Passage Point
Community Advisory Group
Background
In early 2008 the Four Lakes Board of Directors asked Rod
Case to represent the Association on the Passage Point Community Advisory Group
(CAG). The CAG was formed as a part of
the contract between
ywcaworks.typepad.com/passagepoint/
This section of the
Fifth Meeting - - June 24, 2008
The meeting was
held in the
· Linda Rasmussen gave and update on recent Passage Point activity:
Ø As a part of the YWCA Homeless Initiatives Dept. Linda has moved to their new offices at 4800 S 188th Suite 245 in SeaTac. Phone is 206-336-4601
Ø There was no activity on the site itself in June.
Ø The Passage Point web site is now up and starting to be populated with information.
Ø A tour of the Cedar Hills Landfill was done on June 11.
Old
Business
· The group briefly discussed the MOU and Ground Rules. There were no major issues raised and Linda was asked to consolidate all changes into one final version of each document for final approval at the next meeting.
New
Business
· Linda passed out an initial timeline for the opening of Passage Point. Key milestones are:
- 2008 will be a year on ongoing planning, networking with community organizations, and holding informational meetings. They do hope to hire a grant writer to assist in that key process.
- April 2009 is the target for hiring a Director for Passage Point
- June 2009 is the target for hiring an Inreach/Outreach coordinator. This person will meet with the correctional facilities to start the process of looking for potential residents.
- July 2009 is the target for hiring a Community Resource coordinator who will solicit donations of goods and services, including volunteers, from throughout the community.
- September 2009 will see the beginning of recruiting volunteers from the community. A Housing Director to work with the King County Housing Authority will also be hired.
- Last quarter of 2009 will see the formation of the first list of potential residents and the screening process.
- January 2010 is the targeted date for the first residents to move in.
- March 2010 they hope to have full occupancy
Linda was asked to expand this timeline document to include construction milestones.
· There was a brief discussion of funding sources for Passage Point operations and services. Linda will bring a more detailed handout to the next meeting.
· Linda distributed the first process document for the CAG to review. This document - - Resident population, screening and orientation will be reviewed by CAG members and feedback provided to Linda by July 3rd. To see the entire document click HERE
·
Next meeting will be on June 24th at
the
Fourth Meeting - - May 27, 2008
The meeting was
held in the
· Linda Rasmussen gave and update on recent Passage Point activity:
Ø The YWCA filed the permit application to King County Dept. Of Development Environment Services on April 28th. It will be at least 120 days before there is a decision on the permit request.
Ø There was no activity on the site itself in May. There might be some work on the soffits and roof overhangs in June.
Ø Linda accompanied Connie Fletcher (Issaquah School District Board Member) and Monique Beane (Principal – Maple Hills) to present Passage Point information to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction Committee.
Ø Linda is writing a grant for Reentry services for Single Parents. The funds would come from the King County Veterans and Human Services Levy.
Ø
Linda is about to move into a new office at
Ø The web page for Passage Point is still not available but they are ready to start loading documents now.
Ø The group continued to discuss the MOU and Ground Rules for Operation. The draft documents were generally agreed to. We agreed to table final acceptance until next meeting. This will give everyone a final chance to review them and make sure they are in agreement with what is in the.
Ø Linda presented a proposed timeline for topic to be presented to the CAG over the next year. She proposed that in our June meeting we address the topics of Resident Population and Resident Selection and Orientation. The group asked that she make the draft documents available at least two weeks before the meeting so that we can read them carefully and discuss them with those we represent.
Ø There was a discussion on how we can involve community members who come to one of our meetings. Everyone agreed we want to provide an forum for anyone to voice an opinion and ask questions. Yet we are concerned that this could be a serious drain on the time we have for our monthly meeting. It was agreed that we would set aside 15 minutes at the beginning of each meeting for community input. Each person will be limited to approximately 3 minutes if there appears to be a time constraint due to multiple people attending. It was also mentioned that our meetings are open to the public but are not meant to be open discussion public forums. That need is filled by the quarterly public meetings on Passage Point that Linda and the Y conduct.
Ø
Next meeting will be on June 24th at
the
Third Meeting - - April 22, 2008
The meeting was held
in the
· Linda Rasmussen gave and update on recent Passage Point activity:
Ø The YWCA expects to submit permit application to King County Dept. Of Development Environment Services in the next week or so.
Ø The YWCA has spent $1,692,899 on this project through March 2008.
