Monday, June 2, 2003
Presiding / Conducting: Dave Watson, General Chair
MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Board of Directors: Don Lee, Hugh McMillan, Bob Jardin
Committee Members: Marsh Allen, Tonya Lee, Mark Yordy, Keith Stiles, Dave Watson, Sue Watson, JoAnne Gray, Sue Gillmore, Colleen Franz
Called to order: 6:00 p.m.
REPORTS
Minutes from March 3, 2002 - Moved and seconded to approve, Approved.
Treasurer's Report: Approved
Colleen announced that she has moved to Graham, Washington, that this meeting is her last and that she needs to pass the Treasurer’s job to another committee member. Don Lee volunteered to assume the responsibility of the Treasurer. He was officially nominated; the nomination was seconded and approved. There were no objections. Many thanks and much appreciation was expressed to Colleen for her years of service to the Peninsula Emergency Preparedness Committee.
Committees
1. PARET: Mark Yordy
We experienced band problems during the recent Health and Safety Expo and therefore, did not make many contacts with other ham radio operators. We did, however, make contact with an operator in Brazil and another in Hawaii. That was pretty exciting for us. In May, Pierce County joined with Seattle in an exercise that was very productive. We had 23 ham radio operators in the county participate. Pierce Co. DEM realized that PARET is a great resource that has been greatly underutilized. We have a Field Day exercise coming up June 28th beginning at 11 am that will conclude June 29th at 11 am.
2. Webmaster: Sue Gillmore
In the 21 months since the new website was launched, we have gone from about 200 hits per month to an average of 475 hits per month. The low was 128 hits in October 2001 and the high was 1207 hits in February 2003. And because of the positions we have achieved in the search engines, it is likely that our average monthly hits will continue to increase even without a national crisis or major disaster to create the online interest in preparedness.
Effective July 31, 2003, TheCounter.com will be discontinuing its free weekly website stat service. If we wish to retain this service, we must enroll as a Premium Edition member for $17.95/year. As a Premium Edition member, we will have access to the in-depth report statistics online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as well as the weekly stats email. We will also have access to four different styles of counters, including the invisible counter.
While it has been rather interesting for me, as the webmaster, to track the hits to our site as well as the search terms people are using to find us, I must conclude that there is no vital benefit to retaining the weekly website stat service beyond July 31st that warrants spending the $17.95/year for it. While our website does not have a counter that tracks actual visitors to our site, it does have a counter that tracks the number of pages visited.
3. Training: JoAnne Gray
On March 8, Don Lee presented the first PC-NET introductory meeting to Christy Carter's Neighborhood. Gretchen O'Connor was there for support (and supervision)
On March 10, Dave, Don, JoAnne and Gretchen O'Connor met first with school district superintendent, Jim Coolican seeking support for approaching the PTSA leaders with programs for next year, and then PTSA chairs. Jim approved.
Next on March 18, we met with a committee from The Lakes community. The Lakes has been an organized neighborhood in the past under Ray Zimmerman but has had much turnover since then. We presented the PC-NET program to them in hopes of re-doing the neighborhood and getting them back and running. Training will be July 30.
On March 28, Dave, Don & Tonya and JoAnne shared a presentation to a small gathering of Girl Scouts and their parents. Scout leader, Christy Carter, was very excited about the whole prospect and they sent out 2,000 flyers via the schools and community plus email invitations. She got the sanctuary of the Harbor Covenant Church, expecting 100-200 to attend. The attendance was very disappointing to all, at something close to 13 other than the Scouts and Pierce County Emergency Management reps and mayor, Gretchen Wilbert. Christy and the Scouts did an enormous amount of work on this and spent their cookie sale money on publicity.
Conclusion: "y'all come" events just don't draw. It has to be an invitation to an existing group or an established community event to reach many people.
On March 29, Pierce County DEM sponsored the first PC-NET Academy at the Sate Farm Building on I-5. The all-day event featured speakers and choices of classes to improve our knowledge.
On April 10 Dave met with Lakewood Police chief and Fire chief and the leader of the Lakewood Citizen Corps, Mike Kanter. They had requested time with us to glean information about PEP-C and advice on starting a similar program there.
On April 5, Dave and Sue Watson, Marv Nauman and Don and Tonya Lee set up and staffed the Health and Safety Expo booth at the EOC.
On May 6, we were asked to attend a Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula advisory group meeting for the American Red Cross at St Nicks Church. Lees and Bob Jardin, Hugh McMillan and JoAnne were in attendance. Noreen Smith from the Red Cross wanted to show us their disaster preparedness presentation and discuss ways we could work together in this community. We learned some details about the way the ARC operates and their plans for mass care shelters. The meeting was a waste of time.
