ENA Board Meeting, Swantown Inn, 8/10/22

Attendees: Sherry Chilcutt, Roger Horn, Cheryle Bayle, Nathan Allen, Jim Rioux, Jim Sweeney, Karen Sweeney, Anna Stussah

Treasury Reports

There were three new memberships this month. Nathan mentioned that he wanted to discuss the new system for membership email.

  • Checking $759.55
  • Savings $963.27
  • Signs $1306.91
  • Trees $153.36
  • Beautification $409.97

Minutes Approval

Minutes for the July meeting were approved.

Picnic Report

  • Sherry asked for receipts, but everyone that contributed said they were willing to cover their costs.
  • Sherry mentioned that she made a point of talking with everyone that attended.
  • Overall, everyone felt it was a good and successful event.
  • Most of the food that was brought was eaten and we didn’t run out.

CNA Report

Karen provided a brief update on the following items that were discussed at the August CNA meeting:

  • City council is looking at housing code changes to increase renter protection. Some of the ideas being discussed include rent increase notification requirements, limits on pet damage deposits and move in fees, and requirements that would allow renters to pay fees in installments.
  • There was a presentation on the proposed Regional Fire Authority:
    • The idea is to combine Tumwater and Olympia into a separate entity for fire protection.
    • One of the benefits mentioned would be shorter response time.
    • The proposal would require a property tax increase.
    • They expect the issue to on the ballot soon.
    • A calculator will be available on the City’s web site to see what the increase will be an individual property owner.
    • There is a virtual town hall scheduled for Monday, August 15 at 6:00 pm.
  • Dave Marty discussed using a Neighborhood Grant to develop and support a web site program. The idea is to come up with a host that all neighborhoods could use so that they do not have to spend their own money on a web site. It would also provide a consistent format and look for all RNA’s.

Tim Smith provided an update for CPD:

  • The city is working on a project to build workforce housing at the former mitigation site on Franklin St. More information can be found on the City’s web site.
  • The city currently has 324 building permits in process. He anticipates they will see approximately 714/yr for the next five years to meet expected growth.
  • The Ecosystem Alliance is taking the West Bay Yards developer to court over SEPA violations.
  • The Capital Mall Triangle process continues to move forward.
  • The 3900 Boulevard Road project has a public meeting schedule for September 14.
  • Cari Hornbein gave an update on the Neighborhood Centers project:
    • Karen asked about how to get one in the Eastside Neighborhood but got no response.
    • Roger mentioned that he attended the public meeting that was held on the westside. He was able to talk with Cari and Mike Reid. He was not clear on next steps.
    • Nathan thought that a meeting with Jay may be what we need to do.
    • Roger also suggested a meeting with Leonard.

Talent Show

Roger has been talking with the Director of Salvation Army. Roger suggested moving the event to October 15.

The northeast neighborhoods do not want to participate so we will need to find people from the Eastside Neighborhood to take part in the show.

Member Address list

Sherry complied the two lists that she had. We need to verify that all of the addresses on the list are valid.

Jim offered to try to organize the list to make it easier to verify different sections of the neighborhood.

Rebuilding Together

Sherry and Hank attended a meeting of this county wide organization. The intent is to invest about $5000 into houses that need repair, then use volunteers to actually do the work.

Sherry would like to establish an ENA crew for houses in the Eastside neighborhood.

Web Site Update

Nathan demonstrated the website he found that he feels we should migrate to. The primary benefit is the ability to pull member data, our current host does not have that capability.

One major change is that we need to determine four discreet member levels, as opposed to our current sliding scale. The board asked Nathan to propose the levels and we can then vote on via email.