Each year members of the City of Mill Creek's Art and Beautification Board tour the City and make note of those residents who have put exceptional time and effort into the beautification of their property. The Great Garden Award program gives awards across the City to deserving gardeners.

Boardmembers toured the City and took pictures of noteworthy properties and selected this year's winners of the Great Garden Award.

Each winner receives a keepsake and a yard sign placed in their yard for the month of August. Winners will also be recognized by the City Council at the regular council meeting on September 14, 2010.

The following is a list of the 2010 winners as determined by the Art and Beautification Board:

• Marvelyn Wolfkill – 2216 138th Pl SE – Cedar Crest Lane
  
• Charles & Audrey Diaz – 2422 157th Pl SE - Heatherstone
  
• Joseph & Deborah Twardoski – 14920 24th Ave SE - Fairway
  
• Donald & Linda Mamula – 15329 14th Dr SE - Aspen
  
• *Barb & Jordan Kostelyk - 15314 28th Dr SE - Parkside
  
• Jai Chun Kim – 14531 26th Dr SE - Huckleberry
  
• Donald & Victoria Atchley – 1925 144th St SE Vine Maple
  
• Van Duoc Le & Khiem Truong – 14627 36th Ave SE – Webster’s Pond
  
• William & Leah Collins – 3212 156th Pl SE – The Parks
  
• Kurt & Linda Horowitz – 15617 30th Ave SE – The Parks
  
• Randy Trettevik – 16315 26th Ave SE - Highlands
  
• Cahterine & James McDade – 3205 157th Pl SE – The Parks
  
• Reine Niemcziek – 16132 32nd Ave SE – The Parks
  
• Ron and Judy Gusa - 14528 3rd Drive SE – River Crossing

Mill Creek City Council will not hold any meetings (regular meetings or study sessions) in the month of August, 2010 unless further notice is given.

The next scheduled Council meeting is Tuesday, September 7, 2010.

The public is invited to attend a Japanese Floral Art show on Sunday, May 2nd from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Mill Creek City Hall Annex Building, 15720 Main Street. At 2 p.m. Yoshi Erickson will conduct a seminar on the key elements of the traditional art form. The show is free and will feature 30 floral arrangements by local artists.

The purpose of the floral art show is to entertain and educate the public about the art form known as Ikebana and to provide an opportunity for local artists to share their work.

Ikebana arrangements are made only from fresh plants, flowering trees, evergreens and natural materials and are a striking form of art. To understand Ikebana one must appreciate its structure, line, color and presentation. At 2:00 p.m., Yoshi Erickson, a resident of Mill Creek, will demonstrate and explain the principles and techniques used in Japanese flower arranging.

The new playground structure at the Library was installed on Wednesday and Thursday. Final inspection of the work has been completed. The playground has been re-opened for public use.

Mill Creek Today has activated new features in its reader network. Registered users can now use twitter-like Updates and post articles in their own Journals. Each user can also maintain a personal profile of interests, networking options and more.

While a reader is signed in, summaries of recent Updates and Journal posts will appear in summary with links to the individual member profiles.

Members can also sent private messages to other members.

As always, member contacts and communications are maintained confidentially for members only unless otherwise designated by the member.

Coming soon: Members will be able to link/embed their images and movies stored on other sites; designate other members as "friends" and create a personal directory of favorite sites. Watch the site for further announcements.

The City of Mill Creek is seeking a citizen-member of its Art/Beautification advisory board.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Art/Beautification advisory board shall serve as an advisory board to the City Council on matters that may be referred to the board by the City Council or the City Manager from time to time, including but not limited to:
1. Special events and projects to enhance the aesthetics and beauty within the residential and business areas of the City;
2. Utilization of the municipal art fund;
3. Selection, acquisition and placement of artwork for the City.
To the extent feasible, the board should be consulted during preliminary design and construction phases of municipal projects receiving municipal arts funding. The board shall develop a work program and associated budget for any projects involving or expected to involve the board every two years.

Requirements

• 1 vacancy expiring October 31, 2012
• 1 Member-at-Large Positions
• Meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 4:00 p.m.
• Must be a resident of Mill Creek

If interested in volunteering for this board, applicants should send a letter of interest to: Kelly M. Chelin, City of Mill Creek, 15728 Main Street, Mill Creek, WA 98012, or email kelly@cityofmillcreek.com.

OPEN UNTIL FILLED

For questions, please call Kelly M. Chelin directly at 425-921-5732.

The December 22, 2009 regular meeting of the Mill Creek City Council has been cancelled due to the Christmas Holiday. The next regularly-scheduled meeting of the Council is Tuesday, January 5, 2010.

Mill Creek City staff is beginning a review of the Parks and Open Space Element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. The intent of the Parks and Open Space Element is to present goals and policies to guide acquisition, development and implementation of the City's Parks and Open Space program.

The Parks and Open Space Plan contains the Level of Service (LOS) Standards and Facility Guidelines for parks and open space facilities, a list of needed and proposed facilities, as well as implementation strategies.

The Comprehensive Plan was originally created utilizing an extensive public participation process to determine the Community’s goals and establish a set of policies to implement those goals. The intent of the current review is to evaluate the adopted goals and policies to ensure that they still reflect the Community’s vision.

A critical component of the process is a Parks and Open Space Needs Assessment Survey, which is intended to evaluate the Community’s priorities and identify areas of the Comprehensive Plan that require updating. We would appreciate your assistance in getting the word out and encouraging residents to visit the City's web site and take the survey to let us know what park, trail, and open space needs and issues are important to them.

The survey is available on the City’s web site (link below). A “Park Survey” button is on the right side of the City’s home page. Paper copies of the survey are available by calling Sherrie Ringstad at (425) 921-5717 or via email at sherrie@cityofmillcreek.com.

