KP Community Council highlights

Posted
Staff Report

The Key Peninsula Community Council (KPC) held its first meeting of 2016 on Jan. 14.

Reports from standing committees were as follows:

KP School Bus Connects: Marcia Harris reviewed the program, which school buses during off hours for public transportation. 

Originally running on Tuesdays, the program has been expanded to three days a week (M, T, Th). Number of riders is up 40 percent during this time from last year. Special service was provided to the KP Veterans for their Aisle of Honor Memorial Day program. Harris said the program was presented to Washington Association of Pupil Transportation conference and received enthusiastically. KP School Bus Connects has signage at stops and a phone number to remember: 884-BUSS.

KP Farm Council (KPFC): KPFC will recognize that 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the farm tour. This year they plan to publish a video history of the Key Peninsula. The KPFC and KPC are working on a memorandum of understanding to establish management of income and expenses for KPFC.

Meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each month, at 6:30 in the Home fire station.

KP Youth Council (KPYC): Rion Tisino, advisor chair, presented. Initially a high school program, KPYC now is centered at KP Middle School.

One of the main activities is student participation in Youth Advocacy Day in Olympia on Feb. 16, and they will be working to advertise and recruit participants. KPYC meetings are planned for the first Tuesday of each month. Five meetings are planned for the KPYC this year. Goals include building partnership with Red Barn, CHI Franciscan Youth Non-Violence program, and Pen Met Parks youth programs. Don Swensen offered to dedicate the tip jar donations to Youth Council for the month of January to help fund the Olympia trip. The Angel Guild may also be a source of support.

Other reports came from Key Peninsula Land Use Advisory Commission (KPAC) and the KP Healthy Communities Partnership (KPHCP).

Don Swenson, chair of KPAC, reviewed the updated role of the commission as a communications conduit with Pierce County. They will work on a speakers program with county-related issues including talks from the Sheriff and transportation department. The Feb. 17 meeting will include a presentation by owners of the medical marijuana shops to explain their concerns about implementation of Intiative 502. 

Susan Paganelli, co-executive director of the Key Peninsula Partnership for a Healthy Community, reported that she and co-director Ben Paganelli have now met with chairs of transportation, hunger and health/wellness teams. In addition they have met with the steering committee to clarify partnership names, and processes for moving forward with asset mapping a priority. They also visited Rainier Foothills Wellness Foundation in Enumclaw, an organization that will serve as a model for this project.

In other business, the Social Media and Web Committee was defined and members were selected. The are: Irene Torres, chair, Colleen Mullen, Neil Sampson and Danna Webster.

 

The board discussed future presentations because KPAC will concentrate on county-related issues, KPC will focus on other areas. CenturyLink will be invited to the March meeting. Other suggestions included WSDOT,  KP School Bus Connects, Key Peninsula farming,  panel with DSHS and Grandparents Rights,  state DUI strategies and the Rainier Foothills Wellness Foundation.


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