Introductions: Your Name and Where you Live Attending: Polly Gilbert, Carol Lavoi, Mickey McDiamond, Erin Macri, Patrick McKee, Teresa Tripp, Liz Jennings, David Donohue, Tom McNutt, Greg Hinton, Hugh Conroy, Larry Farr (Bellingham City Council Canidate) Yolanda?...... Theresa has the attendance sheet for this meeting

Just to let Neighbors know that input from neighbors is most important and always valued so please speak up and let your voices be heard however, anything that needs to be voted on is done so by the board members obviously with all consideration to what the neighborhood wants and needs.

New Business:

1. Approved Minutes from 05/15/07 Meeting¬- (board vote) Erin Macri moved to approve minutes, Polly Gilbert 2nd

2. Planning Committee Update- Liz Jennings/Patrick McKee Liz Jennings reviewed the purpose, process, and timeline of the planning committee for net attendees. The committee meets Bi-Monthly and is working to update the SNA neighborhood plan to propose to City Planning Dept. in December. The DOT land is a major focal point of plan. Patrick McKee provided an update from the last meeting (Liz was unable to attend the May 21 meeting). The planning committee has finished reviewing all areas in the neighborhood. During the next meeting the planning committee will review and prioritize all suggested “action “ items identified in the area-by-area review. Action items are items that would result in a change to the comprehensive neighborhood plan. These items need to be approved by the City Planning department. Only 3-4 “action” items will be proposed to the city in December. Zoning changes to the DOT site will be one of the “action” items included in the proposal to the city. Next meeting is 6:30 PM on July 9th at the Whatcom Council of Governments office 314 E. Champion St

3. Mayors Neighborhood Advisory Committee (MNAC) – Patrick McKee Patrick McKee attended the June 13th MNAC meeting. The following topics were covered at the meeting:

A) MNAC representatives summarized activities happening in their neighborhood.

B) Safe Routes to School. This is a city wide to encourage students to walk and bike to school. The program is looking for input and volunteers for the program. The contact at COB is Kimberly Brown (KBrown@cob.org)

C) Elder Friendly Neighborhoods. Richard Deits from the NW Regional Council gave a presentation on elder friendly neighborhoods

D) Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness .The city is doing emergency planning and each neighborhood is encouraged to have a representative. Sonny Kunchick has agreed to be the neighborhood representative for this program. Sonny is a Sunnyland resident and WWU student in the new Emergency Planning and Hazards Mitigation program. Sonny reported on the May Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness meeting. The May meeting covered the Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) program. This program is part of the Washington State Emergency Management Division and is to prepare households to work together during a disaster and in its aftermath. This is accomplished by dividing neighborhoods up into small mico-neighborhhods. These smaller micro-neighborhoods will:

• Learn the “9 Steps to Take Immediately Following a Disaster” to secure your home and to protect your neighborhood. It is hard to think clearly following disaster and these steps will help you to quickly and safely take actions that can minimize damage and protect lives.

• Identify the Skills and Equipment each neighbor has that would be useful in an effective disaster response. Knowing which neighbors have supplies and skills helps your disaster response be timely, and allows everyone to contribute to the response in a meaningful way.

• Create a Neighborhood Map identifying the locations of natural gas and propane tanks for quick response if needed.

• Create a Contact List that helps identify those with specific needs such as elderly, disabled, or children who may be home alone during certain hours of the day.

• Work together as a team to evaluate your neighborhood after a disaster and take the necessary actions. From http://www.emd.wa.gov/myn/myn_intro.shtml

Sonny handed out workbooks about this program. One primary representative will be trained by the state. This representative will then train other neighborhoods representatives in a 90-minute session. Sunnyland neighborhood needs more representatives to get the trained and form micro-neighborhoods. It was suggested that we get more interest in the program by posting information at Sunnylandneighbors.org and on the Goggle forum, discussing it at the general meeting, and providing information at the annual picnic. Theresa Trip asked how many micro-neighborhoods would be appropriate for our neighborhood. She also pointed out that micro-neighborhoods need to be kept small enough to be manageable. She suggested block size micro-neighborhoods. Tom McNutt suggested that the area reps take and active roll in this program and help find more representatives in the reps area and start forming micro-neighborhoods. Hugh Conroy supported Tom McNutt’s idea. Hugh also brought up that we are in need of an area rep for the area east of James St. Sonny will attend the July 10th Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness meeting.

4. Whatcom Creek Trail Update-Polly Gilberet On May 25ht a contract was awarded to Tiger for the continuation of the Whatcom Creek Trail. The bridge over Whatcom Creek is scheduled to be open in September. Tom McNutt gave a brief overview of the bridge building process. Polly was unsure if more habitat restoration was scheduled for this section of the creek.

5. Treasures Report-Hugh Conroy Treasurer’s Report: 2007 SNA yearly Dues, $5.00 a person, $10.00 a household, $10.00 a business. More area businesses have joined SNA.

