Tri-City Dog Park Society

November Meeting Minutes

Attending: Mike Strasburg,  Diana Meyer, Ken Avery, Nikki Avery, Dave Kaspern, Carol McMahon, Jeff Coulson, Mary-Ellen Coulson, John Butterfield, Priscilla Butterfield, Alexandra Olson and Audrey Ulrich

Reviewed October minutes.  Added election date of January 2007 for Vice President and Treasurer.  Audrey motioned Alexandra seconded  13-0

Treasurer’s report was distributed. Current balance $850.33

Photo Collage was added to the Agenda to be presented by Dave.

Old Business

Website (Mike and Chris Walling)  The Tri-City Dog Park society will have a registered domain name for web site within a week.  Information for the website is ready to go, may include posting of meeting minutes.

Photo Collage (Dave)  Photo presentation was shown to the group.  Several collages picturing a day at the dog park were presented.  Sample bumper sticker idea was presented.  All ideas were enthusiastically complimented by the group.

Membership Drive:  Membership process was reviewed for new meeting attendees.Many promotional ideas were heard from group members.  Dave has spoken to people at KNDU(TV) and KONA(Radio) who would be interested in doing features on dog parks and The Tri-City Dog Park Society.  Christine Brown is the production manager at KNDU.  Dennis Shannon at KONA is very interested in the story.  Dave talked about the importance of coaching and preparedness for interviews.  John emphasized the importance of presenting dog parks as a community benefit for people.  Mary-Ellen suggested Audrey do interviews.  Dave reminded members to explain all terms to audience.  Assume your audience has no idea what a dog park is. Suggestions were made to team up with other pet related events to promote dog parks.  Audrey suggested working with Pet Over Population Prevention during their Home for The Holidays campaign.   Nikki will contact Petcare Specialties about their upcoming events.  John will look into Petsmart as a potential site.  John and Priscilla talked to the group about the Pooch&Pal run which is held every year at the cross country course in Pasco on New Year’s Day.  Audrey will inquire with the event organizers, the Leahys, about distributing information about the dog park to runners. Carol asked for copies of membership forms and possibly T-Shirts to sell memberships.  Mike will email membership drives to email list as well as petitions so that interested parties can approach potential members.  Mike asked for volunteers to distribute T-Shirts to new members.  Ken, John and Priscilla volunteered. 

Chiawanna Park Pasco update (Mike)Pasco’s initiative to fund Chiawanna Park failed to pass.  $165,000 per year is needed to keep this park open or it will be returned to Army Corps of Engineers and face closure.  City is considering lease options etc, but The Dog Park Society does not currently have designs on leasing due to the expected high cost.

Richland Parks and Rec update (Mike) Reviewed events with Richland Parks&Rec for new members.  Currently Tri-City Dog Park Society is hoping for a dog park to be incorporated into future park areas.  John explained that Parks&Rec is very enthusiastic about the project, but currently does not have the funding to put in a dog park.  A dog park in Richland will most likely depend on a grant for land from the city and private funding through the non profit for the park.  Brooke DuBois (our liason with Richland Park and Rec,) wasn’t able to attend, but has suggested an area in Leslie Groves near the volley ball field that would have water access.  Members expressed concerns over dogs leaving designated area through water way because of the proximity to swimming beach, and the potential for children to leave swimming area and mingle with dogs creating a potentially dangerous situation for swimmers.  Ken suggested an area toward the WSU campus which is currently being developed.  He will inquire of James Wade the possibility of incorporating a dog park into public park design.

Grant inquiries:  Carol was not able to get grant info because her connection was unable to help.  Most internet sites to inquire about grants charge fees.  She will continue her research.  Nikki offered to investigate as well.

Dog outings with members: Set date for Sundays at 9am Horn Rapids Park off 240 in Benton County.

New Business

Portable dog park schedule:  Explained how our portable dog parks have run in the past. The group decided to suspend portable parks until early spring due to weather.  At that time the goal will be to host one per month at different parks so people in different areas can learn about dog parks.  First Saturday of the month from 10am-2 or 3pm was agreed by the group as a good goal.

Kennewick Parks and Rec plans (Alexandra)  Alexandra has been speaking to Carol Cole from Kennewick Parks&Rec and they are planning to put a dog park in Columbia Park east of the Edison entrance as indicated on their map.  The time frame is about 1 year from now.  The city has funding for grading and possibly fencing, but needs help with sprinkler design.  Carol was happy to hear from The Dog Park Society.  We may be able to help with installing amenities such as drinking fountains as well as make suggestions on park design.  Once the park is installed we would be called upon for stewardship duties.  Ken suggested documenting the creation of the dog park.  A field trip to view the site was scheduled for Sunday, November 27th at 11am.

Meeting schedule for holidays:Members like the Thursday evening meeting.  Meetings were set for the 2nd Thursday of the month at 7pm in the Hastings coffee shop.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm