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 1/23/07

Action Items:

1)      Treasurer to purchase Quicken Basic software.

2)      Treasurer to pay $500 to FOML for meeting room use for all 2007.

 

Minutes:

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Ron Rada at 6:32PM in the Manchester Library.  Ron welcomed the 28 people (including 20 current members) in attendance.  We originally planned to have Commissioner Angel speak on the process for review and changes to the Manchester Plan which is anticipated to occur this year.  At the last minute, Commissioner Angel had input from the DCD suggesting that she should wait until next month when they have their plans better solidified.  As a result, we asked Ron Robinson to give us a brief summary of a non-partisan effort which he has volunteered for which is proposing a change to election campaign funding.

Guest Speakers comments:

            The project Ron Robinson spoke on is called “Washington Public Campaigns”  The group was founded in 2003 with the mission to organize support for public funding of political campaigns in Washington State.  Ron then showed us a short video on the subject.  There are currently seven states and two cities which have adopted this funding scheme.  In essence, the effort is directed at eliminating the influence of special interests.  For further information, see the web-sites, www.washclean.org and www.publiccampaign.org.

 

Community Group announcements:

Manchester Community Association: No new news to report.

Manchester Historical Society: See the information on web-site www.manchesterwa.org

Manchester Foundation: The checks to pay for the creation of the 501c3 have been cashed by the US government, but no response yet.

Crime Prevention and Public Safety Group: Bud Larsen reported that he will be looking forward to our meeting with Jan Angel to present a number of questions he has on the Main Street stormwater outfall project.  Bud than mentioned that a recent speaker at his breakfast meetings was Fire Chief Senter.  At the meeting they asked questions about emergency medical response to the Manchester community.  The Crime Prevention and Public Safety group intends to keep pressure on the Fire Chief to insure that we get appropriate response times.  Arlene Rebelowski reminded all that the minutes of these meetings are available on our web-site and Bud offered to add any individual’s names to the direct distribution list for minutes.

 

Business meeting:

Review and approval of past meeting’s minutes: Minutes of the 11/28/06 meeting were approved as written.

 

Correspondence: No significant correspondence has been received recently.

 

 

 

Reports:

Treasurer: In the absence of Treasurer Trudeau, it was reported that our balance is now $1037.05.  A motion was made and approved to authorize the purchase of Quicken Basic for our recording of our treasury actions in the amount of $29.99 plus tax.

 

Sewers Sub-Committee: Ron Rada reported that the only step required for the completion of LID#8 is a final road repaving.  It was noted that eight additional properties were added to LID#8 which were on the boundary of LID#9, which will decrease the cost of #8, but unfortunately this changes the boundaries of #9.  Some additional signatures will be required to allow LID#9 to proceed.

            A question was asked on the extent of LID#9.  Ron said that the LID will go along the water down to Yukon Harbor.

 

MCC Action Groups:

***Downtown Design: Carole Leininger invited those who are interested in developing design standards for the commercial zone to attend the group’s meetings on Saturday mornings.  For further info, contact Carole.

 

***Historic Village Character: There was no report during the meeting, but after adjournment, Bob Turk announced that the group had last met on 12/9 and he was appointed chairman.

 

***Partnerships with other Agencies: No report.

 

***Recreational Venues: Helen Robinson reported that her recent efforts have been focused on developing potential safe walking trails.  She mentioned that Kingston has a good plan in this area, and this group may draw ideas from that plan.  Helen said another effort of the group will be to look into how they might make existing parks more appealing.  She concluded with the announcement of the next Safe Boating Class (certificate required for those under 21 years old on 1/1/08) is scheduled for 4/28 in the Library.  Anyone interested in helping should contact Helen.

 

***Village Commons: This group is looking for a new chairman.  It was noted that Norm McLaughlin of the Kitsap Consolidated Housing Authority will be speaking to the Friends of the Library (FOML) meeting on 1/24.  McLaughlin will discuss the construction of senior housing units and how this can be combined with other community needs for building space.

 

Old Business:

            Ron Robinson presented the nomination forms for “Manchester Citizen of the Year” which was introduced in November.  Forms are available on our web-site and nominations for this year must be submitted by January 31st.  Nominations will be coordinated by the Executive Board and presented to the membership for final selection.

            Ron Rada reported that he still has no response from the County Commissioners on our two letters on 2-story mixed use in downtown Manchester, and optional gravity feed line alongside pressure sewer line on LID #9.

            Mattie Walters is still being trained on accessing data on County building permit actions and will have reports at future meetings.

 

New Business:

            The FOML has approved a $500 fee to cover MCC use of the Library meeting room for all MCC related meetings this year.  Debbie Trudeau will submit a check in that amount to FOML.

            Due to a conflict in use of the meeting room, the MCC Executive Board will meet on 2/5, 3/5, and 4/2 instead of the normal first Thursday of the month.

Topics from the floor:

 

            Arlene Rebelowski stated that the Greeter Service is going to all 98366 new neighbors.  We are just about out of the printed information sheets and $61 worth of printing will be required.  A motion to provide the funds required for the new printing was approved.  Arlene also mentioned that she would like to add any pertinent dates to the web-site calendar.  If you have anything to add, contact Arlene via the web-site.

            Jim Stritzel reminded everyone that the hearing on the stop work order on his property is being held on 2/8 at 9:30AM in the Commissioners’ chambers for those who might want to attend.

            Mark Rebelowski said that he has learned that the demolition of the former Manchester Foods building will occur within about three weeks.

            A remark was made about the County’s selective enforcement of elements of the Manchester Plan.  This led to frustrations aired by others with concerns; there were no conclusions drawn or actions recommended.

There being no other discussion from the floor, Chairman Rada adjourned the meeting at 7:38 PM.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday February 27th at 6:30-8:30PM.  The location has yet to be selected, but will possibly be the Commissioners chamber.  This will be one of our annual “Town Meetings”.  The DCD will use this as a kick-off meeting for the Manchester Plan revision development.  This will be follow a similar process to the original plan development where community members will be brought together to provide recommendations to the County staff.  Our DCD representative will be Scott Deener.  We’re told that they have a target for conclusion of the community input process of Sept. ’07.

Ron Rada 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 February 13th.

 

Respectfully submitted,

John Winslow, Member-at-Large; Manchester Community Council