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05/19/2021 - Minutes v City of Tigard Committee for Community Engagement Minutes MEETING DATE/TIME: May 19, 2021, 7 — 8:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Meeting held virtually through MS Teams Attendance: In Attendance: Not in attendance: Ambre Nielsen Christine Rehse Bhushan Gupta Dacia Grayber Christopher Basil John Chung Connie Ramaekers Lauren Rowles Dave Hanna, Chair Norma Trujillo Dolly Specht,Vice-Chair Taylor Sarman Liz Aberg Liz Newton, Council Liaison City staff in attendance: Meeting Facilitator: Kathy Nyland, Assistant City Manager Nicole Hendrix, Senior Management Analyst Kent Wyatt, Communications Manager Nadine Robinson, Staff Liaison Meeting start: 7:00 pm Welcome and check-in Review of Survey Results Dave thanked Bhushan for writing the survey, compiling the results and being willing to present the information to the committee. He also thanked Kathy Nyland for facilitating the meeting. Bhushan acknowledged the committee members who took the survey. He also commented that although we had thought to get full committee input on the questions it wasn't feasible. He thanked David and Dolly for their assistance with the survey. Bhushan presented the survey results. A copy of his PowerPoint presentation is attached. Following are the survey highlights: • The survey was open for seven days. Nine committee members took the survey. • There were eleven questions. Two of the questions were open-ended. There was also a comments section. o Program managers present good detail. o Committee member suggestions are accepted and followed through with. o The committee is diverse in thought and culture. o Two-way community engagement satisfaction is low. ■ Need help to effectively engage the community. ■ Need more support from team and city. ■ Need communication tools/processes to engage the community. There were no committee member questions about the survey. Some suggestions mentioned in the survey included: • The CCE could meet more often. • The committee could be more effective if subcommittees focused on areas of interest. • Meetings should conclude with a take-away (thoughtful homework) and/or actions items. • Committee members could submit questions to presenters prior to the meeting. • Committee members should come to the meeting prepared. Dave commented that the survey results are a great backdrop as the committee begins discussion. The committee can look to the results as reflecting the sentiments of the group. Role of Committee Discussion Dave introduced the next phase of the discussion and encouraged the committee members to be vocal. He pointed out that it is a luxury to have Kathy Nyland as the facilitator and to be able to use the time away from the regular agenda to look at the committee's role. He noted the committee has gotten here because members recognize there is a need for change and now there is the opportunity to push that forward in some way. Kathy expressed gratitude for Bhushan's work on behalf of the city and the committee. Kathy provided information on her background. She indicated she values the committee members' time and is thrilled to be involved with the committee's efforts to redefine their charge. Kathy asked what effectiveness looks like. What would a five look like? ■ Dolly scored herself high. She explained why in her earlier email. ■ She is a doer. ■ She rabbit-holes into things she is interested in. ■ She goes beyond the meeting and contacts speakers. ■ She shares what she learns in the meetings with her community— HOA and Nextdoor. She used the example of Washington Square and the changes Macerich wants to make. ■ Dolly thinks there are opportunities for committee members to be involved and said it is up to each member to see how they can contribute. Kathy asked what those who are less comfortable reaching out need to feel effective. Dave noted people join the committee with different views of what it does. He suggested a more succinct description of what the committee does might be helpful. He also recognizes people join the committee with different ideas about how they want to be involved and the time commitment they can make. He suggested the committee look at who is on the committee and match the members with what they like to do. By doing that,we could define core groups. Kathy agreed with that. She suggested we provide a menu of options for committee members so they can match their time commitment—whether five minutes, five hours or five days —with their service. Ambre added that she doesn't have a network yet as she is relatively new to the city. For her there is a gap in being able to represent the community because she hasn't had an opportunity to meet a lot of people. When things get back to normal she wants to leverage the experience of the committee so she can provide representation for the people she interacts with. Bhushan joined the committee about three years ago. He knew the expectations but didn't know how to execute them. In his Bull Mountain neighborhood, the neighbors won't answer if you knock on their doors. He has taken an active role in his HOA and shared information through their newsletter. He indicated he wasn't sure what mechanisms to use to interact with his community. Kathy asked what mechanism he thought could work. Bhushan thought being part of an event with someone he knows. For example, running the ice cream cart for an hour or volunteering at the Farmer's Market. Kathy indicated she supports the buddy system. Dave agrees with Bhushan. He suggested having a preestablished core group who are willing and wanting to help in those situations. He noted the committee probably would not be successful in creating its own events. He suggested piggybacking on what departments and committees are already doing. Kathy said YES, build momentum by combining with events. Connie wholeheartedly agrees with Dave. She said each member has their own passions. time, energy and schedules. Flexibility to plug in when interested is where it is at. Kathy agrees and said she is looking at a group of ambassadors. Dolly likes that word, ambassador. She mentioned attending the Mayor's Fireside Chat. She said committee members should be proud of being on the committee and could let people know they are members. She also suggested another mechanism to help the committee members engage is for the city to provide printed materials to the committee that they can share with the community. The materials could have the committee member as the sender so the mailing is more personalized. Dolly recognizes the committee members have different levels of how they can commit. She recommends being 100% invested in what you have agreed to do. All commitments are appreciated. She doesn't want committee members leaving the committee feeling like they haven't accomplished much. Basil's interest is to help with communications between residents and the city. He indicated everyone