[Davis Democrats] DDC Board Meeting Minutes for March 6, 2007

G Richard Yamagata PhD yamagata at virtual-markets.net
Tue Apr 3 02:47:19 PDT 2007


               Davis Democratic Club Meeting Minutes 
                Tuesday, March 6, 7 pm - 8:46 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 (15 board members total present -- 15 votes present -- quorum was
present) were:
OFFICERS -- EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS
President: Arun Sen,
Vice President: John Chendo
Treasurer: Betty Weir	
Recording Secretary: G Richard Yamagata
Corresponding Secretary: Julia Sanchez
Publicity: Absent
                5 of 6 were present.
BOARD MEMBERS
Past Publicity: Barbara Slemmons
Acting Past President: Bob Bockwinkel, Past-Past President and Newsletter
Advertising,
Newsletter Editor: Eileen Lindsay
Board members: Mike Syvanen, Rick Gonzales, Julia Hunter-Blair, Carl Schmid,
Claire Black-Slotten, Pam Nieberg, and Bill Ritter
                10 of 15 were present with 2 other board members with
medical absences.
                A Total of 23 board members on the rolls.

Absent:  Past President Tony Gruska (8), Adrienne Kandell (3), Rhonda Gruska
(8), Lyle Smith (2), Jim Provenza (2), Publicity Mary Lou Hernandez (1
excused by President), Past Vice President Kingsley Melton (2 excused by
President) -- (number indicates how many meeting is a row have been missed)
There have been 10 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.  Absences can be excused by the President.              

Guests:  Pat Williams and Cecelia Escamelia-Greenwald

TOTAL:  15 board members and 2 club members attended the meeting.  
        
Arun Sen called the meeting into session at 7:06PM.  President Arun Sen
announced that the meeting was dedicated to the late Joyce Wilson, who made
the board 24 members strong.  He asked for Rev. Eileen Lindsay to start the
meeting with a prayer.  

AGENDA
MOTION/VOTE
The agenda was moved for approval as published with no changes.  Mike
Syvanen made the motion to approve, Claire Black Slotten seconded the motion.

MINUTES
MOTION/VOTE
The acceptance of the January 10 minutes were moved by Mike Syvanen and
seconded by Julia Hunter-Blair.  The minutes were passed by the board
without any objection. 

PUBLIC COMMENT
Cecilia Escameila-Greenwald gave a report about the activites of the 8th
Assembly Caucus and the elected convention delegates who are meeting and
planning for the Democratic State Convention.  It was announced that Jim
Provenza was running for County Supervisor.  It was generally discussed and
questioned as to whether or not Jim Provenza could fulfill his obligations
as a Davis Democratic Club Board member and run for County Supervisor.  A
suggestion was voiced that maybe his wife should be asked to join the board
in his place.  The Davis Democratic Club needs someone to attend the Yolo
County Central Committee meetings and report to the club and she is an
elected member of that body, but Julia Sanchez and Betty Weir stated that
they would be attending the Yolo County Central Committee meetings on a
regular basis.  

MINUTES AND REPORTS FROM OTHER CLUBS
Lyle Smith and Rich Pedersen were not at this meeting, so no report was
given about the Davis College and the Yolo County Young Dems.  It was
discussed that the President of the Woodland Club is Ruth Fitzgerald and it
was discussed as to whether or not we had formally invited her to the
meetings as an ex-officio and to promote better relations between the two
clubs.  

An annecdotal report was given by Cecilia Escamelia-Greenwald about
organized student activity by many of the Campus Democratic Club members
with religious leaders organizing to help support the Food Workers strike on
campus.  

Julia Hunter-Blair and John Chendo reported on a campus event where all of
the names of the people that died in Iraq were read off at the MU on the UCD
campus.  Maximillian Mekolonis organized and led this event.