The Annual Report and…..is due to the state for SNA to retain it’s corporation status. Hugh Conroy asked that the board approve that he write up and submit the report. Patrick McKee moved to approve this request, Polly Gilbert 2nd

Old Business:

1. SNA Annual Picnic – Erin Macri The SNA Annual Picnic will be held on Sunday September 9 at Memorial Park. The picnic committee is meeting at 8pm on Thursday June 28 at 28__Grant St. Those interested in helping with the picnic should come to the meeting or email Erin Macri at macrie@hotmail.com.

2. Traffic Committee – Hugh Conroy Hugh reported that he has not yet heard back about the status of the proposed traffic claming routes submitted to the city this spring. Traffic counts will be done along the proposed routes before any decisions are made. Liz Jennings reminded Hugh that counts should be done school is in session. An attending member asked if the city was still planning on gather traffic counts along James before Trade Joe’s opened. Yolanda ____, a local business owner along James St, reported that traffic counts along James are around 16,000cars/hr. She has the exact data at her business an offered to provide the information to the SNA.

3. Insurance – Hugh Conroy The SNA was told we needed insurance in order to continue meeting at Sunnyland Elementary School. Hugh Conroy has submitted a letter to the Bellingham School District (BSD) regarding this issue. SNA is waiting to hear back from BSD. It is thought that SNA will not be asked to carry insurance. Hugh also reported that John ____is putting in a proposal for acquiring affordable insurance for neighborhood associations.

4. By-laws – Hugh Conroy/Theresa Tripp SNA needs to change by-laws in order to receive City money. Hugh Conroy clarified that changes Katherine Hanowell was asking for all made the language of the SNA by-laws more inclusive. Hugh Conroy asked if he could do rewrite of the SNA bylaws. He felt her could make the bylaws more clear and concise. Those attending the meeting felt this was reasonable. Hugh will send board members a draft of the revised bylaws. A copy of the revised bylaws will be available at the July meeting so those not on the board may look them over. The board will vote on the new bylaws at the September meeting.

5. Street Tree Grant – Patrick McKee SNA received a $2000 Small and Simple Grant to plant street trees in the neighborhood. The grant is a matching grant (SNA needs to match the funds from the city). This can be accomplished by collecting “donations” for trees or through volunteer time ($10/hr). All donations would go to purchasing more trees. David Donohue and Patrick met and discussed how to purchase and distribute the trees. The trees can be distributed in a number of ways: lottery, knock on doors, create a barrier between industrial area and neighborhood. They thought it would be best to buy larger trees wholesale. Liz Jennings brought up the concern about the possibility of excluding low-income households if the trees are distributed to only those who make a donation. Liz suggested having a tree scholarship for those who cannot afford to donate to the program. It was also suggested that a info sheet be put together about the available trees. This info sheet should include pictures of the trees in both spring and fall.

6. Website –David Donohue David would like help with the website. He has offered training to anyone interested.

7. Neighborhood Watch Three neighbors came to the meeting to express interest in starting a Neighborhood Watch program. These neighbors were advised that Neighborhood Watch is coordinated through Tanya Stan, the Bellingham Police Dept Neighborhood Liaison. Some neighbors have participated in Neighborhood Watch in the past and suggested that we all keep porch lights on at night to deter burglars. Yolanda____ said that block watch programs are a great way to get to know your neighbors and would be a great base for a program such as Map Your Neighborhood. Yolanda suggests beginning such a program with a fun social event like a block party. ____suggested that SNA meetings have more information for educating the public and not so much board business. ______is a former member of the Guide Meridian/Cordata NA. This NA had a speaker at each meeting and board business was done at another time.

8. News Letter –Erin Macri/Theresa Tripp Theresa Tripp and Erin Macri suggested moving the newsletter online and sending out a “Save the Date” card with important SNA meeting dates. Changing to this format will reduce paper use and the cost printing. Some neighbors expressed concern about an online newsletter. They are afraid it would exclude those who do not have Internet access. It was suggested that there be distribution sites through out the neighborhood for printed newsletters. Erin Macri suggested that we find someone in the neighborhood who could be dedicated to putting together a quarterly newsletter. Until that person is found we will use the “Save the Date” card to get important dates out. GPAC has offered to pay for 1-2 newsletters a year. More details are needed about this. SNA will ask Applied Digital Imaging to donate printing and paper for the “Save the Date card”. Yolanda ___ offered to hand out newsletters and save the date cards at her coffee shop on James St.

9. Larry Farr, City Council Candidate- Ward 3 Larry Farr gave a brief overview of his campaign for the Ward 3 seat on Bellingham City Council.

Announcements: There will be a location change for the July and August SNA meetings . Location to be announced.

2007 SNA Yearly Dues are now Due Meeting adjourned.