Manchester Community Council                           www.manchesterwa.org

PO Box 173

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

 

Draft Minutes of the MCC Executive Board meeting of 9/7/ 2006

 

Those in attendance: MC Edwards, C. Leininger,  R. Rada, R. Robinson, D. Trudeau,  J. Winslow

Excused Absences: C. Thompson

 

Action Items:

1)      John to write thank you to Joe McGuire.

2)      Ron Rada to seek approval of membership for purchase of accounting software.

3)      Debbie to re-format the membership list.

4)      Debbie to update the budget to reflect known expenses and income.

5)      Ron Rada to follow-up with Debbie Austin on County’s response to proposal on parallel gravity-feed sewer line.

6)      Carole to collate survey data.

7)      Carole to discuss potential letters under the MCC banner that may have been sent without proper approval of the membership.

 

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Ron Robinson at 6:35PM.  Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as written. 

 

Treasurer’s report: Debby reported our treasury balance is $776.76.  The most recent bank statement agrees with that balance.  Joe McGuire has completed the audit of our books and had several recommendations.  The methods we have been using for tracking the income and expenses do not meet the standards for public organizations, so he suggested that we purchase accounting software to simplify the task and provide true double entry bookkeeping.  John was tasked with writing a thank you to Joe for volunteering to provide this service to the MCC.  Other suggestions were to: 1) Maintain a list of members sorted by last names, 2) Resolve un-cashed checks from Grimes and McGuire, 3) Provide monthly reconciliation of books, 4) Provide detailed tracking of expenses via software.  It was suggested in this meeting that we consider having the Manchester Foundation purchase software for use by all four sub-organizations.  This will be discussed at the 9/26 meeting.  Debbie will be re-formatting the membership list.

            We also discussed the draft budget for this year, made a few suggestions, and Debbie agreed to revise it for final approval using membership of 59 and current known expenses.

          No significant new mail had arrived since our last meeting. 

 

Related Organizations’ status/issues:

*Crime Prevention/Safety group: The traffic department will present their findings at the 9/12 meeting, so all are urged to attend.  It was also noted that the Larsens will not be available to lead the meetings from 9/26 thru about 10/31.

 

*MCA: The MCA is planning another clean-up day on October 7th.

 

*Historical Society: The schedule for the next meeting is still pending.

 

*Manchester Foundation: Final IRS documents are ready to be submitted.  The Foundation has been assigned PO Box 333.

 

 

Sub-committee status/issues:

*Sewers sub-committee: LID #8 construction is underway.  Signatures of support for LID#9 are at about 70% of the requirement for approval.  Ron Rada noted that we have not received any response from the County on the proposal to run a parallel line to the #9 sewer line for potential future sewers to the west of Colchester; Ron will follow-up with Debbie Austin.

 

*Downtown Design: Carole reported that we now have ~80 responses to the survey and she will collate the data.  Ron Rada suggested that we need to reinforce the Plan language stating that we encourage “two-story mixed use development” within the commercial corridor.  This subject will be brought to the membership on 9/26, and is expected to result in a letter to the DCD.

 

*Regain Historic Village Character: Bob Turk of the action group will be meeting with chairman Ron Robinson and Eric Baker of DCD on 9/8 to discuss detailed language on lot aggregation.  Any proposed change will be brought to the membership at the 9/26 meeting for a vote of approval.

 

*Partnership with agencies: No report.

 

*Recreational Venues: The group has arranged for a boating safety class to be taught in the Library on 10/14 from 8AM-5PM.  They are also looking at what help they might offer the Port on improving Pomeroy Park, and seeking information on County right-of-ways for potential walking trails.

 

*Village Commons: The next meeting has not yet been scheduled.  John reported that the Kitsap Regional Library has a meeting planned on September 28th at the branch on Sylvan Way where funding approached for Library expansion will be discussed.

 

Old Business:

            No suggestions have been received on positive suggestions we might make for placement of the stormwater discharge pipe that is currently on hold.

            Joyce Rada and Bud Larsen have been making blockwatch contacts on Daniels Loop with some degree of success, but a blockwatch captain has yet to be identified for that area.

         

New Business: 

          It was suggested that our next community forum include discussion on potential changes to the Manchester Plan.  We decided to target the 11/28 meeting for this discussion. 

            We will conduct our regular elections at the 11/28 meeting (ballots will be presented to members in good standing at registration), so to meet that schedule we will need to appoint a nominating committee at our 9/26 meeting and they will be able to present their proposed slate of officers at our 10/24 meeting.

.           Due to the magnitude of the task or reviewing sections of the Plan for potential revision, it was concluded that we need to break the membership into five different groups at the 9/26 meeting and have them develop suggestions for changes.  The results will be discussed at the 11/28 meeting.

            In reviewing the status of the developments underway in downtown, it was agreed that it would be very helpful if we could identify one individual to monitor these all closely and report back to the membership with objective details.  A volunteer will be solicited at the 9/26 meeting.

            Carrilu sent an email to the Board suggesting that perhaps some communications had been sent out under the name of the MCC without proper approval of the membership.  No one in attendance was aware of any specific examples, so Carole agreed to pursue this with Carrilu.

            Carrilu also said that she attended the hearing on the Anchors at Manchester development and that David Hopkins had “strongly alluded” that the MCC supported his project.  In discussion of this topic, we all agreed that the MCC has made a very careful effort to not offer a position on the project, but individuals were free to offer whatever comments they had, provided they were not attributed to the MCC membership.

            In a review of the progress on our annual goals, it was generally agreed that we are indeed continuing with the progress, albeit slowly!

            The agenda for 9/26 will not include a guest speaker so we can concentrate on suggested revisions to the Manchester Plan.

There being no further business, Chairman Robinson adjourned the meeting at 7:51 PM.

Our next regular meeting will be Tuesday September 26th at 6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library and the next Executive Board meeting will be Thursday October 5th at 6:30PM in the Library. 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

John Winslow, Secretary-Manchester Community Council