Garrett County Commission for Women
June 6, 2017 Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: Judy Carbone called to order the June 6, 2017 meeting of the Garrett County Commission for Women (GCCW) at Garrett College, McHenry, MD at 5:04 PM.
IN ATTENDANCE:
Judy Carbone, Chair
Linda Carr, Secretary
Maureen Myers
Cheri Krug
BJ Gallagher, Vice-Chair
Sherri Fredlock, Treasurer
MINUTES:
Minutes from the April 2017 meeting were approved as submitted.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Sherri Fredlock reported that the current balance of our checking account is $1,574.38. This includes deposits of $1,280 for the Hall of Fame breakfast plus checks for expenses ($33.39 for invites and $1,008 to Dutch’s for food, tax and gratuity) as well as $2,500 in checks to our five scholarship winners (Khristyn Towles, Amber Sines, Jacqueline Rodeheaver, Lindsay Crawford, and Teresa Bittinger). The other expense was $104.50 for nametags for each of our Commissioners. Sherri noted that over $600 of items was donated to the Hall of Fame breakfast including cost of programs, inductee platters, postage, florals, and GCCW Banner. She noted that if these items had NOT been donated, we would have lost money on the event. She suggests we think about raising the price for next year’s event to $25 or $30 per person. While it is not intended as an activity to make money, our funds are limited and we do not want to lose money on the event.
The Hall of Fame was a success with 80 people in attendance. We received good feedback from attendees and the County Commissioners and state representatives. Ruth Umbel sent Judy a letter of thanks as well as some suggestions for protocol for next year’s event. Judy will meet with Ruth to get her valuable input. BJ expressed an interest in attending this meeting with Ruth. Finally, Sherri reported that the food remaining at the end of the breakfast was given to Hospice
Linda Carr reported according to a copy of the finalized budget she had seen that the GCCW had been approved for $3,500 for the upcoming fiscal year, which is $500 less than requested but $500 more than the previous year. The Commissioners have upped their funding from $2500 to $3500 in two years, and we have heard good reviews from them both during and after the Hall of Fame breakfast.
OLD BUSINESS:
Dr. Robin Bissell has been approved as a GCCW member by the County Commissioners. We do have three other women (Janis Bush, Elizabeth George, and Dallas Ouellette) interested in join-ing the Commission but all have time restraints at this time. Linda submitted a written “Review of Nominations” protocol to the membership for discussion. A lengthy discussion ensued. It was agreed that we want to vet any potential members by occupation, community activities, representation of voting districts, as well as other kinds of diversity. We also want to make sure any potential nominees understand the time commitment involved (a minimum of 6 meetings a year for three consecutive years). Any committee member can bring a name(s) before the entire commission for vetting. To eliminate a new member starting each month, it was decided that this would be done once a year at the April meeting with possible candidates being named during the winter working session. This would give us time to approach a potential nominee, apprise them of the GCCW mission and for them to attend a meeting if they so wish. New members would be voted on in August so they can begin their first term in time for the October meeting. We are currently at 11 members (1 less than required in by-laws) but it was generally thought because the commission is still in a state of transition it was better to firm up our mission before extending membership to anyone else. It was asked what our procedure would be for those resigning their positions before the end of their term and noted that all three of our new Commission members’ terms don’t technically begin until September. There was some discussion about this and Linda will check with Terri Riley (former secretary) or Carol at the Commissioner’s office for some detail on how this has been and should be handled moving forward. Additional work needs to be done to finalize this procedure before implementation.
BJ is still working on Officer Job and Committee Descriptions. It was discussed that this has been difficult to do for some of our committees because we don’t really know what they should entail…that it is a “work in progress”. Still need descriptions for Legislative, Membership, Community Service and Historian Committees. Discussion ensued about needing a Nominations Committee to handle new members as well as officer candidate nominations.
Sherri passed out our Name Badges. These are to wear to identify yourself as a GCCW member as you deem appropriate.
Because we could not find a speaker for our proposed May meeting, it was cancelled. The next scheduled time in the speaker series is June 27th although nothing is planned at this time. Judy has names of contacts for other speakers and will contact them to arrange potential times. These are to educate our commission on these topics as well as invited guests. Because opioid addiction was an area of concern identified at the Listening Session and is in the news more and more lately, it will be a topic for consideration. Medical marijuana was also suggested as a potential topic but doesn’t fit into original six educational goals as set by Listening Session.
Maureen and Sherri met to discuss by-law revisions, and Maureen and Cherie Krug worked on updating the Guiding Principles. Both were emailed to all members on May 10th to be discussed and approved at this meeting. Maureen noted that according to the By-Laws, a Nominating Committee should be formed to nominate officers for the upcoming year. Maureen, Linda and Cheri volunteered to contact current officers to see if they were willing to extend their terms to vote on at the August meeting. New terms will start in October. Judy sent County code information to Maureen to make sure suggested changes follows protocol.
Judy reported that Terry Kasecamp, Professor of Psychology at Garrett College, sent the Commission her thanks for supporting the Women’s History Trip. She would like to make a brief presentation to us at an upcoming meeting. It was suggested that the presentation be offered to commission members before the regularly scheduled start time, as several commissioners have already seen the presentation.
There was much discussion about the way to “move forward” with the commission. The 90 minutes allotted for each meeting isn’t adequate for the things we need to take care of regarding by-laws and protocols. It was decided that another “work meeting” would be held for commission members who could attend on Saturday, July 8th at 8:30 AM, going no later than Noon. At this meeting, items to be discussed include a final protocol for the committees, membership nominations, the proposed by-law and mission statement changes, the hoped-for operating procedures, and a potential fall event. These will be discussed and voted on at the August meeting. Cheri will work to secure a room at the College and more details will be forthcoming via email.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
HALL OF FAME: See above.
EDUCATION: No report
SCHOLARSHIP: No report.
LEGISLATION: No report.
WEB: All information is current. Maureen suggested some updates with BJ made.
PUBLICITY: No report.
MEMBERSHIP: See above.
HISTORIAN: No report.
BY-LAWS: See above.
COMMUNITY SERVICE: No report.
NEW BUSINESS: None.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was formally adjourned at 6:45 PM.
NEXT MEETING:
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 8, 2017 from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. at Garrett College Board Room — GIEC Room 127.
PLEASE NOTE a work meeting has been scheduled for Saturday, July 8th, 8:30am-12:00pm, at Garrett College. Room TBD.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Carr
Secretary