[Davis Democrats] DDC Board Meeting Minutes for June 5, 2007
G Richard Yamagata PhD
yamagata at virtual-markets.net
Mon Jul 2 20:36:47 PDT 2007
There have been serveral submitted corrections to the minutes. If you have
more, please send them.
Davis Democratic Club Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, June 5, 7 pm - 8:27 pm
Place: Place: Davis Branch, Yolo County Library in Davis.
315 East 14th Street.
This meeting was held at
Place: Davis Branch, Yolo County Library in Davis.
315 East 14th Street.
Present (11 board members total present -- 10 votes present -- NO QUORUM was
present for the second time in a row) were:
OFFICERS -- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE BOARD MEMBERS
President: Arun Sen,
Vice President: Vacant
Treasurer: Betty Weir
Recording Secretary: G Richard Yamagata
Corresponding Secretary: Absent
Membership Committee Chair: Carl Schmid
Publicity: Absent
4 of 6 were present.
BOARD CHAIRS AND MEMBERS
Past Publicity: Barbara Slemmons
Acting Past President: Bob Bockwinkel, Past-Past President and Newsletter
Advertising,
Acting Newsletter Editor: Cecilia Escamelia Greenwald (and Bill Ritter)
Scheduling Committee Chair: Absent
Board members: Mike Syvanen, Pam Nieberg, and Bill Ritter
Ex-Officio Members of the Board: Maximillian Milsonlonis;
6 of 16 were present with 1 ex-officio present and
2 board members with medical absences.
A Total of 16 active board members on the rolls.
Board Member that needs to be confirmed: Barry Wilson
Guests: John Rundin.
Absent: Claire Black Slotton (1), Jim Provenza (1), Lyle Smith (1), Rick
Gonzales(2), Adrienne Kandell (1), Julia Hunter-Blair (has since resigned
from the board), Publicity Mary Lou Hernandez (3 medical excused by
President), Past Vice President Kingsley Melton (5 medical excused by
President) -- (number indicates how many meeting is a row have been missed.
Excused medical absences are not counted towards a quorum.) There have been
13 meetings since the elections last year. By-laws state that board member
cannot miss 3 meetings in a row or 3 out of 5 meetings in a five month
period (meaning you cannot just come to every other meeting and still remain
on the board). Absences can be excused by the President.
TOTAL: 11 board members and 1 club member attended the meeting.
Arun Sen called the meeting into session at 7:06 PM.
AGENDA
The acceptance of the agenda was moved and approved by Arun Sen, MSB.
MINUTES
The May 1 minutes were not approved, because the board did not have time to
go over them. They will be approved at the next meeting.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was an announcement that the Trujillo family sent sincere thanks to
the club.
MINUTES AND REPORTS FROM OTHER CLUBS
Woodland Club -- with Lyle Smith's absence, there was no report.
Yolo County Yound Democrats Club: A report was sent to the board by Rich
Peterson about this club's activities. The club is expanding its mandate to
become more inclusive and more active. There will be a June 21st fundraiser
at the IOOF Hall on 2nd Street.
Yolo County Blue Action Club: This coming Wednesday (May 2), there will be
an event at the Cantina Del Cabo with Steve Ybarra as keynote speaker.
UCDavis Campus Democrats
A report from the College Young Dems was given by President Max Milsonlonis.
It was reported that the debate with the campus Republicans on campus was a
complete success. It was also reported that the club elected new officers
for the fall of next year and Max was re-elected as president.
High School Young Dems
A report on the Davis High School Dems was given by Bob Bockwinkel. There
were three students that went to the convention. They enjoyed themselves
immensely. Julia Bockwinkel, a former Davis High Dem, helped with making
them feel at home at the convention. Julia was attending as a UC Berkeley
Young Dem.
President's Report
There was no report by the president this month.
YCDCC
The meeting was once again cancelled, so there was no report.
Other Clubs
There were no reports about the West Sac and Winters clubs.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CLUB DATABASE PROJECT
Judy Reynolds was not in attendance, so no report was given on this project.
TREASURERS REPORT
Betty Weir was present and made the following report. At the beginning of
April the club had $2902.79 in the bank.
For the month of April, the following was the state of our treasury:
April 1 Balance: $4096.98
INCOME
Dues $492.00
Donations 0.00
Potluck income 65.00
TOTAL INCOME $557.00
EXPENSES
TOTAL EXPENSE 388.72
May 1 Balance: $4262.65
We have 162 paid members at this time.
DETAILS
The expenses this past month were for post office mailing costs, newsletter
printing costs, decorations and plasticware for the champagne brunch, and
flowers for Mary Lou Hernandez.
BUDGET COMMITTEE
This report was given by Chair Bill Ritter. The budget committee did not
meet. The conclusions presented at the last meeting were discussed. The
bottomline is that the club gets enough dues from its 300 members to fund
its operations each year. The club only has to do some extra work at
raising money during Presidential and Gubernatorial elections every other year.
SCHEDULING COMMITTEE
Claire Black-Slotton was not present at this meeting.
