Olympia’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) elected Tom Dillon as chair, while vice chair Mary Slighte retained her position Thursday, January 17.
BPAC held its first meeting of the year to elect new officers and work on their 2024-2025 work plan, review new member applications, and select the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project community sounding board member.
Staff liaison Michelle Swanson presented BPAC’s draft work plan, outlining its meetings for the year.
“If you wonder where the items on your draft work plan come from, it is mostly the city council and statute,” said Swanson.
“From the council, the city's priorities get set each year during the budgeting process, and the city council can also directly refer a topic to you. Another source…is the city's enabling ordinance for the BPAC. The ordinance says that you should review plans and programs that relate to bicycling and walking, and this includes your annual review of the Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) and the Engineering Design & Development Standards (EDDS),” added Swanson.
There are no referrals from the city council for the BPAC to consider this year.
The proposed meeting dates are May 15, July 17, September 18, and November 20 for this year, and January 15 and March 19 for next year.
BPAC passed the draft work plan as written.
BPAC has four upcoming vacancies and received 16 applications.
Last November, the committee ranked the candidates using three categories: unique perspective; engagement in walking, biking, and transit; and interest in community involvement. The board also considered the area of residence to “ensure fairly even geographic representation.”
The committee recommended four applicants as new BPAC members to the Community Livability and Public Safety (CLPS) Committee with two alternates. CLPS may interview the recommended candidates.
The names of the candidates were not yet revealed and were represented by numbers throughout the process.
BPAC sent one representative and one alternate to join the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project Community Sounding Board (CSB).
The CSB is a convention of approximately 25 individuals representing a diverse range of interests to provide information, exchange ideas, and offer individual or collective perspectives around substantive topics as the restoration project is designed.
The commission members chose Bethany Roth as the primary representative to the CSB, with Slighte and Dillon as alternates.
“In addition to attending the community sounding board meetings, this person would also be expected to report back to the BPAC on what they've heard,” said Swanson.
BPAC meets at least six times a year, and its members participate in developing plans and policies to make Olympia easier to walk and bike in.
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