ENA Board Meeting
September 9th, 2025 7:00 PM
Lions Park
Minutes
Board members present:
Karen Sweeney (CNA representative), Jim Rioux (Treasurer), Nathan Allan, Abigail Twombly, Cheryl Bayle
1) Approval of August 12th Minutes
2) Treasurer Report
Checking $768.62
Savings $2,949.62
Total $3,718.24
3) CNA report
See page 3.
4) Board Recruitment
Continued to next meeting.
5) Upcoming events
- Christmas Snowflake workshop Saturday September 27 or 28 at 11:00 AM
- Olympia Armory Construction Kickoff Celebration 2-3 Thursday Sept. 25
6) September newsletter topics
- Annual picnic Sept 20th
- Snowflake workshop Sept. 27th
7) Annual Picnic/Cider Press Sept 20th
- Apple pressing starts at 3:00 PM
- 5:00 PM food and music
- Concern for Animals will also have a table and be there for about an hour and 1/2 to 2 hours; we’re hoping they can set up near where Sherry will be
- Tim Smythe is gathering apples
- Need a canopy, tables and chairs (Borrow Nathan’s tables for potluck and canopy). Sweeney’s also bring canopy and Jim R. possibly getting one from neighbor
- Chalk drawing and apple figures. Harmonograph for kids. Abigail and Cheryl
- Food:
- Sweeney’s bringing 20 jugs, 8 folding chairs, condiments
- Nathan bringing tomatoes, etc.
- Jim R bringing grill, hamburgers, hot dogs
- Sherry will bring plates, silverware, napkins
- Moving the cider press – we have a new hitch on the Subaru with a rectangular metal platform that would be easy to load. (Hank is available)
- Make sure we have folks available for event breakdown.
8) Swag to encourage new membership?
Sherry has notecards, stickers (Laurel Henn) and Souper Sunday cookbooks (available with a $50 membership)
9) Veterans day celebration at Madison and Legion Way street tree Nov 8th
The meeting ended at 8:00 PM
The next Board meeting will be at 7 PM, October 14th
CNA Meeting Report – September 8, 2025
Neighborhood Reports:
South Capitol Neighborhood Association uses Capitol City Press to do 1-2 newsletter mailings per year. Capital City Press has addresses for their area, and this allows them to reach renters as well as home owners. They include this in their grant requests from the City.
North East Neighborhood Association has started using an app called Volunteer Sign Up which helps them organize volunteers for their events.
They also have the Party in the Pocket Park coming up on Saturday, the 13th of September from noon to 4 PM. It is a celebration of the corner park recently developed by the Neighborhood Association and others. There will be music, art, games; Roosevelt School belonging story flags; food truck; plant, seed and garden harvest surplus exchange; emergency preparedness resources; Neighborhood maps; Neighborhood story boards.
Eastside Neighborhood Association has their annual picnic and cider pressing event coming up on Saturday, September 20th from 3 PM to 7 PM at Lions Park. Cider pressing will be from 3 PM to 5 PM. Bring your washed apples and clean jugs to hold cider.
Grilling of hamburgers and hot dogs (provided) begins at 5 PM. Bring a large side dish or dessert to share with everyone. Music starts at 5:15 continues till 7 PM.
Eastside also has a snowflake workshop occurring either September 27th or 28th at 11:00 AM at the Swantown Inn. Correct date announced soon on website.
City Development: Brigg’s Urban Village information goes to the Land Use and Environment Committee with information from the Planning Commission on September 25, 2025. The Planning Commission has recommended a 12,000 sq. ft. grocery store, which was one of the most discussed topics when public review happened.
In 2017, Olympia was tasked with providing 13,000 living units over 20 years. From 2017 through 2025, the City will have built 3,200 units. There was some discussion about recent information that indicates some population decline and whether this might affect how many units need to be provided.
What’s App: The Southwest Neighborhood Association has been using What’s App as a way to organize volunteers, publicize events, add Board members, etc. They feel it works better that texting or emails.
CNA Chair report: The chair of the CNA has been working with Public Works regarding sidewalk repair information. A possible forum on this topic may happen this Fall or Winter. The Jolt newspaper (September 8, 2025) published an article about sidewalk repair in Lacey. Lacey has invested $1.3 million in sidewalk repair and they have a dedicated team to do this.
An Energy Efficiency program, funded through the city of Olympia’s Inspire grant, is happening Thursday Oct. 2nd from 6:30 to 7:30 PM at Traditions Café. A panel will describe how to make use of the Federal Tax Credits for home energy, which expire at the end of this year. The panel of experts will also discuss the benefits of a home energy audit, insulation, weatherization, double pane windows, heat pump or solar panels, etc. The panel and the small group discussion afterwards will help you decide what steps are right for your home.