PUBLIC OUTREACH COMMITTEE
There is no board member assigned to this committee.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITEE REPORT
Carl Schimd is chair of this committee and presented the following:
The committee tried to boost membership by sending out 30 extra copies of
the newsletter. It is unknown at this time how may of these 20 people paid
dues to the club. G Richard Yamagata stated that he knows of one case where
the recipient is going to join the club.
A phone bank list is being made to distribute to the board for the board
members to call people that have not yet paid their dues.
With the resignation of John Chendo, there is only one copy of the
membership excel file. That file is going to be sent to Mike Syvanen to
maintain.
The last use of the list was by Lyle Smith to get people to come to the Yolo
County Blue Action club events during the month of May.
When told that there were only two sheets of numbers to call for expired
memberships, Pam and Cecilia volunteered to telephone these people.
Barbara Slemmons would like a letter included as a drop-in to the newsletter
on how important it is for members to send in their dues. This would be in
addition to anything that the newsletter editor would write.
Betty stated that there were board members that have not paid their dues as
of yet, though none of these people were at this meeting.
NEWSLETTER
The newsletter editor is Cecilia Escamelia-Greenwald and is being aided by
Bill Ritter. She and Bill will put out the next newsletter.
Bill Ritter asked that the club reimburse him for a postcard he sent out to
the members announcing the Champaigne Brunch. The cost was about $83.20 and
$76.80 for postage and printing costs or a total of $165. President Arun
Sen approved of the spending of the funds.
MOTION/VOTE
Mike Syvanen made the motion that the Davis Democratic Club reimburse Bill
Ritter for the printing and mailing of postcards to the DDC membership for a
total of $165. Bob Bockwinkel seconded the motion and it passed without
objection.
Barbara Slemmons stated at this point that the Davis Enterprise gave the
club excellent coverage for this event with John Garamendi Sr. coming to
speak at this event.
It was noted that Cecilia will talk to Lyle about whether or not he will
take over as editor of the newsletter after February 2008. He could run for
that position in the election as one of the 8 elected board positions.
It was discussed at this time the need for a drop-in long range calendar.
President Arun Sen has filled in a long range calendar as best as he could
until February '08. There will be a Valentine's Day party and a General
Meeting with an election for board officers. The by-laws need to be changed
to state that to vote, people need to pay their dues before the election to
be given a ballot.
GENERAL MEETINGS
JUNE EVENT - Champaigne Brunch
The Honorary Event Chair is Betty Weir. The acting event chair is Mike
Syvanen. The event will be held on Sunday, June 10th. The Keynote Speaker
will be John Garamendi Sr. Chairs will be coordinated with Stephen Souza by
President Arun Sen. A list was circulated for board members to sign up for
food items to bring to the event.
Able body people are needed to be on site at 9AM. Mike Syvanen and the
college Dems, Max and Russell will be there at 9AM. Mike said that this
would be enough people.
The Kitchen Crew will be Luba, Pam and Barbara. Mike will back up the
kitchen crew in ferrying food from the kitchen to the tables. Betty will be
at the entrance table collecting donations. The event will cost $15 to enter.
A partial list for the event:
Barbara Slemmons -- quiches
Cecilia Escamelia-Greenwald -- quiches
Pam Nieberg -- fruit salad
Mike Syvanen -- loks dish (salmon), cream cheese, and whipped cream for
strawberries
G Richard Yamagata -- flat of strawberries and 60lbs of ice
Bob Bockwinkel -- champagne and orange juice
Bill Ritter -- coffee from Starbucks
Betty Wier -- open face sandwiches and vegetable tray
Bob made the motion that Barbara go to Costco and purchase any other food
items that we need. The motion was not seconded. Instead, Mike will
coordinate with the other board members that were not at the meeting to fill
in what is missing for the event.
Arun stated that he would call Stephen Souza and coordinate to have the DDC
chairs delivered to the event.
FOURTH OF JULY BOOTH
Arun stated that the booth would be an 11 by 24 foot space (double booth)
next to Yolo County for Obama. [All of this has since changed. Our booth
is a half booth being shared by the Young Democrats and we are on the
opposite end, away from Obama.] We will be selling soft-drinks and baked
goods. The soft drinks are mandated by the city, that they cannot be less
than $1/can or bottle so as to not out compete with other booths selling
beverages. Baked goods, it will be requested that members bake goods and
bring them to the booth to be sold. We will also be selling buttons and
bumper stickers.
Bill Ritter wants some provocative signage at the booth. Mike Syvanen
volunteered to help with lettering such a sign to be displayed at the booth.
It was stated by Bob Bockwinkel that Mr Dionysis of Teach Peace has signs
already and that we should approach him to borrow the signs.
MOTION/VOTE
Bob Bockwinkel made the motion that Bill Ritter work with Betty Weir to
purchase $400 in campaign buttons and bumper stickers. The campaign items
that are left over will be used at the Yolo County booth. Carl Schmid
seconded the motion. The motion carried without objection.
