James Sweeney

Neighborhood Meeting Minutes – January, 2023

ENA Board Meeting
Jan 10, 2023
7:00 PM
1613 Union Ave SE

Attendees: Sherry Chilcutt (President/Treasurer), Roger Horn (Vice President), Jim Sweeney (Secretary), Jim Rioux, Cheryl Bayle, Abigail Twombly, Karen Clemens

Approval of the minutes:

Cheryl & Sherry will make changes to the Dec. 14, 2022 minutes for the Board to review. Roger said the minutes included his idea for awarding holiday decoration prizes that didn’t happen. It was agreed this is something we should plan to do later this year.

Treasurer Report:

Checking $749.40
Savings $963.62
Neighborhood Signs $1307.39
Legion Way Trees $153.48
Community Beautification $410.21
Total $3584.25
Jim S. suggested donating extension cords to New Bridge Church to replace some of what they lost. A motion to approve spending up to $50 was made, seconded and approved unanimously.

Address List – mailing:

Jim R. has a map for checking Eastside addresses. The areas remaining (7, 8, 9, 10) will be checked soon. Cheryl would like to have a large map showing addresses.

Land Use & Environment Committee Report:

Jim S. briefed the Board on draft 2023 work plans for the Land Use & Environment Committee and Planning Commission. Both work plans include the Neighborhood Centers project. The Planning Commission’s work plan did not include sidewalks. This project has been assigned to the Public Works Transportation section but they have not yet developed a scope of work. Based on discussion during the Commission’s January 9 meeting, this will likely be corrected. The Planning Commission’s work plan does include staff time for subarea planning, if one of the RNAs chooses to use it.

RNA Grant ideas:

  • Purchase ENA window clings for cars.
  • Conduct another mailing.
  • Annual picnic; pay for live entertainment.
  • Purchase a barbeque grill.
  • Purchase an apple press.
  • Build kiosks.
  • Technical support for a centralized CNA website which would support every RNA (Lydia already said we could do this).

Should we change our status to 501c3?

We’re currently a political organization. If we want to change this it needs to happen by about March or April.

What should we be working on?

  • RNA annual report to the City.
  • Block parties.
  • Talent show at the Armory.
  • Annual picnic, including live music or other entertainment.
  • Better ways to connect with neighbors (we listed upcoming events in the 2022 newsletter which was very effective).
  • A 2023 events calendar.
  • Outreach to previous Board members.
  • Recruiting new Board members to help with events.
  • Website dues paying system (Some have complained about having to create an account to get on the email list).

Should we plan a celebration for the opening of the Spray ground?

Roger will contact Sylvana Niehuser.

CNA Report:

Karen briefed the Board on the January 9 CNA meeting:

  • Dontae Payne reported the Council will be looking at sidewalk funding in 2023.
  • The City is looking to improve its way-finding signage.
  • Lacey is purchasing a hotel to accommodate campers who are being removed from rights-of-way.
  • A final ‘Olympia Strong’ report is due in May.
  • There is a need for more housing for ‘ALICE’ (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families, especially in Olympia.
  • The CNA is working to update its bylaws and MOU.

Also: Jim R. attended a January meeting about the Regional Fire Authority. Tumwater has a property tax cost calculator on its website. Abigail and Cheryl will determine a time and place to get together to talk about an events calendar and let the rest of us know.

Dan Rydholm

Neighborhood Meeting Minutes – December 2022

ENA Board Meeting
Dec 24, 2022
7:00 PM
1613 Union Ave SE

Attendees: Roger Horn, Sherry Chilcutt, Jim Sweeney, Karen Lang Sweeney, Abigail Atwombly, Cheryl Bayle

Approval of the minutes:

No minutes available from Annual meeting.

Treasurer Report:

Checking $699.40
Savings $963.62
Neighborhood signs $1307.39
Legion Way Trees $153.46
Community Beautification $410.17
Grand total $3534.04

Annual General Meeting Report, Nov. 30 th

About 20 people came. There was significant snow that evening which lowered attendance. We have email addresses that need to be entered into our new system. We will hold this item till Nathan returns and we can quiz him. Jim Sweeney will send thank you email to Angel Nava and Stephanie Johnson.

