Council Meeting Minutes January 2022

LICTON SPRINGS COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Meeting Date/Time: 01 19 2022, 6:30 P.M.

These meeting minutes were approved at the February 2022 meeting.

Attendance Notes

• Directors Present: Melanie Davies, Mike Cuadra, Bekah Gautrowski, Lindsey Webb, Kathleen Braden, Liz Kearns
• General Members Present: Janice Holkup, Lisa Hayward, Marci Scofield, Lynn Gabrieli, Carmen
• Other Visitors Present: Tracy Cramer, Litter Abatement & Illegal Dumping Enforcement Manager at City of Seattle; Melissa Taylor, 46th District Representative candidate; Jason Hennessy, Senior Associate at BERK Consulting, Inc.

Welcome, Introductions, and Hearing from Neighbors

• Melanie started the meeting and welcomed everyone at 6:35. Attendees introduced themselves.
• Tracy Cramer showed attendees the current litter route in Licton Springs and asked for suggestions on changes to the route, which several attendees provided.
  • Melanie asked for an update on the needle boxes and cleanup program. Traci said Michael Eckers is now heading up that program. The program still does needle trainings and gives out needle boxes. Traci noted that the Adopt-a-Street program also distributes needle boxes.
  • Anyone with questions about these programs can contact Tracy at [email protected] or text/call 206.643.3682.
• Jason Hennessy’s firm, BERK Consulting, Inc. has been engaged by the City of Seattle to help with a feasibility study for community gathering spaces at Aurora Licton Village.
  • BERK is looking at space availability and will be doing some community engagement to ask for input on space needs.
  • The survey should be available soon. Lindsey said LSCC would be happy to use our communications channels to distribute the survey to the neighborhood.
  • Attendees gave Jason suggestions on local organizations to reach out to.
  • BERK is hoping to have their report available by the end of March.

Approval of Minutes from November 17, 2021 and Treasurer’s Report

• Bekah noted a change to her response to Evelyn’s question about a planned psychiatric hospital. It is a private company, not Bellwether housing, constructing the facility.
• The amended minutes and treasurer’s report were approved.

North Precinct Update

• Mike Cuadra shared a few points from the most recent North Precinct Meeting. First, if anyone in the neighborhood has seen an occurrence where there was a police presence, they can file a records request with the city and learn about what was going on. [Seattle Police Department Records Request Center: https://spd-seattle.mycusthelp.com/webapp/_rs/(S(j0m2yt1iwvxx3mms5cokkpov))/supporthome.aspx?sSessionID=6718311829IIUYBMFBJVTJERYNERYZASMHPZHEMX&lp=3
• Mike noted that in general, crime is down in the North Precinct. However, certain types of crime like vehicle theft and aggravated assault are up. Fentanyl use is still a problem. Citywide, crime is up. Mike said that the North Precinct meetings are different than they used to be because there are certain crimes the department is not responding to as much because of funding issues and limited resources.

Letter of Congratulations to Councilmember Juarez

• Kathleen suggested the council send a brief letter of congratulations to Councilmember Juarez for being elected president of Seattle City Council. There was a discussion about ethical issues involved and whether this could be seen as LSCC endorsing a candidate. Directors shared various views on this. Ultimately Melanie made a motion to allow Kathleen to draft a letter with a low-key expression of congratulations, but with the bigger goal of reminding Councilmember Juarez that the council is still here and letting her know what we have been doing. Lindsey seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Kathleen will send a draft around by email to directors.

Arts in the Park Application

• Lindsey submitted an application in December for $2600 in Arts in the Park funding for a neighborhood concert in Licton Springs Park. We should find out whether we will receive the funding in early February.

By-Laws Committee Update

• Bekah gave a short presentation on the status of the LSCC by-laws update that included a summary of by-laws and what they do, major and minor changes to the LSCC by-laws by the by-laws committee, and a timeline review. Janice asked what the boundaries are for membership in LSCC. They are Northgate Way to the north, Aurora to the west, 85th to the south, and I-5 to the east. Residents within these boundaries are eligible to be members of LSCC. Kathleen asked if the definition of members changes if we drop the dues requirement/option. Bekah is going to look into this to double check that we can do this.
• Bekah will send the draft updated by-laws to the directors via email to review and suggest any changes in advance of a planned vote at the February meeting. Lindsey will send out the by-laws to our email list two weeks in advance of the February meeting for review.
• Melanie made a motion to vote on the updated by-laws at the next meeting. Liz seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Minutes by Lindsey Webb, Secretary

Next meeting February 16

Licton Springs Community Council Monthly Treasurer Report

01/01/2022 through 01/31/2022

NOTES:

• Ending balance reflects $10.00 held in PayPal account
• We received an email from Fred Meyer on 4/28/2020 of a $0.44 donation, but this has not reached our Verity account and will not until it reaches $25.00.