should know about the community they live in. Everyone pays taxes and should know and agree with the direction of the city. Kathy added that everyone at the city wants the committee to be successful. She noted small efforts can have a big return. The city also needs everyone onboard to get out the messages for the city's big projects. Kathy asked what support looks like and feels like. She said the city is here to help the committee members feel purposeful and impactful. Bhushan wants to know specifically what the city would like him to do. As an example of how he could be proactive he suggested having a city information card that he could take around and share with neighbors and then serve as a contact for them. Dolly shared that she had made business cards as a committee member and given them out to community members. She is encouraging members to be involved, get in the city's face. Everyone at the city she has contacted has been responsive. As examples of reaching out, Dolly shared that Bhushan invited Chief McAlpine to an HOA meeting and she had invited Mayor Snider to her neighborhood meeting. She encourages the committee to stay involved and reach out. Kathy asked about the frequency of meetings and what the feedback loop could look like. Dave talked about looking at the infrastructure of the meeting. Dave said the full committee meets every other month and asked if that meets the objectives of the committee. He asked if the committee should retain that schedule or meet more often and perhaps for less time. He suggested that in the months the committee doesn't meet that there could be subcommittees tackling issues. Topics could include engagement/outreach and diversity. The subcommittees could then provide a 5-10 report out to the full committee at monthly meetings. He said the committee will need to build the infrastructure and then test it to see how it works. Ambre supported the idea of the large committee and the subcommittees. Bhushan said we need an onboarding process for the new people that will provide guidance on what the city and/or committee wants from them. Also, to share the tools that are available to assist members in their role. Kathy agreed onboarding is an opportunity to make people feel welcomed. She said the city is talking about what is needed for committee onboarding. Dolly shared that she doesn't think the committee can be a team if they don't know each other. She would like to see a social event so the committee members could get to know each other. Kathy thanked everyone for being open and honest. She also appreciated all the great ideas. Councilor Newton said she appreciated everyone being candid. She is excited to hear there is interest in more connections in the community. She likes the teaming-up idea. She appreciates what Dave said about having structure, continuing the regular meetings and adding more in-depth subcommittee meetings. She also supports the committee being more engaged and thinks it would help them feel accomplished . Kent also appreciated the conversation. He added that the city needs messengers and different voices. He thinks some messages are better received when it comes from neighbors. Those conversations are a way for the city to expand our reach. Regarding meetings, Kent said there is a need for the bigger discussions. The city needs to hear from the committee members about how we reach the community. Examples of areas needing input are DEI and the website. Connie gave a shout-out to the city staff supporting the committee. She sees that the committee has the city's support. She would also like to get together to have fun and to get to know each other. Dave said he feels the committee's next step is to identify actionable steps and commit to change. We need to allow each member to choose how they participate and then commit. Dave thanked Kathy for facilitating the meeting and suggested we may look to her to assist us again. Food Waste and Recycling Natural Grocer presented, at Basil's work, about food waste and how it impacts the environment. Through the Internet, Basil found that each day approximately 1 lb. of food per person is wasted. Approximately 103 million tons of food are wasted annually and end up in the landfill. The waste doesn't decompose. It creates greenhouse gasses and it is contributing to climate change. As part of the presentation Basil learned that the City of Gresham allows composting to be picked up by the garbage hauler. He said food waste goes in with the yard debris recycling and is then composted. He likes that idea. Basil said the presentation prompted him to talk with Pride Disposal. The Pride Disposal representative said they would consider offering composting if the city asked. Nadine connected Basil with Public Works Director Brian Rager. Basil read Brian's email response. Hi Basil. Just want to let you know that we will be talking with our council in an informal study session on May 25 about some potential changes to solid waste and recycling services. We have received many requests to shift to weekly yard debris collection. We've also received a number of requests for food scrap collection. We will present a couple of options whereby we combine the yard debris and the food scraps. We'll be looking for direction from the council and assuming they express interest in both,we'll then work with the haulers on an implementation plan. We're thinking that it will take up to 12 months to be ready to shift over. Pride Disposal, specifically, needs about that long to procure the additional trucks that they'll need for the weekly collection. Let me know if you have other questions. Basil is hoping the city will recognize the need for composting and see it as a strategy to combat greenhouse gases. Basil feels the topic is germane to the community. He would like to touch base since it is something that touches the community. Basil will follow-up with Brian after the meeting and report back to the committee. Basil indicated he would like the committee to be able to share ideas that are important to them with departments and City Council Dave thanked Basil for his research and presentation. He asked if this could be something a subcommittee could work on. He said it would be great to coalesce around it as an example of the way the subcommittees could work. Basil suggested the Farmer's Market might be a good place to share the information about food waste and recycling. Review and Accept April 21, 2021 meeting notes Bhushan moved to approve the April meeting notes and Dolly seconded the motion. The notes were unanimously approved. Nadine reminded the committee the city has a booth at the Farmer's Market for anyone who is interested in volunteering. Kathy indicated committee members could choose the amount of time they would like to spend there. Dave again thanked Bhushan for the survey work and Kathy for facilitating the meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for July 21, 2021 at 7 pm.