Mailing address

List Still in progress. Cheryl would love to get her hands on the large map that Jim Rioux has to help her identify address associated with vacant parcels.

Oly Lightstravaganza report

Doing a great job with outdoor events. Several more events coming.

Winter Walkabout

Instead of our traditional walkabout, we might ask people to pick the top 3 holiday displays and let us know. We will award a prize to the top 3. We are going to skip the mapping exercise this year due to a lack of energy. Roger will write a blurb and post it on the website. We will give $30 gift cards to Big Toms or Left Bank. Roger will write a blurb on Saturday and Sherry will put it on Nextdoor. People will be invited to email Roger with their picks.

Email List Issues

Jim Rioux is not getting all the board emails, through google groups. We will commit to adding Jim’s personal email in our communications forever.

RNA grant blurb finished?

Roger and Sherry will work on that and get it sent in by end of year.

Land use & env committee-Neighborhood center

Dec.15th Jim Sweeney is available for online attending and keeping us in the loop to see where we are with the neighborhood center.

Mail chimp – vs website

Where do new emails get added? Hold for future meeting.

New Board members and looking to elections.

Abigail will join the board. Dave Groves was ill tonight and will attend a future meeting. Roger has agreed to continue as Vice President, Jim Sweeney was voted in as secretary and Sherry will continue her dual role as Treasurer/President.

Looking towards 2023

What projects are we considering?

Dan Rydholm

Neighborhood Meeting Minutes – October 2022

ENA Board Meeting
10/13/2022
7:00 PM
Swantown Inn

Attendees: Sherry Chilcutt, Roger Horn, Cheryl Bayle, Nathan Allen, Jim Rioux

Treasurer Report

Checking $996.18
Savings $963.48
Signs $1307.26
Trees $153.42
Beautification $410.09
Total $3800.37

All grant requirements are done except narrative about the project.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes approved with edits from Roger.

CNA Report

None CNA representative was not in attendance.

Talent Show – Salvation Army

Roger shared latest version of banner. B&B Sign Company agreed to requested changes.

Roger shared questions for talent. The board agreed to send the questions.

Roger has seven acts. He would like three more. Nathan suggested reaching out to the City’s poet laureate. Roger asked about talent outside of neighborhood. All agreed that would be OK.

Roger’s dance group leader suggested SambaOlyWa.

Sherry and Cheryl will make snacks.

Roger asked if Hank would serve as MC. Sherry said yes.

Roger asked if Hank would know of others that could perform. Sherry will ask.

Roger shared a draft program. Roger asked for help with the brochure. Nathan offered to help after Monday.

Sherry asked about what kind of Covid precautions we should take? Roger suggested buying masks and making them available to attendees.

Address List

Jim showed a map of the neighborhood zones he created. Jim shred printed copies of the database broken out by zones.

Nathan asked that we come up with key so that people checking the homes know what to put into the database. Jim will come up with a key based on what Sherry already started and then upload the database to google docs and share the file with everyone on the board

Membership Programs (Move to 3)

Nathan reviewed the recommendation from Jim R. The board agreed with the recommendation.

Nathan already paid for the license. $320 for two memberships. ENA portion would be $160.

Nathan will confirm cost and request approval for reimbursement at next meeting.

General Meeting – November 3, 5-8 pm.

Sherry location is at Armory. Charge $84.

There was discussion about speakers. It was decided to invite parks staff to discuss progress on the Armory and art installation near the neighborhood. Nathan explained Community Solar program and suggested we reach out to them to speak.

Jim will facilitate nomination of new board members.

Sherry will reach out to area churches to see if they have interest in participating as board members.

Sherry mentioned that Zoom has a transcription tool that we may want to use to capture meeting notes.

Dan Rydholm

Neighborhood Meeting Minutes – September 2022

ENA Board Meeting
9/15/2022
7:00 PM
Swantown Inn

Attendees: Sherry Chilcutt, Roger Horn, Cheryl Bayle, Nathan Allen, Jim Rioux, Jim Sweeney,

Treasurer Report

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

There may be an invoice from the mural project that was double paid. We may need to reconcile with the City. At this time the City says we are ok.