Arun Sen reported in his activites as president announced Kingsley Melton's
Birthday party being held at the IOOF Hall.  Barry Melton had invited the
Davis Democratic Club.  The party was announced as beginning between 6:30PM
to 7PM.

Mike Syvanen announce that Judy Reynolds finished compiling the list of
Democratic Clubs of Northern California.  He said that Judy will submit a
report to the Davis Democratic Club.  The goal is to establish an election
communication service between clubs and will employ a listserve or web site
or e-mail list or some combination of 2 or 3 of the internet services.  In
regards to submitting a report in the club newsletter, Eileen Lindsay
annnouced a March 10th deadline to place in the newsletter an ad, asking for
a person of expertise to volunteer to work on this project.  

The Yolo County Democratic Central Committee report ws that elections are
coming for state and local offices.  Rich Petersen and Kandice Richardson
are working to organize county-wide.

TREASURERS REPORT
Treasurer Betty Weir reported that we have $1,046.97 in the bank account.
She reported that with 870.83 in deposits and various bills, the net before
the club meeting on the 29th of March should be 1039.86.  

BUDGET COMMITTEE
Carl Schmid and Betty Weir both reported that the committee never met in the
past 58 days.  Rich Petersen is the chair.  President Arun Sen will talk to
Rich before the next meeting.  It was discussed and stated that the chairs
of committees should be at the board meetings to report.

SCHEDULING COMMITTEE
Claire Black-Slotton will schedule the June 5th meeting at the Blanchard
Room at the library.  I was restated that Board Meetings are the first
Tuesday of each month and General Meetings of the club are the 4th Thursday
of each month.  Claire announced that she had the scheduling in hand.

MOTION/VOTE
Bob Bockwinkel made the motion to praise with acclamation the efforts at
organizing the club event schedule.  This motion was seconded by President
Arun Sen and passed unanimously.

GENERAL MEETINGS
The January general meeting went well and the February meeting went even
better, said President Arun Sen.  John Chendo was thanked for his hard work
on getting the speakers and notifying the electeds.  

Claire Black-Slotten suggested that next year at the February event to just
have the electeds speak and no keynote speaker.  The keynote speaker at the
February event should be invited back to speak alone at a future meeting.  

President Arun Sen suggested that in the Fall of 2007, the club should
invite the 8th Assembly primary candidates to come speak and address the
club.  Each candidate would have time to present a statement, followed by a
2 way question and answer period.  

Bob Bockwinkel stated that we had a great speaker and that things went well
in spite of all of the electeds that had come to the meeting to speak.  It
was generally agreed that we should have another "love your elected
officials" theme, next year.

It was stated that for future meetings, suggestions should be solicited in
the newsletter.  No vote or motion was made to support this idea.  

Bob Bockwinkel stated that it should be a requirement for the person that
suggests a topic of the meeting to contact and get 100 people to the meeting.  

GENERAL MEETING - MARCH
The March General Meeting will be held on March 29th at 6PM in the Blanchard
Room of the Yolo County Library.  John Chendo had stated that he had been
talking to David Jones to come speak at the March 29th Meeting.  [David
Jones was unavailable and John Chendo had asked Claire Black-Slotton to
speak about her experience at Camp Wellstone, a campaign management retreat]  

G Richard Yamagata was instructed to find out what the next rotation of food
items for the potluck was and to publish it on the e-mail list.  

[The progression for March 29th was:
                A-I  Bring a salad dish (green, macaroni, or potato or other)
                J-R  Bring a dessert
                S-Z  Bring a main dish]

GENERAL MEETING -- APRIL
The April meeting will be on April 26 from 7 to 9PM at the Davisville
Apartments Community Room, because the Blanchard Room is not available on
April 26. 

