Message received on April 22, 2016 from the Ballard Chamber of Commerce.

Dear Chamber members and friends,

Many of you have been interested in the status of the Ballard Nickelsville encampment and the formation of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC).

Thanks in part to the constant urging by the Ballard Chamber, the Community Advisory Committee was established earlier this year. I am serving as chair of this committee.

Quick background: the City of Seattle requires that the Community Advisory Committee be established to:

“provide advisory input on proposed encampment operations including identifying methods for handling community complaints or concerns relating to the facility or facility clients.”

To that end, the Ballard Chamber has offered its time and resources to create a website for the Community Advisory Committee that will accomplish three primary objectives:

1. Provide the community with updated information about the encampment, including background materials, policies, relevant documents and meeting dates/times;
2. Provide the community an opportunity to register a question, complaint or concern about the encampment.
3. Share some of the success stories that have resulted from the encampment.

The site is now complete and I want to share it with you. Please click here to view the site.

On the website, you will also be able to track the meeting date/times, agendas and minutes related to the Community Advisory Committee. These meetings are open to the public and include time for public comment.

In addition, the question/complaint form generates an e-mail directly to Nickelsville staffer Scott Morrow and sends a copy to each member of the Community Advisory Committee. The complaints, along with the resolutions, will be reviewed at each CAC meeting.

I encourage you to share the website with your colleagues, employees, neighbors and friends.

Also, please note that all encampment related questions should be processed via the online form. CAC members are not charged with responding to direct questions from the community – that is the role of the camp operators and City staff.

I hope you find this information and website helpful to you.

See you around the neighborhood.

Best,
Mike Stewart
Executive Director