A Periodic e-Newsletter to Rotary Leaders across Zones 23 & 24 and Beyond

June 29, 2008
Issue 13

Summary Rotary Zones Realignment!

Following actions taken during the 2007 Council on Legislation and the January 2008 meeting of the RI Board of Directors, the RI Board unanimously approved the final version of the Zones Realignment Plan at its June 2008 meeting.

The Board's action was taken after information about the proposed plan was disseminated worldwide to Rotary leaders for comment from February thru May. Click here to refresh your memory of the information sent to past, present and incoming Rotary Officers in Zones 23-24 on February 1, 2008.) Some of the suggestions that were offered during this process resulted in the RI Board making a certain modifications to the proposed plan - however, none of the changes impacted the original plan as it related to Zones 23 & 24.

The following are excerpts from the June R.I. Board Meeting minutes. (Click here to read the full set of decisions taken by the R.I. Board on this subject at its June 2008 meeting)

B-12-a. Zones Realignment Implementation Committee Report DECISION: The Board agrees that the revised zones structure shall go into effect on 1 July 2009, except for the presidents' and directors' nominating processes, and the membership reports generated by the Secretariat, which shall be based upon the revised zones structure effective 1 July 2008. adopts the director nomination schedule as shown in Exhibit B-12-b, filed only with the official copy of these minutes; agrees that, effective 1 July 2009, the geographical territory assigned to each RRIMC should reflect the new zones alignment and the allocation of zones and sections of zones to Rotary institutes, where appropriate, and strikes the first two sentences of Rotary Code of Policies section 26.070.10. as follows: Regional RI membership coordinators should be appointed by zones. There should be no more than one zone per coordinator. recommends to the Foundation Trustees that, effective 1 July 2009, the geographical territory assigned to each RRFC and other regional Foundation appointee should reflect the new zones alignment and the allocation of zones and sections of zones to Rotary institutes, where appropriate; agrees to change the name of zone coordinators to regional coordinators to allow flexibility in describing their geographical responsibilities;

What are the key impacts on Zones 23 & 24?

Go to www.rotaryzone2324.org/map.html to view the current map of Zones 23 & 24
Go to www.rotaryzone2324.org/map-new.html to view the new map of Zones 25 & 26

1. The new zone structure takes effect 1 July 2008 BUT only for the election of directors and the Nominating Committee for the President. Everything else rolls over on 1 July 2009.
2. Effective July 1, 2009 - the current Zone 23 will become "Zone 25" and the current Zone 24 will become "Zone 26." (In addition, current Zone 22 will become "Zone 24" and current Zones 25 & 26 will become the new 27 & 21B.)
3. Also effective July 1, 2009 -
   • Rotary Districts 5050 and 5060 will move entirely into the NEW Zone 24 (currently Zone 22);
   • Districts 5020 and 5080 will move entirely into the NEW Zone 25 (currently Zone 23 thru 30 June 2009).
   • Districts 5490, 5500, 5510 in Arizona will move into the NEW Zone 26 (currently Zone 24 thru 30 June 2009).
4. DGEs (DGs in 2009-10) should attend their current Zone's 2008 GETS and Rotary Institute. In other words, GETS training this year will be held in conjunction with the Rotary Institutes and zones as currently constituted.
5. DGNs (DGs in 2010-11) have the option of attending their current Zones training program and Institute in 2008 - and their NEW Zone's GNATS program. (The DGNs from Districts 5490, 5500, 5510 are welcome to attend the Zones 23 & 24 GNATS program in Portland, OR this September, but should only consider doing so after consulting with their Zone's 2008 Institute Convener.) Because DGN training is still not done by many zones - there is no RI Board policy requirement for their attendance (as DGNs). The current RI policy only states that DGEs are required to attend their Institute (although they may petition their convener to attend another one).
6. DGE (DGs in 2010-11) training at the institutes meeting in the fall of 2009 will be based on the new zones.
7. Next year's (2009) Rotary Institutes will reflect the new zone structure so both DGEs and DGNs would be from the new zones.
8. While the new zones come into effect on 1 July 2009, the RI Director Nominating Committee(s) that will meet in September 2009 will be base their selections on the new zone boundaries. However, because members of the September 2009 nominating committees need to be elected by districts in 2008-09, the new zone boundaries need to be used to elect members of the 2009-10 director nominating committees. Later this summer, the General Secretary Ed Futa will send a letter to the governors in the new zones that will elect a director in September 2009 explaining this procedure in more detail.

Schedule of RI Director Nominating Committees
ROTARY YEAR (Jul 1-Jun 30)	Nominating Cmte Members Elected	New Zone 25 (Old Zone 23)	New Zone 26 (Old Zone 24)	Selects RID who'll SERVE
2007-08		Sep 2007		2009-11
2008-09	Dist. Conference
2009-10			Sep 2009	2011-13
2010-11	Dist. Conference
2011-12		Sep 2011		2013-15
2012-13	Dist. Conference
2013-14			Sep 2013	2015-17
2014-15	Dist. Conference
2015-16		Sep 2015		2017-19
2016-17	Dist. Conference
2017-18			Sep 2017	2019-21

I want to thank the Rotary Officers - past, present and future, especially those in the districts most directly effected by this realignment process - for their time, effort and important input. You helped PRID Jerry Hall and me during our service on the Committees that addressed this issue during 2007-08. Your understanding, ideas and support were absolutely essential to our helping bring this process to a successful outcome.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. In the meantime, keep in mind that Rotary zones are largely for administrative convenience for the selection of RI Directors and the coordination of certain key training events. The Rotary world doesn't rise or fall based on the alignment of zones.

Ultimately it's what happens in the individual Rotary clubs that count. That's where the real work of Rotary gets done as Rotary Shares and as we Make Dreams Real.

Paul Netzel
RI Director 2007-09
Zones 23-24

Your Comments are Welcome. Please click here: pnetzel@earthlink.net to send RID Paul an email to share your comments and/or to offer suggestions for future e-Briefs topics.

You can find more information on Zone events on the Zone Website Calendar.