Manchester Community Council                               www.manchesterwa.org

PO Box 173

Manchester, WA  98353-0173                           “it’s a great place to live…”

 

Minutes of the MCC Executive Board meeting of June 9, 2005

 

Those in attendance: B. Ballard, JB Bartel, C. Kowalski, B. Lamb, B. Larsen, M. Rebelowski,

R. Robinson, D. Trudeau, J. Winslow

Excused Absences: R. Rada

 

Action Items:

1)      Carol to add Executive Board member names to the left hand side of the letterhead for the letters of welcome to new members.  She will also send out a batch of welcome letters to recent new members.

2)      Mark to prepare a one-page summary of “Roberts Rules as applied by the MCC.”

3)      John to modify the draft press release as discussed and issue on 6/15.

4)      Carol to create a poster for use at 6/28 meeting defining the five new groups.

5)      Mark/Carol to create 200 copies of a MCC information sheet for distribution at the Safety booth at the

Salmon Bake.

6)      Debby to discuss specifics on Conflict of Interest application of our Bylaws with D-W-T.

7)      Debby to further pursue “Entering Manchester” sign issues with the County.

8)      JB to pursue Kitsap Realtors Association speaker for July meeting.

 

Minutes:

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Bob Ballard at 7:00PM.  Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as written.  

 

Old Business:

 

Follow-up items from previous meeting:

In a review of action items from the past meeting, the following was reported:

A)    Welcome letter to be issued to new members as soon as the draft is finally approved by Bob.  It was agreed to add the Executive Board member names to the left hand side of the letterhead.  At ensuing Executive Board meetings, Carol and JB will process letters of welcome to all the new members.  We will also institute a policy to introduce new members at the meeting following their payment of dues.  Carol will catch up on recent new members with a letter.

B)     Phil to download State regulations for non-profits for our education.  Phil provided John a CD with RCW’s pertinent to non-profit organizations.  Carol read some excerpts from a handbook on non-profits for our education.  We have 12 months remaining before we must make a final decision on whether to pursue the 501c3 status, but for now we are continuing on that plan.

C)     Appoint a “Robert’s Rules warden” to help keep our meetings on track.  Mark volunteered to fill this role in future meetings.  He will also prepare a one-page version of “Robert’s Rules as they apply to the MCC” to help all stay on track during business meetings.

D)    Ron Robinson to discuss potential re-naming of the working groups.  Ron clarified that he was concerned about how the new sub-groups would support the goals set-out in the original Manchester Plan.  This was accomplished by follow-up item F (below).

E)     John Winslow to prepare press releases for distribution on ~6/15 on working groups.  With some minor modifications (including comments on accomplishments of the MCC), John will send the press release on 6/15 to the Independent and Sun.

F)      John Winslow to prepare a review of Plan goals versus sub group charters for 6/9.  A document was provided by John that showed each of the goals from the Plan, under the appropriate sub-committee heading.

G)     JB Bartel to send thank you to Jim Avery after the 5/24 meeting.  Completed by 5/31.  JB also agreed to handle this for all future guest speakers.

H)    Ron Robinson to facilitate the formation of the working groups at 6/28 meeting.  R. Robinson will be out of town on 6/28.  Mark will facilitate these discussions.  Carol will prepare a poster for use at the next meeting outlining the five new sub-committees to help members select their interests for participation.  Ron reminded us that the Board needs to focus on five year goals for the organization (such as membership, fund raising, publicity, etc) in addition to the goals of our sub-committees.  These goals will be aimed at giving our committees the tools to reach their goals.  John will add this to future Board agendas.  While discussing this, the question was raised whether the MCC should be doing something at the Salmon Bake.  It was agreed that Carol would create 200 copies of a document describing the MCC’s goals and objectives for distribution at the Safety committee’s booth.

I)       Carol to seek D-W-T input on how our Conflict of Interest Bylaw should be worded.  The attorney suggested that our Bylaws state that those at an Executive Board meeting should recuse themselves from any discussion or vote in which they had a conflict of interest.  At regular meetings, Executive Board members could speak as private citizens, but not as Board members on subjects where they have a conflict.  Debby volunteered to discuss specifics further with D-W-T attorney.  Bob Lamb commented that what we need to do is have full disclosure whenever there is a real or perceived conflict, but allow the disclosed individual to assist with discussions, where their expertise could be of value to the group.  John volunteered to draft potential revisions to the Bylaw section on Conflicts of Interest for review at the 7/14 Board meeting.

 

TREASURER”S REPORT: Carol reported our treasury balance is $629.91 with paid membership standing at 48 (approximately 180 have attended at least one meeting).  There are still nine checks made payable to “MCC” which we have not cashed while working the 501c3 issue.  Carol is working with these individuals to provide other payment until the bank account is set-up.  Carol will be paying the room rental fees for the next three regular MCC meetings this week.

