The Fountain Hills Democratic Club met Oct. 12 at the Community Center.

The full house crowd, led by Emcee Dave Long, welcomed more than 20 first-timers to the meeting. The meeting began with a request that members call congressmen regarding protections we must make to curb the kind of gun violence witnessed in the Las Vegas massacre. Members were also invited to attend the Gun Violence Dialogue meeting Monday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. at the Fountains Methodist Church.

New officers and board members will be elected to two year terms at the club’s November meeting.

Nominating committee members Darlene Blackwell and Sherri James asked that nominations be e-mailed to them by Nov. 9.

In other business, members discussed the recent Town Council meeting in which the town attorney was terminated.

After general discussion, guest speakers made presentations.

Fountain Hills Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney discussed the facts of the Nov. 7 school override vote. The District seeks a 15 percent rate, 2 percent higher than the 2013 override. Schools will use the funding to pay for personnel salaries and needed special programs such as full-day kindergarten. The added cost will be $3 per $100,000 assessed valuation.

Denise Weinreich, chair of Save our Schools, asked the membership to vote yes on the override.

She pointed out that all residents benefit from successful schools, not just those who have children in the district. She added that nothing attracts families more than great schools, which Fountain Hills currently has.

FHUSD Board Member

Dr. Wendy Barnard, who also is an ASU professor, focused on the need to sustain strong educational programs. According to the governing board, this override request is “desperately needed.”

The board’s primary goal is to raise teacher pay, since some of the district’s best teachers have been “stolen” by adjoining districts offering higher pay. Fountain Hills is a small district with large-district programs and high educational success.

The Override would fund such programs as all-day kindergarten, reading literacy, teacher incentive pay and teacher development.

The evening ended with Sanitary District Board incumbent Candidates Tom Reski and Gregg Dudash describing their 70 years of combined experience on the Sanitary Board.

The presentation showed that they hold institutional memory of the district, job-related experience, and a promise to continue their mandate to protect the public health and environment.

The next Democratic Club meeting is set for Thursday, Nov. 9, in the Community Center. Gubernatorial candidate Dr. David Garcia will speak. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

More club information is available online at fhdemclub.org.