North Pleasant Street Amehrst MA

Minutes - April 12, 2007

Minutes of the April 12, 2007 ADTC meeting submitted by secretary Sarah McKee. Discussion included a review of the Amherst Caucus and fees involved, election of officers, preparations for ADTC's hosting of the Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention at UMASS, frequency of ADTC meetings, David Boyer welcomed as new Associate Member, impeachment sign holding, and the ADTC web site transition to Azurelink.

 

 
MINUTES — April 12, 2007
 
Dear Members and Friends,
 
Here, in an order more logical than temporal, are the minutes of the 12 April 2007 meeting of the Amherst Democratic Town Committee, Jones Library, Amherst.
 
Chair H. Oldham Brooks had emailed the agenda to Members and Friends beforehand, with copies available at the meeting. Harry Brooks called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. We had a quorum.
 
1) Minutes of 8 March 2007 meeting: These went out beforehand by email, with a hard copy available at the 12 April meeting. Oral reading dispensed with. Peter Vickery moved their acceptance; Roland Chilton seconded. Passed.
 
2) Call for Agenda Items: From now on, Harry Brooks will ask for agenda items before each meeting. Please feel free to tell Harry your agenda items even before you receive the meeting notice with a request for them: Phone 413.256.883, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
 
3) Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Keri Heitner reported by email that the bottom of our barrel is badly scraped.
 
Renting the Crocker Farm School for our caucus on 3 Feb. cost $200. Current checkbook balance is $222.25, with an unpaid $3.62 bill to Collective Copies and a $10.00 dues check for deposit. Peter Vickery moved that we accept Keri's report; Jan Klausner-Wise seconded. Passed.
 
Roland Chilton asked about telling ADTC members that we need funds. Well, res ipsa loquitur!
 
Per the Bylaws, dues are due on 1 May. Please feel free to add something for the kitty when you get your dues notice and send Keri Heitner your check.
 
4) Election of new First Vice Chair & Secretary: First Vice-Chair (FVC) Harry Brooks succeeded Madge Ertel as Chair. Article IV, Section 1 (b) of the Bylaws require the FVC to be of a gender different from that of the Chair. Thus, Second Vice-Chair Peter Vickery cannot succeed Harry Brooks as FVC.
 
Harry will see which eligible ADTC women are willing to have their names put forward as candidates for FVC. (Persuasive people insist, by the way, that the FVC has less work than the Secretary. )
For that matter, my own sudden election last month as Secretary is invalid. Article V, Section 4 (c) requires at least 7 days' notice to all Life and Regular members before any meeting at which one or more Officers is to be elected.
 
These minutes therefore constitute notice that, at the next ADTC meeting, on Thursday, 10 May, at 7 p.m. at the Jones Library, we will have elections for First Vice-Chair and Secretary. Nominations from the floor are welcome!
 
Harry will gallantly hand-deliver copies of these minutes, including noticesd, to the three ADTC members who do not use email.
 
5) Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention, UMASS Mullins Center, Saturday, 19 May:
Former ADTC member (& former Chair) Jean Fay has been generously working on this. Via Harry, she identified items needing our help, plus there are others:
 
a) Contacting other area Democratic Town Committees for help with Convention: Informal sense of the meeting was that it's better for the paid Mass. Democratic Party state staff to do this, rather than we.
Per Jan Klausner-Wise, ADTC members could offer to be greeters, etc. (Per Convention veterans, this is a good idea in order to take care of visiting dignitaries, etc.) No discussion of who should inform the state MassDem folks of either point. Peter Vickery will contact state Mass Dem person Stacy Monahan about several things below. So he's presumably the logical person to convey these points also.
 
b) Friday night social event? Peter Vickery will ask MassDem person Stacy Monahan what's expected of us, including this. He'll accordingly let Jan Klausner-Wise know whether to pursue her thoughtful offer to call Jerry Jolly at the Rafters and see about space to host a buy-your-own meet & greet.
 
c) Color Guard. We hope to have students from A Better Chance. Governor Deval Patrick had met with them while campaigning in Amherst last year. Harry Brooks will contact Michael Hawkins about this.
 
d) The Call (newspaper traditionally put out for Convention): ADTC could buy an ad in the name of a Host Committee for the Convention, then resell ad space at a markup to elected officials and hopefuls, listing them as Host Committee members. The profit would benefit ADTC. Peter will check with Mass Dem. Party re feasibility.
 
e) Post-Convention Entertainment on Sat. Night, Top of the Campus: Peter to ask Stacy Monahan, state Dem. Party, whether there's a budget, & if so, how much. Susan O'Connor knows a good jazz band. Kimo Lee has contact w/ a great Caribbean Jazz/Salsa group. Harry will check generally on logistics, etc., with Top of the Campus. If no budget, no problem, at least, not ours.
 
6) New Business: Should we change frequency, format of meetings? Jan Klausner-Wise moved that we meet no more than every other month. Michael Wolf seconded. Discussion vigorous. Points:
 
  • If we met less often there might be a higher ratio of meeting substance to meeting duration, or maybe not;
  • Would be easier to go out for a beer afterward if we met every other month;
  • Regular meetings essential to maintain party organization between elections (local no-meeting Republicans are considering them, for this reason);
  • Monthly meetings facilitate relational organizing, that is, getting to know one another & thus facilitating our working together on elections;
  • Regular, central location facilitates participation;
  • If we met every other month, Chair can still call special meetings as needed.
 
Also, ADTC has this conversation at least annually, often w/ conversation re increasing number of people at meetings.
Query by Susan O'Connor: does ADTC have stated goals for the year, & what about ways to make meetings more interesting? Followed by silence.
Upshot: Bylaws require meeting at least quarterly. Changing from our present one per month is a policy matter requiring a vote. Per Article XIII, Section 4, it must therefore be sent to members by email (or hard copy) at least seven days before meeting at which we will vote on it. Herewith the required notice.
Molly Turner therefore moved that we table this question until next month's meeting. Roland Chilton seconded. Passed with one abstention.
 
7) New Associate Member, David Boyer: Molly nominated David Boyer, who among other things has worked hard on our ACTV impeachment programs this winter. Peter Vickery & Kimo Lee tied for the second. Passed. Having got away without a campaign speech, David said, "It's good to be aboard."
 
8) 28 April Nationwide Impeachment Day: Those wanting to hold signs on the Amherst Common saying I-M-P-E-A-C-H on Saturday, 28 April, as part of the burgeoning nationwide effort to oust our admitted lawbreakers from the White House, please contact Molly Turner (413.230.3140; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Molly is also looking for seven people to hold them at the Sunday vigil on the Common, 12 - 1.
 
9) ADTC Website Moved to New Server; uploading Minutes: Kimo Lee reported (after adjournment) that he has moved the ADTC website from the server of former Secretary Steve Brewer to his own. The move was seamless: I couldn't even tell that it had happened. Kimo has also offered to teach the Secretary how to upload Minutes to the website. Offer gratefully accepted on my own behalf if duly elected.
 
10) Members Present: H. Oldham Brooks, Roland Chilton, Paul Drummond, Jan Klausner-Wise, Joan Ross Logan, Sarah McKee, Representative Ellen Story, Molly Turner, Peter Vickery, Michael Wolff
Associate Members Present: David Boyer, Kimo Lee. Guest: Susan O'Connor
 
11) Not on Agenda but discussed: The full church at the memorial service for our former Chair, Madge Ertel, included a lot of ADTC members. It was good to see.
 
12) Adjournment: Harry moved; Peter seconded. Passed.
 
Respectfully submitted,

Sarah McKee