MOTION/NO VOTE
Bob Bockwinkel made the motion that we invite David Dionysis to come speak
at the April meeting.  Richard Yamagata Seconded the motion.  There was no
vote.  Instead, Arun asked that John Chendo look into inviting David to come
speak.  
[For the April meeting, suggested potluck items will be:
                A-I  Bring a dessert
                J-R  Bring a main dish
                S-Z  Bring a salad dish (green, macaroni, or potato or other]

GENERAL MEETING -- MAY
The May meeting will be on May 22nd from 6-9PM at the Blanchard Room.

It was stated that Lyle Smith has either planned the meeting or chosen the
topic and speaker for the May meeting for the past 3 years.  

For the May meeting, Arun Sen will talk to Lyle about topic/speaker for the
May meeting.
[For the May meeting, suggested potluck items will be:
                A-I  Bring a main dish
                J-R  Bring a salad dish (green, macaroni, or potato or other
                S-Z  Bring a dessert   ]

FOURTH OF JULY BOOTH
It was generally agreed that we do not make a lot of money at this event,
unless we are awarded the beer concession.  It was stated that we need to
start later in the day.  Last year we started at 11AM.  People did not start
coming to the booth until after lunch.  Bob Bockwinkel stated that we need
to sell something that will sell well from 5 to 9PM.  After much more
discussion, Bob stated we need to "think what kids will buy on a 105 degree
day."  Barbara Slemmons stated that we need to put someone with experience
and ingenuity in charge fo this event for the club.  Because of the lottery
for the beer concession and that our spots are assigned, Barbara stated that
we have not had consistent success with this event.  

G Richard Yamagata asked, what happened about the baked goods that club
members brought to be sold at the booth.  Betty stated that they were all
sold, but the price was too low to make any money for the club.  She stated
that we need to sell the baked goods at a higher price.  [G Richard Yamagata
and others brought cookies to the booth to be sold, but no one remembers how
much they were sold for.]  

The booth, it was decided after much discussion, was important to push the
Davis Democratic Club in front of the community of Davis and Democrats
infront of those that come from other parts of the county for the fireworks.  

John Chendo stated that there was a problem at the end of last years event.
At the end of the day, there was not enough energy left in the volunteers at
the booth to pack everything up and get out of the park by the deadline.  If
it was not for Don Saylor coming by with his cart and helping with the
packing and exiting, things would have been abandoned at the site.  It was
agreed that we need a committee and that the hours need to be shortened.  

President Arun Sen stated that at the April Board Meeting a committee will
be appointed for the 4th of July event.  

The committee will futher deal with concerns about signage for the booth and
what information will be distributed at the booth, including party
literature and candidate literature.

Eileen Lindsay asked if a committee is not formed at the next meeting, 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).

Mike Syvanen stated that 10 years ago the picnicking in the park started at
10 AM.  People now start to show up at 4PM.  The potential customer base is
shifting so we should adjust.  

President Arun Sen stated that we need to appoint a committee for the 4th of
July booth presence at the April meeting.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
Committee chair Carl Schmid reported that the membership list has been moved
from 3x5 cards into an Excel file with addresses and phone numbers.  From
the Excel file mailing labels and phone lists can be produced.  This makes
it possible to mail invitations to the membership or mail letters from the
president.  He also reported that Betty Weir is processing the address list
to list people in the precincts of the club board members.  This will be the
initial list of precinct captains.  Carl stated that the list is on his
wife's computer, but would like copies distributed to other computers.  

MOTION/VOTE
Bob Bockwinkel stated that Eileen Lindsay is producing the newsletter and
stated that it makes sense to give her a copy of the Excel file.  He further
stated that all club committee chairs acting as precinct captains should be
given copies of the file.  Claire Black-Slotton seconded the motion.  

Barbara Slemmons voiced concern that 23 board members are not enough
precinct captains to cover all of the precincts in the city.  It was argued
that telephone numbers for all of the members were distributed to the board
members which were involved with the Membership Committee's efforts to call
and invite all of the members to the February General Meeting.  Barbara
stated that there will be a lot of precincts not covered by board members.
Betty Weir stated that she is identifying potential precinct captains in the
other precincts.  Barbara stated that we should have a meeting with all of
the precinct captains both board members and captains identified by Betty
ath volunteer.  

