03/14/2012 - Minutes 9 ,1 City of Tigard
Neighborhood Involvement Committee-
' ' 1 Minutes
MEETING DATE/TIME: Wednesday, March 14, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
MEETING LOCATION: Tigard City Hall, Red Rock Creek Conference Room
13125 SW Hall Blvd,Tigard OR 97223
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Christopher called the meeting to order at 7:12 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL
Present: Chairman Basil Christopher, Cathy Olson,Area 4 Web Administrator Ed Hobbs,
Area 2 Web Administrator John Pierce
Excused: Connie Ramaekers, Bev Froude, Sue Carver, Patti Anda
Staff. Joanne Bengtson, City Webmaster Nancy Lof
3. APPROVE JANUARY 18,2012 MINUTES
Lacking a quorum, Basil requested we defer approving these minutes until the May 16 meeting.
4. INTRODUCE AREA WEB ADMINISTRATORS
Attending this meeting were web administrators from Area 4 - Ed Hobbs and from Area 2 -
John Pierce.
5. RECAP OF NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORK OPEN HOUSE ON FEB. 4
Joanne noted that approximately 65 residents attended the open house on Feb. 4. A big `thank
you'to NIC member Cathy Olson, for attending the open house and talking to visitors. City staff
participated as well as the Dispute Resolution Center and community members of the CERT
program. The weather was beautiful, slowing the influx of walk-in traffic that typically views
program information. This year the program was one hour shorter and seemed to work out well.
John said it would be good to promote it more next year. He said it's easy to forget a date that
residents see too far ahead of time or infrequently.
Discussion moved to the possibility of hosting a Virtual Open House. Staff in Engineering
hosted such an event in support of road improvements and had a stunning increase in
participation. It would be especially valuable since the direction of the Neighborhood Program
will focus more on the web pages.
We gained a new web administrator for Area 10—Jeff Scharn—who was actually working the
event in his role as a CERT member! Jeff is enthusiastic about the program and is doing a great
job.
Neighborhood Involvement Committee MINUTES — 3/14/12
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
6. DISCUSS SHIFT IN FOCUS FOR NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORK PROGRAM
a. BUDGET MEETING SCHEDULE—The city's draft budget goes public on April 13. The
Budget Committee will then deliberate on the proposed budget beginning April 23.
There are four consecutive Mondays scheduled (up to May 14) for the public hearings.
All meetings are in the Public Works Building on Burnham at 6:30 p.m.
Funding for neighborhood network grant programs has been rolled back into the
General Fund for the foreseeable future - it was a substantial amount of money that
wasn't being accessed by residents. Without the public `clamoring' for these funds, the
money will be redirected to the general fund to provide savings for the services that
Tigard residents are asking for. The city is facing real challenges in order to maintain
necessary General Fund reserves from July 1 (new fiscal year) to November when we
receive property taxes.
b. INTRODUCE TIGARD'S WEBMASTER NANCY LOF—Nancy provides critical assistance
on the technical aspects of the Neighborhood Network blogs. She has been
instrumental in training and troubleshooting for web administrators and co-hosts the
web admin Saturday symposiums.
c. DESIRED OUTCOMES FROM NEW PROGRAM STRUCTURE—Plans call for a shift in the
Neighborhood Network program focus - from steering committees and community
grants to community building that's powered by neighborhood blogs.
Without grant funding as a way to motivate residents to get involved, building
neighborhood connections between residents and giving everyone a way to contribute to
the development of their city remains a top priority for Council and staff. The
Neighborhood Network program was designed by residents to empower them to engage
with the city and each other to come up with tools to fix their neighborhood's issues.
Asking neighbors to take the lead in promoting the program at the local level is one step
towards connecting residents to the neighborhood websites.
d. MEMBERSHIP AND MEETING SCHEDULE/1-YEAR TRANSITION—
NIC membership would transition to one representative from each area—ideally, the
Neighborhood Web Administrator. The current NIC members would be grandfathered
in until they no longer wish to serve. NIC's mission would be to focus on building
connections for residents to take advantage of, using the blogs as the lynchpin of a
communication program.
When asked what web admins would like to see, the responses were:
More help spreading the word about the program
Ready-made templates for projects that gather residents together
Help and ideas for raising awareness of the web sites
Challenge other committees to pitch ideas for free community-building events
(bike rides, group walks, picnic in the park, etc.)
Neighborhood Involvement Committee MINUTES — 3/14/12
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
There was much discussion about community-led events and gaining help from city staff
to plan and execute these events. Joanne noted that there are no resources available to
help with community events or gatherings. The proposed budget reductions will affect
staff at every level of every department. The budget reductions focus on information
learned in the latest citizen satisfaction survey. We will focus all our available resources
on maintaining a high level of service for the programs residents identified as most
important.
This is an opportunity to go to the neighborhoods and gather energy to make
connections and promote communication with the city. Ed suggested offering free small
classes. He offered to teach a gardening class for containers or small space gardening that
would coincide with the fall when bulbs should be planted. He could use his community
connections to offer a discount nursery coupon to class participants. Ed would like to
promote this type of community connection in all areas, starting with asking other
residents in the community if they would be willing to teach their skills (arts, crafts,
computers, etc.) in small groups.
John asked for a brief`job description' that could be used to recruit NIC representatives
from each neighborhood. He said it's more likely to get someone interested in serving if
they know what the expectations are.
There was a request for a list of citywide events that occur throughout the year as a
starting point for planning. Joanne will provide that to members.
7. FREE ETHICS TRAINING
Staff from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission will present a free training for
board and committee members (and the general public with an interest) on Wednesday,
April 11, in the Library Community Room from 5 — 6 p.m.
Training covers:
a. Conflicts of Interest for Elected Officials or Officials on Boards
b. Executive Session Meetings
C. Conflicts of Interest
d. General Gift Exceptions
8. OTHER?
The next meeting is Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the library 2nd floor conference
room.
9. ADJouRN
Basil adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m.
Neighborhood Involvement Committee MINUTES — 3/14/12
Cityof Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503-718-2476 1 www.tigard-or.gov IPage3of3