Garrett County Commission for Women
February 7, 2017 Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: Judy Carbone called to order the February 7, 2017 meeting of the Garrett County Commission for Women (GCCW) at Garrett College, McHenry, MD at 5:10 PM. She introduced our guests for the evening, Michelle Harman and Chantelle Friend, both potential members to the Commission.
ATTENDANCE:
Robin McGill
Judy Carbone
Linda Carr
Maureen Myers
Kristal Huber
Cheri Krug
Kitty Lauer
BJ Gallagher (via phone)
PLEDGE: Robin McGill led the Pledge to the Flag.
MINUTES: Minutes from the January 3, 2017 meeting were approved as submitted.
TREASURER’S REPORT: The current balance in the account remains at $4,144.73. A motion was made, seconded and carried to accept the Treasurer’s Report. Judy reported that the deadline for budget request submission for the FY 2018 to the Commissioners was February 23, 2017. Judy reported that Sherri was going to get prices on name badges for the Commission members to wear when they were representing us in the community.
OLD BUSINESS:
Kristal Huber has been approved by the County Commissioners. She and Judy Carbone attended the meeting in person for introductions.
Our guests Michelle Harman and Chantelle Friend gave a brief description of themselves and their background and their interest in GCCW. Judy invited them to ask questions as the meeting progressed.
We are still working on Officer Job and Committee Descriptions. As per our by-laws, GCCW is required to have the following committees: Education, Scholarship, Legislation, Public Relations, History, By-Laws and Community Service. In addition, we have added throughout the years committees for the Hall of Fame, Membership, and Mentoring. Committee chairs are as follows: Education: Cherie Krug, Scholarship: Jeannette and Robin, Historian : Kitty Lauer, Legislation: Sherri Fredlock, By-Laws: Maureen Myers, Community Service: Kristal Huber, Hall of Fame: Judy and BJ, Website: BJ, Membership: Teri Riley. Currently, there is no one heading Public Relations Committee but Linda Carr is sending out press releases as necessary.
Linda did provide an updated GCCW member list with term information. Terri Riley’s second term expires in September. Robin’s first term is also up at that time. She has agreed to serve a second term and Linda will send the appropriate information to the Commissioners before October 1, 2017. Judy reported that because of time commitments Traci Royce will be resigning her appointment on the Commission. That leaves us with 11 members currently.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
HALL OF FAME: The annual Hall of Fame breakfast will be held on Saturday, April 29. The application is available on the website and at the County Commissioners’ office. A press release was sent to major media in the area and has appeared in The Republican as well as on WKHJ Radio. Deadline for submissions will be March 31st. While no nominations have been received, there has been some interest. Linda said she would post some sort of reminder at the beginning of March.
EDUCATION: No Report.
SCHOLARSHIP: Robin reported that scholarship applications were on the website, at the Garrett College Financial Aid office and each of the Ruth Enlow Public Library county branches. A press release was sent to all major media. There have been no applications as of yet but the deadline is not until March 31, 2017. Our plan is to award up to five (5) $500 scholarships in light of the increased funding from our Commissioners. Winners will be recognized at the Hall of Fame breakfast. Another press release or Letter to the Editor will be sent out in early March as a reminder of deadline.
LEGISLATION: Linda reported that Mandatory Sick Leave was getting a lot of play in Annapolis this session. The link to follow legislative issues that are important to you is: http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmTrackingMain.aspx?pid=trackpage
WEB: All information is current.
PUBLICITY: No report.
MEMBERSHIP: No report. As discussed in Strategic Planning session, we need a more formal way of vetting members, even with the formal nomination process that the GCCW approved last year. Cheri will come up with some ideas to share with Terri and we will discuss at April meeting.
HISTORIAN: Kitty is in possession of years of files from GCCW. The Library no longer wants to house these. Kitty will go through the files and cull what she can. Judy reported that Carol in the Commissioner’s office would scan items for us and keep them that way but they cannot hold the physical files. If somebody knows of a place to house these files, please let Kitty know.
COMMUNITY SERVICE: As this is a new committee, Kristal is going to review some ideas to present at the April meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
A strategic planning session was held on Saturday, February 4, 2017 with eight of our members in attendance. This four-hour meeting was very productive and resulted in a lot of new ideas and potential programs of work. Linda sent out Notes for the meeting. The six main priorities set at that session were reviewed:
- To act as leadership / role models
- Continuation of GEMS program
- Work on possible high school program (Kristal)
- Highlight former Hall of Fame winners on website to highlight women’s accomplishments (BJ?)
- Female statistics report. Judy to work on, Michelle Harman will provide data she has from Board of Education
- Female Networking Opportunities.
- Discussed possibility of re-starting Women’s Networking Luncheon as program of work by GCCW to bring in speakers on relevant topics. Maureen, Linda, Judy, Sherri and Cherie to serve on special sub-committee to discuss and research further. Maureen will chair this committee with plans to meet in March in time to report to Commission at April meeting.
- More participation on statewide level
- Increase visibility of local hall of Fame breakfast
- Special honorees for deceased women that made a difference
- Establishment of a Women of Tomorrow award (high school / college students)
- Standard Operating Procedures and Officer Guide (all asked to participate; Maureen and BJ will organize information)
Next item on the agenda was a proposed student membership category (one from each high school). It was decided this would be part of By-Laws discussion, to be brought up again at June meeting.
It has been discussed in prior meetings about possibly meeting more than the mandated six times per year in order to accomplish our increased body of work. A motion was made and seconded to keep current schedule with ability to schedule extra meetings as needed. This motion passed unanimously.
Linda had sent out copies of the current brochure with the idea of updating for future use. It was decided that while we were still working on procedures and our body of work to shelve this at least until June meeting.
Judy reported that Terry Kasecamp of Garrett College had requested $100 from the GCCW to help fund their bus trip to historical women’s sites. A motion was made by Cherie Krug to grant funding, and seconded by Maureen. A discussion ensued. Some members felt this adhered to our mission while some thought maybe this would open the door to requests we couldn’t possibly fund. Cherie offered to work on a formal statement for GCCW to handle future requests to be part of the By-Laws. The motion to donate the $100 passed 7 to 1.
The budget request for Fiscal Year 2018 is due to the County Commissioners by February 23. Linda had drafted an initial letter from notes taken at the Strategic Planning Session highlighting past work and future goals. The letter was reviewed, and it was suggested that it be cut for clarity. A discussion was held on how much money to request. At current, we are giving away in scholarships the majority of funds received by the Commissioners. It was thought that we may want to request more so we could have a back up to enact some of our other priorities or to serve as back up in case Hall of Fame breakfast didn’t break even as it has in years past. A motion was made and seconded to request $4,000 from the Commissioners. After some discussion, the motion was passed 7 to 1.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:36 p.m.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Arpil 4, 2017 from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. at Garrett College in GIEC Room 127. ****NOTE NEW LOCATION****
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Carr
Secretary