GPUS Steering Committee Minutes
Sunday, August 28, 2016 – 8:00 p.m. ET
I. CALL SETUP & BACKGROUND
a) Facilitator: Charles Sherrouse
b) To hear recording: 712-451-0019, access code 926334, ref #9
c) Present: Chris Blankenhorn, Darlene Elias, Sanda Everett, Jan Martell, Darryl! Moch, Jeff Turner, Tamar Yager, Bahram Zandi (joined late). Absent: Andrea Merida (Stein visit to CO). Observing: Brian Bittner, Starlene Rankin.
d) Agenda revisions: none
II. OLD BUSINESS
a) Liaison assignments – Members stated preferences/interests for liaisons and supervisory responsibilities. Jan will post these to the SC list for review. Decisions made tonight: Darryl! will become signatory and Fincom co-chair along with Brian. Brian will take on staff supervisory role through the end of the year to see how it goes, Tamar to work with him to transition; in January re-evaluate.
III. STANDING BUSINESS
a) Treasurer’s Report – Jeff, sent cash report, about $135K in the bank; more accurate figures by the end of the month, with bills paid and reserve funds corrected.
c) Fundraising Report – Tamar, sent fundraising and income reports. Large jump in July, e-blast brought in 161 sustainers even before Bernie endorsed H; comes to additional $1900/mo., $23K/year. E-blasts are outdoing mailings, even last 2 Greenlines, which are mostly content, brought in good returns. Shawn Dady is the new writer. Bernie bump brought in new volunteers, Starlene is training 8 new callers to call sustainers to raise their levels. Next direct mail will be newslettery, based on successful last year mailing. Alexandra wrote it before leaving, and various others are expanding on it.
VOTING QUEUE
In the queue: none
Received for the queue: none
IV. NEW BUSINESS
a) SC structure discussion (incl. Rules & bylaws) – Darryl!. Members agreed to form an ad hoc committee to look at the structure and organization of SC and also possibly the NC to work out a proposal to make party work faster and more flexible, more creative, less bureaucratic & bogged down in process. Ways to engage volunteers and skilled Greens; SC in more leadership, visioning role or party leaders as separate role; committee to include other Greens also; Starlene offered to facilitate meetings. Work on this to begin after election or Jan. 1.
b) Pre-budget and capacity building discussion – Jeff emphasized the importance of staffing up now, as those engaged in campaigns who will be out of work after Nov. are looking now – need to take advantage of the moment to make the best hires. Accountant is already in the budget. Temp position recently approved (Political Organizer to work through election) has not been found, so make this a more permanent role – we can pay salary for a year even if things slack off later. Bryan and Darryl! were invited to join Personnel Working Group, Tamar will continue though not lead, and Maya O’Connor. Starlene suggested looking at the Strategic Plan as there are staffing plans there; importance of focused job descriptions. Starlene will forward job description recently developed for Political Organizer.
c) Tamar suggested having a face-to-face retreat for SC this winter, have not done it recently due to budget restrictions but is very effective for planning and improving working relationships – she will forward info she has on venues/costs, and it can be worked into 2017 budget.
V. EXECUTIVE SESSION
None
TOTAL TIME: 97 min.
Jan Martell
Secretary