On August 18, 2007 the ENA board had a special meeting at the picnic. The subject of the meeting was a change in presidents.

Chad Akins has resigned as president but will stay on the board as a board member.

Elaine Nelson was elected as the new president for 2007-2008.

Board members in attendance were Chad Akins, Elaine Nelson,Nathan Allan, Casey Allan, Carol Wilson, Mark Bergeson, Jessica Archer, Luke Bowerman, Jody Suhrbier

The vote was unanimous

Respectfully submitted

Carol Wilson

[Note: more picnic info coming soon!]

ENA board meeting minutes from Thurs. July 19, 2007   7:00 at New Bridge Community Church  

 

 

Members present.  Chad Akins                           Elaine Nelson

                             Jody Suhrbier                       Mark Bergeson

                             Nathan Allan                         Casey Allan

                             Ann Mataczynski                   Jessie Archer

                             Luke Bowerman                     Carol Wilson

Eddy Willingham was also present.

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:08 and the minutes from the June board meeting were  read and approved.

 

 

The picnic was the first item on the agenda. Eddy has volunteered a bounce house of some sort, the sound system, the chess set and other items for fun and games. He also confirmed that Fun 4 All will provide games and activities for the children. They will donate their time with a little prompting from Carol (their mom)  Eddy also offered a guitar duo that would perform and we accepted. New Bridge members are interested in attending and offering to help.

 

The picnic is on Sat Aug 18^th and Eddy will contact the city and check on any special arrangements for the bounce house.  Jody will check with the Carlyon  Neighborhood Association also to get their advice.  We anticipate that the attendance might be over 200. The association will supply the hamburgers, hotdogs and veggie burgers—plus buns and condiments. We will also supply coffee and paper products. Some drinks will be furnished  We are asking attendees to furnish a side dish or dessert.

 

Mark will post flyers around the park a while before the picnic.   Jody volunteered to bring her BBQ and so did Luke and Jessica. Elaine will look for another BBQ also.

 

Elaine will do an updated letter to go out to advertisers in the newsletters and anyone who wishes to contact a prospective advertiser should do so. A brochure was sent around with prices and format information.  Eddy and Chad will do a walk around the park to figure out where to put the activities. Nathan and Casey will go to Costco and get the buns, condiments and drinks. Carol will bring the coffee.

 

Chad will check into disc golf and see about getting some beverages donated. Mark moved that we set a picnic budget of $500.00 and it was seconded by Luke. The motion passed unanimously.

 

PARK UPDATE 

 

David Hanna talked to Nathan and the  Madison Scenic Park property  is still  in negotiations with the school district. He thought the pea patch idea was a great one and encouraged us to pursue that when the land negotiations are figured out. They would love us to do some volunteer labor in the park and will support us in whatever we decided.

Jody also suggested that we contact a lady she remembers from the Lions Club about some upgrades  at Lions park, The city would be willing to pursue that also and the Lions Club has expressed an interest in the past.   

 

The newsletter will be done on Aug. 2^nd or 3^rd. It will be distributed soon after that. Luke stated the context will be Picnic information, an update on New Bridge and St Mikes construction, an update on the signs and  something on the opening of the pathway on Eastside Street. 

 

Nathan expressed some concern about the St Mikes project. The road (11^th Ave ) was closed without any notice and there has been very little communication between the construction company and the neighbors. The road closure has impacted the business at the bed and breakfast.  We would like to stay on top of that and let them know are concerns.

 

There will be no board meeting in August any business we need to conduct can be done at the picnic.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:35

 

Minutes respectfully submitted by Carol Wilson ENA secretary

6/21, 7 pm, New Bridge Community Church
Minutes taken by Elaine Nelson in lieu of Secretary Carol Wilson

Attending:
Board members: Elaine Nelson, Chad Akins, Mark Bergeson, Ann Mataczynski, Jody Suhrbier, Luke Bowerman, Nathan Allan
Guests: Don Stark, Bob Vadas Jr., Eddy Willingham
Minutes approved.

I. Introductory discussions
Chad’s idea: 1 minute open mic at the beginning of the meeting? Airport email discussion.

Bob’s concern about dog poop, people aren’t cleaning up. Chad volunteered to take pictures, talk to city about getting more of the blue bags boxes in the park.

II. Madison Scenic Park plans
Pea-patch? Nathan’s not here, Chad was hoping to put him in touch with Todd [vols in parks guy]…and then Nathan walked in with some small person. (Beckett, friend’s kid)

David Hanna replied to email that he sent before going to Australia, said they should have coffee. Decatur Park on the westside might be similar in terms of amenities, restroom, playground, walking trail. Nathan’s going to lead this project and will keep the board informed, find out what guidelines the city has for us. We still have money for a park project that hasn’t yet been spent, still waiting for the city to tell us what they need.

