MEETING NOTES OF THE METRO COMMITTEE FOR CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT
REGULAR COMMITTEE
Wednesday, March 3, 2004
Room 270
Members Present: Elizabeth Tucker (Chair), Norm Andreen, Christine Roth, Ed Ruttledge, Kate Schiele, Don Warner, Skip White
Members Absent: Kathy Everett, Dresden Skees Gregory, Kathy Henton, Dick Jones, Jim Kimball, Moji Momeni, Darren Pennington, Scott Seibert
Also Present: Kate Marx, Director, Public Affairs and Government Relations, Cheryl Grant, Office of Citizen Involvement, Ron Klein, Parks, Pam Peck, Sue Gemmell, Public Affairs
Call to Order/Introductions & Welcome
Appointment of Timekeeper
Chair Tucker called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. Kate Schiele was appointed timekeeper.
Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved with the Chair report moved to the end of the meeting.
Approval of the February 18, 2004 minutes
The minutes were not considered due to lack of a quorum.
Web Calendar
Sue Gemmell, Webmaster, demonstrated the new web calendar and its features to the committee. She also demonstrated two maps, the inventory of regionally significant wildlife habitat and the regulatory program options, which are searchable by address to show how the different protection options currently under consideration might affect specific properties.
Cooper Mountain update
Ron Klein, Parks and Greenspaces department, reviewed the Cooper Mountain master plan and updated the committee on the process. He commented that this was the first open space purchase for which Metro is doing the master planning which will work to strike a balance between natural resource protection and recreation opportunities. He noted there was a survey posted on Metro’s website regarding distributed copies of the written plan and summarized the project. He said the Cooper Mountain survey had recently been taken down from the website and he would return at a later date with the results if the committee was interested in hearing them. In response to a question from Mr. Andreen, Mr. Klein said the members of the master plan committee had been chosen from a list of stakeholders and citizens in the area. Mr. Andreen’s concern was that the citizens on the committee were far outnumbered by the stakeholders so the input of the average citizen, which was supposed to be the major goal in planning, was relegated to a very minor portion. Mr. Klein responded that all of the plans and designs would be presented to the public at a big open house in May and then in September, a recommended design with some alternatives would be presented at two big open houses. He noted there are hundreds of people on the mailing list tracking this project which will be the third largest nature park in Washington county. He added it was going to be a very long process and didn’t expect it to be adopted until Spring 2005.
ZigZag, the movie
Pam Peck, Public Affairs department, reported on the ZigZag: Real Stories, New Angles” project which is a documentary about how transportation choices affect neighborhoods and communities. She showed a clip from the new video and noted it would premiere on OPB on April 21. She invited committee members to attend a preview, at the Hollywood theater in Portland, the Shirley Huffman auditorium in Hillsboro, or the Mt. Hood community theater in Gresham.
Communication Wish List
Discussion moved to next meeting.
Chair Report
Chair Tucker reminded the committee to come to the meetings ready with any comments and concerns about issues on the agenda.
She commented that the Human Resources department would be willing to help with a van tour of Metro facilities for new committee members and others who haven’t had the chance to take one. She asked for dates when folks could be available as it has previously been a whole day tour, although a shorter tour could also be arranged if necessary to accommodate people’s schedules Committee members showed interest in the Zoo, the paint recycling facility, the cemeteries, and the hazardous waste facility.
Chair Tucker announced that the MCCI retreat will be April 21st at Tony Roma’s restaurant, starting at 5 p.m., to work on goal setting.
Roundtable
There was roundtable discussion about recruitment efforts for filling vacant seats on the committee. Some folks have showed interest in joining, but have not followed through. Work is still being done to fill the seats. The new meeting schedule and whether it scared new people off was discussed. It was decided to monitor attendance over the next two months to see if times need to be changed. Process and member responsibilities were discussed. Mr. Andreen suggested that if they could get Metro to change the way the advisory committees were structured, citizens would already be involved and MCCI’s job could be easier. There was general interest in developing tools to present to CPOs and neighborhood associations for their use.
Don Warner reported he had attended a CPO 6 meeting regarding the annexation process and how citizen s can get involved. He said they did not get into the topics of parks and recreation as the attendees had hoped, but rather tried to channel the meeting around education of the legal perspective. He said he was impressed with Ed Sullivan’s presentation and suggested inviting him to an MCCI meeting. He will send Chair Tucker the contact information.
Chris Roth said the Clackamas County website contains a series of citizen involvement documents that are worth checking out.
Norm Andreen said the Metro presentation at Oregon City the previous night had over 260 people. Ed Ruttledge reported that Hillsboro had also been well attended, with over 200 folks.
Adjourn
There being no further business before the committee, Chair Tucker adjourned the meeting at 7:58 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl Grant
Office of Citizen Involvement