editor

PRESENT: Alan (Note taker), Neal, Lisa, Vince (Facilitator), Patricia

AGENDA:

1. Letters to potential hosts.
2. Postings on websites
3. Vince’s report.
4. Web Page.
5. Announcements

LETTERS TO POTENTIAL HOSTS: Neal, Vince, Alan, and Patricia came in with versions of a proposed letter to send to potential host sites. Vince’s letter told the story of how TCT developed from OT, and he wrote it from the point of view of a clergyman writing his colleagues. Patricia had worked on her stream-of-consciousness letter, and Neal made some revisions. Alan made some revisions of Neal’s letters. We felt that all the letters had positive points and that perhaps we should use a brief cover letter with a longer narrative, based on Vince’s effort.

The next question was do we mail this package out to all churches who are potential host sites, or do we mail them out more selectively?. Patricia favored sending them out to all potential host sites. If we decided to be more selective, Vince would be willing to drive around with one of us to check out the hosts’ location and physical suitability for a site.

VINCE’S REPORT: Vince did not have a chance to talk to Pastor Nina or call Mike Coburn yet. He will report on this at the upcoming meeting.

POSTINGS ON WEBSITE: We discussed briefly the mechanics of posting to the website. Alan will make a brief tutorial on how to do this. We also briefly discussed our Facebook page and what we felt was appropriate to be on that page.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Our next meeting will be at the FUMC, 4 PM, August 25, 2014

Respectfully submitted: Alan OldStudent

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

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.

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PRESENT: Vince, Alan, Neal, Patricia

AGENDA:

1. Web report.
2. Tent storage.
3. Coalition meeting
4. Phone bill due. Will be paid.
5. New Pastor report.

VINCE:

Vince reported on his meeting with the new FUMC pastor. His impression is favorable.

John said space for tents okay. Vince did not call Mike Coburn because had not yet contacted John. Discussion followed.

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PRESENT: Vince, John, Neal, Patricia, Alan

AGENDA:

1. Bank account.
2. Business cards
3. Coalition meeting.
4. Mike Coburn and tents
5. John’s report
6. Mail boxes

BANK ACCOUNT: Patricia closed our bank account. TAPCO was charging us $25/month just to keep it open. She now is holding the funds for us. She will open new account at a different institution when we get our fundraising efforts organized.

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PRESENT: Alan, Vince, Neal, Lisa, John.

AGENDA:

1. Patricia’s report
2. Neal report on gathering
3. Vince’s report on insurance and other issues
4. Tents report.
5. Alan & Business cards.
6. Web report.

PATRICIA’S REPORT: Patricia was unable to attend. However, she reported she will close the TAPCO account. We discussed possibly opening an account at Sound Credit Union, where Occupy Tacoma has an account and does not have to pay any fees.

PRESENT: Vince, Neal, Lisa, Alan, Patricia

AGENDA:

1. Web report
2. Coalition meeting
3. Associated Ministries event.
4. ORCA card
5. Assessment and Ideas from 15 now

Web Report:
Alan reported that he made a backup of the site and has been doing so about every 2 weeks. He reported that we’ve had a lot of spurious registrations, probably bots. He is going to look into a “captcha” plugin to block bot registrations.

Coalition Report: Neal attended the meeting of the TPCCEH (Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness). This time, it was Police Department personnel who gave the main presentation. They reported on the police department’s encampment elimination program. They say that the problem is not as pressing as some people think.

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PRESENT: Neal, Vince, Lisa, Alan, Patricia

AGENDA:

1. Vince’s report on past hosts
2. Patricia’s report on council coalition
3. Neal on NetZero
4. Note from Steve Dunkelberger

Report on Past Hosts: Vince contacted 3 pastors of churches which had hosted tent cities before. Vince distributed copies of reports from ministers. Some discussion on those. One has hosted a tent city 12 times and there has been much good feedback. Vince will ask pastors how they handled the insurance liability. Neal suggested contacting Share/Wheel for other contacts of people who’ve done it.

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PRESENT: Neal, Vince (facilitator), Lisa, Alan (note taker).

We really did not have a formal agenda at this time, as there wasn’t much business.

We discussed the public comment testimony in front of the city council regarding proposed land use permits needed to set up a temporary tent city for homeless people. John Harrington of the city planning department gave a presentation, and then members of the public spoke. Neal and Alan spoke in favor, and Pastor Bruce and Valentine Smith (a member of a neighborhood council) spoke against it. Mr. Smith said he based his comments on informal discussion with members of his neighborhood council, as well as other people who live near him.

Alan posted an edited video of the public comment on YouTube, our Facebook page, and our web page. He said he made an unofficial transcript of the public comments, which he will prepare for distribution as a PDF file.

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Meeting notes taken by
Lisa Vick, 03/03/2014

Start: 4 PM, Ended 5:12 PM

PRESENT: John, Blaine, Neal, Patricia, Vince (Facilitator) , Lisa (Note taker)

Agenda:

1. News from Bethlehem Church
2. Feedback from Gathering Church
3. Code Amendment Schedule
4. Feedback on Annual Sustainability Expo
5. Tent Storage Space
6. Research on Budget.

Bethlehem Church News: Neal will give a presentation to the Bethlehem congregation meeting. This will help them decide if they want to proceed with negotiations with us to provide a host site. Neal will give the presentation on March 23rd, 2014 at 11:00 AM. Neal and congregation members will have a Q & A (question and answer) session along with the presentation.

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PRESENT: Vince (facilitator), John, Blaine, Lisa, Neal, Alan (Note taker), Patricia

AGENDA:

1. Next meeting’s note taker
2. St Leo’s Fair
3. City of Tacoma Seventh Annual Sustainability Expo
4. Possible camp site at Gathering Church
5. Discussion on Resources
6. Vince’s contacts
7. OT (Occupy Tacoma) tents
8. Tent storage place
9. Coalition meeting.

NEXT MEETING NOTE TAKER: Alan usually takes notes and posts the minutes. However, Alan cannot attend the next meeting. Lisa volunteered to take the notes. She will send them to Alan, who will post them. Alan will probably ask Patricia or another attendee to proof them for accuracy and errors, which he does for those minutes he posts.