March 2013 Board Meeting Minutes

Attendance

• Board members: Luke Bowerman, Sherry Chilcutt, Sandia Slaby, Nathan Allen, Whitney Bowerman, Katie Beatie, Bev Kooi, Nancy Thompson, Mitch Dennis, Pat Bayle, Brad Archibold Bev Kooi
• Neighborhood Residents: Kara Randall, and Domenico Spatola-Knoll

Previous Meeting Minutes

Read and ratified February General Meeting Minutes

Parks & Pathways Proposal

Brad Archbold presented a proposal he wants to submit to the City’s Parks & Pathways program as a project for our neighborhood. It proposes putting in a walking trail, as a small connector of the thoroughfare, starting at the west end of 13th Ave past Boundary St., along City right-of-way, to Eastside St., nearby the Puget Sound Blood Center.

An idea  was proposed for a second project – a connector trail on 11th Ave, connecting McCormick & Central.

The motion to support these two proposals to the City passed unanimously.

2013 Garage Sale

Lee Bickle, Garage Sale coordinator was not able to attend the March meeting but later confirmed by email that date for the Neighborhood Garage Sale will July 20.

2013 Summer Picnic

Date chosen was August 24 (changed to August 17 during April board meeting)

Disaster Preparedness

Sandia Slaby reported that the county’s “Training-the-Trainers Workshop,” related to Disaster Preparedness (specifically about “Mapping your Neighborhood”), that occurred on March 13th in the North East Neighborhood was attended by two ENA members. Both volunteered to be the first two “block captains” in the Eastside neighborhood. This role involves convening a get-together at their homes for those residents who live on their block to watch a 90 minute interactive video together. Those residents then begin organizing to work together in the event of a disaster. The county provides the video & literature for these gatherings. Anyone with questions about the “Mapping Your Neighborhood” program, or who is specifically interested to know more about becoming a block captain or getting this started on your block, contact Sandia at (360) 866-4561. The intent of this county-wide effort is to get residents organized with their direct neighbors for help & work that can prevent injury & death, when first responders (fire, police, medical) are overwhelmed by the disaster.

Neighborhood Outreach & Communication

Improving Neighborhood Outreach & Communication

The ultimate goal is to have more folks join the ENA to support & be more active in our neighborhood.

Board and Membership Meetings

A calendar has been published on the ENA website of 2013 monthly board meetings and general membership meetings & events.

May General Meeting / Early Summer Picnic

After a discussion a motion was passed to hold the May general meeting as a neighborhood gathering / potluck format. The start time will be earlier – 5:30 or 6 pm, as opposed to the usual 7 pm. The hope is that this will make it more feasible for families with young children to attend. Date and location will be finalized shortly.

Sidewalk clean-up day

Work to identify locations (aiming for ~10) where the sidewalk is over-grown with vegetation. From there the project would include contacting the adjacent property owner to discuss ENA members clearing vegetation, organizing to do such work & to coordinate with the city to collect the debris, etc. Luke agreed to take the lead on this sidewalk cleaning project.

Discussion ensued about recent work the City did at Madison Scenic Park including fixing trail & handrail, clearing much of the blackberries, putting in bollards, & planting new low maintenance native vegetation. City Parks planner Jonathan Turlove has been in charge of this particular project. If anyone is interested in anything further being developed at this park, please contact Whitney Bowerman at [email protected].

Newsletter

Discussion ensued questioning the value & effectiveness of our current ‘Newsletter approach’ to reaching neighborhood members. The newsletters are currently distributed by hand, a time-consuming task for volunteers. It would cost ~ $400 to bulk mail the current newsletter to all residents of ENA area, whereas it would cost ~ $200 to mail a postcard. After much discussion, a motion passed unanimously to spend ~$200 doing one trial ‘postcard’ bulk mailing to everyone in the ENA area, in lieu of the next quarterly newsletter. The postcard will include calendar of all 2013 events & meetings, a link to ENA website for more info, request for feedback, etc., The ultimate goal is to have more folks join the ENA to support & be more active in our neighborhood. Luke will create the first postcard & have it ready to view at the April Board meeting. Some discussion on how to measure the effects of such a mailing occurred & further discussion was tabled for the April meeting.

ENA Web Site vs. “Nextdoor”

Luke cited that the ENA website is a public site, i.e. anyone can view it. ENA bylaws require that meeting agendas and minutes be published publicly and the web site accomplishes that whereas Nextdoor, a closed network, does not. Nextdoor.com is accessible only to those who live within the neighborhood. We have control ownership & control of the ENA site & all the information on it. We do not have control or ownership of Nextdoor web site (Nextdoor is privately held company).

Bev Kooi brought up the issue of whether the churches & businesses in our neighborhood could post on Nextdoor. She brought up an example of how she’d like to post the Easter week schedule of events at the Methodist church. She said they were hesitant to post themselves, wondering if it would be appropriate, not wanting to be seen as proselytizing. Luke promptly said they could send any announcement to him & he’d post it. Sandia asked why they couldn’t just post themselves, and Whitney said they might not know how but if they felt comfortable posting they were welcome to do so and that would be preferable. The churches are members of the neighborhood and have all been invited to become members of Nextdoor.

Online Payment of Membership Dues

Luke suggested we create a way for members to pay their dues online with credit card, suggesting they may get paid more regularly. The motion was passed unanimously.
Membership dues

Luke to suggested that it might be worth increasing the dues a small amount to $12/year. The dues have been $10 for at least 10 years (perhaps significantly longer?).

Some discussion occurred, including questioning what the increase would fund, if we needed it, etc. The decision for both was tabled until April meeting.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm