LICTON SPRINGS COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of Community Meeting September 21, 2011,
NSCC Conference Room B2311

Directors Present:
Liz Kearns, Jerry Owens, Kay Mesirow, Debra Willendorf, and Ellen Beck.

Board Representatives Present:
Ken Thompson (Liaison to North Precinct).

Visitors:
Jan Brucker and Jean Wirch.

President Liz Kearns called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.

Minutes
The July 20, 2011 minutes were approved as presented.

NEW BUSINESS

Treasurer’s Report
Debra Willendorf presented the Treasurer’s Report: January 1, 2011 through September 21, 2011. She reported that our income is down. The $50.00 Federation dues have not yet been sent because Debra was not sure who should receive them. Our $10.00 fee has been paid to the Secretary of State. Our domain name fee has been paid for nine years, that is through March 20, 2017. The total in our checking account is $5,330.36.

It was noted that as of September 13, 2010, we have 5,000 copies remaining at the UPS Store.

There was a discussion of our upcoming expenses. Debra noted that we generally pay $200.00 from our treasury for our “Halloween in the Park” event. She advised that if LSCC funds are used judiciously, we should be fine.

The transfer of $2,028.08 from the Federation account represents funds that go back to the work at Licton Springs Park, when LSCC received a one-time stock gift. The stock was eventually sold, and the funds kept in the Federations accounts for LSCC. Now that LSCC is a 501(c)(3) corporation, the funds have been transferred to our account.

There was a discussion of banking with Bank of America. Bank of America is revising their rules for bank accounts and creating different levels of accounts. It was agreed that if LSCC could not continue free checking at Bank of America, we should investigate other banking possibilities. Debra said that the bank had to be convenient for her and all agreed that this was reasonable. Debra will investigate what options LSCC has.

The Treasurer’s Report was unanimously approved.

Halloween in the Park
Liz reported that Betsy Weill has ended her daycare business and now works at the Waldorf School. The “Friends of the Forest” are friends of Betsy’s from the Waldorf School. There are ten stations for trick-or-treating and Betsy has specific candy at each of these stations. It is therefore best if she selects the candy. Other candy donations are bagged as “Bag #10,” and given out at the cider table by Liz, or taken to the stations, if they run out of candy.

Kay Mesirow noted that we need to have a new notice for “Halloween in the Park” placed at the park kiosk. Since there is no long a glass covering the notice, it doesn’t last as long.

Encouraging kids to attend by advertising wider afield was discussed. Since we already have a large annual turnout, it was decided to post a new notice at the kiosk and also post a notice at the closest bus stop.

Halloween Fundraiser
Jan Brucker suggested that we could establish a costume exchange. It was agreed that this was a good idea, but probably best to aim starting it next year. Jan said that she has every costume Lauren ever wore at home. Her thought is that people could bring a costume to exchange and pay a nominal amount to obtain a new-to-them costume.

Sidewalk on College Way
Liz asked if everyone had observed that sidewalks are going in on College Way between 97th and 100th. They can’t be walked on yet, but they are definitely working to get the sidewalks completed. This is certainly great news!

Wetlands at the North Precinct
Liz reported that the wetlands at the North Precinct has been taken over by reed canary grass. She explained that this is a worldwide problem. Liz has been contacted by Cheryl Clinker, who as a citizen volunteer, wants to take on the canary grass at the Precinct. Ms. Clinker wants to plant willow trees to snuff out the canary grass and then have other appropriate plants for the exterior. The contact at the City is Nancy Bloss.

Discussion followed. Old plans for restoration of the wetlands by Sarah Cook exist. These plans should be reviewed. Jan volunteered to investigate. She said she would get involved. Thank you, Jan!

Bruce Kieser Retiring
Bruce Kieser, who has been Facilities and Plant Operations Director for North Seattle Community College, and the College’s representative at LSCC meetings, has retired. At our last meeting, he told about having his hours cut. Apparently, at a subsequent meeting where finances were discussed, he announced that he would retire. This is a loss for us because Bruce always kept us informed about what was going on at the College. Liz explained that his family lives in Portland and he has been commuting there on weekends for years. So, this is obviously a good change for Bruce. We wish him all the best.

Liz said that Dr. Orestes Monterecy and Mark Matsui will do Bruce’s job in the future. Liz will invite them to our October meeting. Liz noted that the good thing for us in these changes is that Cindy Rose remains the secretary whom we contact.

Celebrate Neighborhoods – Where You Dine, Shop and Play Close to Home. Liz asked if everyone had seen the insert to today’s Seattle Times? Licton Springs is included with pretty good information!

OLD BUSINESS

Assessor Lloyd Hara
Assessor Lloyd Hara will be coming to our October meeting. This is a meeting that we need to advertize and probably have in a larger location than our present conference room. If we have the meeting at the College, we could perhaps have it in the Cafeteria.

Pedestrian Overpass Over I-5. There was a discussion about the status of overpass that Bruce informed us about. He served on the committee that was working on sustainability in the Puget Sound area. Liz said the head of the committee is Ron Postuma. Jan said that she knows Ron and will contact him.

Northwest District Council
Jerry Owens reported that there will be a September 26th meeting at the Greenwood Senior Center about the 85th Street Paving Project.

Also, City Light is replacing outdoor street lights with LED bulbs. The LED bulbs use 40% less energy, last three times as long as the former bulbs, resulting in $2.4 million/yr. in savings. People can see better with these lights and color is not distorted (white light vs. yellow light). Police are happy because witnesses can give for accurate descriptions of vehicles and people.

Jerry also announced an October 17th meeting of the Phinney neighborhood where block watch is going to be discussed.

Jan noted that if it were possible to find out block watch captains in our neighborhood, they would be a good source to spread information through the neighborhood. It was noted that Thomas Whittemore (Department of Neighborhoods, Neighborhood District Coordinator, North Region Team) would be a source to ask about block watch captains.

North Precinct
Ken Thompson reported that Tom Rasmussen was the guest speaker at the September meeting of the North Precinct Advisory Council. He was pushing the $60.00 car tab proposal. Ken is sure we are going to hear more about that as the election nears.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, October 19, 2011.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen M. Beck, Secretary