MOUNTAIN VIEW NEIGHBORHOOD
ASSOCIATION
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
– June 9,
2009
MVNA’s
MissionStatement – from our
Bylaws
- organized for educational, social and charitable purposes; to maintain, protect and enhance the livability and sense of community of the neighborhood
- to provide an open process by which all members may involve themselves in the affairs of the neighborhood
- to facilitate the exchange of information within the neighborhood, other neighborhoods and agencies
- to maintain an open line of communication and liaison to the City of Bend management and staff
- approved by Bend’s City Council in February, 2003
I.
INTRODUCTIONS & WELCOME TO
NEW MEMBERS
The Spring general member meeting took place at
Hollinshead Barn at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, June 9, 2009. Members were treated to pizza and
soft drinks. Jeanne Newton, Chair, opened the meeting by
welcoming members and introducing the Board members, Jim
Mazziotti, Alan Eames, Deb Kraus, Deena McNeil. Jeanne
asked members how they learned of the meeting; all received
the postcard mailer, some saw the Our City newsletter that
was included with the May city utility bills. Jeanne
indicated that for this meeting, she used an automated
telephone message reminder to members and asked if they found
it helpful or an annoyance; one member indicated it was
annoying.
II.
ASSOCIATION
UPDATE
Jeanne reviewed MVNA’s
mission statement and reported that our NA has the largest
number of tax lots of the 13 NAs in the city; 4765, an
increase of 163 since 2008. As the June meeting
announcement was sent only to members of record, returned
mailers indicated that about 60 members have been lost
since October, 2008; current membership is 414
members.
Jeanne reviewed information
that is available on the MVNA website: www.bendneighorhoods.org Meeting Minutes,
Updates are posted on website; new member application also
available online. On the left side of the website,
click on Resources, where the following information is
available:
1)
Neighborhood
Watch
4) Homeowner Associations (HOAs)
2)
Code
Enforcement
5) Avoiding Identity Theft
3) Bicycle Safety
Jeanne reported that she
did a review of major subdivisions on the Deschutes County tax records and the MVNA neighborhood is
in transition: since 2008, over 180 homes are in
default. She also
reported that regarding Bend Area Transit – Route 5
continues to have the highest ridership in the system with
55,000 rides since July, 2008 to April, 2009.
Jeanne reminded members of
the Let’s Pull Together – the city-wide noxious
weed program to take place on June 13, from 9-12 at Pilot
Butte.
Jeanne added that Bend Metro
Parks & Recreation (BMPRD) has opened 8 off-leash dog
areas; Big Sky off-lease area has been enlarged, an area in
Pine Nursery added; volunteers are needed to train dog
owners on off-leash etiquette for the program to be
successful.
III. ACTIVITIES
Jeanne reported on the MVNA
activities conducted; a 27th Street Litter Clean Up last
September with a grant from SOLV; the October General
Meeting focused on Safety with 5 agencies represented and
last December, MVNA members supported a charitable drive
for needy neighbors with the help of Mid Oregon Credit
Union – of 10 sites, our site collected the most
donations.
IV. LAND
USE
Jeanne informed members that
MVNA maintains a database of Land Use applications for our
geography; 18 in 2008, only 3 to date. NA Chairs
participated in Development Code tune-up regarding the
public meeting notification process to ensure that NAs
receive notice and sign off on developer plans for large
scale developments and conditional use permits. She
indicated that we are beginning to see the use of cell
service antennas going up on tall buildings rather than
construct standalone cell towers; St. Charles has installed some and Clear Choice
Health Plans will request some as well. These are
conditional use permits and require a public notice to
nearby neighbors as well as a public meeting to review
plans before any installations.
V. TRAFFIC
& SAFETY ISSUES
Jeanne reported that MVNA
attends City’s Traffic Safety Advisory Committee
(TSAC) monthly which is made up of City staff, Police, Bend
La Pine Schools, ODOT and citizen representatives. The
City has done an analysis of local street safety problems
and Daggett
Lane is a top ranked
safety project due to the need to reduce speeding. The
City has notified Daggett Lane neighbors of design plans
for speed tables and traffic circles: cost estimate:
$136,000; an application to ODOT’s Safe Routes to
School program may provide funding. A project team
with neighbor involvement is being formed – contact
Robin Lewis at 330-4025 or rlewis@ci.bend.or.us if
interested in participating.
