Trust Board Meeting Minutes 12-09-2021

FICRA Building Trust Board Meeting Minutes 
Thursday, December 9, 2021, 7:00PM 
Nichols Community Center, Fox Island, Washington 

Board Attendees: Howard Stapleton, President; Arlyn Lawrence, Vice-President; Hal Goodell, Treasurer. Excused: Gina Olson, Secretary; Craig McLaughlin, Director

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Patty Peterson spoke about the “Fox Island Bridge Replacement”

• Prompted by what Derek Kilmer said that no decisions will be made without hearing from the residents of Fox Island
• Desire to preserve “equity” between communities. Equity is “fairness or justice in the way people are treated”—how does that relate to the bridge?
• It’s in pretty bad shape
• Will be either repaired (not likely) or replaced (likely)
• How will the cost be funded?
• The idea under consideration at the county is to have Fox Island residents pay for nearly all of it!
• (see her presentation for the rest of Patty’s information)

Highlights:

• Raft Island is different than Fox Island, because it’s a private road.
• Harstine Island is different because it was considering becoming part of Thurston County, leaving Mason County, because they needed a bridge and weren’t getting it. So the entire county took the tax increase.
• There is NO other county road in Washington State with a toll on it.
• We may need to work on getting grants from the county.
• If we don’t stand up, what is the next community in Washington that will be targeted to bear a large financial burden for its own infrastructure, like this? This will be setting a precedent for other counties.

Goal: have a series of meetings, culminating with a meeting of the community without the county, hopefully in late January, so that we have a community statement ready before the county comes back to us

APPROVAL OF MINUTES – Minutes from the November, 2021 Trust Board Meeting were approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT – Hal Goodell

Trust Checking account: Nov 1 Balance: $26,985.55, Nov 30 Balance: $33,682.11

Trust Capital Checking: Nov 1 Balance: $3,651.22, Nov 30 Balance: $3,651.22

Trust Reserve Checking: Nov 1 Balance: $319.98, Nov 30 Balance: 319.98

Trust Money Market: Nov 1 Balance: $307,104.13, Nov 30 Balance: 307,167.23

Trust Savings: Nov 1 Balance: $524.50, Nov 30 Balance 575.50

Trust PayPal: Nov 1 Balance: $2,323.49, Nov 30 Balance $2,612.53

FICRA REPORT

Santa Run – Sunday, 12^th, 9:00 a.m., with band from Alliance Church, starting with Run, Run Rudolph and lots of great ideas and plans for the day. Briefing Saturday evening for volunteers. Hal Goodell has been creating signage. Hal and Jim have been coordinating with the Sheriff’s Office. Approximately 200 runners have signed up for the Santa Run and 50 kids for the Jingle Dash. County permit has been secured. New FI mascot will be making his inaugural appearance!

Branding: Melody Cook, an FI resident, is a professional brander who is donating her services to assist with branding FICRA and FICRA Trust. She will be coming to the next meeting on 1/13 with her ideas and conclusions. She will present an idea board, the next step before going into design phase.

Lance Powers’ resignation. Lance is unable to fulfill his responsibilities as president for the rest of the year and will be stepping down the 1^st of the year. By by-laws, that would put Lindsey as president, and Miguel as past president. Elections are coming up again in March, only a couple of months’ difference.  So everyone will work together till then.

Increasing involvement. Miguel wants to encourage more people to show up to meetings and be involved, and asked everyone present to spread the word to people who may be interested in FICRA, and to come to the meeting on the 13^th. FICRA would like to rejoin the Trust meetings as was done previously. Dec. 14^th FICRA Events and Activities committee will be meeting and everyone is invited. (Howard suggested putting a sign up on the board at Zog’s.) They will be outlining the events and how much money will be needed, and start the planning of the events for 2022.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS & ACTIONS

Finance Committee – nothing to report other than trying to finalize the rental rates to formalize

Building & Grounds – Howard wants people to look at the extra exit and consider it a safety issue for a second point of egress.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

NCC Usage and Rates Status – Outcome of follow-up meeting was that people determined that other than major capital improvements, which are typically fundraised, we need to put together a business model that shows how the revenue we receive will cover all the costs to maintain it in the long run.

Pending Requests – Candy reported that a homeschool group used NCC for two hours on an hourly basis. She charged the non-profit rate but asked for a certificate of insurance and security deposit. But she is wondering if the certificate and deposit would inhibit them from renting again, and she would love to have them back. The board discussed having further conversation about how we can umbrella small groups like this under broader (covered) categories so they don’t have to pay the security deposit and secure an (expensive) certificate of insurance.

NEW BUSINESS

Cleaning and Maintenance – Discussion was had that volunteers shouldn’t have to do all the cleaning; we do need to look to the paid models for routine and spot cleaning. Howard has reached out to other organization for ideas, and to some cleaning businesses for a price. Looking options for periodic maintenance (handyman; needs to be more than a one-person organization).

Holiday Decorations – Voted to leave this year’s decorations intact, and next year invite opportunities for diverse representation of the community to participate in holiday planning and decorations if they like.

Minutes submitted by Arlyn Lawrence.