Earthly Times

City of Newcastle, WA -- Parks Commission Meeting of March 13, 2013

The Parks Commission continued their review of the proposed Trail Guidelines, yesterday, regarding the routing, design, construction and maintenance of city trails.  Parks Manager Michael Holly said that he and former commissioner, Peggy Price, came together -- apparently, before she recently resigned -- and went over details of the guidelines, thus reaching a concensus according to Holly, which was approved at yesterday's meeting through a somewhat complicated parliamentary procedure guided by City Clerk, Sara McMillon.   The latter was necessary, because the motion regarding approval of the sub-meeting proposals or revisions involved amending. 

One of the most important decisions regarding the review was leaving the classification of trails in Newcastle at either Class 4 or Class 5 among five total classes.  The higher the number, the higher the grade of the trail.   Former Commissioner Price had wanted some or all of the unclassified trails to be classified in the lower ranks (below Class 4), thus making them official, but this was rejected by the wider Commission at the contentious February meeting by a vote of 5 - 1.  At that meeting, Price explained that these lesser trails should at least get a minimum amount of maintenance, but the pushback to her general proposal was largely based on city liability issues.

Mayor Rich Crispo took the stage for a few minutes to explain the restructuring changes for the Commission as he mentioned, among other things, the newly added Council Liaison position that will soon be a part of this soon-to-be-officially-named Community Activities Commission.  The mayor wasn't sure who the liaison would be, but seemed to indicate that the position would be filled by either Gordon Bissett or himself.

The Commission discussed other issues during this rather sedate meeting, such as a dog park (they seem to want to put one in), and Newcastle Days (Vice-Chairman Angela Ursino wants to appoint a point/lead person to run things).  Council Candidate, Mark Greene, spoke and told the Commission, in so many words, that his Democracy In Election Process organization would be helping to beautify Newcastle on Earth Day next month (he needs volunteers).

[revised on 3/16/2013]

Update:  If you would like to volunteer for Mark Greene's Earth Day Project in Newcastle, write to Mark@partyofcommons.com or to the postal box address in one of the column boxes to the right.

Commissioners in Attendance:  Chairman Diane Lewis, Vice-Chairman Angela Ursino, Craig Belcher and Jesse Tam.  Absent: Koleen Morris.