Community Engagement Commission
Regular MeetingLiberty Lake, WA · February 21, 2024
Minutes
CITY OF LIBERTY LAKE
Community Engagement Commission Minutes
Feb. 21, 2024 – 6:00 p.m.
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting of the Community Engagement Commission was called to order on Feb. 21, 2024, at 6
p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Position 1: Robin Bekkedahl Present Position 7: Vacant
Position 2: Bill Norman Present Position 8: Aaron Asmus Excused
Position 3: Vacant Position 9: Mark Saba Present
Position 4: Summer Darrow Present Communications specialist David Goehner Present
Position 5: Cynthia Gamboni Present City administrator Mark McAvoy Present
Position 6: Arlene Fisher Maurer Present
APPROVALS:
Commissioner Saba moved to excuse Commissioner Asmus, which was seconded by Commissioner
Gamboni. The motion carried unanimously.
Commissioner Saba requested that item 7a on the agenda (City Council workshop) be moved to follow
item 7e (July 3 & 4 activities), which was so moved by Commissioner Fisher Maurer, seconded by
Commissioner Gamboni, and carried unanimously.
Commissioner Saba moved to accept the minutes of the Jan. 17 meeting, which was seconded by
Commissioner Darrow. The motion carried unanimously.
INTRODUCTION:
New member Arlene Fisher Maurer formally introduced herself to the group.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
No comments were made at the meeting.
CITY HALL UPDATES:
David Goehner provided brief comments about the handout providing this month’s City Hall updates.
DISCUSSIONS & BUSINESS:
A – Geographic membership of commissioner positions: Members discussed the previously presented
proposal and through consensus made plans to include a presentation to the City Council about this
proposal as part of the March 5 workshop, with formal action to be taken at a later meeting.
B – Spring events poster: David Goehner requested members of the commission to provide any
corrections or updates to the list of items that will be included on the city’s forthcoming poster.
C – 2024 work plan: Commissioner Bekkedahl reviewed updates to the commission’s 2024 work plan.
Commissioners Darrow and Norman showed the binder that they have begun preparing that will include
information that will be available during this year’s Farmers Market season starting in May.
D – Promotion ideas for July 3 & July 4 activities: David Goehner introduced a request from organizers
of July 3 & July 4 events for ideas on a singular phrase that could be used to promote those individual
July events. Commission members were invited to submit their own suggestions via e-mail to him prior
to an April 10 meeting involving those organizers.
E – Upcoming City Council workshop: Commissioner Bekkedahl introduced an initial proposed outline
of discussion topics of current and past CEC activities for the upcoming March 5 workshop with the City
Council. Discussion from the commissions followed to further develop this outline, with members being
designated to provide initial presentation information at the workshop for those topics.
F – Other upcoming engagement opportunities: Commissioner Saba suggested having Jen Camp
provide a presentation about the city’s parks for an upcoming meeting. Commissioner Saba also
inquired about the possibility of moving the start of CEC meetings to an earlier start time of 4:00 p.m.
After a brief discussion, the group had consensus to remain at a 6 p.m. start.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. The next meeting will be held on March 20, 2024.
Agenda
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21, 2024 – 6:00 P.M.
22710 E. COUNTRY VISTA DRIVE
The purpose of the Community Engagement Commission is to serve in an advisory capacity
to the mayor and City Council. The Commission’s role is to gather ideas, input, and
feedback from community members, and to advise and guide city leadership.
• Sign up to provide public comment at the meeting via calling in.
• Submit written public comment prior to 4:00 p.m. on Feb. 21, 2024.
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. APPROVALS
a. Agenda
b. Minutes of Jan. 17, 2024
4. INTRODUCTION – Arlene Fisher Maurer
5. PUBLIC COMMENTS
6. CITY HALL UPDATES
a. See handout
7. DISCUSSIONS & BUSINESS
a. Workshop with City Council, scheduled for March 5
b. Proposal on geographic locations for CEC members (Mark S.)
c. Calendar of spring activities (David G.)
d. 2024 Work Plan (Robin)
e. Ideas for umbrella promotion of July 3 & July 4 activities (David G.)
f. Other upcoming community engagement opportunities
8. NEXT MEETING:
a. Requested items for agenda?
b. March 20, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.
9. ADJOURNMENT
JOIN ZOOM MEETING
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PUBLIC COMMENT
If you wish to provide oral public comments during the Community Engagement Commission
meeting, you may do so in-person at City Hall or virtually via zoom. You may speak in-person at
City Hall, or if you wish to speak via zoom, please join the zoom meeting using the meeting
information above. Public comments will be invited during the appropriate section of the agenda,
at which time you can send a request to speak to our meeting host using the chat function within
the zoom meeting.
WRITTEN PUBLIC COMMENTS
If you wish to provide written public comments for the Community Engagement Commission
meeting, please email your comments to tgarcia@libertylakewa.gov by 4:00 p.m. the day of the
commission meeting and include all the following information with your comments:
1. The meeting date
2. Your first and last name
3. If you are a Liberty Lake resident
4. The agenda item(s) you are speaking about
If providing written comments, the comments received will be acknowledged during the public
meeting, but not read. All written comments received by 4:00 p.m. will be provided to
commission members in advance of the meeting.
