Webmaster
12-06-2007, 09:06 AM
This was the second Council meeting I attended. The meeting was divided into time discussing old business, council elections, and new business There were 12 people in attendance. It was educational, informative and a fun way to spend a couple of hours.
A brief summary of the events since the last meeting covered:
1) The costs related to facilities maintenance, including phone, electric, insurance and building related costs. I don’t know all the costs but the basic expenses amounted to a few hundred dollars per month, but didn’t cover such items as painting, cleaning and maintenance.
2) The White River Dinner made some money for the Center. The dinner was considered a success and was well attended, but was understaffed by community volunteers. Next year a better way to get volunteers involved will be very helpful.
3) The Harvest Dinner was a great success. It was well attended, the food selections were succulent and bountiful and a good time was had by all.
4) The PC NET Community Safety event was a success. There was a lot of useful information shared and many excellent ideas were presented. If the videos of this event are suitable I hope to make them available by the web site in the near future. Meetings covering emergency planning are recurring events. I hope to have time to bring more of this topic to the web forum and encourage others to do so.
5) Advising neighbors of brush cleaning used to be a Spring time event in the community. There was a fun story told of days long past in Greenwater where property owners were awarded a red or green rock. Those who cleaned their property of brush were considered a low risk of wildfire spreading and they received a green rock placed in their driveway for their efforts. Those who didn’t do such a good job were awarded a red rock. The story goes on to say that shortly after this happened, there was a run on green paint . . .
6) The Halloween party was a success. There were about 24 kids who showed up wearing all sorts of festive costumes. They ate lots of candy and partied the afternoon away. It must have been an experience to be with 24 sugar charged kids in costumes!
Following these and other topics was the New Business part of the meeting. These discussions included:
1) There will be a Christmas car parade and Christmas caroling event on December 8 starting at 5:30. The details can be found on the web site, here: http://explore-greenwater.com/community/showthread.php?t=537
2) The upcoming Community Council Officers Elections. There are 7 Council seats open. The election will take place on the meeting occurring at 12-10-07starting at 7:30 PM at the Greenwater Fire Station and Community Center. That’s Monday December 7 at 7:30 PM. You must be in attendance to vote. You need to be there at the start of the meeting. Show up and show your support.
3) Wendy Scholl presented some excellent ideas on changing the zoning ordinances for shooting weapons in the area. She shared a story that is very important for the community to hear about. Here is a summary of the story: Last summer some folks came into the area to shoot their weapons on USFS-75. Their activity inadvertently lit off a brush fire, which quickly grew out of control. At least one of the folks came down 75 and told others of the fire. The Greenwater Fire Department was able to respond in short order and was successful at putting the fire out. But for a few minutes of extremely fortunate timing, we could have had a major forest fire.
A) This story served as one example of folks coming into the area to discharge firearms. Sadly, as many who spend time on the Forest Service roads in the area know all too well, there are many similar stories which demonstrate a tendency of many visitors to use firearms carelessly if not recklessly in the area. As a partial solution to this trend, Wendy said she’d arranged to put up warning signage to notify visitors that the area is a no shooting area. She requested that folks monitor the condition of the signage for wear and also for evidence of the signage being used as target practice. In addition, she suggested tracking observations of shooting signs in the area.
B) In addition to the items above, she suggested creating a petition to increase the so-called Red or no shooting zones in the area. Wendy provided some maps (to be published in the near future) to show the current zoning and suggested connecting the current zones and extending them to the ridgelines bordering the valley.
C) By adding the signage, extending the red zone and tracking shooting events, the broader goal is to reduce the risk of fire and injury in the area. A possible added means to this end is to develop a strong case for increased law enforcement patrols in the area There was a suggestion that we request law enforcement to increase patrols during the holiday weekends of the warm weather months. These are times when larger numbers of folks come to the area to fire weapons.
Wendy's ideas are excellent! Contact Wendy at 206-528-0485 Monday through Wednesday, and 360-663-0446 Thursday through Sunday for more information. I’ll have related information posted at the web site in the near future.
4) A) The next item on the new business listing was a reminder for all to put your updated information into the new Greater Greenwater Phone Book. The deadline for this is about December 20th. There is a form on the web site (http://explore-greenwater.com/community/showthread.php?t=507)
B) For those who want to advertise in the phone book, rates are $25 for a business card ad, $50 for a half page ad, $100 for a full page ad. Again, December 20 is the deadline.
C) The new phonebook will have much higher resolution map imagery. Wendy Scholl has put a lot of work into this project. She is highly disserving of thanks from the neighborhood. And as important, she is extremely disserving of your providing the information well ahead of the deadline!
5) There was discussion of future Community events including more frequent pot luck dinners, a wine tasting party, a bicycle event, a community cook book project, a ski tuning clinic, other similar events as well as future community safety events. Information on these will be posted on the web site as they are more fully developed.
Please remember to come to the Community Council Meeting, on Monday, 12-10-07 at 7:30 so you can help elect the new Community Council Officers
I am touched and inspired by the many community members who selflessly go to great effort to help their neighbors and the community in general. This doesn’t happen a lot in the suburbs. As we live so we learn.
