There are many ways to get involved with Sound Hounds. You can:

• Contact us
• Attend a board meeting
• Gather signatures
• Donate
• Contact elected officials

Contact Us

Contact President Lynn Scroggins at olyscroggins@comcast.net or call (360) 943-2119 for more information and/or ways to get involved. You can also find us on our website and on Facebook.

Attend a Board Meeting

We meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, 6:30 – 7:30 pm, at Kevin and Skie’s home, 1417 Brandon Ct NE, Olympia, WA 98506, 705-2620. All are welcome!

Gather Support Signatures

Download our Petition Form and collect signatures of people who support having a dog park in the South Sound!

Donate

Sound Hounds have lots of Friends and Members. We are grateful to our members who contribute $25 or more in much needed cash or in-kind support per household, business, government, or community organization per year.

We have five levels of membership:

• 1 Paw ($25-99)
• 2 Paws ($100-499)
• 3 Paws ($500-999)
• 4 Paws ($1,000-4,999)
• The Whole Dog ($5,000 and over)

Donations to Sound Hounds are tax-deductible through our fiscal agent, the PARC Foundation. Donate to Sound Hounds through the PARC Foundation web site. Help us build our capital account, funding we can use as leverage for more funds and support!

Read our Newsletter

• Sound Hounds Newsletter – Issue 1 (April 2009)

Contacting Your Jurisdiction

You can contact elected officials, letters to the editor, attend public meetings and make comments at public meetings.

Dog park advocates build healthy relationships, based on good communication and coordination, which is key to the support and development of dog parks in each jurisdiction.

We need to urge jurisdictions to:
1. Provide transitional or permanent off-leash areas (dog parks) when increasing leash law enforcement. Don’t displace people and the informal dog park communities, give them viable options.
2. Collaborate and communicate with Sound Hounds in all aspects of dog park development.

3. Designate dog park sites now so Sound Hounds can focus on fundraising and sponsorships.

4. Learn about dog parks – the variety of benefits, costs, needs, issues, and experiences of dog park users and managers. Sound Hounds can help!

Check the web site in advance to verify meeting times and locations.

Lacey

Lacey City Council
Meets on 2nd and 4th Thursdays (Jan-Oct) 1st and 3rd Thursdays (Nov-Dec), 7 pm, at City Hall.
council@ci.lacey.wa.us

Lacey Board of Parks Commissioners
Meets on 3rd Thursdays, 5:30 pm, at City Hall.
publicaffairs@ci.lacey.wa.us
Jim Sheler (Director) and Parks Board laceyparks@ci.lacey.wa.us

Olympia

Olympia City Council
Meets on Tuesdays, 7 pm, at City Hall.
citycouncil@ci.olympia.wa.us

Olympia Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (PRAC)
Meets on 1st Thursdays, 6 pm, at Olympia Center.
David Hanna (Parks Manager) dhanna@ci.olympia.wa.us

Tumwater

Tumwater City Council
Meets on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 7 pm (1st meetings) and 6:30 pm (3rd meetings) at City Hall.

Tumwater Board of Parks Commissioners
Meets on 3rd Wednesdays, 7pm, at City Hall.
Chuck Denny (Director) cdenney@ci.tumwater.wa.us

Thurston County

Thurston County Board of County Commissioners
Meets on Mondays, 9 am, at the County Courthouse, Room 280
Commissioners c/o bowmarl@co.thurston.wa.us

Thurston County Parks & Recreation Board
Meets on 2nd Tuesdays, 6:30 pm, at the Parks & Rec Conference Room, 2617A 12th Court SW.
Michael Welter (Director) welterm@co.thurston.wa.us

Three-Minute Public Comment Guideline

A jurisdiction’s elected leaders, staff, and advisory committees appreciate and welcome constructive feedback, but they generally limit public feedback to three minutes per person (or 15-30 minutes for all public comments) so that their meetings don’t last too long.

Often a group or organization may coordinate and several people will present a three-minute public comment, sharing a different aspect of their common message. If there are too many people signed up to present public comments for the time alloted, the jurisdiction may ask the group to limit the amount of public comment speakers. This is a fairly rare occurance.

So you’re going to present a public comment… Three minutes is not much time to present a message, so be prepared with an outline, relax, and have fun.

A good rule of thumb is to write your message as a one (1) page Word-type document with 1-inch margins, 12-point Times Roman type, 1.5 line spacing. If you read your message at a relaxed pace you’ll be within your three minutes with a bit of time to elaborate.

The process is easy. Go 10-15 minutes early, be prepared, enter the room, sign up to present a public comment, sit down and relax. When your name is called, go to the podium and present your three-minute public comment. You can either read your message or wing it (now that you’re quite familiar with your message), using your document as a guide. Don’t forget to thank them for their time and the opportunity to share your message. Breathe, smile, and glance at the elected leaders from time to time. After you’ve finished, sit down and wait to see if they have further questions for you. After the public comment period is over, you can either stay or leave. Pat yourself on the back for your civic contribution as a dog park advocate.