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Home My WebLink About07-July 2015July 2015 Help Nominate a Book for the 11th Annual Community Read This year the library wants to engage our entire community in selecting the 11th annual Community Read for March, 2016. This will be a book nominated by the community for the community. To nominate your choice, visit http://speakuppt.us/forums/community-read or the City’s homepage and click on the SpeakUp Port Townsend image. What Happens to all the Young Families? Though you will be reading this sometime after the first of July for me it’s the middle of June and we are busy getting ready for a town meeting on our Comp Plan this Wednes- day. Between that and other non-City related responsibilities I’ve not found the time to produce a full-length Mayor’s column. But unsurprisingly I still have a couple of thoughts to share. It is often pointed out a lot of us who live here are pretty old. Many recent efforts, by the schools, by the City through our investments on Howard Street and Mountain View, by the Collective Impact group of local citizens, share the effort to address that imbalance by attracting and retaining young families. Like this one maybe: No one starts out old. I believe my responsibility as a public servant is not limited to either attracting the young or accommodating the old. In 1986 our young family was inno- cent of the internet, climate change and 9/11. Our primary concern was the new human hanging from our hands. Just as today we did not know what we did not know. It is our task today to preserve the small miracle of ordinary living for future generations of all ages in Port Townsend and Jefferson County. I welcome the broadening participation in planning for our community’s uncertain future - through our Comprehensive Plan review process, through a series of public meetings put on by Local 2020 (http:// l2020.org/) a group of citizens “Working together toward local sustainability and resilience,” and as evi- denced by the presence of candidates younger than fifty running for City Council The Speakup Port Townsend addition to our City’s website described elsewhere in this newsletter is a major addition to the City’s efforts to increase public access and meaningful participation way beyond our Comp Plan revision. For Speakup to work best it will have to be utilized by the public as a re- source for dialog and collaboration, not just for advocacy. The future 30 years looks even more chal- lenging than the last 30 and it will take a habit of “working together for sustainability and resilience” to get through them. Is it a public record when I contact the City? Any document the City creates or receives is a public rec- ord. This includes letters, emails, reports and memos. We must keep it for a certain amount of time and, with some ex- ceptions, if someone asks for it we must let them look at it or get a copy of it. Also, the City Council, and its advisory boards and commis- sions, are required to conduct their business in public. In some cases, sending an email to more than one councilor or member of an advisory commission can be considered to be a “serial meeting” that violates this requirement. You can help us avoid this by only replying to the individual who sent you the email, and not to all recipients. The City Clerk and City Attorney can answer your questions about these issues. Launch of New Tool to Engage Residents “Speak Up, Port Townsend!” is a new platform that the city has launched to open discussions on projects, develop informal surveys, and collect ideas from residents through an easy-to-use interface. This resource will also facilitate dialogue among community members. The City strives to provide a variety of resources to the community in order to make available relevant infor- mation and data and encourage more citizen participation. The first projects to be featured on this site are the Comprehensive Plan 2016-2036 Growth Management Act Periodic Update and Library Community Read. Several discussion boards are set up so citizens can voice their opinions when it is most convenient for them, outside of public meetings. Here’s how it works: first, visit www.SpeakUpPT.us and sign up for an account either with your email or by connecting with Facebook. Participate in a discussion, support other ideas, and give feedback on communi- ty projects. Staff members will monitor the site, answer questions, and provide feedback online. This infor- mation will be reported to policy makers and department leadership. Speak Up users can watch the current status of ideas right on the website. POST your ideas. SUPPORT what you like. JOIN the discussion. We want to hear from you! Do you have a new idea for Port Townsend? Let us and other members of the community know what that idea is. This is your chance to Speak Up. For more information contact the City Clerk’s office 360-379-5083. SAVE the DATE!! All Jefferson County residents are invited to ALL COUNTY PICNIC August 23 at HJ Carroll Park More details in the August