A brief summary of the events since the last meeting covered:
1) The costs related to facilities maintenance, including phone, electric, insurance and building related costs. I don’t know all the costs but the basic expenses amounted to a few hundred dollars per month, but didn’t cover such items as painting, cleaning and maintenance.
2) The White River Dinner made some money for the Center. The dinner was considered a success and was well attended, but was understaffed by community volunteers. Next year a better way to get volunteers involved will be very helpful.
3) The Harvest Dinner was a great success. It was well attended, the food selections were succulent and bountiful and a good time was had by all.
4) The PC NET Community Safety event was a success. There was a lot of useful information shared and many excellent ideas were presented. If the videos of this event are suitable I hope to make them available by the web site in the near future. Meetings covering emergency planning are recurring events. I hope to have time to bring more of this topic to the web forum and encourage others to do so.
5) Advising neighbors of brush cleaning used to be a Spring time event in the community. There was a fun story told of days long past in Greenwater where property owners were awarded a red or green rock. Those who cleaned their property of brush were considered a low risk of wildfire spreading and they received a green rock placed in their driveway for their efforts. Those who didn’t do such a good job were awarded a red rock. The story goes on to say that shortly after this happened, there was a run on green paint . . .
6) The Halloween party was a success. There were about 24 kids who showed up wearing all sorts of festive costumes. They ate lots of candy and partied the afternoon away. It must have been an experience to be with 24 sugar charged kids in costumes!
Following these and other topics was the New Business part of the meeting. These discussions included:
1) There will be a Christmas car parade and Christmas caroling event on December 8 starting at 5:30. The details can be found on the web site, here: http://explore-greenwater.com/community/showthread.php?t=537
2) The upcoming Community Council Officers Elections. There are 7 Council seats open. The election will take place on the meeting occurring at 12-10-07starting at 7:30 PM at the Greenwater Fire Station and Community Center. That’s Monday December 7 at 7:30 PM. You must be in attendance to vote. You need to be there at the start of the meeting. Show up and show your support.
3) Wendy Scholl presented some excellent ideas on changing the zoning ordinances for shooting weapons in the area. She shared a story that is very important for the community to hear about. Here is a summary of the story: Last summer some folks came into the area to shoot their weapons on USFS-75. Their activity inadvertently lit off a brush fire, which quickly grew out of control. At least one of the folks came down 75 and told others of the fire. The Greenwater Fire Department was able to respond in short order and was successful at putting the fire out. But for a few minutes of extremely fortunate timing, we could have had a major forest fire.
A) This story served as one example of folks coming into the area to discharge firearms. Sadly, as many who spend time on the Forest Service roads in the area know all too well, there are many similar stories which demonstrate a tendency of many visitors to use firearms carelessly if not recklessly in the area. As a partial solution to this trend, Wendy said she’d arranged to put up warning signage to notify visitors that the area is a no shooting area. She requested that folks monitor the condition of the signage for wear and also for evidence of the signage being used as target practice. In addition, she suggested tracking observations of shooting signs in the area.
B) In addition to the items above, she suggested creating a petition to increase the so-called Red or no shooting zones in the area. Wendy provided some maps (to be published in the near future) to show the current zoning and suggested connecting the current zones and extending them to the ridgelines bordering the valley.
C) By adding the signage, extending the red zone and tracking shooting events, the broader goal is to reduce the risk of fire and injury in the area. A possible added means to this end is to develop a strong case for increased law enforcement patrols in the area There was a suggestion that we request law enforcement to increase patrols during the holiday weekends of the warm weather months. These are times when larger numbers of folks come to the area to fire weapons.
Wendy's ideas are excellent! Contact Wendy at 206-528-0485 Monday through Wednesday, and 360-663-0446 Thursday through Sunday for more information. I’ll have related information posted at the web site in the near future.
4) A) The next item on the new business listing was a reminder for all to put your updated information into the new Greater Greenwater Phone Book. The deadline for this is about December 20th. There is a form on the web site (http://explore-greenwater.com/community/showthread.php?t=507)
B) For those who want to advertise in the phone book, rates are $25 for a business card ad, $50 for a half page ad, $100 for a full page ad. Again, December 20 is the deadline.
C) The new phonebook will have much higher resolution map imagery. Wendy Scholl has put a lot of work into this project. She is highly disserving of thanks from the neighborhood. And as important, she is extremely disserving of your providing the information well ahead of the deadline!
5) There was discussion of future Community events including more frequent pot luck dinners, a wine tasting party, a bicycle event, a community cook book project, a ski tuning clinic, other similar events as well as future community safety events. Information on these will be posted on the web site as they are more fully developed.
Please remember to come to the Community Council Meeting, on Monday, 12-10-07 at 7:30 so you can help elect the new Community Council Officers
I am touched and inspired by the many community members who selflessly go to great effort to help their neighbors and the community in general. This doesn’t happen a lot in the suburbs. As we live so we learn.