Successful Annual Meeting  – February 22, 2016

Election of 5 New Members to the FOHR Board of Directors; Trail Update 

 

The Friends of Heybrook Ridge extends a hearty and grateful welcome to our new members of the FOHR Board of Directors, elected at the Annual Meeting held on February 22nd: Allan Peterson, Angela Seidling, Anna Folsom (who further volunteered to become our next Treasurer), Kathy Corson, and Chris Mueller. (Chris was the mastermind and on-the-ground designer of trails for Heybrook Ridge County Park. He recently left his job as Senior Park Planner at Snohomish County Parks and took a new job with Seattle Parks and Recreation. So happily, our loss quickly became our gain!)

We want to publicly give thanks to those BOD members who have served us well but opted not to run for reelection: Kem Hunter, Sue Cross, Bill Cross, Blair Corson, and Yvonne Lawson. When the election ballot results were announced and Yvonne learned that she and Allan Peterson had tied for a position on the board, she bowed out with a big smile, a wave, and marvelous grace, calling across the room, “You take it, Allan!” We look forward to Sue and Bill’s return to Index in two years, and to Yvonne, Kem and Etta’s help as on-going active FOHR members.

Of course, we should also recognize those BOD members who will complete their current terms next year: Sean Horst, Vice President; Susan Chatlos-Susor, Membership Committee Chair; Cate Burnett; Louise Lindgren; and me.

Updates:

A few choice tidbits announced at the Annual Meeting: the Purchase and Sales Agreement for the Wyland property has been signed and should become official by the end of March. This roughly 5-acre parcel lies along the Index-Galena Road and borders the current HRCP parking area and trailhead site. Long-term plans are to develop a nearly level, easily accessed wetland trail there.

Last month the County accepted bids for construction of the Phase 1 trail that winds up the north (town side) face of Heybrook Ridge. It is just under two miles long and will include two short spurs to viewpoints off the main trail. The County Park Planning team expects the Phase 1 trail to be completed by this fall. FOHR has long-pledged up to $40,000 toward the costs of the trail’s development, but the County has let us know that they will need only $28,413 beyond the amount allotted in the County’s budget for this trail’s development. We look forward to working closely with SnoCo Parks, especially with our new Senior Park Planner Kevin Teague, who is from Monroe.

Upcoming projects for FOHR in its “local steward” role will be creation of signage for the Park, both along the trail itself and within a kiosk at the trailhead. We remain committed to educational endeavors, including closer links with the Index School, and will expand on our support of the school’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) projects. Tighter bonds with our Index kids already exist: two of our new board members, Anna Folsom and Kathy Carson, are on the School Board, as was Sue Cross until very recently.

One more piece of good news: our meetings will now be every other month, rather than monthly. As ever, they are open to the public, and are held on the third Monday from 7-9:00 pm at the Fire Station. The next meeting will be on April 18th. Future meetings will fall on even-numbered months, with occasional exceptions (like for Hoedown prep).

And finally, we thank the folks of Index and Sky Valley for your on-going support and patience with our work. You have been as stalwart as the trees of Heybrook Ridge that (let us pause to remember) were not clear-cut back in 2006. I’ll keep you posted.

Click here to see the FOHR 2016 Annual Meeting Slides.