08/21/2013 - Minutes City of Tigard
: t.. Neighborhood Involvement Committee-
Minutes
MEETING DATE/TIME: Wednesday, August 21, 2013; 7:00 p.m.
MEETING LOCATION: Tigard Library, 2nd Floor Conference Room
13500 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard OR 97223
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL
Present: Chair Basil Christopher, Jeremy Audritsh,Jeff Scharn, Sue Carver, Cathy Olson
Staff: Joanne Bengtson
3. APPROVE MAY 15, 2013 DRAFT MINUTES
Sue motioned to accept the May 15 meeting minutes, Cathy seconded - unanimously
approved by the committee.
4. UPDATE ON NEIGHBORHOOD BLOG SITES
Joanne noted that the City Council approved this committee's revised bylaws. They
were updated to reflect the city's elimination of funding for steering committee and
neighborhood annual event projects.
The city is working with a consultant on a marketing scrub to gain insight to the
public's perception of Tigard. After that, the city will engage another firm to conduct
the biennial community survey. It's designed to provide statistically valid information
for Council and executive staff to refine service delivery and measure resident's
appetite for new or expanded services. Council is focusing more and more on citizen
communication and engagement. That may lead to more resources for neighborhood
outreach.
Web admin openings exist for downtown, area 6. Jackie Dirksen has resigned for
health reasons. Joanne is also looking for a web administrator in the Cook Park area.
Metro has given two grants to fund downtown housing options and River Terrace
planning.
City has hired Lloyd Purdy as an Economic Development Manager for the
downtown. Finance reported that some new businesses are coming to the Tigard
Triangle and downtown, and Lloyd's efforts will increase that in the downtown.
Neighborhood Involvement Committee MINUTES - 8/21/13
City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 1 503-718-2476 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 1 of 3
A new batch of neighborhood postcards targeted to advertising each neighborhood
blog will go out soon. Joanne will do three or four areas at a time.
Basil asked about posting opportunities for volunteering in the neighborhoods. For
instance, trail count volunteers. Joanne suggested sending information about
opportunities to her to forward to neighborhood web administrators. The final
decision about what to post is made by the web admins. Admins are always looking
for feedback from their constituents.
Basil is concerned about keeping news and posts fresh. He asked what can and can't be
posted. Joanne shared the web administrator guidelines and noted that it's not been an
issue for administrators to restrict advertising on the sites.
The public comment period for suggesting projects to be included in the FY 2015-19
Capital Improvement list closed September 30, 2013. Now the projects will move to
the TTAC, Council and staff for prioritization.
Jeremy said his wife is interested in taking over as the Area 10 blogger. Jeff said that's
great - she can either take it over entirely or Jeff can share duties with her. Please have
her contact Joanne at Joanne@atigard-or.gov.
5. NEIGHBORHOOD FOOD PROJECT BY THS STUDENT SAMANTHA SUN
Tigard High School student Samantha Sun was joined by fellow food project board
members Madelyn, Lynn and Andrea to present information about the Tigard Food
Project.
Seeking a way to fight poverty in the community, students founded the Tigard Food
Project last year using the Ashland Food Project as a model. Samantha stated that the
project had no funding last year so students went door to door in the neighborhoods
surrounding Tigard High to gain support. They have 30 neighbors participating, but
would like to expand that to 100 houses this year.
The premise of the program is that Neighborhood Coordinators volunteer to organize
small groups of neighbors to become Food Donors. Food donors agree to purchase one
extra non-perishable food item every time they shop to donate to the food project.
Ideally, the kids will raise money or find a sponsor to purchase reusable green food
project bags that are visual reminders of the promise to collect food. At an agreed upon
monthly date, the food donors leave the filled bag on their front porch so that students or
the neighborhood coordinator can collect it and drop it off at the school for distribution
to food banks serving Tigard residents. (See the attachment to these minutes for details)
Samantha noted that the problem has been getting food donors to consistently leave food
out for collection. They would like the Neighborhood Involvement Committee to
help them raise awareness of the project and show their support for it within their
own neighborhood. You can contact the group at tigardfoodproject@gmail.com.
Neighborhood Involvement Committee MINUTES - 8/21/13
City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 1 503-718-2476 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 2 of 3
The committee asked questions:
Jeff asked if there was a list of most needed items. See the attached sheet.
Joanne asked if the Whole Foods store on Scholls Ferry had been contacted for help.
Maybe one Saturday a month the kids collect food outside the store.
Sue said she preferred the bag as a reminder to buy with each shopping trip.
Jeremy asked if garden produce could be collected - Samantha said no, non-perishable
only. Sue said fresh produce could be sent to the Senior Center or Good Neighbor
Center.
Joanne asked if the program would be sustainable after the students graduate?
Samantha said yes, their student advisor is passionate about the program.
The kids would like to launch this news as soon as possible. Joanne suggested the Tigard
High student liaison report on this project as part of their quarterly report to Council. The
city will also commit to running news about the project in Cityscape.
Samantha said five high school students make up the core group and now they're focused on
building the project base by raising money or finding sponsors to buy the trademark
Neighborhood Food Project Bags and identifying Neighborhood Coordinators to oversee
their own neighborhood. Coordinators will ask neighbors to be food donors and collect the
food monthly to take to the High School for donation to the food bank. Cash donations are
tax deductible.
6. OTHER?
The next NIC meeting will take place on November 20 (Thanksgiving is 11/28 this year.)
Jeff noted that the next free CERT training is coming up for anyone who is interested.
Jeremy said he and his wife attended the second annual downtown street fair and he would
like to see that happen twice a year, in addition to other activities centered on the downtown.
7. ADJOURN
With no more items to discuss, the group adjourned the meeting at 8:20 p.m.
Neighborhood Involvement Committee MINUTES - 8/21/13
City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard, OR 97223 1 503-718-2476 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 3 of 3