BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Attendees: B. MacDonald, D. Spencer, A. Tanner, R. Larue, M. Bowers, J. Selin, A. Cumming, D. Ford-Werntz, M. Swager, C. Toselli, M. Maupin, J. Steketee, D. McGill

Minutes of May meeting were reviewed, corrections made, and the minutes approved.

Old Business:

A. Spegar Lot: The Beautification Commission will no longer be involved with the Spegar Lot. The City Council has made arrangements for public art on private property for the lot, which could be a parallel project with Main Street Morgantown.

B. Rawley Lane: Our Chair is requesting a design for this project now that the City Manager has requested that we move forward with the design concept for this area.

C. Advocacy Issues for Beautification’s Long-Range Planning: Follow-up letters tabled until our next meeting.

D. Sabraton Gateway: Friends of Decker’s Creek and Martin Crist have been invited to the July 2008 Beautification Meeting to discuss the work in this area.

New Business:

A. Arch Street Islands issue was moved to our next meeting.

B. Name Change: A name change is being considered. Instead of “Beautification”, we are considering “Public Grounds”, or “Landscape Commission”. We may be able to use our valuable experience in a more productive way if the name were to change. The name “Public Grounds” may be “too big” as an umbrella.

C. Woodburn Tree Planting: Pictures of the tree planting were passed around.

D. J. Selin suggested that the bulletin boards be attended to so the events could be posted on them. MRTC takes care of them at this time.

E. Bump-outs issue tabled until our next meeting

F. Walnut Street Plan: The plan that we reviewed is being used as is, without our changes or recommendations, due to mis-communication.

Adopt a Street: Posten Avenue was suggested as a street where this program would be helpful. D. Ford-Werntz reported that there are new, or revived, Neighborhood Associations beginning in many areas around the city. There is a coordinating Council of Neighborhoods meeting that she plans to attend.

Tree Board Report: Our Tree Board Rep. asked for our approval and modifications for submission to Jeff Mikorski for inclusion in City Ordinances.

The tree at 224 Pleasant Street will be replaced, and our Rep. reports that it is difficult to find the same species; a Yoshino, but a Quanzen is easy to find and much less expensive. M. Maupin suggested that we try to find the Yoshino, since all the trees in that area are Yoshinos. It was agreed that we would try to find the Yoshino from another nursery. There are two grants available; one is “Cool Communities Grant”, for $15,000, and an $8,000 “Demonstration City Grant”, both grants are Division of Forestry Grants.

Proud of Our Town Awards: Doris Kelly was featured in the Dominion Post, receiving her Proud of Our Town Award. The article was passed around at the meeting.

Boparc Report: Nothing new to report

Project Site Report: Due to the increased level of help this year, and the great quality of work they are doing, everything is staying on track and looking great this year. At the waterfront park, some shrubs have been pruned back, as well as the Holly trees outside the Public Safety Building. There was a discussion about whether the Holly trees should be removed sometime in the future.

Open Forum: 1% for Art Policy: Our City Council Rep. informed us of a City Council discussion for this Policy, which is in the works and needs a home. Projects included several items which are both park and building-related, and will help us be more sensitive to artistic expression. The project is 1%, up to a ceiling of $200,000. A Public Art Placement Agreement, which relates to the 1% project, is for sidewalks, or private property, such as a wall

New title: We discussed the need to further legitimize the “Technician” position as being part of Beautification, so her skills would be better reflected. Our City Council Rep. has established a dialog with the City Manager on this issue. Changing the name of the Commission would also help to clarify/change our Technician’s title.

Meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.