Board Meeting Minutes
Held via conference call due to COVID-19.
Attendees: Carla Rogers, Steve Butts, Gina Topp, Ann Martin, Rachel Glass, Leah Griffin, Les Treall, Karen Richter, DeLancey Lane, Max Brown, Dawn Rains, Nick Bonazza, Jordan Crawley, Art Chippendale, Ted Barker, Jesse Greene, Jeff Sbaih, Ben Reilly, Chris Porter
7:07 Gina called the meeting to order. Each board member shared their goals for the rest of our term.
7:48 Committee Reports
Ben Reilly shared the Treasurer’s Report. We are running flat for expenses vs. income. The latest lawsuit has been closed out. We paid a $450 penalty.
Carla Rogers shared the Communications Committee report. A new volunteer has stepped up to take Instagram. Sheila Ghaibi has some awesome ideas for content that will help us engage in the Instagram community, which trends younger. The website has been upgraded and several other advanced tasks are also in progress with the freelancer who is now helping us. Facebook activities will ramp up again now that we are starting to reopen as a community.
Chris and Ann gave a report on the recent State Committee activities.. The state convention was held this past Saturday. The various committees worked hard to prepare for convention, despite the difficulty remote planning required. The convention went very well overall. There were over a 1000 amendments submitted, more than ever before! 375 were incorporated and became a part of the platform. 9 had a majority and minority report. The platform was universally adopted. Chris was elected as a national delegate. Not sure how the national convention will be handled yet. Chris noted that it might be a blended convention – both virtual and in-person. We fell short on youth and Hispanic goals. The convention was recorded and will be made available. There were several inspiring speeches made.
The King County Dems report was provided by Leah and Max. Their monthly meeting is next week, their latest report was provided in the newsletter.
Steve and Karen provided updates on the Outreach Committee front. All events are cancelled through August. September events are not yet cancelled. Karen mentioned an idea about a voter registration webinar.
DeLancey gave the Fundraising Committee report. Our big fundraiser is cancelled but the committee is working on some smaller fundraisers for the fall. More info to come when plans are in place.
Nick was absent but submitted a PCO report to the board. Carla reported about the 34th LD Phone Bank which will start on July 9. Volunteers are encouraged to sign up at .
The Bylaws report was submitted by Art. Art has concerns about the endorsement process for next month’s meeting. Jesse mentioned that there was a process committee for endorsements convened in February but they paused work when COVID hit. That committee will have a process to consider later this year. Gina shared the plans for the endorsements meeting in July.
Dawn gave the Membership report. We have 221 current members, just shy of where we were last year. We have had lots of new faces join our meetings the past 2 months. Dawn will reach out to them to encourage them to join. An effort to call past members was suggested.
The new Diversity/Inclusion Committee Chair Jeff Sbaih reported on his immediate plans to gear up the committee.
Leadership Development Chair Les shared his goal to reach out to new faces and wants to be able to have things they can do to contribute. He is planning to have a meeting soon to share ideas and form plans.
Rachel provided some final points about Caucus. She also encouraged us to sign the BIPOC petition.
The Legislative Action Committee report was made by Jordan. Activities have been dormant since we are out of session. Jordan has been working with the WS Bridge task force.
July Endorsement Meeting
Gina shared a proposed agenda for the July meeting. The group discussed whether to include resolutions or code of conduct in the agenda.
The group debated the format of the meeting. Carla made a motion to table all business other than the endorsements for the July meeting, given that there are so many in play. Motion was seconded by Ted. Ann suggested we amend the motion as she wanted the climate resolution brought by Karen on the agenda. Chris Porter seconded. More discussion. July Agenda was voted on and approved by a majority – agenda will include endorsements and GND committee resolution only.
- The voting process for the endorsements was shared by Gina.
- We will be working to help those who haven’t been getting the Zoom emails with link into the meeting
- Lt. Governor candidate Michelle Jasmer was not given time to speak at our last meeting. She was contacted but didn’t respond until just before the meeting. She will get time to speak at the July meeting.
- We will not solicit a replacement Events chair given that we are not doing events for the near term.
- We will get the call out by June 29 for the July meeting. Art will support Gina in this task.
9:38 Adjourn