Ø Linda is still trying to find a date and time that works for most of the group to tour the Landfill. She is now going to pursue a time in the early evening instead of during the day.
Ø Based on concerns voiced in previous CAG meetings the YWCA asked the architect to assess all landscaping plans to insure that plants will be non-toxic to both livestock and children. Based on their review some changes have been made.
Ø The YWCA still intends to establishing an information web site. Although initial plans were to have it functional by now Linda has not been able to put time in on this action yet. She committed to have the site up by the end of May but hopes it will be earlier.
· The main goal of this meeting is to identify a group chair and vice chair. As planned, Ann Levine will be ending her involvement with the project and leadership of the group must now come from within. After some opening discussion two people were nominated - - Rod Case and Kurt Reasoner. Both accepted the assignment with the agreement that Kurt would be the chair and Rod the vice-chair.
· The rest of the meeting was spent of discussions of the proposed Memorandum of Understanding.
The next meeting will be May 27th at the
Second Meeting - - March 18, 2008
The meeting was
held in the
· Linda Rasmussen gave and update on recent progress on Passage Point:
Ø Linda has published her written responses to questions raised for her at the previous meeting. Answers to questions that she could not yet answer will be forthcoming.
Ø Work on re-roofing the buildings has been completed. No further construction type activities are planed late this year.
Ø A tour of the facility was held on March 7 for CAG members.
Ø A tour of the facility was held on March 14 for Law Enforcement officials
Ø The YWCA will establish an information web site. It will provide detailed information about Passage Point, CAG meeting minutes, copies of reports, Frequently Asked Questions, and notices of upcoming meetings. The site should be available by early April.
· Ann presented a proposed set of operating ground rules for the group. There was some preliminary discussion and they were tentatively accepted. A complete copy will be posted on the web site when it is started.
· Ann presented a proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the YWCA and the Advisory Group. The group began in-depth discussions on each item. We made it through about half of the document before time ran out. The discussion will be completed at our next meeting and the results posted on the web site.
·
There will be a community meeting to present
Passage Point plans and drawings on March 19 at the
Scheduling a permanent meeting
place is a problem. Ann presented
several options. The group decided that
meeting on the 4th Tuesday of each month at the
First Meeting - - February 26, 2008
· The first meeting was held in the Eagle room of the Issaquah Police station. The meeting was chaired by Ann Levine who is a private consultant working with the YWCA on early planning and organization for Passage Point. The first hour was dedicated to introductions of group members and to discuss final composition of the group. At this meeting the preliminary membership in attendance was:
Rob Ashby Maple Hills Maintenance Company
Rod Case
Mimi Dickens Neighbor of Passage Point
Sean Kronberg Neighbor of Passage Point
Deborah Morton Neighbor of Passage Point
Dorothy Murray Cedar Mountain HOA
Kurt Reasoner Cedar Grove Estates HOA
Linda Rasmussen who is the YWCA’s project manager for Passage Point was unable to attend due to unforeseen complications on a trip. Several attempts have been made with Mazama Woods to identify a representative from that community. None has been provided yet so their place on the CAG is unfilled.
Based on feedback from several previous public Passage Point meetings the topic of expansion of the CAG was opened for discussion. In those meetings there had been suggestions that the CAG also include representatives from the school district, local churches, Four Creeks Unincorporated Area Council, mental health profession, Passage Point residents, King County Housing Authority, King County, local Kiwanis, King County Sheriff’s office, the Washington State parole system, DSHS, transportation services, local youth sports programs, additional neighbors of the site.
It was pointed out
that the YWCA has already made plans to work closely with a number of these
entities. That relationship now known as
“Passage Point Partners” has been formed with the
One family, Dennis and Rosalie Griffin who live next to the Passage Point site, attended this meeting and had good insight into potential issues. Based on their input they were asked to join the CAG and further represent several other families living on the north eastern edge of the site. It was agreed that Dennis would fill that role and he was welcomed as an official member of the CAG.
· Ann discussed the immediate plans for the CAG. She will facilitate a three month orientation process to make sure the group gets off to a good start. At the end of that period the group will elect its own chair person.
· The last hour of the meeting was dedicated to a presentation of drawings for Phase I of Passage Point. The presentation was made by architectural firm hired by YWCA. Detailed drawings were provided to all group members and an overview of them discussed.
After seeing the drawing the group felt it would be very helpful to see the site in person in order to better understand the plans. Ann agreed to ask the YWCA to conduct such a tour.