Homes First is trying to raise $500 to start work on five houses. Sherry will keep in touch with them and see if they need ENA support.

Taxes have been filed. Sherry will change our tax status to a non-political non-profit. This will make us eligible for significant cost savings that political non-profits are not eligible for.

CNA Report

Sherry had some concern about the fact that we were unable to back up Karen for the last CNA meeting. The consensus was that this will likely be rare and its OK if ENA is not in attendance once in a while.

The board discussed the City’s proposal for a Regional Fire Authority. The significant increase in property tax with no clear benefit to Olympia citizens was frustrating.

Talent Show – Salvation Army

Roger has three acts for sure and one more poet will be asked. He wondered if we should we ask for others from the northeast or any other neighborhoods? Jim Sweeney suggested downtown.

Nathan suggested reaching out to the ODA.

Sherry will check in with Andy a professional trumpeter.

Nathan suggested putting up a flier in capital guitar.

Roger has a few other leads he will contact including reaching out to Avanti high school. The date and time is set for Saturday October 22, 3-5 pm.

Address List

Jim R was successful in splitting the data so that we can sort by street name. He will try to do some further breakdown to group houses into zones.

Member List Status and Levels Discussion

The board decided to form a small group to come up with a proposal. The group will consist of Dan, Jim R, and Nathan.

Nathan reminded the board that the basic reason for the change is to have a database of active people in the neighborhood. Our current system can’t do that for us. The intent is to encourage donations but not require it. The business level will give us a way to promote neighborhood businesses.

November General Meeting

Sherry asked what date worked better for everyone, November 3rd, or 9th. Roger pointed out that we had already set the date for November 3rd. The board decided to stick with November 3rd.

There was some discussion about the location. Newbridge and the Armory were mentioned. The Armory seemed a better choice. Sherry will contact Stephanie about the Armory.

We will plan to start at 5:30 pm with snacks and start the meeting at 6:00 pm.

The board discussed the following topics for an agenda. Nathan pointed out that we should pick something that will bring people out and we need to give people a positive reason to attend.

  • Nathan– Quince St. village
  • Jim Sweeney – Citywide homeless plan.
  • Jim R -Lions Park improvements and other parks issue
  • Jim S – Emergency Management
  • Sherry -City events

Jim reminded the board that we will need to nominate new board members so that we can choose officers in January.

Nathan agreed to contact old officers to see if they have interest.

Jim R will send message to e-mail list from last annual meeting.

Art Crossing Meeting at the Armory

How can we best support attendance?

The meeting is scheduled September 29 at 6:30 am.

Sherry is looking for messaging to get people to attend. Jim will help Sherry write something.

Jim will get pictures of artwork that the chosen artist created to Nathan.

3900 Boulevard Rd Meeting at ORLA

Jim Sweeney shared that people from LiHi spoke well about homeless community in Olympia.

Roger said that he also attended and didn’t hear any opposition. Some important issues were highlighted.

Sherry said the issues raised were traffic and stormwater.

The concerns from people from the Newcastle neighborhood were parking, flooding, transportation, access to LBA, and loss of open space.

Interpretive Sign at Armory – $50,000 Contract

Jim S volunteered to serve on the committee that will give input on the content and design of the sign.

Sherry mentioned that the Armory received $1 million grant for Heritage Capital Project Grant.

sheena

Neighborhood Meeting Minutes July 2019

7/17/19 Swantown Inn 7-8:30 pm

Attendees:

Board members – Nathan Allan, Sherry Chilcutt, Jim Sweeney, Amy Hill, Jim Rioux, Roger Horn, Sheena Pietzold

Treasurer’s Report

  • Checking: $473
  • Savings: $1059
  • Signs: $1302
  • Legion Way Trees: $152
  • Community beautification: $408

Neighborhood picnic – There was a miscommunication when trying to reserve the shelter at Lions Park and we didn’t get it reserved for 8/17 from 4-7 like we’d planned. Brian booked it for the only available day, 8/25 from 4-7. Jim R. will follow up with the City tomorrow to see if any other times are available for 8/17 or earlier times available on 8/25. We still have to pay for reservation but won’t have to pay for insurance this year.

