GPUS Steering Committee Minutes
Sunday, March 26, 2017 – 8:00 p.m. ET
I. CALL SETUP & BACKGROUND
a) Facilitator: Frank Young
b) To listen to call: 712-451-0019, access code 926334, ref #22 (154 min.)
c) Present: Chris Blankenhorn, Darlene Elias, Jan Martell, Andrea Merida, Darryl! Moch., Tamar Yager, Bahram Zandi. Absent: Sanda Everette. Observers: David Gerry, Louanne Kozma, Starlene Rankin.
d) Agenda revisions: none
II. NEW BUSINESS
a) Collaboration guidelines – Andrea. Adrian sent a letter proposing to act as coordinator between the party and active high profile green personalities such as Jill and Ajamu, who are participating in events without much or any coordination with the national party, committees, or state parties. Members agreed by consensus to support that idea and to have a subcommittee (Adrian, Darlene, Jan) to work on a communication to facilitate this relationship. Andrea said that reactivation of the Speakers Bureau would also help structure this collaboration.
b) Party structure working group proposal – Jan. There are real problems with the way we select members of our committees, including the NC and SC, that could be the cause of dysfunction and dissatisfaction. This is a subject that was touched on, but not explored deeply at the retreat. Members agreed by consensus to allow Jan to pull together a working group to discuss and draft proposals. The constitution of the group would be subject to SC review before work begins, and the final product of the work would be concrete proposals for NC approval.
c) ANM planning, opening discussion – Jan gave a heads-up that we will have chosen a location for the meeting in a week, and we need to start planning the meeting ASAP. Tamar said it would be helpful for at least one to join the ANMC to help with workshops.
III. STANDING BUSINESS
a) Treasurer’s report – Darryl!. $183,904 in the bank. VISA cards have been issued for employees with spending limits. Darryl! Will give instructions for use in staff meeting on Tuesday. He will locate EIN# Jan needs to complete Benepay application.
b) Finance item for approval, $2211 merchandise order – Tamar. Approved by consensus.
c) Fundraising report – Tamar. Direct mail letter is at the printer, thanks to Andrea and Jan for input. Send an email to Starlene when you get it so we can track delivery for pre-sort and bulk. GreenLine newsletter went out, E-blast for sustainers is doing well.
d) Personnel Working Group report – Andrea. We’ve had a torrent of applicants for the accountant position. Pool will be narrowed with email pointing out it is part-time contract work. Screening is starting, send thoughts by COB Wednesday, starting scheduling interviews by end of the week.
VOTING QUEUE
In the queue:
865 – New delegation size for Caucuses
866 – Annual National Meeting Site Proposal
Received for the queue: None
IV. OLD BUSINESS
a) CCC and GNN update – Chris. Andrea has been talking to people about joining the working group for GNN transition; GNN is continuing with the same programming. Andrea sent a proposed agenda from David Cobb’s movement schools, nothing to do with campaign schools, and includes a Democrat presenting training on collaborating with Dems. This work is beyond the mission of CCC and can’t be presented as a GPUS initiative. Members agreed to draft a message to CCC to be sent through Chris as liaison to stop rollout of movement schools until it is better coordinated with GPUS; Jan will draft for approval.
V. EXECUTIVE SESSION
Entered at 10:44. Everyone present except Sanda and Darlene. Members agreed, with Tamar standing aside, to have all staff except Adrian supervised by Darryl!. He will hold staff meeting every Tuesday afternoon. Andrea will supervise Adrian. All staff will be full time as of April 1. David Doonan will move from quarter-time contract to half-time staff as of April 1. Evaluations of positions due March 31 are not complete, but this should not hold up getting everyone to full time. Exited 11:24.
Jan Martell
Secretary