Oak Harbor art commission finalizes online submission process, sets workshop for May 21

The Oak Harbor Art Commission on April 9 trained commissioners on a new online project submission and rating process and scheduled a four-hour workshop to prioritize projects and review budget and procurement implications.

Liz Lang, Oak Harbor recreation manager, walked commissioners through the process, saying the system begins when a community member fills out a proposal form on the city website. "That form then goes to city staff, myself, and I take it and review it, put it in our tracking sheet, create a rating sheet for it in SurveyMonkey, and then that's when it comes to you in a form of an email," Lang said. Applicants receive an automated confirmation and are told to expect an update on status within 60 days.

Commissioners will evaluate proposals using the art plan criteria Lang described—visibility, connectivity, geographic distribution, the breadth of the community served and level of benefit for investment—scored through a weighted SurveyMonkey form. Lang explained how scores are weighted and how commissioners should record recommendations, including whether an item should be moved forward to the next meeting or workshop.

Chair J.R. Russell said the commission will treat the new system as a living process, allowing for later refinements. "This airplane's airborne. Let's give it a chance," Russell said, urging commissioners to complete ratings so staff can compile results.

Commissioners agreed to set a near-term deadline for any members who have not yet finished their ratings so staff can assemble a ranked spreadsheet in advance of the workshop. Staff reported that about four to five commissioners had completed most of their ratings and recommended a deadline roughly one week out to allow time for compilation and distribution.

The commission tentatively scheduled a workshop for May 21 at 2:00 p.m. to review compiled ratings, assign time blocks for agenda topics and discuss procurement and budgeting. Staff proposed inviting the public works procurement manager to explain procurement rules and bringing a budget briefing to a regular meeting before or alongside the workshop so commissioners know available funds before they recommend spending.

Lang also flagged implementation steps that staff will evaluate on the project implementation worksheet, including permitting needs (for example, shoreline permits if a project is near water), potential consultant needs, coordination with parks or other departments and timelines for moving items to council as recommendations. Commissioners emphasized the value of preserving flexibility to act quickly on some ready-to-go projects while maintaining a consistent process for transparency.

The commission will use the next regular meeting to hear a budget update and expects staff to circulate compiled ratings in advance of the May 21 workshop.