Block Parties – We discussed how the marketing wasn’t on point this year, and will try to improve it in the future. We talked about some pros and cons of having the block parties on multiple nights/weekends, and agreed that we liked doing it this way because it allows for more people to host because it’s more convenient for them and people can go to several of the block parties easier. The block party on 5th between Fairview and Edison had 60 or so people attend (two hosts combined). The block party on Lybarger between 10th and Union only had 10-15 attendees on the same day. More block parties are coming up on 7/19, so it’ll be interesting to see how those go. Perhaps we can invite block party hosts to the board meeting prior to the block parties (either May or June) to organize/coordinate efforts next year. Perhaps some could combine with neighborhood garage sales in the future. 

Neighborhood policing seems to be working well – we had a brief discussion on how it seems they’ve had good response times and are focussing on and addressing problem houses very well.

Cider press event – Not really considering doing it again this year unless we can find a volunteer to run it.

Plum street village – The first Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the Plum Street Village happened. Nathan and Brad attended and plan to attend the future monthly meetings. They are scheduled for  an hour, but perhaps could benefit from being longer. There are 30 or so houses and 29 residents. While they didn’t have stats on how many have been kicked out, we do know that 6 people have already successfully transitioned out. According to the surrounding businesses, people who live at the village are doing just fine, but periphery people are more of a nuisance. In general, the village seems to be doing really well. They’re providing more social services to the folks who transition out. One discussion point was regarding how the advisory committee can help interface between the village and the community/neighborhood? They’re trying to figure that out still. We discussed how we think It should be two-way street, if we see problems, we can say something and if they need help with something specific, they can let us know. We want them to feel like they’re part of the community because that’s going to help them be more successful. One of the first things the village does for the residents is help them get identification, jobs, and healthcare. Someone pointed out that the city has a weekly newsletter related to homelessness but we’re not sure it gets out very well.

Candidate forum – Roger reserved Wednesday, Oct. 9th from 6:30 or 7 for an hour and a half at the Elks Lodge. We will be partnering with 3 other neighborhoods and will finalize who to invite after the primary on 8/6. There may be another forum getting organized for the westside.

Variety show follow-up – Merging with Bigelow Highlands really helped and it was a really good show. We’re planning on doing it again next year, possibly in March instead of June. The Salvation Army welcomes it back again. Some of the performers said they’re interested again too.

CNA update: Jim R – it was a very packed agenda and had good neighborhood repsresenation.

  • A number of things are going before Land Use and Environment Committee in Aug/Sept, including the airbnb/short term rentals issue, and affordable low income and market rate housing issues.
  • There was an overview of the water rates.
  • Lydia Morehead filled a position for supporting neighborhoods generally and staffing the CNA. She is the new main contact for sub area plans.
  • The city said the multi-unit tax incentive has been helping downtown, but was not seen favorably by folks in the room. They also spoke on a few items related to housing including the old Bailey’s hotel, the next village on Martin, and low income housing. There is a meeting at the VFW hall (on Martin) on July 22nd at 6pm for community outreach.
  • They discussed waste resources and how Olympia is one of few communities that collects its own wastes.  The recyclables, which get sold, have subsidized the program in the past, but now we are paying people to take it away. There has been a lot of market shake up and no one is sure where it’s going to end up. We will probably see changes in what is accepted sometime soon.

Sub-area plan – We went over the details of a timeline with Lydia (the new City staff and point of contact) at the last core team meeting. We are trying to pull it all together and make time for lots of reviews from many different groups including the ENA board, City Committees, etc. The timeline is looking like October now, but there will be a draft for the board to reveiw next month hopefully. We narrowed it down to about 10 action items for each of 4 topic areas, but we don’t want to lose all the ideas that came up. We talked about potential ways to keep that information somehow, like in an excel table, etc.