Saturday, July 25, 2009

Grand Mound Rochester Horizons Project Planning Sheets

For those who are beginning a new activity there are project planning sheets available for your use. You can print them out by going to this web page. http://www.rochester-wa.com/horizons_project_planning_sheet.htm

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Draft minutes of last nights Grand Mound Rochester Horizons (GMRH) Steering Committee meeting

The draft minutes of last nights Grand Mound Rochester Horizons (GMRH) Steering Committee meeting are posted below. They are subject to correction and approval at the next GMRH Steering Committee meeting on August 26th.

Please remember that every GMRH Steering committee meeting is open to all residents of the area. You are encouraged to attend and participate in the discussions as this is a community-wide effort to reduce poverty in the Rochester/Grand Mound area. Also, these are only four from a larger list that will be addressed as people accept the challenge to take on the responsibility of any of the other projects on the list. The larger project list and copies of steering committee meeting minutes will be posted on the rochester-wa.com website (there is a link to the GMRH section on the home page) in a few days and also on the GMRH blogspot at:
http://grandmound-rochester.blogspot.com/ so check both websites often to stay current with what is happening.


Grand Mound Rochester Horizons
P. O. Box 1162
Rochester, WA 98579

Steering Committee Meeting, July 22, 2009 @ Old Gate School

Secretary Bill Liddle called the meeting to order at 6:45 PM

Those present were: Donna Smith, Sandra Cornell, Holly Hamilton, Lester Olson, Lowell Deguise, Kathy Deguise, June Gelvin, Janet Weaver, Gene Weaver, Kathy Clohesy, Joan Hitchcock, Bryon Jones, Danette Jones, Billie Smith, Vivian Eason, Tony Hawes, Shauna Hawes, Joy Baisch, and Bill Liddle

Each person present introduced themselves and their association with the Grand Mound Rochester Horizons (GMRH) group.

Joy Baisch and Bill Liddle presented some housekeeping matters such as a short history of the group, the new postal address, the use of the time-log sheet and its importance, money that will be available for training and professional development, etc.

There was a short discussion of the function of Rochester water Association as the umbrella organization for GMRH.

Farmers Market - Sandra Cornell updated the group on the status of this project. She explained the committee has already done considerable research. A presentation was made to the Rochester School District asking for permission to use the parking lot at the Rochester Middle School, which was given. Because of timing and the issue of liability insurance this project will not go this year but is planned for the 2010, growing season.

Sidewalks - Lowell Deguise gave us a short history of getting sidewalks along Hwy 12 through town. He said the first phase would be completing the sidewalk on the south side of Hwy 12 from Albany St./Littlerock Rd. to the Rochester Middle School. Later phases would encompass sidewalks on both sides of Hwy 12 between Bailey's IGA and Larry's Chevron. Lowell said there are several agencies, which have jurisdiction over how sidewalks are designed and built in this area. They included Washington DOT and Thurston County as well as environmental agencies. Earlier discussions with these agencies and the affected property owners indicated they were all receptive to the project.

Ultimately the plan is to continue a walking trail from Larry's Chevron on east to the Primary and Elementary schools.

Swimming Pools - Byron and Danette Jones are interested in a project to construct a swimming pool, or pools, in the area. They explained there is much community interest but seems to be little commitment to get this project going. One of the problems they have encountered is finding a location to build the pool or pools. They were given several suggestions about avenues to proceed. These included looking for someone who is willing to donate property for the project and checking into the availability of publicly owned property along the Chehalis or Black rivers that might developed into swimming areas on a leased or mutual agreement basis.

Basic Computer Literacy Classes - Bill Liddle described the scope of the classes as instruction on the fundamentals of using a computer, using the internet for searching and e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets. The class consists of 42 hours of instruction taught in two-hour segments. The first class was started with two students the beginning of this month. While these free classes are open to anyone, there are two primary groups that will be targeted; seniors who are wanting to learn about computers but too timid to explore them on their own and those who need basic computer skills to improve their prospect of employment.

The next steering committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 26th at a location yet to be determined.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM

Respectively submitted
Bill Liddle, Secretary
Grand Mound Rochester Horizons Project