repaid hundreds of millions of dollars the state had borrowed from Indiana’s public schools, state universities and local units of government in previous administrations, and reduced the state’s overall debt by 40 percent. Governor Daniels left Indiana with a budget in surplus, reserve funds equal to nearly 15 percent of annual spending, and its first AAA credit rating.

Daniels’ first legislative success created the public-private Indiana Economic Development Corporation to replace a failing state bureaucracy in the mission of attracting new jobs. In its first four years of existence, the agency broke all previous records for new jobs in the state and was associated with more than $18 billion of new investment. In 2008, Site Selection Magazine and CNBC both named Indiana the Most Improved State for Business in the country. In 2012, Indiana became the 23rd “right-to-work” state. Indiana now ranks favorably in every national ranking of business attractiveness and job creation.

Governor Daniels’ innovations include the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road. This is the largest privatization of public infrastructure in the United States and generated nearly $4 billion for Major Moves, the state’s record-breaking 10-year transportation and infrastructure program. The Healthy Indiana Plan was enacted in 2007 to provide healthcare coverage for uninsured Hoosier adults, and comprehensive property tax reforms in 2008 resulted in the biggest tax cut in Indiana history. Both initiatives received overwhelming bipartisan support, and Indiana remains among states with the lowest property taxes in the nation.

In 2011, under his guidance, Indiana passed the most sweeping education reforms in the country, including the nation’s first statewide school choice voucher program. Because of these reforms, Indiana is dramatically expanding charter schools, providing parents with more school choice, revising teacher evaluations and expanding full-day kindergarten funding. In 2010, he established WGU Indiana, a partnership between the state and Western Governors University aimed at expanding access to higher education for Hoosiers and increasing the percentage of the state’s adult population with education beyond high school.

Daniels first became interested in public service while serving as chief of staff to Senator Richard Lugar. He has also served as a senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. On his first day in office as Governor, Daniels created Indiana’s first Office of Management and Budget.

50/50 – $75 to Ron Chambers

Next Week – The meeting will be evening at the Owls Nest for the installation Banquet.

Positive quote – “Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable”