| Nov 8, 2017 | Vol. 12 | No. 45 |
 Community Advisory Group Appointed to Help Balance Budget
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Click to view the Community Advisory Group (CAG) membership
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Two months ago, the City began recruiting volunteers willing to help explore how to balance future budgets. While the current 2017-2018 budget has been temporarily balanced using a one-time surplus, the City is projecting significant deficits starting in 2019 and needs community input on meeting this
financial challenge.
The City received many applications for its Community Advisory Group (CAG), and is pleased to name the final appointees. "The Island is fortunate to have so many talented and highly qualified residents willing to devote so much time to this process. It was very difficult to narrow the
Community Advisory Group to just 24 participants," said Julie Underwood, City Manager. The group will meet once a month for five months, starting with a
November 15 kickoff, to review in-depth financial data, discuss the challenges and solutions, and provide a recommendation. Meetings will be widely advertised and open to all.
All candidates were interviewed by an independent consultant, then evaluated by the City's senior leadership team to ensure a broad and diverse pool, including factors such as: home neighborhood, duration of residency, age, gender, ethnicity, work and volunteer experience, technical expertise, children in school, etc.
The City launched a series of community meetings in October to start providing all residents with information about the City's financial challenges and funding options. The first general public opportunity to get involved was via a Telephone Town Hall held
on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, when more than 250 residents participated. [Listen to the entire 1-hour recording]
The best place to keep track of all public meetings and discussions, read about the history of this issue, view budget documents, or browse an extensive FAQ is on the project webpage: www.mercergov.org/FinancialChallenges
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Recognizing Outstanding Youth Volunteerism
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Hannah is congratulated by
Mayor Bruce Bassett
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Local High School senior Hannah Stewart recently received an award at the Washington State Prevention Summit in Yakima, for Outstanding Youth Advocate of the Year, highlighting her exemplary contributions in preventing substance abuse among her peers.
Hannah has been involved with this important work for over three years as part of the City's Healthy Youth Initiative program, administered by the Youth and Family Services Department.
"Hannah has really taken seriously the role of youth prevention advocacy and understands the power of youth voice in prevention work. Not only has she been an advocate in her school, but also in her community, in King County and at the State level," said Derek Franklin, Project Director for the City's Healthy Youth Initiative.
In recognition not only of this recent award, but also the educational videos she has produced, her lobbying efforts in Washington D.C., and other achievements, Hannah was commended this week at the City Council meeting on November 6 (watch footage here). |
City's Thrift Shop Announces 42nd Anniversary Sale
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Click to learn more
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Everyone is invited to come check out the 42nd Anniversary Holiday Showcase at the
Mercer Island Thrift Shop.
The most wonderful time of the year is almost here - enjoy the splendor of the holidays, with our finest selections of couture, jewelry, accessories and holiday home decor!
On Monday November 13, the event will offer thirty percent savings storewide, from 10:00am-7:00pm, along with free refreshments and coffee.
The Mercer Island Thrift Shop is a revenue-generating component of the City's Youth and Family Services Department and supports programs such as counseling, senior adult outreach, substance abuse prevention and intervention, juvenile court diversion services, family assistance and JobLink.
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Hold The Grease This Thanksgiving!
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Click for more green Thanksgiving ideas
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With the holiday season right around the corner, many Islanders will be celebrating Thanksgiving and holding other gatherings over the coming weeks.
As the community focuses on celebration, sometimes less attention is paid to "green" practices and caring for the environment. In fact, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, household waste typically increases by 25 percent.
One of the most important ways you can help the City is NOT pouring grease down the drain!
Help save the City's sewer lines by pouring
fats/oils/grease (aka "
FOG") in a container and then place that in the trash. Please also scrape remaining fat, oil, and grease off plates and pans into the garbage (not the compost) before dish-washing.
Food scraps should be placed in your curbside yard waste/food waste rolling bin, which is much better than sending them down garbage disposals and into the City sewers!
Together, these practices are more sustainable, and help avoid costly blockages within drains and City sewer lines.
If each of the 7300 residential sewer connections on the Island places just one teaspoon of FOG into the sewer system every day, this amounts to the equivalent of 63 fifty-five gallon drums per year. A big problem that can take a lot of time and effort to resolve! It's not pretty...Learn more from this
City of Spokane video.
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