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 2/26/08

Action Items:

1) Carole Leininger will continue to pursue the idea of forming a Citizen Advisory Council with the Executive Board.

Minutes:

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Carole Leininger at 6:34PM in the Manchester Library. Carole welcomed the 14 people (including 13 current members) in attendance and then introduced our special speaker for the evening,

Guest Speakers comments:

Dee D’Haem is our Librarian at the Manchester Branch. Dee also introduced Jill Jean, KRL director, who was in the audience. Dee’s remarks covered the broad range of offerings by our library system in their quest to provide Kitsap County residents the opportunities of life-long learning. The KRL web-site (www.krl.org) highlights many of the offerings, including the ability to sign-up for a library card on line. For those County residents who are home-bound the library has a mobile “tenth branch” in the bookmobile, which has a regular route, but can be scheduled to visit individuals at their homes. We were all encouraged to visit our libraries and/or the web-site see what a broad range of skills the library staff has to offer.

Foundation Program announcements:

Manchester Community Association:

Phil Paquette reported that the MCA has pinned down the date for the roadside clean-up on May 31st. More volunteers are sought to provide added clean-up on Alaska and California Streets.

Manchester Historical Society:

No report.

Manchester Foundation:

No report.

Crime Prevention and Public Safety Group:

Bud Larsen said that the Port is considering formation of a citizens’ advisory committee. This group would be composed of representatives from several local organizations and others from the community at large. This will be discussed at future Port meetings.

The CP&PS group also held a meeting on 2/22 with Dave Tucker of SSWMS to discuss the status of the Main St. stormwater project. Per Tucker, the project ran into design problems with the discharge portion of the project. As a result, the County Commissioners de-emphasized this project and invested available funds on others. As of now, this project is not on the active list and the only way for it to move upward will be for the community to bring pressure on the County Commissioners. Photos were passed around illustrating massive stormwater overflows on the lower portions of Main St. during our last major storm event.

Business meeting:

Review and approval of past meeting’s minutes: Minutes of the January 22nd meeting were approved as written.

Correspondence: No significant mail was received.

Reports:

Treasurer: Debby Trudeau reported the treasury balance is $535.56. Current paid membership stands at 28. Several members commented that it would be desirable to hold a membership drive at a local major event, such as the Salmon Bake in June.

Sewers Sub-Committee: No report.

MCC Action Groups:

-Downtown Design: Lyle Burbidge reported that this group has merged their activities to encompass “Follow the Plan/Parks/Parking”. They are currently contacting Scott Diener to get more specifics on what options they may have in the area of parking in the downtown area. Their next meeting will be held on Tuesday March 11 at 6:30PM in the Library.

-Historic Village Character: No report.

-Partnerships with other Agencies: No report.

-Recreational Venues: John Winslow said that this group is expanding to encompass the “Pedestrian Friendly Manchester” goals. The group has met three times focusing on these new goals. They are exploring walking trail barriers resolutions and the drive-thru mail drop at the Post Office.

-Village Commons: Several recent meetings have focused on the acquisition of property for such a building. The Port appears to be seriously considering their role in this effort. If you are interested in sharing your opinion on the topic, your attendance at Port meetings is encouraged ((next meeting is Monday March 10^th at 7PM at the Library).

-Land Use: Mattie Walters reported no significant new land-use actions. The proposed 2/28 hearing on the Spruce House project has been postponed.

Old Business:

Carole Leininger reported that she has discussed the concept of forming a Community Advisory Council with Katrina Knutsen. Several other CAC’s currently exist. Carole suggested that the MCC Executive Board should review the pluses and minuses of forming a CAC and report back a recommendation to the MCC membership.

2008 goal progress:

Create Pedestrian Friendly Manchester

These goals will be handled by the Recreational group, as noted above.

Commitment to the Plan

This goal set will be handled by the Downtown Design group as noted above.

Improve & Expand Parks

Bud Larsen noted that this group meets every two weeks or so following the Tuesday morning CP&PS meetings at the Manchester Inn. Their focus is currently on creating a questionnaire for Port/Park users.

Manchester Village Center (Village Commons)

This group continues its activities as noted above.

Improve Downtown Manchester Parking

As mentioned previously, these goals will be absorbed into the Downtown Design action group.

Lyle Burbidge reported that he continues to work with the staff at the Manchester Inn to plan a celebration for the completion of the Manchester Plan.

New Business:

Arlene Brennan mentioned that our web-site hosting agreement is about to expire and reported on the fees for one, two and three year renewals. A motion was passed to approve a three year renewal for $100.45. It was also agreed that other user groups should be requested to pay $20 to help support the web-site costs. Our domain name is currently paid through 2013.

There being no other discussion from the floor, Chairman Leininger adjourned the meeting at 8:13PM.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday March 25th at 6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library.

Carole Leininger and John Winslow will jointly develop an agenda for our next meeting for posting on the web-site, several days before the meeting. If you have any items for the agenda, contact John Winslow prior to 3/15/08.

Respectfully submitted,

John Winslow, Acting Secretary-Manchester Community Council