Author: whitney

Attendance

• Board Members Present:  Sandia Slaby, Nathan Allan, Katy Beattie, Whitney Bowerman, Pat Bayle, Whitney Bowerman, Jim Longley, Kara Randall, Brian Brannies, Sheena Pietzold, and Mitch Dennis
• Board Members Absent: Sherry Chilcutt

Board leadership/process/roles and responsibilities:

• Vice President should step up when President can’t do something
• Discussion about restructuring so that president doesn’t burn out
• Some of the other neighbourhood associations share responsibilities between president, Vice President and occasionally a past president
• We need to have a presence at CNA meetings. A suggestion of a sub committee of five or so people that could be on call to go to meetings such as CNA, if the designated board member could not.

Call for a Special Meeting

Sandia has concerns, as Secretary, with the Board’s decision making and lack of running the procedural part of the meeting according to Robert’s Rules, per section 9.5 of ENA Bylaws. She has concerns about the process tied with Robert’s Rules and relations within the board. There is a call for a special meeting about this later this month. The meeting will be April 23rd, the board meeting will be extended to 90 minutes to ensure all topics are covered. It is suggested we reading the ENA Bylaws before the next meeting to serve as background knowledge.

Officer Elections

• Officer elections: available positions are President, Vice President, Secretary
• Nathan volunteered for president if someone can share the burden
• Katy volunteered for role of secretary
• Brian volunteered to be Vice President and share load and would have no problem going to CNA meetings or taking on role such as leading the picnic
• Brian nominates Nathan as president for ENA, Pat seconds it, board approves
• Nathan nominates Brian as Vice President, Whitney seconds, board approves
• Sandia nominates Sherri (absent) as treasurer, Nathan seconds, board approves
• Sandia nominates Katy as secretary, Jim seconds, board approves

Wireless Sub Committee Update

• AT&T is looking to put tower by Elks Lodge or attach to Eastside water tower; there is no formal proposal. ATT continues to reach out to contractors.
• There has been no request for a formal response from ENA.
• T-mobile and Sprint already have wireless hubs on the eastside water tower.
• ATT has been blown away by the community organization. Pulled out of idea to place near Roosevelt because of community response.
• Does the city have a role? ATT wants to amend the OMC to make the tower implementation process easier.
• Board members thank Kara and Mitch for reporting and committing to keep attending these meeting and keeping board updated

CNA Meeting Report:

• Nathan and Whitney attended march meeting, which occurs the second Monday of every month
• Julie Hankins is City Council liaison to CNA
• Around 25 people attended; around 10 neighbourhood associations attended
• Next CNA mtg is a joint planning mtg.
• General Membership Meeting Planning
• General membership meeting in May for Q2, last year at New Bridge Community Church…this year? Brian offers to look into this years location. Last year, 29 people signed in but 50 or 60 came to meeting. Other options are: Methodist Church, Rivers of Grace.
• Could we invite a council person? Have guests/topics/agenda set at the next Board Meeting.

ENA Communication

• Newsletter issues were discussed: Frequent newsletters are somewhat of a burden for deliverers.
• Using website and signs multiple times a year was discussed as an option.
• One proposal: Each board member has a sign and puts one or two out where they live
• We would need to purchase more signs. We will vote on this at the next meeting.
• Whitney would like to work on communication and outreach. Diversifying involvement of community.

Possible ENA revenue items

• Thrift-E card from Ralph’s/Bayview Thriftway will donate 1% to neighborhood
• Amazon.com’s Amazon Smile program is another option for generating revenue

Other Topics Covered:

• Meeting calendar dates were discussed. Active Madison parents may not be able to come because PTO mtgs are on Wednesdays.
• Nathan will talk with Sandia about archiving Community Garden documents
• Nathan will talk about sidewalks next time
• Thurston Food Bank Project: Whitney will talk about next time
• Thurston Together substance abuse conference on April 30th at Great Wolf Lodge

Treasurers report:

We received an extra $60 in membership dues in the mail, because of the new sliding scale option. 3 people were happy to weigh in at the $30 level of membership. Also, we received about $38 through online.
Next Meeting: April 23, 2014, 6:00 pm at Swantown Inn

Next Meeting: April 23, 2014, 6:00 pm at Swantown Inn

Attendance

• Board Members:  Sherry Chilcutt, Mitch Dennis, Brad Archbold, Nathan Allan, Sandia Slaby, Pat Bayle, Katy & Andrew Beattie, Whitney Bowerman
• Others Present: Teresa Goen-Burgman & Mike Carny

Community Concerns

Teresa Goen-Burgman and Mike Carny attended the board meeting to express a number of concerns they had.

