TCT Minutes, July 21, 2014

PRESENT: Carl (representative for South Tacoma Neighborhood Council [STNC]), Patricia, Vince (Facilitator), Neal, Alan (Note taker),

July 21, 2014

AGENDA:

  1. Introductions.
  2. Web report.
  3. Coalition report.
  4. Patricia’s letter.
  5. Carl from STNC.

INTRODUCTIONS: Because we had a new attendee, we had introductions. Each attendee said a few words about her/himself.

WEB REPORT: Our website hosting fees are paid one year in advance, and this website’s one-year hosting account anniversary is in a few months. The hosting company billed Alan for next year. Alan paid this bill, and the hosting account is now current until October, 2015. The fee was $119.88, which Alan paid as a donation to TCT.

The account is technically in Alan’s name, but it really is for TCT. Although that account can host any number of sites with no additional fees, this account hosts only the TCT site. Alan asked the TCT members if he could put another site on that account in the future. Any such other site would not refer to TCT, and visitors to TCT site would see no connection. Only a systems administrator would be able to see the other site. Currently, Alan and Neal are systems administrators and have access to the CPANEL Neal would not be able to open or modify that other site, but he could delete it.

The membership agreed that Alan may put another site on the account, but only after consultation with the TCT activists and with their permission.

In further matters concerning the website, Alan also reports that the measures he has taken to avoid spammers registering on our site have slowed them down.

PATRICIA’S LETTER: Patricia drafted a letter to use as an introduction to potential church hosts. We would send this letter to a responsible party at a potential host site, and this avoids the necessity of making cold calls. Patricia says her letter is stream-of-consciousness and not at all finished. Vince said he would attempt to rework it. Alan will also look at editing it. We hope to adopt a revision next meeting. Vince would like to get it in the mail by August.

COALITION REPORT: Neal went to the TPCCEH (Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness) meeting. The annual Point In Time Survey was presented at that meeting. This survey attempts to come up with the number of homeless on a specific night each year. Neal brought a presentation of that survey, and there was discussion of it. There was 144% increase in unhoused individuals over the last Point In Time survey.

VINCE’S COMMITMENTS: Vince said he will follow up on his previous commitments.

  1. Will contact Mike Coburn about getting tents to Bethlehem.
  2. Will contact Pastor Nina as our representative and attempt to set up a brief visit. He hopes to explore how we can help them come to a decision about hosting a site and/or other ways they can help.

SOUTH TACOMA NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL (STNC) REPORT: Carl says we might be able to get funds from STNC. He also suggests that we also could probably go to our own neighborhood council meeting. The STNC meeting is the 3rd Wednesday of each month. He gave meeting times for other neighborhood councils to Vince. He suggests that we promote our tent city plans at the various neighborhood council meeting, as well as. CCOT (Community Councils of Tacoma), which is the coalition of neighborhood councils. The CCOT meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm, at 7th and St Helen’s, at the Tacoma Municipal Building – TMBN 16 (Study Session Room). Click here to see a list of all the neighborhood council meetings, including time and location.

NEXT MEETING: August 4, 4:00 PM

Thanks to Neal and Patricia for proofreading these minutes, making suggestions, and checking them for accuracy —Editor


Respectfully submitted: Alan OldStudent