Nathan & Casey went to the park with 13th ave pea patch folks, who want something really long term. They have money saved up for a move, and they like the spot.

Nathan will tell him that we’re still very interested, might just show up at David’s office.

III. Neighborhood entrance signs
Reviewed email with Jennifer. Jody and Nathan said they’d gone through all that with Public Works. Maybe a situation of talking to different people? Write to city council? Use the 3 minutes. Not going to install them on private property! Talk to city manager? In meeting, Lee approved the sign, but after going to CPD it all went sideways – he suggested above 11 feet on the poles. Present the whole chronology, who we talked to, original grant info – to Jennifer. Some things changed based on phone conversations with Ken. Jody will try to write up a timeline. Start with Jennifer and work it out from there.

Jody asked if it would help to have photos of similar signs in Olympia. Could be.

IV. Walkability project
Active neighborhoods grant, halfway thru cycle. since last meeting: school bike day, spent some of the grant money to buy 30 bike locks. More kids rode than expected – 45 total – but all who didn’t have bike locks got one. [newsletter!] put together booklet, trying to get approval from [?] for route map for kids, showed map, simplified routes (safe, sidewalks) with pedestrian safety rules on the back, plus a letter to go with it. wanted to get mayor, superintendent to sign letter, but no dice. survey to go with, missed some details. might put the survey (but NOT the map) online. “how can we make the map more useful?” feedback on safety will go to the city, could push us up the priority list, otherwise 20 years out. last element will be to take feedback, revamp map, put out new packet at the beginning of the next school year with fun incentives. looking to partner with PT(A? O?) on “pride time” — walking laps?! — at certain levels get prizes. how can we help with that next year? Madison has 170 kids walked 1800 miles this last school year. we asked if we could reward them, talked to South Sound Running, gave 8 pairs of shoes, drawing for each class. “Random acts of kindness” — at the end of year school giving 16 kids a prize, attempting to get 16 bikes from Build-A-Bike, but fell through days before! We tried to get ahold of some things. First United Methodist bought brand new bikes. Through safe kids coalition we bought 16 helmets. Will buy some more things to help throughout the year in order to spend the remainder of the grant by August 31. The kids need really tangible stuff. Chad suggested outreach to email list for additional donations, and is willing to approach Fred Meyer about donation/price break. Bob asked about vandalism, Jody said that a lot of kids were worried about having bikes stolen, but nothing about vandalism. “Please write for — fund” on the check, suggestion from Mark.

Intermission
Katie showed up with painting for Jody!

V. Picnic
We can afford to buy food, thanks to Don’s generosity with the newsletter.

Options for games: http://www.partyoutfitters.com/index.cgi?cat=%2FI%20Want%20to%20RENT%20Games&rm=listitems&loc=WA

Eddy just bought that company. ask other churches to help donate the cost or staffing. he’ll look into availability for that weekend, how much he can.

Put it out early, contact other churches. Until something happens with the sign project, Chad can be lead on this.

One “thing” is probably enough to keep kids who show up busy.

What about croquet? Disc golf? All good!

Make a flier to take around to all.

Ann gave a quick update about the St. Mike’s groundbreaking.

Luke suggested a letter to all, to be inclusive. Jody suggested framing it as “we’d like you to come”, mention NB donation, but not make that the focus. [get printer cartridge] eddy and his folks will help deliver. Elaine asked if there’s any other groups, nobody could think of any. Chad asked about summer education, Luke said not a good idea.

Was anybody in particular looking into finding musicians? eddy thought perhaps we should hold off on organizing, a lot of work. he’ll be bringing a good system. chad suggested just letting people know that they could bring instruments etc. invite via the notice “bring your own” eddy will be contact person, cut-off date Aug 1? Mark brought up that the notice won’t be out in time.

Discussion of the content issue. Stress family event.

Decision not to worry about music, no invitations, etc.
VI. Newsletter
Ann reminded everybody that she’s not going to be coordinating as of Winter 2008.

Luke and Elaine will meet next week and set deadlines for the newsletter and send them. Ann emphasized earlier is better. Chad suggested a big email in mid-July reminding people of the picnic.

VII. Closing discussion
A couple of things from eddy: neighbor down the street came up and said something about raised garden beds, wondering if there was a possibility of doing it on the field. Aymellie? Mark has the name, should pass it along to Nathan. In preparation for the move, they want to introduce neighbors to the church group(s?) — what can they do to communicate to their folks? neighbor interviews? on video?! Jody and Ann would be willing to volunteer. Could go on the website or in the newsletter. Suggested Walt. Nathan was volunteered by the group. Mark suggested a taping at the next board meeting, July 19. Eddy will be in touch.

Chad mentioned Elaine’s idea for simplifying/redesigning the site. Will be sending sketches.

Meeting adjourned.