Teresa Goen-Burgman, who manages property adjacent to the Eastside, stated that at a recent Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (CNA) meeting decisions were being made that will affect our neighborhood in ways that we might want to better understand.

Mike Carny, who does not currently live in the Eastside neighborhood but has in the past, added that he opposed the planned annexation of the Medela property into the City of Olympia. City Council recently voted (5-2) to recommend this annexation to the County Commissioners, who have that final say. He encouraged us to advocate for our neighborhood with the City & County. Another example of changes he sees coming to the Eastside is the City’s plan for a cell tower on the 7th Ave water tower.

In discussion of the above presentations, the Board agreed that it would be in the ENA’s interest to be represented regularly at the monthly CNA meetings.

Legion Way Trees

Katy Beattie read a letter she wrote to the Olympia City Council thanking them for their recognition in 2010 of the value of the Legion Way oak trees, and their having set a policy & funded a program to protect, maintain & re-plant (as needed) these heritage trees. Her letter asked that the re-planted specimens be somewhat larger than they have been. Katy and Nathan Allan will collaborate on a presentation of the letter at a City Council meeting in the near future.

Community Garden Update

Sandia reported that the New Bridge Community Church’s management team has voted in support of hosting a community garden site on their property, and to work collaboratively with ENA residents on the project if there is enough interest from ENA residents to gardening there. They have designated $5,000 toward the start-up of the project (for such things as fencing, framing for garden beds, tools & a storage location for them, etc.)  A church member has volunteered to be New Bridge’s liaison for this project. Anyone interested in participating should contact Sandia ([email protected]).

Board Members & Officer Elections

Election of board members and officers occur at the February 19 Annual Meeting and the March Board Meeting, respectively. We clarified which current Board members want to stay on the Board & which officers we need replacements for. Three new board members are needed, for a total of at least 10 and no more than 20 board members, per the ENA by-laws. The President and Vice President officer positions will also be vacant, and will need to be elected at the March board meeting. Board member terms are 2 years, officer terms are 1 year.

February 19 Annual Meeting Agenda

• The importance and role of neighborhood associations in City planning (Stephen Buxbaum, Julie Hankins and a representative from the CNA will be present)
• Legion Way trees
• Update on New Bridge Community Garden project
• Update on Madison Elementary construction
• Board elections

Neighborhood Education Forum

An ENA resident is organizing a forum to discuss the issue of heroin use and drug needles being found in the Eastside. More information will be provided in the coming week.

ENA Member Dues Changes

The ENA will implement online payment for dues in the near future. Nathan suggested Gravity Forms. Whitney will check with Luke regarding finding a less costly or free option. If none is available, the Board approves spending $199 to obtain Gravity Forms.

The Board also approved changing ENA annual dues to come due on January 1 of each year, and to change the amount from $10 annually to a self-determined sliding scale of $10 – $30 (each household can determine what they feel they can afford to contribute). The purpose of a due date is to alleviate the confusion many dues paying residents have of when their payments are due.

Treasurer’s Report

• Checking $180.50
• Savings $528.48
• Neighborhood signs $1295.90
• Legion Way Trees $151.03
• Community Beautification $504.63
• CD unspecified use $1028.13

Newsletter Distribution

Sandia presented the historical newsletter distribution list to this current Board.  This is the list of volunteers, and the routes that they have been distributing. Ruth Middlebrook had established and coordinated the distribution effort for years, through January 2013 (THANK YOU, Ruth!). Sandia recently contacted the listed distributors, updated their interest and availability, and confirmed their routes.  Approximately 2/3 of the households in the ENA are currently covered for newsletter distribution  – there still remain 6 routes for which we need volunteers to distribute newsletters.

Anyone interested in helping with newsletter distribution should contact Sandia at [email protected] or 866-4561.

Meeting Dates for 2014

Meeting dates for 2014 were set and are available on the Calendar.

• Board meetings (3rd Wednesday, 6:30 pm): January 15, March 19, April 16, May 21, June 18, September 17, October 15, November 19, December 17
• Quarterly General Membership meetings: February 19, May 14, October 8
• General Neighborhood Summer Picnic:  Saturday, August 17th  (11 am – 2 pm)

The meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm.
Minutes submitted by Sandia Slaby, Secretary