In addition, the City will be hosting an Open House on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. We would also like to let the public know they are invited to the Open House. This informal gathering will have displays showing current parks and open space facilities, information on issues regarding development of new facilities, copies of the survey will be available to fill out in person, and refreshments will be provided. The Parks and Recreation Board and staff will be on hand to answer questions and visit with you to get your ideas. The City is encouraging people to take this opportunity to find out about the City’s current plan, make their desires known and ensure that the City’s plan addresses their priorities. Survey responses will be invaluable in staff’s review of the Parks and Open Space Plan and will ensure that the Plan reflects the Community’s vision.

City Site

Work began this week on the citywide concrete repair and replacement project. The
first work area is at the corner of Village Green Drive and 148th Street SE, where a new 200-foot long sidewalk and crosswalk will be constructed to improve pedestrian safety.

The new sidewalk at 148th Street SE will be completed before Labor Day, and work on the overall project should be completed by the end of September.

There are approximately 70 other prioritized sites around the City to address areas of broken curb and sidewalk or upgrade sites to current ADA standards.

The City of Mill Creek is a co-sponsor of the Get Movin’ program starting 10am to 1pm this June 6 at Alderwood Mall Food Court. This summer program is aimed at motivating families to Get Movin' and improve their health by adopting a more active, healthy lifestyle through physical and recreational activities.

This unique opportunity is open to all families and individuals in our local communities! There are coupons, prizes, and rewards for participating in the Get Movin’ event. If you can't make it to the kick-off, you can obtain additional information at www.get-movin.org.

Learn more

According to the city's weekly report, work resumed on the traffic signal project this week (May 11), and the electrical subcontractor began erecting the poles and mast arms and installing the signal heads.

The concrete signal pole foundation on the northwest corner did not meet the required strength specifications and will have to be removed and re-poured at the contractor's expense.

This all means that corner area will be torn up again, and the signal turn-on date has been delayed to a yet unspecified date.

Members of Mill Creek’s Art’s and Beautification Board will soon be out looking for you! Or at least your garden.

Each year members of the City of Mill Creek’s Art’s and Beautification Board tour the City and take note of those residents who have put exceptional time and effort into the beautification of their property. The program targets 12 individuals and presents awards to deserving gardeners.

As they tour the City in May and June, Boardmembers will take pictures of noteworthy properties and the Art’s and Beautification Board uses those pictures to vote to determine this year’s winners of the Great Garden Award.

Each winner receives a keepsake along with a yard sign placed in their yard for the month of August. Winners will also be recognized by the City Council a council meeting in September.

Highland Park Renovation - The installation of drainage improvements at Highlands Park is 95% complete, with only minor clean up and repairs to the irrigation system left to finish. Staff is now soliciting bids to begin work on the second phase which will include the installation of new black fence material around the tennis court, enlarging the play circle to accommodate the addition of swings along with the new play equipment, and the repair of the tree root damage to the asphalt path in the park.

Seattle Hill Road Traffic Signal - Last week the contractor poured new concrete sidewalks and ADA ramps prior to repaving the impacted areas on the roadway on April 23rd. This week started with some cleanup and site restoration work, and then the project was suspended for two weeks on April 28th. The suspension is due to pending test results on possibly substandard concrete used in one of the signal pole foundations. Repercussions for the contractor could range from a financial penalty to removal and re-pouring the foundation base on the northwest corner. Work will begin again on site no earlier than May 13th.

Intersection Improvements at Seattle Hill Road and 35th Avenue SE - Public Works staff attended a preconstruction meeting for Snohomish County's intersection improvement project at Seattle Hill Road and 35th Avenue SE. Even though half of the project is within the City limits, the County is the lead agency and sole funding source. This project also required a Right-of- Way vacation by the City, which was approved by the City Council in December 2008. The project primarily consists of adding new right turn lanes for traffic on southbound 35th Ave SE and westbound Seattle Hill Road, along with traffic signal, sidewalk, drainage and alignment improvements. The cost of the project is approximately $1.1 million. Work will begin during the week of May 11th and should be completed by the end of August. Work currently underway in the area is being done by the Silver Lake Water District to relocate a water main prior to the start of the County's project.

Social networking is this year's megahit. At MCT we're making available our own version that we call Member Networking. The tools are provided by our web host, Clark Internet Publishing. To participate, just follow the Join link atop any page.

Features for members...

• Secure communications with other members through our double-blind message center; member contact data are not published
• Instant Twitter-like personal updates
• Personal journal (blog)
• Member-to-member messaging
• Personal profile with avatar or photo
• Embed pictures from any popular photo site
• Embed movies from any popular video site
• Link other networks (Twitter, Facebook, Myspace...)
• List and link your favorite websites, movies, music
• Personalize your member space with HTML/CSS
• Continuing sitewide features...

And as always for readers

• Flexible naming and addressing and simple forms
• News and forums
• Editor feedback form
• Editor to membership notices
• New features always under development

Got news? Use the To The Editor form and tell the editor about any blog post you think the whole readership should see. If we think so too, we'll link it from The Editor's Desk and tweet in on our Twitter page.

Seattle Hill Road Traffic Signal - During the week of April 13th, each corner was prepped and graded for new curb and sidewalk. New concrete curbs were poured on Tuesday, and sidewalk may be poured on Friday or early next week, weather dependent. The electrical subcontractor continued with site clean up and installed all ground level junction boxes.

Highland Park Renovation - The first phase of Highland Park renovation will begin on Monday, April 20th with the construction / installation of a sub-drain system to pick up ground water and dry up the soggy grass areas.