newsletter! It’s summer in Port Townsend and there are many great opportunities for you and your visitors to enjoy the vibrant activities in our community. For an up-to-date list of What’s Happening in Port Townsend www.ptguide.com Got ideas to improve Port Townsend? POST your great ideas VOTE for your favorite ideas JOIN Community Forum discussions July 2015 Port Townsend Water Resources Update On top of the minimal snow pack in the municipal watershed this year, spring has been warm and dry leading to stream flows declining more than two months ahead of normal. In a typical year it would be necessary to start using water stored in Lords Lake Reservoir starting in early September. Without significant rain in the next few weeks the City expects it will be necessary to start drawing from Lords Lake around the beginning of July. Recognizing the possibility of a water shortage, the City has temporarily raised the level in Lords Lake, increasing the capacity by approximately 50-60 million gallons. Officials from the local Tribes, City of Port Townsend, US Forest Service, and Paper Mill are meeting to discuss the potential impact of low stream flows to the fisheries. Port Townsend Paper Corporation is enacting water conservation measures that have already reduced water use by over two million gallons per day. The City is requesting that customers voluntarily start conserving water now and will notify customers when further actions are needed. It is a good time to stop watering lawns and let them go dormant until fall. Additional information is available on the City’s website http://www.cityofpt.us/waterquality.htm Fireworks at Fort Worden!!! Saturday, July 4th at 10:00 p.m. The popular 4th of July fireworks show returns to Fort Worden this year, along with a weekend full of fun family events. Check out full details at the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce website: www.jeffcountychamber.org Please be safe and remember that the individual use of fireworks is always prohibited within City limits. Hot Dry Conditions Increasing Fire Danger Statewide -- Washington Department of Natural Re- sources has expanded a burn ban statewide June 22 through September 30. This applies to state for- ests, state parks and forestlands. For more information, go to www.ejfr.org or call 360-385-2626 Are you ready to get wet?! Mountain View Pool has a newly expanded summer schedule that is providing more of everything… so what are you waiting for? It’s time to get in the pool and make a splash! More days! We are open 7 days a week and will Continue to do so until August 15th. More swim lessons! We’ve doubled the number of weekly swim lesson sessions and added a brand new session for private one- on-one lessons. Even more swim lessons! New to MVP this summer are Swim Lesson Camps – a full set of swim lessons in just 5 consecutive days. More fitness programs! The super popular AquaPower (shallow water aerobics) class is expanding from 3 days per week to 5, joining the already popular 5 day per week Deep Water Aerobics class. More hours! Stay up late with MVP as we have a new evening closing times of 7and 8pm. More rental times! The pool is available for your private use, too. We are providing more opportunities to rent the pool for birthday parties, summer camps, trainings and more. More fun! We’ve increased the number of Open Swim hours and MVP’s Discount Night (only $2.00 per person!) is now offered on Friday and Sunday. Even more fun! Don’t forget to swim for free during Jefferson Aquatic Coalition’s (JAC) sponsor-funded Second Sunday Swims. Please visit the MVP webpage at www.cityofpt.us/pool to find a copy of our summer schedule as well as detail about days, times, and prices for all of these and other super fun activities. You can also call us at 360-385-POOL (7665) or, better yet, just stop by (1925 Blaine Street) for a refreshing swim and pick up a printed copy of our schedule and sign up for any one of our programs. Library Event Second Occasional Surf Culture of the Strait of Juan de Fuca & Salish Sea A surfing, art and culture event that brings together some of the Northwest’s finest surfing writers and visual artists for an evening of adventure. July 11 from 6 – 9 p.m. Port Townsend Library Carnegie Reading Room 1220 Lawrence St For more information on this and other fun summer events at the Library, check out their website www.ptpubliclibrary.org Improve Your Recycling IQ We can all help Jefferson County recycle smarter Plastic bottles and tubs may have the same number inside their recycling symbols but they are NOT made of identical material. Bottles and tubs are produced through different molding pro- cesses that require different mixtures. #1 bottles are pure PETE. #1 tubs and clamshells have other plastics mixed in, making them a contaminant in today’s PETE market. The num- ber system was created in the 1980’s. Much has changed since then making the system outdated. For information on what you can recycle: http://jeffersoncountysolidwaste.com/know-before-you-throw/