By Andrew Neiditz, Lakewood City Manager
* Council to honor Lakes and Clover Park High School Basketball Champions: On March 21st, the Lakewood City Council will take a moment to honor our two high school basketball championship teams at 7pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall. All friends, families, and fans of Clover Park and Lakes High Schools are welcome to attend.
* Employee of the Quarter awards for Willie Gardner and Svea Pitts: At the quarterly employee recognition reception on March 16th, special recognition for the guiding principle of “Service” was given to Municipal Court specialist Willie Gardner and Police senior office assistant Svea Pitts for their attitude and professionalism in providing service to the organization and the community.
* Parks and Recreation and Community Services Department Volunteer Support: The parks, recreation and community services department uses many volunteers and partners to support City projects and events. In 2010, the City benefited from almost 12,300 volunteer hours. This included boards and commission members as well as volunteers working at community clean up events and on Eagle Scout projects. When calculated at a rate of $14 per hour (the state standard) the City received over $172,000 in volunteer support, which doesn’t include the cash, supplies and in-kind services that come with many of the volunteer groups.
* EFN honors PD and Chief’s wife for “Substantial Collection Effort: The Emergency Food Network presented an award at its March 16th Recognition Breakfast at UPS to the Lakewood Police Department and Cindy Salazar (the Chief’s wife) for the exceptional effort associated with the food drive to commemorate the first anniversary of our four fallen officers’ death on November 29th. In a few days, over $31,000 was contributed and over 24,000 pounds of food donated to combat hunger in our area.
* Emergency Management briefing to CPSD: School superintendent Debbie LeBeau hosted a briefing of her leadership team on March 14th regarding emergency management and preparedness. Lt. Steve Maurer, PC DEM rep Marci Scott, and the city manager participated.
* Puget Sound Energy Upgrade Notices sent to property owners: The Community Development Department recently sent over 670 notices to property owners regarding a proposal by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to upgrade a segment of their electrical transmission and distribution system between the northerly City boundary behind the B&I shopping center and the existing Gravelly Lake Substation on the southwest corner of Washington Blvd. SW and 83rd Avenue SW. The system will be upgraded from 55kV to 115kV. Property owners along the proposed alignment were notified of the project. The proposed alignment runs along Durango Ave SW, Lakeview Drive SW, 111th and 112th Streets, Gravelly Lake Drive and Washington Boulevard SW. The project will require the issuance of a conditional use permit from the City. The City’s hearing examiner will hold a public hearing for the project on April 20, 2011, at 10:30am in the Lakewood City Hall Council Chambers.
* Lakewood Organization of Concerned and Active Landlords hold monthly meeting: The LOCAL (Lakewood Organization of Concerned and Active Landlords) held its monthly meeting on March 15th. This meeting focused on emergency preparedness. CSO Dawn McGinnis encouraged attendees to enroll in the CERT training, and provided handouts on disaster preparedness checklists and Pierce County Alert program. The LOCAL will be soliciting donations for disaster kits. The emergency kits will be in conjunction with National Night Out. The goal is to provide one kit per apartment/mobile home family, and to continue to add supplies throughout the year. LOCAL landlords/managers will now include the disaster preparedness checklists with their move-in information for new tenants. (To donate supplies, contact CSO Dawn McGinnis at 253-983-7854.) LOCAL meets every third Tuesday at the Lakewood Police Department at 11:00am – 12:30 p.m.
* Multiple agencies help clean up house in Tillicum: A house in the Tillicum area which had been the source of several complaints due to a large amount of trash and discarded items piling up in the yard has been brought to a successful conclusion. A joint effort between Code Enforcement, Building Department, Health Department, and Lakewood Police Department, resulted in the trash being removed, an illegally-occupied motor home being removed, and the house which is in foreclosure being posted as unsafe to occupy due to lack of utilities. The house had been an illegal residence to a number of people with criminal backgrounds, who have now moved on.Your browser may not support display of this image.