The new mail included a response to the sewers questionnaire and a new membership application.

 

SEWERS SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT: Ron Rada was not able to attend but provided written input.  He reported the legal description for LID #9 (Colchester) is being finalized this week.  Paul Gilligan and Ron will take the legal description to Rick Gagnon next week.  Ron will also take an updated frequently asked questions list to Rick at the same time in hopes of getting it reviewed so they can get it on the MCC web-site soon.  No change in LID #8 (Miracle Mile); expected completion is still on track for late fall.

 

CRIME PREVENTION SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT: Bud reported that his focus is currently on the Safety Fair that will be part of the Manchester Salmon Bake on June 19.  Citizens on Patrol (their correct phone number is 337-7101!) will have up to 10 staff at the event!  Bud also mentioned that at the next Port meeting (6/13) one item of discussion will be the Port’s effort to have the County Commissioners convert our Port’s Resolutions into County Ordinances which will allow enforcement by Kitsap Sheriff.  Apparently, there is a move afoot to coordinate all Kitsap Ports’ resolutions into Ordinances.

 

PUBLIC FACILITES SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT: Bob Lamb reported that the Haida Park group will be meeting at his home on Wednesday June 15 at 7PM to discuss their next step.  A representative from Public Works has been invited.  It was suggested that their plans be designed to coincide with the potential addition of a pump station to support LID #9 with a timeframe of approximately two years out.  The Board agreed that the sub-committee will submit its recommendation to the MCC membership at a future meeting for approval of their recommendation.

 

BUILDING HEIGHT SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT: Bob Ballard reported that the committee has not had any recent activity.  There is a lawsuit pending on the potentially over-height building with a court date this week. The group is still looking for a chair for this committee.

 

New Business:

Bob Ballard reported that he sent the letter to the County requesting five additional signs for “Entering Manchester”.  The County responded by offering to install signs on Colchester near the South end of Miracle Mile and on Beach Dr. near the wastewater treatment plant.  We feel that the County has missed our goal of helping to better define the Manchester Village boundaries, as defined in the Manchester Plan, but that we should accept the County’s offer graciously and pursue alternate means for improved signage.  Debby will pursue this further with her contacts at the County.

John said that he had contacted the State on the Adopt-a-Highway trash collection program who referred him to the County, since Colchester is a County road.  Bob Lamb had also been in contact with the County on this issue; they will commence a new program in the near future for trash clean-up on County Roads.  In the meantime, if we wish to do a clean-up project, it will have to be under our own planning.  Ron Robinson suggested that we might broaden our scope on this to include an entire Manchester-wide “clean-up day” including road grass mowing, trash pick-up, and furniture “amnesty”.  The idea was generally embraced by the Board and will be discussed at the next regular meeting.  It was further mentioned that Manchester Elementary School is a key resource in making this type of event happen successfully and we should pursue contact with the Principal (A J Callahan)/Vice-Principal.

Bob Ballard agreed to once again handle the publicity for the June 28 meeting (in addition to Winslow’s press release).

Guest speakers for future meetings were suggested to include Commissioner Angel, North Kitsap Community Council officer Kevin McDonald, and State Representative Derek Kilmer.  JB Bartel offered to contact a member of the Kitsap Realtor’s Association to speak on the Growth Management Act for the July meeting.

We briefly discussed the 6/4 Independent editorial on the MCC authored by L. Kimble.  We agreed it was unfortunately written without any first-hand knowledge of our organization.  We will rise above the author’s defamation of the MCC and continue to conduct ourselves in a professional manner to provide positive solutions to our community’s many issues.  Carol suggested that we have a responsibility as the voice of the community to form relationships with the local press and should consider having quarterly meetings with the editors to convey our positive message.  She offered to arrange such meetings and prepare lists of issues that could be discussed at each meeting.  Action on this is pending.

Bob Ballard mentioned that there is a large area to the Northeast of the Manchester Village boundaries that is being developed with small lot sizes on properties with no access to sewers.  These lots are in the vicinity of Beaver Creek.  He suggested that there might be encouragement to add this area to our Village to embrace the Manchester zoning and sewer access.  No action is planned at this point.

Debby mentioned that she will not be able to attend our 6/28 meeting, so she is arranging for Bud Larsen and John Quartermass to facilitate the “Partnering with outside agencies” group in her absence.

There being no further business, Chairman Ballard adjourned the meeting at 9:31PM.

Our next regular meeting will be Tuesday June 28th at 6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library and the next Executive Board meeting will be Thursday July 14th at 7:00PM at a yet to be determined location. 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

John Winslow, Secretary-Manchester Community Council