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Minutes for May 27, 2014 Meeting

Meeting Summary
Tuesday, May 27, 2014, 7:00-9:00 PM
The Hearthstone, 6720 East Green Lake Way N
Board Room

Recorder: Davis Patterson

Attendees:
Ellen HewittMarcia NormanKaren SchurrRob ZisetteAndrea WattsGaret MungerDavis PattersonMegan Davis

Introductions

Announcements

  • There will be a work party on June 7 from 9:00-12:00. With many activities going on, including Seattle Works projects, we may not be able to use tools from the Park Department
  • Katie Gray has been promoted to a recreation position and will no longer be involved with park maintenance.

May 17 shoreline restoration work party report

  • Passers-by were curious and interested in joining future parties. Two gave their contact information. Having a set schedule in the future could help people plan for it.
  • One possible future approach is to maintain areas that are already under control to make sure that blackberry and ivy don’t get started. This way we can claim we are maintaining a certain number of feet of shoreline. When we have a bigger group, we can attack some of the places where blackberry is overgrown.
  • Is there a way to get a sandwich board announcing an upcoming work party, e.g., by the Bathhouse Theater? Michael Cornell has offered his. In addition, there are kiosks and the boat rental place where we could announce. Rob made a motion that FOGL get a sandwich board, seconded by Ellen. The board could have an 11”X17” poster attached to it. Ellen will look into a source to purchase one.

History of shoreline restoration locations, dates, and activities

  • Prepared by Gayle Garman April 2012, presented by Rob Zisette.
  • Rob presented a 2005 map of aquatic plants and wetlands, including milfoil. Rob will have the map edited to show habitat restoration and maintenance sites. Rob is interested in mapping FOGL work. Karen also put together a log for all FOGL work projects.
  • Rob reviewed past shoreline restoration activities. Nine habitat work parties took place from Oct. 2010-June 2012: 168 volunteers and 317.5 hours. Plant survival rates – 82.5% at Southwest site and 66% at Southeast site.

History of milfoil cleanup locations, dates, and activities

  • Milfoil was mapped by Herrera in 2005, FOGL in 2009.
  • Milfoil cleanup parties were held in the northeast bay in the fall of 2007, 2008, and two in fall 2009. In 2012 a milfoil cleanup was held near the Densmore Drain and another one near Duck Island.
  • Herrera employees will volunteer in a milfoil removal project in the Northeast bay on Seattle Works Day, June 7, 2014.
  • There was discussion of standardizing nomenclature for referring to cleanup sites, using directions, streets, site ID numbers, etc. Rob will add site IDs, and change “location” to “site description.” Rob will also be able to add GPS coordinates, activity codes.
  • Parks Dept. may have data on volunteer participation. Teresa McEwen would have this information.
  • Rob also presented slides on the Green Lake Vegetation Management Plan.
  • Karen noted that the Southeast site and blackbird site are both growing over with a lot of weeds.

Treasurer’s report

  • The treasurer was absent, so no report was issued.

Board candidates

  • We will need to elect a president, vice president, and recording secretary (Davis will be stepping down). There were no candidates in mind. Rob may be willing to be president.
  • One place to think about generating more interest is to list the organization and post volunteer opportunities in places dedicated to non-profit and volunteer organizations such as idealist.org.
  • A discussion ensued about how to generate more leadership in the organization.
  • The group decided to have a strategic planning session at the June 23 meeting, since there was not enough time to discuss the future of the group. This session needs to have enough time devoted to it and be advertised to promote attendance.
  • Davis agreed to assist Rob with planning and/or leading the session. Rob will contact Davis.

Other activities and updates

  • Garet reported that he talked with a number of staff at the County and Park Dept., and that the consensus is that FOGL is an important organization, and working in partnership with them is important (rather than adopting an adversarial or negative attitude).
  • Karen wanted to know if anyone understands the proposed Metropolitan Parks District. The park levy and district are bundled together in the vote. Karen would like to have someone come to FOGL to discuss. Ellen wanted to know if there is a mechanism for community input. Rob thinks it’s just a taxing body managed by the city council, and the Parks Dept. will reside within it. Board members will be hired or appointed. He believes they will solicit input in familiar ways. The benefit is that this is separate from the general budget, so the budget will not depend on a referendum. Instead it will be a steadier source of funding. There was some concern about how the district would operate and how it might affect Green Lake Park.

Agenda for next meeting Tuesday, June 23, 2014

  • We will devote time to strategic planning.