Rosemont-Summit
Neighborhood Association
Meeting
Minutes
March 15,
2004
The meeting was called to order by President Dean Suhr at
7:05 pm with eleven members in attendance.
Dean explained that one of the board’s goals is to work with
other neighborhood associations, and also asked that members advise the board
of any outstanding issues of interest since the board doesn’t always know
everything that’s going on.
Approximately $1200.00 remains in our budget for this year.
The school board heard public comments regarding the high
school remodel at its last meeting.
Much emotion was expressed regarding preserving history. The board members explained that the
requirements for open spaces and electrical systems cannot be met without
bringing the building down. Members are
encouraged to give further input since the plan is not finalized yet.
The school district does not often sell property and does
not have a process in place. There was
some discussion about how to use the money generated by selling the Dollar
Street property, including buying more property, capital improvements and
operations.
RSNA member Jane Hickman gave a short presentation on the
proposed public swimming facility.
Originally West Linn wanted to team with Lake Oswego for the project but
Lake Oswego is not close to being ready now.
A feasibility study was done in West Linn and $625,000 was set aside for
a pool. The City Council has now
considered using that money for something else. The school district is considering donating the Parker Road
property for the pool. There will be a
ballot measure in May to determine if the citizens want to spend money on a
future general purpose bond to construct and operate the facility. At our next meeting Jane will have a copy of
the actual ballot measure.
Regarding the proposed Renaissance development off
Bridgeview, Gary W. has been in contact with the city and has some
drawings. He is concerned about the
position of the rainwater detention ponds.
The public testimony hearing went until 2:45 am. The City Council took comments into
consideration at their work session and responded proactively and revised the
ordinance. More public testimony will
be taken at the next City Council meeting.
The Council may vote at that time or defer voting to a later date,
depending on feedback received at the next meeting.
Police Chief John Ellison has been visiting and speaking to
the neighborhood associations. It has
been about one year since the liaison program was put into place. The Police Advisory Committee was put in
place to facilitate citizen involvement with the police. The committee advises and provides feedback;
each neighborhood association has a member plus there are four at large
members.
The West Linn Tidings has published some derogatory material
about Chief Ellison, mostly from disgruntled former employees. The department has changed its hiring and
recruiting policies to get the right kinds of officers that are good matches
for West Linn, according to Chief Ellison.
The department gives consideration to reserves now.
Identity theft is West Linn’s biggest crime; the police
department spends a lot of time on this.
Police departments in some other cities spend no time on identity
theft. The average loss to a victim is
$1500.
Police funding – the general fund pays for all but twelve
officers; a serial levy pays for the twelve remaining plus ammunition, cars,
uniforms, etc.
The board will be asking members to complete surveys on
Rosemont sidewalks and Rosemont Ridge Middle School congestion. The next meeting is April 19th.
Minutes prepared by Holly Crawford, RSNA Secretary