Manchester groups plan ‘foundation’

Members of the Manchester Community Council (MCC) met Tuesday night to learn from Kitsap County the future of the Manchester Village and discuss the status of a plan that would house four local organizations — including the MCC — under one nonprofit umbrella.

According to MCC Chair Ron Robinson, the council is still working with Seattle’s Davis Wright Tremaine, a law firm that has been representing the MCC pro bono for more than a year with the procedural aspects of becoming a nonprofit.

Instead, Robinson said the MCC, Manchester Community Association, Manchester Historical Society and the Manchester Safety Organization, a former MCC subcommittee, will soon be united under the nonprofit Manchester Community Foundation — provided all the organizations continue to support the idea when the time comes to sign on the dotted line.

“The MCF won’t have individual members,” Robinson said. “It will be run by a board of directors made up of two members from each organization.”

Although the groups could each operate as a nonprofit on their own, Robinson said forming the foundation will allow each group to continue to execute projects within its area of expertise, but will unite and focus the volunteer community’s efforts toward a series of specified goals.

Robinson said representatives from all the would-be participating groups have reacted positively to the idea of the foundation, but both Robinson and MCC secretary John Winslow agree the paperwork won’t be complete for several more months.

In the meantime, Robinson said he is concentrating the MCC’s efforts on recommending changes to the Manchester Village Plan to Kitsap County in time for it’s review of the plan.

Other subcommittees, Robinson said, are continuing the work of converting strategic sections of Manchester to sewer service, developing broad recommendations for future development downtown and reviving the historic Mosquito Fleet Trail.

According to Winslow, the council is also working to plan for a community building to be built in conjunction with a new library facility.

The center would provide meeting and classrooms for various community organizations.

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