Manchester Community Council                           www.manchesterwa.org

PO Box 173                                                                         

Manchester, WA  98353-0173

“it’s a great place to live…”

 

Draft Minutes for MCC meeting of 7/25/06

Action Items:

1)      Arlene Rebelowski to get 500 b/w copies of the Greeters Pamphlet for under $60 and provided to Kitsap Greeters.

2)      All members to provide feedback on how we can best select appropriate projects for work by the MCC.

3)      John Winslow to contact Jim Strode to invite his participation in meeting with Port of Bremerton on 7/27.

 

Minutes:

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Ron Robinson at 6:33PM in the Manchester Library.  Ron welcomed the 25 people ( 22 current members, achieving a quorum) in attendance.  There was no guest speaker for this meeting.  Ron then read the mission from our Bylaws.

 

Business meeting:

Review and approval of past meeting’s minutes: The minutes of the 6/27 meeting were approved as written.

 

Correspondence: The only correspondence this past month was submission of 8 surveys.

 

Treasurer: Debby Trudeau reported that our current bank balance is $760.67.  There were no bills or disbursements this month.

 

Community Group Reports:

Manchester Community Association:

Eric Cisney reported that the Manchester Festival will be held on Saturday August 26th and they are currently looking for additional tenants for booth space.

 

Manchester Historical Society:

            Mary Cathern Edwards reported that the group will not hold a meeting this month.

 

Manchester Foundation:

            Ron Rada was traveling, but left the following report: “The Foundation now has non-profit status from the state and a federal tax ID number.  The first meeting of the initial Board of Trustees is scheduled for (Tuesday) August 1st at 7:00 PM in the Library.  The Trustees will approve the bylaws and IRS for a 501(c) status and elect officers for the remainder of the year.”

 

Crime Prevention and Public Safety group:

            Bud Larsen reported on his appeal to the Main Street stormwater project plan which was held before the Commissioners on 7/10.  The appeal was denied, but a provision was added that the exposed pipe must be signed so that boaters are aware of the danger posed.  The next step in this group’s effort to get the project modified will be to work with the Manchester Port Commissioners.  Port president Strode has indicated that he will likely not support the County’s request for an easement for the stormwater pipe in its proposed location.  This topic will be a key element in the next Port meeting scheduled for 8/7 at 7PM in the Library and all are urged to attend to voice their opinion on the project.  Bill Shaw said that at the last meeting of the Port, there were 13 guests and none of them supported the project as currently designed.

            Bud also mentioned that he had contacted the IAC (source of partial funding for ramp/dock several years ago) on the matter and they are opposed to granting of an easement without compensating recreational spaces elsewhere.  A question from the audience asked what the next step would be and if the Superior Court would be involved.  Bud said that the cost to pursue this would be too high.

 

MCC Sub-Committee reports:

Sewers:

            Ron Rada’s written report: “Construction of LID#8 will begin in about 2 weeks.  Several late comers will bring the cost estimate down a little.  Proposed LID#9; The petition is at my office for signatures of any property owner interested.  Another copy is being hand carried around by Samantha Evans, who is going door-t- door to make sure everyone has had an opportunity to sign.  From the initial response at the first meeting it looks like we will be able to get the required number of property owners to sign the petition by the end of August.  At that time the petition will go back to the county for action by the Board of Commissioners.

 

Downtown Design:

            No report.

 

Regaining Historic Character:

            Dick Asche said that the group had met last Saturday and they will be focusing on modifications to the Manchester Plan.  Additional volunteers are required to help with this large task; sign-up sheets will be available in the Library and Post Office.

            Also mentioned were the latest developments on the building height limits for Manchester.  The County has produced bulletin #10 on Residential Setbacks and bulletins #36 on Manchester Village Height Requirement.  Dick said the bulletins appear to miss the intent of the Manchester Plan and the group will be working on this specifically.  An audience member also mentioned that the latest Eyman initiative could make this entire effort mute, since it will give property owners broad latitude on what they can do on their own property.