Jeanne reported that the
Federal Stimulus Energy Efficiency grant includes $180,000
to improve traffic signal corridors, one of which will
be 27th
Street. A number
of major transportation projects being planned for
NE Bend will wait for funding; these include a
roundabout at 18th and Empire, the Empire Extension
to 27th
Street, etc. Go
to NE Bend Transportation Projects on the left side of this
website to see a chart of the projects.
With the City’s reduced
budget, street litter, weeding and landscape maintenance
will be reduced; the City has established an Adopt a Street
program to request resident help in with what will become a
growing problem.
Those of us who live in
fenced or gated subdivisions need to understand that the
cleaning and maintenance of sidewalks are by city ordinance
the responsibility of the adjacent property owner –
there is no distinction whether the sidewalk is along an
arterial or separated by a fence – so if your
property abuts a sidewalk, please take the time to clean it
up.
VI. NA
BUDGET
The NAs as a group returned
$17k to General Fund for the 2008-2009 fiscal year and were
funded at $1.25 per tax lot. For the fiscal year
beginning 2009-2010, the NAs returned $7k to the General
Fund and will be funded at $1.05 per tax lot. Jeanne
indicated that the June meeting postcard announcement sent
to members of record only to conserve funding and verify
the membership. While the MVNA bylaws require that
meeting notices be sent to all tax lot owners, this was
accomplished by the announcement in the Our City newsletter
previously mentioned. Jeanne reported that more
members are changing email addresses; of 414 members, 28
invalid; 39 no email – making “free”
delivery of communication difficult. Jeanne commented
that NAs are still largely unknown among Bend residents – however a City Edition
segment being filmed at this meeting may help provide more
visibility.
For a list of MNVA funding
and expenses to date: click
here.
VII. GUEST SPEAKER –
ERIC KING, Bend City Manager
Jeanne introduced Eric King
who came to Bend in April, 2007 as Assistant City Manager
to work on the Bend 2030 Project; that November, he was
appointed as interim City Manager and in May, 2008, named
City Manager. He previously worked for the City
of Portland
in the City’s Office of
Neighborhood Involvement so he is very familiar with
neighborhood associations. Originally from
Madison, Wisconsin, he has been an Oregon resident for 10 years. He began his
presentation with a review of the City’s 2009 Goals
and Priorities, then discussed the 2009-2011 budget which
represents a 20% reduction from fiscal years
2007-2009. The number of fulltime city employees has been
reduced by 20 during that period. The city will begin
tackling structural budget deficits for streets, transit
and public safety. He described which functions the
general fund supports and which functions are supported by
fees and other revenue sources. He reviewed the cuts
to the Police budget and Fire Safety; to Engineering
(street maintenance, traffic safety, street operations,
transportation construction projects). Scroll along
the left side of this website for his
presentation.
VIII. NOMINATION AND
ELECTION OF MVNA Board Members
Jeanne indicated that her term and that of Jim Mazziotti, vice chair, have expired but both are willing to continue to serve. However, MVNA needs 3 new Board Members for Board of 7 positions; volunteers are needed for: Secretary, an individual to share the Bend Metro Parks & Rec liaison role and a volunteer to work on Membership recruiting. Carolyn Clontz agreed to return to the Board as secretary and Jeanne, Jim and Carolyn were voted into office by the members. Two members offered to serve in non-board positions: Bob Wenger to act a co-liaison to Bend Metro Parks & Recreation and Kim Moller to help with member recruiting.
Jeanne adjourned the meeting
at 8:35 and thanked members for their help
with room clean up.
IX. EVALUATIONS
– 16
evaluations were returned; 9 (57%) rated the meeting as
very useful, 6 (38%) as useful and 1 (5%) as somewhat
useful.
MARK YOUR
CALENDAR: Fall 2009 General Member Meeting planned
for September 21,
2009.
MVNA thanks our Business
Sponsors for their support:
Clear Choice Health
Plans
The Forum
Shops
MidOregon Credit
Union
