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Safe Routes to School Final Draft Minutes February 13, 2014 M I N U T E S Safe Routes to School Committee Meeting February 13, 2014 3:30 P.M. The Safe Routes to School Committee met during a regular meeting on February 13, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. at Mesa Verde Elementary School, 3801 College Boulevard, Farmington, New Mexico. Present: Coordinator: Anngela Wakan MPO & City of Farmington Staff Steve Krest June Markle Duane Wakan Attendees: Principal Sosaya Deanna Maurer, Mesa Verde Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by Anngela Wakan and the following proceedings were duly had and taken. Mr. Wakan moved to approve the minutes from the December 12, 2013 meeting. Mr. Krest seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. EDUCATION & ENCOURAGEMENT Turkey Trot Mrs. Wakan reported that SRTS was the recipient of the $800 raised from the Turkey Trot held last November. The Committee had initially discussed possibly purchasing several bikes from Bike Friday Fleet. These bikes can be adjusted to fit riders from 4’2” to 6’4” tall, but are expensive to purchase at $500 each. Another idea discussed was to purchase a small enclosed trailer to store and haul a fleet of bicycles. Since the money received from the Turkey Trot was limited, those present at the meeting decided the best idea was to save the funds for the time being. San Juan Regional Medical Center Mrs. Wakan stated that has grant money available that SRTS might consider applying for to support the walking school bus effort. Because the walking school bus program helps to promote a healthy lifestyle, it would be eligible to potentially receive grant money. If grant money could be obtained, Mrs. Wakan suggested creating a yellow t-shirt (school bus color) with the Ped/Net logo. Another member suggested using a child’s drawing of a stick figure. The group then discussed having a contest with all the elementary schools to design the t-shirt. The group also discussed how to best get the word out to the students about the contest. Principal Sosaya and Mrs. Maurer suggested their newsletter and the school’s website. ---PAGE BREAK--- Safe Routes to School Final Draft Minutes February 13, 2014 REPORTS FROM PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS Apache The Walk Across America program at Apache Elementary continues to go well. Ladera Ladera plans to run the Walk Across America promotion again this spring when the weather warms up. McKinley McKinley Elementary is having a hard time getting their Walk Across America program started. Mesa Verde Mrs. Maurer said that Mr. Treat had reported their Walk Across America program has slowed down during the colder months although there continued to be some diehard walkers. The school will remind the students about the program in their morning school announcements. Mrs. Wakan said she had purchased limited amounts of some additional charms (heart, flower, leprechaun, and sun). She thought that maybe these could be given out to the first few students who walked. Mrs. Maurer said the girls really liked the charms and she had one student who was hesitant to give up her charms and trade up for the water bottle. UPCOMING EVENTS Goosebump 5K and 1 Mile Walk/Run This event is put on by San Juan Regional Medical Center and anyone interested in participating needs to be registered by February 14. Since the event is sponsored by they do not allow outside participants to have information tables during the event. Because the registration deadline was so near, the group did not think they could get any information about the event to the students in time to meet the registration deadline. SRTS Training Mrs. Wakan will be attending a SRTS Coordinator Workshop in Albuquerque on February 28. She asked for comments from the group on ideas that had been successful and those that not worked for our SRTS program. Some of the positive aspects of the local program were: the lawn signs used to promote Walk/Bike to School Day along with adding the mascots and prizes last year, the bike rodeos, established no cell phone zones, pedestrian safety training, and good SRTS website. The one area that is struggling is the walking school bus program. Ms. Wakan will discuss these with the other SRTS Coordinators during the workshop. Mrs. Wakan said that Country Club Elementary would be holding their health fair on Friday, February 28. Since she was going to be out of town for the SRTS Coordinator Workshop she asked if anyone would be available to attend. Mr. Krest volunteered to attend the fair for SRTS. Safety Days Safety Days are scheduled for March 10-14, 2014. Mrs. Wakan will again participate and teach pedestrian safety classes. ---PAGE BREAK--- Safe Routes to School Final Draft Minutes February 13, 2014 National Bike/Walk to School Day The National Bike to School Day is May 7, 2014. Mrs. Wakan said she would like to organize bike trains for each of the schools: Ladera – from Del Norte Park Mesa Verde – from Beckland Hills Park – take Kingsway down to Buckingham and then west to Victoria Way and cross at crosswalk Apache – from Brookhaven Park east taking the glade trail McKinley – from Jaycee Park – take Zuni to Acoma Place and then Butler for 200 feet and cross at crosswalk Mrs. Wakan said the bike trains would require at least one adult at the front and back. She hopes the Mayor can be encouraged to lead one of the trains and asked if there were other biking enthusiasts who would be willing to lead other trains. Someone suggested that Conoco Phillips might have riders who would be interested in assisting. Mrs. Wakan said she has been looking for prizes and has considered a keychain flashlight, whistle, clip-on reflector, and a pedometer although this last option is fairly expensive. She asked the group for their ideas on possible prizes. She said there were 1,200 prizes handed out last fall. She wants each student who walks or rides their bike on May 7 to receive a prize. Complete Streets & Walkability Presentation Mrs. Wakan noted that Mr. Dan Burden with the Walkable & Livable Community (WALC) Institute will be in Farmington in May. A member of Mr. Burden’s staff who is heavily involved with SRTS, will work with MPO staff and Mrs. Wakan to promote the SRTS program to a targeted audience or selected school currently not involved with SRTS. Animas Elementary was suggested as a possible choice for the school not currently part of SRTS. ENGINEERING: Mr. Krest said all the pending SRTS projects will begin in 2014 following the end of the school year. He noted that beginning in May, Northeast Elementary and Hermosa Jr. High will undergo major remodeling while Farmington High School will be totally rebuilt. ENFORCEMENT: Office DeLese was unable to attend the meeting. EVALUATION: Mr. Wakan reiterated the seminar planned with Mr. Dan Burden scheduled for May 12 & 13. Mr. Wakan reported on some crash data thermal mapping MPO Staff has completed for the city of Farmington. He thought these maps could be refined to show crash incidents near school. If those numbers were small, it would reinforce that it was safe to walk to school and help to encourage more students to do that. Mrs. Maurer said her concerns focused more on “stranger danger” rather than vehicle accidents in deciding whether to allow her children to walk to school. ---PAGE BREAK--- Safe Routes to School Final Draft Minutes February 13, 2014 There were no additional concerns or topics for discussion. The next meeting will be on Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. at McKinley Elementary. The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.