 

Agency Partnering:

            Debby Trudeau had nothing to report.                                                                          

 

Village Commons:

            Bill Shaw commented that he discussed a survey with the Port Commissioners at the 7/10meeting of the Port.  Since that time, the Commissioners have apparently warmed-up to the idea of a survey mailing.  The Village Commons group is developing a few basic survey questions that could be used for approval by the Commissioners and the Friends of the Library.  Bill has learned there are 3424 registered voters in the Port district.  The Port currently has a bonding authority of up to $670,000 that could be executed without voter approval. (although that would be unlikely)  Such bonds would likely be 8-10% twenty year bonds, but the Port currently does not have sufficient tax income to support that level of debt without raising taxes.  The question of whether the Port would consider adding a fee for launching/parking.  The Commissioners were unwilling to do that.  Bill also learned that KRL is planning to have a bond issue on the ballot in the Spring of 2007 and that would raise the level of concern on any other tax increase issue.  He said the next step by his committee is unclear since it depends on land being available at an appropriate price.  Jan Angel has indicated that some HUD grant monies may be available for a building that would incorporate Senior Housing.  Debbie Trudeau added that any HUD supported effort would be much more complex to administer than other approaches.

 

 

Recreational Venues:

            Helen Robinson reported that the informal survey contained many great suggestions.  One suggestion was a beautification of Pomeroy Park.  It was suggested that we get the Port Commissioners’ thoughts on any modification to the Park, since it is Port Property.  It was expressed that this group could “partner” with the Port to achieve best results.  Boating classes were also suggested, particularly in light of recent legislation requiring boating safety certification of boat operators in the not too distant future.  Art classes are in the works and the Library will be offering a “Seniors Making Art” class series in September for those who are “entry level” artists and may be slightly intimidated to the classes currently offered at the gallery.  A Manchester Cookbook (as a fundraiser) has been discusses.  Finally Helen said that she investigated Yoga classes and learned that a class will be offered on Mondays in August at a location on Mile Hill Dr.  If you are interested in any of these ideas, please contact Helen.

 

Old Business:

            Arlene Rebelowski brought up the subject of a greeters pamphlet which she has drafted.  If we had a number of copies printed, the Kitsap Greeters (private business) would distribute our material.  A motion was approved to provide up to $60 to get 500 b/w copies made.

 

New Business:

            Arlene also said that she has created a web-log (“Blog”) test site at the suggestion of Peter Clarke.  Maintenance of the blog would create significant additional work for Arlene.  If you are interested in looking at the blog and commenting, please contact Arlene via the MCC web-site (www.manchesterwa.org).

            Chairman Robinson then undertook a discussion on how we might limit the areas of focus by the MCC so we don’t get over-diluted.  Ron was concerned that we may be taking on more issues than we can properly handle.  Joe Blazevich suggested that perhaps we need a list of criteria such as broad community support, doable, not too expensive, etc before taking on a project.  After a lot of discussion, it was concluded that we need to digest the question, and if you have ideas, please provide feedback to John Winslow or Ron Robinson directly.

            At the request of the Village Commons group, Chairman Robinson was requested to contact the Port of Bremerton to learn what methods they use for finding grants for projects like ours.  A meeting was scheduled for July 27 and all Executive Board members were invited to attend.  It was suggested that the Manchester Port Commissioners be invited as well.  John Winslow was tasked with contacting Commissioner Strode to discuss his participation.

 

Topics from the floor:          

            There were no other issues raised from the floor.  There being no other discussion, Chairman R adjourned the meeting at 8:06PM.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday August 22nd at 6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library. 

Ron Robinson and John Winslow will jointly develop an agenda for our next meeting for distribution with the reminder, several days before the meeting.  If you have any additional items for the agenda, contact John Winslow prior to June 16th.

 

Respectfully submitted,

John Winslow, Secretary-Manchester Community Council