October 11, 2015

GPUS Steering Committee
Meeting Notes

Sunday, October 11, 2015 – 8:00 p.m. ET

I. CALL SETUP & BACKGROUND
a) Facilitator: Kate Culver
b) Call ref # 144
c) Roll Call – Present: Audrey Clement, Sanda Everette, Jan Martell, Andrea Merida, Charles Ostdiek, Jeff Turner, Tamar Yager, Bahram Zandi. Absent: Karen Young. Observer: Starlene Rankin.
d) Agenda revisions – none.

II. OLD BUSINESS
a) Debrief on Accreditations Committee process for approving Latinx Caucus – Andrea – Accreditation Committee is discussing updating its P&Ps to ensure full member participation in decision making and have a more formal and complete method for gathering information on prospective caucus members, e.g. membership form NWC uses. Verification of this information is a huge job and there is no specific tool for that; if fewer members were required for accreditation – Latinx had 220 names, pared down to 190 – it would be more manageable. The committee is working on a proposal to address these problems.

b) Update on delegate apportionment committee formation, elections database – Tamar did some work on this last month but no longer has time to pursue it. Audrey would like to be involved but must wait till after Nov. 3. Updating the elections database takes a certain skill set. Brian has been working on it some, and the CCC has also. Sanda agreed to contact Mike Feinstein to see if he has time to work on it. Appointment of Apportionment Tabulation Committee comes next – Jan will contact Tamar’s suggested list to see if people are willing to serve before next meeting date – appoint committee at next meeting.

c) Decision to direct the Credentials Committee to seat elected write-in members who have agreed to serve – Jan – most of the write-ins have accepted their election and provided required information, but the on-the-ballot electeds are divided on whether the write-ins are allowed by our rules. Further complication is that several candidates got votes under different spellings of their names, so the corrected outcome of the election would probably be somewhat different. Jan proposed that the election be retabulated and elected write-in candidates be seated on the committee. There were concerns from Sanda, joined by Audrey and Jeff, who preferred holding a new election. A vote was taken, 5 yes, 3 no – the proposal passed. Audrey will do the retabulation.

III. STANDING BUSINESS
a) Treasurer’s Report – Jeff – sent cash reports. Cash balance available for operations after paying all outstanding obligations $3687, almost enough for next payroll; still holding Global Greens payment per IC request. Bahram – FPVA dues also due, $100 in arrears, $200 current – agreed by consensus to pay FPVA $300.

b) Fundraising Report – Tamar – According to Karen’s emailed report, $7,751 raised in September, at 76% of goal – doing best with major donors at 116%, and worst with donors $1-500 at 56%. Working on fundraising plan for 2016. Fundraising letter going out at the end of the week 1st class, should show quicker return.

c) Budget review – Jeff – Draft budget still lacking input from many key groups – fundraising, outreach, ANM, employee insurance. Members agreed to take 1 hour on this at next meeting Oct 25, and call a special meeting the following week Nov. 1 if it’s not finished. Karen, Tama make a case for numbers being too high, can’t be matched with fundraising projections, and suggest not offering health insurance to save money. Jeff and others believe offering a good group policy should be basic for a social justice organization. Decision needs to be made soon as interviewing is underway for office position.

VOTING QUEUE
In the queue:
a) 796: Amendment to GPUS Bylaws, Steering Committee Elections, 6.1 Nominations
b) 797: Amendment: GPUS Rules and Procedures, Article IX National Committee Email Lists
c) 798: Proposal to Amend GPUS RP&Ps, Article IX
d) 799: Approval of Linda Cree as Forum Manager
e) 800: Approval of Charles Sherrouse as Alt Forum Manager
Received for the queue: None

IV. NEW BUSINESS
None

V. EXECUTIVE SESSION
None

TOTAL TIME: 134 minutes

Jan Martell
Secretary