On May 6, JoAnne met with Marv Nauman to hear a report of the Partners in Preparedness Conference in Bellevue in April. Marvin shared materials he collected and information he learned.
On May 10, Mary and Fred Ramsdell set up and staffed a booth at the Key Peninsula Livable communities Fair at the Vaughn Community Center.
On May 17, Fred and Mary set up and staffed a booth and presentation for the ECAP preschool Safety Fair in Lakebay.
On May 20 Sue Gillmore presented at a meeting of JoAnne's neighbors on intro to basic family and personal preparedness.
Tomorrow, June 3rd, Don Lee will begin JoAnne's neighborhoods introduction to PC-NET.
Thursday, June 5, Don will do the tabletop for Christy Carter's neighborhood.
June 7 is the Maritime Gig Parade. We are not participating this year due to insurance requirements.
On Thursday, July 10, Judi Holley from PC Sherriff's Dept will present to JoAnne's neighborhood on the NAT program.
4. Water: Marsh Allen, Don Lee, Fred Ramsdell, Dave Watson
We have a good supply of barrels in our inventory. While Don Lee has been getting requests for barrels from the eastern side of the county as well as Snohomish, generally speaking, water barrel sales are down.
5. PIO: Hugh McMillan
The Gateway newspaper is in a state of transition now since a new Editor, Jim Thompson, was hired. Hugh will be covering the Field Day operations later this month and proposed doing a photo shoot of the meetings at The Lakes. Odds are still good for getting published in the paper and it was proposed that we do something to promote water barrel sales. Don Lee proposed putting a blurb or coupon in the Peninsula Light Company mailings.
6. KGHP: Keith Stiles
The past three months have been relatively routine for KGHP, as there have been no emergency operations during the period. Air content has been normal, with student broadcasters relating news, information and music during the day up until 2 pm. Volunteers keep things going from 2 pm until 10 pm. Automation then controls our operations until the following morning.
The threat to KGHP’s translator on 104.5 MHz remains unresolved by the FCC. The only public action taken recently is the submission of various attorney’s briefs from the two commercial stations attacking KMIH (Mercer Island) and, thereby attacking KGHP’s frequency use by it’s translator. The assistance of Mayor Wilbert in certain aspects of the information flow here is appreciated.
KGHP continues to be involved in the community life of Gig Harbor. As examples, last weekend we were involved with the Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life” at Peninsula High School. This coming weekend, we will broadcast the Gig Harbor Parade and “The Blessing of the Fleet.” The following weekend, we will be entertaining a troop of Boy Scouts who are studying Communications.
During the summer months we expect to fully integrate a totally new Automation System and set of programming. We anticipate beginning our 15th year of service to the community with a full slate of live broadcasts of at least ten football games involving both the Peninsula and Gig Harbor High Schools. In addition, during the balance of this year, we hope to initiate and receive approval on at least one submission to the FCC to further improve our broadcast signal and coverage from 89.9 MHz.
The continued assistance of Peninsula Light Company in technical matters is hereby acknowledged and appreciated.
7. PSD: Dave Watson
The Peninsula School District will be sending one team of six to FEMA for training.
New Business
1. Election Results
Don Lee resigned from the Board of Directors to assume the responsibility of Treasurer
Joseph Jones will continue to serve on the Board of Directors through June of 2004
Hugh McMillan will continue to serve on the Board of Directors through June of 2004
Mayor, Gretchen Wilbert was elected to the Board of Directors until June 2007
Marv Nauman was elected to the Board of Directors until June 2007
Sue Gillmore was elected as Secretary until June 2007
Bob Jardin was elected to the Board of Directors until June 2007
Tonya Lee was elected to the Board of Directors until June 2007
Dave Watson was re-elected to serve as the General Chair until June 2006
JoAnne Gray was re-elected to serve as the Vice Chair until June 2006
2. Uniforms
It was proposed that we adopt a “uniform” shirt now that we are getting more and more involved in neighborhood preparedness meetings. It was proposed that we could get 100% red cotton shirts embroidered with PEP-C for about $26. Further discussion concluded that having shirts embroidered was too expensive and that we should just go with red shirts and khaki or black pants with name tag any time we are representing PEP-C. Don and Tonya came wearing matching red shirts and khaki pants and looked very spiffy. They announced the red shirts were available at Sears.
3. It was proposed that we get together socially for tea or drinks at The Tides. Spouses were invited. Date set for Monday, July 21st at noon.
ADJOURNED 7:10 pm