There was no committee appointed at this meeting, as stated would be done at
the last two meetings. Rich Peterson will coordinate all of the groups that
will be at the booth for this event.
[Please note the following: It was decided at the March meeting that a
committee will further deal with concerns about signage for the booth and
what information will be distributed at the booth, including party
literature and candidate literature.
At the March meeting, Eileen Lindsay asked if a committee is not formed at
the next meeting (April), if it would not be better for us to put our energy
in tabling at the Davis Farmer's Market. She went further to even suggest
that we might pick up volunteers at the Davis Farmer's Market for public
events (like tabling and 4th of July booth). At this point in time we still
do not have a chair for this event.]
ICE CREAM SOCIAL
EMILY AND JERRY'S ICE CREAM SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SOAPBOX
Emily is Teresa and Jerry Kaneko's cat, named for the Democratic Party
campaign fundraising entity, Emily's List. This event will be held on
Thursday, August 23rd and will start at 6:30PM. Jerry Kaneko will emcee the
event. Arun Sen will act as timekeeper, giving everyone two minutes to
speak. Any member of the club is invited to step up and speak at this
event. The sign-up lists for bringing ice cream will be circulated at the
August Board Meeting. G Richard Yamagata will bring 6 citronella candle
buckets and two bottles of insect repellant. Arun said that he would
further speak to Jerry Kaneko about discouraging mosquitos from the event.
FUNDRAISING and PUBLIC OUTREACH COMMITTEES
There has been no activity in the area of these two commitees as the members
were absent or have resigned from the board.
BY-LAWS COMMITTEE
The chair appointed by the President is Jim Provenza, who was not at the
meeting. No meeting has yet been called of this committee. Arun suggested
that other members of the committee (Carl Schmid, G Richard Yamagata, Bob
Bockwinkel, and Arun Sen) and members of the board send their suggestions
for changes to Jim Provenza.
NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS
CANTINA DEL CABO CLOSING
Bob Bockwinkel spoke to the issue of supporting a public event honoring Tom
Lovering and the Cantina Del Cabo in recognition of all of their past
service to the Davis Democratic Club. We have had club events at the
Cantina, that were subsidized and charged lower fees to promote a public
cause or event. One of these was a General Meeting of the Davis Democratic
Club chaired by Lyle Smith in May 2004. More recent events were subsidized
catering of the Yolo County Bean Feed in October of 2006. The club has had
various other activities at the cantina in the past, like election day
parties, State of the Union Boofest parties, Indictment parties and other
spontaneous gatherings of Democrats on important days in the past. The
facility will be dearly missed, because there is no other downtown
establishment that will invite Democrats and embrace our causes. Other
establishments do not want to become politically branded and offend other
potential customers (like that restaurant that has since said it has changed
management and is no longer sponsoring Republican events in Davis).
Tom has hosted other causes and functions for the community, like the annual
Martin Luther King Day Memorial Dinner and Katrina Relief fundraiser.
MOTION/VOTE
Bob Bockwinkel made the motion that the club support this event with a
donation of $100 to the party fund. Bob stated that he had already,
personally raised $600 for this event. He expected the event to cost about
$1500. G Richard Yamagata seconded the motion. The motion passed with two
abstaining votes.
There was a discussion that this item violated our by-laws. There was no
quorum at this meeting, so we could not vote to suspend the by-laws.
The event was from 5Pm to 9Pm on Wednesday, June 20th. It was suggested
that this event be treated like a general meeting for the Davis Democratic
Club and the $100 be a donation from the club for its members.
NEW BUSINESS: COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE LIST BEING USED FOR NON-POLITICAL PURPOSES.
There have been complaints to the list about it being used for non-political
or partisan statements being made about member electeds. Arun Sen said that
he would speak to John Cheno about this and about the membership access list.
President Arun Sen asked G Richard Yamagata to post a statement about list
posting policy. He also asked Richard to send out e-mail requests to the
list to see who can volunteer in the available time slots from the general
membership with 2 hour shifts. The e-mail will also ask for baked goods
donations.
ANNOUNCEMEMTS
Our member guest, John Rundin, introduced himself and addressed the board
about why he attended the meeting and what he would like to see the club do.
The next club meeting will be July 3rd at 7PM in the Blanchard Room of the
Yolo County Library.
The August board meeting will be at the Blanchard Room on August 7th at 7PM.
ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
We will be discussing the election of a new Vice President. Carl Schmid
said that he would formally submit a name for nomination. Mike Syvanen said
that he had sent an e-mail of interest in the position. The position will
run until February 2008.
Arun Sen adjourned the meeting at 8:27PM.
These Minutes are respectively submitted,
G Richard Yamagata
G Richard Yamagata PhD
CEO/President VME Inc. http://www.vme.net/
G Richard Yamagata is a member of the Davis Community Network Board of
Directors, Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Davis Democratic
Club, President of the board of Virtual Market Enterprises, Inc,
Secretary-Treasurer of the board of the Davis Progressive Business
Exchange and communications liason for the Independent Order of
Oddfellows Chapter 169 and the Business Link of Woodland and Davis.
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