CITY OF LIBERTY LAKE
Community Engagement Commission Minutes
Jan. 17, 2024 – 6:00 p.m.
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting of the Community Engagement Commission was called to order on Jan. 17, 2024, at 6
p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Position 1: Robin Bekkedahl Present Position 7: Vacant
Position 2: Bill Norman Excused Position 8: Aaron Asmus Online
Position 3: Vacant Position 9: Mark Saba Present
Position 4: Summer Darrow Present Communications specialist David Goehner Present
Position 5: Cynthia Godinez Excused
Position 6: Arlene Fisher Maurer Excused
APPROVALS:
Commissioner Saba moved to excuse Commissioners Norman, Godinez, and Fisher Maurer, which
was seconded by Commissioner Darrow. The motion carried unanimously.
Commissioner Saba moved to approve the agenda, which was seconded by Commissioner Darrow.
The motion carried unanimously.
Commissioner Saba moved to accept the minutes of the previous meeting from Dec. 20, which was
seconded by Commissioner Darrow. The motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
No comments were made at the meeting.
INTRODUCTION:
New member Arlene Fisher Maurer was unable to attend, so this was tabled to the February meeting.
CITY HALL UPDATES:
David Goehner provided comments on the month’s City Hall updates, and noted that during the
previous night’s City Council meeting that the council was looking at a March 5 date for a workshop
session with the Community Engagement Commission. He also said the Council discussed ideas
about having the city’s commissions and boards post their agendas 72 hours or 5 days prior to a
meeting, rather than the state-required 24 hours.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMMUNITY SURVEY:
David Goehner offered information about the city’s 2024 Community Satisfaction Survey that’s
connected to the city’s new Strategic Plan. Initial letters to participants will be mailed on Jan. 22, with
6-page surveys to follow a week later, and reminder cards to be sent after 3-5 weeks. Commissioners
requested an opportunity to see copies of the upcoming letter and full survey, which Goehner said he
would provide after the meeting.
Discussion on the group’s proposed framework was tabled to a later meeting in order to allow more
group involvement.
DISCUSSIONS & BUSINESS:
A – Geographic membership of commissioner positions: This was tabled to the February meeting to
allow for more group input.
B – 2024 work plan: Commissioners discussed dates of their upcoming activities, including the
workshop with the City Council, a possible April start for 2025 budget discussions, and efforts to be led
by Commissioners Darrow and Norman to create an information binder for Farmers Market.
C – Upcoming City Council workshop: Commissioner Bekkedahl requested that the group review her
notes from last August’s workshop with the City Council and develop talking points for the upcoming
second workshop.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. The next meeting will be held on Feb. 21, 2024.
City Hall Updates for Community Engagement Commission
2-21-2024
1. Community Sa�sfac�on Survey for 2024-2028 Strategic Plan:
• An ini�al leter was mailed on Jan. 22 to a randomly selected 660 of the approximately 4,300
households in Liberty Lake to inform them that they will be receiving the 2024 Community
Sa�sfac�on Survey. Surveys were mailed on Jan. 29. Recipients have the op�on to mail in their
responses with a provided stamped envelope, or to fill out their survey online via a Zencity form.
A follow-up reminder card will be mailed 3-5 weeks a�er that to the recipients who have not
supplied their responses, and some reminders may also be sent via e-mail to those for whom we
have e-mail addresses on our address lis�ng. Messages to encourage responses are being posted
on the city’s social media resources 1 or 2 �mes a week (this includes a mayor video that was
suggested at the January CEC mee�ng), and messages are being promoted on the city’s electronic
sign. The goal is to reach at least about 450 responses toward op�mizing the sta�s�cal validity of
this baseline survey. To help encourage con�nued par�cipa�on and to help maintain the survey’s
validity, responses from the survey will not be shared un�l a�er the survey process is completed
in March.
2. July Ac�vi�es:
• At a mee�ng a few weeks ago, lead organizers of community events happening on July 3 and July
4 expressed interest in promo�ng those individual events under some form of overall umbrella
name for the purposes of adver�sing and promo�on (which could include a promo�onal poster
encompassing all the events on those days). The events involved are the July 3 Boat Parade, the
July 3 kickoff of Summer Movies In The Parks, the July 4 Liberty lake Community Parade (“the golf
carts parade”), the July 4 Pavillion Park concert, the city’s 4th of July fireworks, and the lake’s 4th of
July fireworks. The organizers of these separate events would like to solicit the ideas of the
members of the Community Engagement Commission as well as the Parks & Arts Commission on
what that umbrella name could be. Organizers of the events will be mee�ng again on April 10.
3. Commission Openings:
• We currently have vacancies on the Community Engagement Commission for Posi�on 3 (south of
I-90, east of Liberty Lake Road and North of Mission) and Posi�on 7 (south of I-9- and west of
Liberty Lake Road).
4. City Podcast:
• February’s episodes will include “City Employees Who Are Beatles Fans” and “The Cat Who Came
To The City Council Mee�ng.”
• Upcoming segments are also being scheduled include Officer of the Year Jordan Tutle, and an
overview of items that were surveyed late last year in the “Unfunded Projects” list.
• January’s 2-part installment on projects and programs being funded under the city’s 2024 budget
can provide some useful background informa�on for interac�ons you may have later this year
with area residents!
--David Goehner
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