Minutes of the April 15, 2021 Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Claire McCarron at 12:15 PM.
Lori Myles offered the invocation. Tommy Blankenship led the Pledge of Allegiance and introduced the meeting guests.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Board meeting today
• Reminder to club members to update roster photos and info
• Founders Day evening is May 14.
NEW MEMBERS
None
Program: Sheriff Sam Cochran, Sheriff of Mobile County.
Sam Cochran is a native Mobilian who graduated from the McGill Institute and went on to attend the University of South Alabama where he holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in criminal justice and public administration. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He began his law enforcement career with the Mobile Police Department as a police cadet where he spent 31 years working his way through the ranks, serving the last 10 years as Chief of Police. In 2006, Sam Cochran was elected Sheriff of Mobile County and re-elected in 2010, 2014, and 2018.
The sheriff’s remarks were in two main areas. The first was the lack of growth in the city of Mobile and the second had to do with current police conditions. His general theme was that the city needed to show some growth after many decades of stagnation. In fact, the city has not grown in population since the 1960s. There have been various opportunities to annex areas adjacent to the city limits. Those opportunities were declined by the various city councils over the years. In the sheriff’s view, it is important for the city to grow to help fund infrastructure and the corresponding tax base it would come with annexation. According to the sheriff, there are some 80,000 citizens of Mobile County reside near the city limits.
The sheriff then talked generally about recent gang related instances of shootings and other serious crimes. Because of the current national political environment of police pushback, his department is having a challenge with recruiting in addition to high turnover.
President McCarron thanked Sheriff Cochran for his presentation and noted that, in his honor, a donation had been made by the club to “Reach Out and Read Alabama”
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 12:59 PM.
Rob Diehl