TCT Minutes for Sept 30, 2015

Sept 30, 2015

MEETING COORDINATORS:

  • Facilitator: Bud
  • Stacker: Neal
  • Note Taker Alan

PEOPLE PRESENT:

In Attendance: Neal, Bud, Alan; Excused: Vince, Cheryl.

AGENDA APPROVAL AND MINUTES ADOPTION

  • Shall we adopt agenda? Agenda was unanimously adopted
  • Shall we adopt minutes of 9/23/2015 as posted on the TCT website? Minutes unanimously adopted

REPORTS AND DISCUSSION

  1. Discuss Thursday’s Puyallup meeting. Vince and Neal went. Colin was there. Basically talked over national statement from National Legal Coalition (Wash DC) Presented a lot of info on Bell vs Boise. Cities around here are being put on notice. Neal brought up tiny houses. Neal talked to potential host contact. That is a faith-based group in Puyallup. Neal also got anti-criminalization info he will send out.
  2. Move getting 2 sites as soon as possible for priority. Discussed putting this as higher priority on demonstration site and rally, etc.
  3. Bud report on church contact status. Bud called 5 churches. Two said they weren’t interested. Two more said the pastor will call back, but so far, they have not called back. One church seemed interested. The name of this church will not be recorded in the minutes until they decide they want to assist. Bud was invited to talk to men’s group, which he will do. Bud met for an hour with the pastor and gave the presentation. The pastor made suggestions for improving presentation. He has contacts with other churches.
  4. We discussed dividing the church call list so that the burden of calling them won’t fall on one person only. Alan will make 5 calls when the time comes.
  5. Neal: About the 501c3 application? We went over a list. We are going to have to generate a lot of documentation. Neal and Bud suggest that we start discussing language to put into articles of association. Neal also suggested that Bud and Alan look at material he sent us about this. Neal will write down his own ideas about this and send them to us.
  6. Vince gave a report on homeless meeting proposal to the church. We decided to keep Wednesday as our meeting day, rather than changing it to Monday. We don’t want to be meeting conflict with the “My Sister’s Pantry” is operating. Bud showed his draft letter to pass on to Vince. Bud will finalize a draft for Vince.
  7. We had further discussion regarding the possibility of a Wright Park campout. We need to determine who will do the necessary tasks to set this up and what those tasks may be. How could we get city buy-in and engage the local community? Where do we go to get legal permission if that’s what we decide to do? What are the legal issues involved? Do we do this on our own or work through a coalition? What would we put down as our priority, and what would the theme be? Tabled until next meeting. We decided to table this discussion to a later meeting and focus our attention on getting at least 2 host sites lined up. After that has been accomplished, we can talk about setting up a 1- or 2-day demonstration campsite in a public place to educate people about the issue of homelessness.
  8. So far, we have heard nothing back from Kierra Phifer from Senator Patti Murray’s office, although she had promised a followup. We discussed briefly what we want to do about that.

MOTIONS:

  1. Move getting at least 2 host sites commitments as soon as possible, making that our present highest priority and focus. Unanimously passed
  2. Move that we go for articles of association instead of articles of corporation for purposes of getting a 501c3. Unanimously passed

UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

  1. Project Homeless Connect, Wed., Oct 28, 9a-2p, at Tacoma Armory.
  2. We received something from League of Women Voters. Mentioned the Oct 9 homeless meeting. Based on leaflet, Neal suggests reaching out to Connie Brown of Affordable Housing Consortium. He will reach out to her.

NEXT MEETING PLANS

  • COORDINATORS
    • Facilitator: Neal
    • Stacker: Bud
    • Note taker: Alan
  • TIME AND PLACE
    • Date: 10/07/2015
    • Time: 3:30 to 5 PM
    • FUMC: 621 Tacoma Ave S

Adjournment: 4:58 PM

Respectfully submitted: Alan OldStudent