The vote on the motion was called and it passed unanimously.

CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH
This event will be held at the home of the Cooks.  Betty will call the Cooks
in April and let us know at the next meeting on April 3, when the Cooks have
decided to have this event.

NEWSLETTER
It was reported by the editor that the March Newsletter mailing proceeded
without a hitch.  

MOTION/NO VOTE
At this point in time, Pat Williams asked for a newsletter article to
address the growing concern that President Bush is going to order the
bombing of Iran.  It was suggested that David Dionysis be asked to write
such an article for the newsletter.  The editor was given his phone number.
Bob Bockwinkel repeated his motion to have David Dionysis come speak at the
April General Meeting with the theme, "Teach Peace."  G Richard Yamagata
seconded the motion and once again no vote was taken and President Arun Sen
asked Vice President John Chendo to contact David Dionysis to speak at the
April General Meeting.

Eileen Lindsay stated that she wants to put the budget for the club for the
year in the newsletter.  It was stated that the Budget Committee needs to
meet.  President Arun Sen stated that he will speak wtih Rich Petersen
before the next meeting.

DEVELOPMENT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
President Arun Sen asked for volunteers and the following people were placed
on this committee:
Bob Bockwinkel, Bill Ritter, Julia Hunter-Blair, Mike Syvanen.  The
committee will elect a chair and report at next month's meeting.

YEAR AROUND HEADQUARTERS
Bob Bockwinkel stated that someone needs to step forward to spearhead the
drive for a year-around headquarters.  The next newsletter should run an
article asking anyone interested in heading up a year-around headquarters to
step up.  Anyone interested would be asked to speak to Arun.  

Barbara Slemmons questioned that the club could afford to have a year around
headquarters, let alone the volunteers to staff it.  She stated that we have
a hard enough time to staff the headquarters for only 5 months before the
election and Betty stated that it takes two years to raise the money to pay
for it.  Rick Gonzales also stated his skepticism at having enough volunteers.  

Bob Bockwinkel stated that the best scenario to achieve a year-around
headquarters is to have the County Central Committee and the Davis
Democratic Club to pay for part of the funding of the headquarters.  We need
a commitment from both organizations to staff the headquarters.  Most
important, you need to find someone that could help fund the headquarters
and is willing to serve as the key volunteer to staff the headquarters.  We
need to find someone that is willing to do this for the club and the party.
This person must be motivated to raise the money and to move ahead on his
own when others are unable to step forward.  This will mean finding an
affordable office location and coordinate election campaign and fundraising
activities.

Arun stated that he will talk about this with Rich Petersen and report at
the next meeting.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH COMMITTEE
MOTION/VOTE
The committee chair, John Chendo, brought before the board a motion to be
presented to the school board to keep all 9 elementary schools open in the
City of Davis.  This would entail the club supporting an additional tax of
$25/parcel to pay for keeping all of the schools open.  The history and
demographics of the Valley Oak School area were presented by John.  The
motion was seconded by a person not on the board, but on the committee with
John.  It was then seconded by Bill Ritter in response to that objection.

It was argued that this is something that the board should not be making an
opinion upon.  The vote was called and the motion carried with 13 yes votes
and 3 no votes.  


NEXT BOARD MEETING
The next board meetings will be on April 3 and May 1 starting at 7PM at the
Yolo County Library in the Blanchard Room.  The June meeting will be on June
5 and can start as early as 6PM.  It was discussed and decided that we will
have a July 3 meeting (first Tuesday), the day before 4th of July in the
Park.  It was too early to reserve the Blanchard Room for that date.

Bob Bockwinkel made the motion to adjourn the meeting.  Mike Syvanen
seconded the motion.  President Arun Sen adjourned the meeting at 8:49PM.

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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