Garrett County Commission for Women
June 5, 2018
Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chair Judy Carbone at 5:00 pm. Guests Heather Cooper and Rachel Bruch (potential members) introduced themselves to the group.
IN ATTENDANCE: Judy Carbone, Sherri Fredlock, BJ Gallagher, Maureen Myers, Linda Carr, Cheryl DeBerry, Kristal Huber, Kitty Lauer, Sadie Liller and Lisa Thayer Welch.
There was a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: Sherri brought it to the group’s attention that the minutes inaccurately stated the amount of the donation to the Maryland Association of Student Councils. It was $100, not
$125. With this change, the minutes from the April 2018 meeting were approved; all in favor.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Sherri Fredlock reported the checking account balance was $4,852.41 on April 3, 2018. Since then, checks were written and cashed to the MD Association of Student Councils for
$100; reimbursement to Judy Carbone for $41.80 (Hall of Fame Breakfast supplies); the $180 donation to Garrett College for the Women’s Psychology trip, and five $500 scholarship checks to our scholarship
winners and $1,746.00 to Dutch’s at Silver Tree for the Hall of Fame Breakfast. There were deposits made for $445.00 from meals purchased day of Hall of Fame event and a $1725
deposit from EventBrite for tickets purchased online, leaving an ending balance of $2,454.61.
OLD BUSINESS:
- The revised letter to the County Commissioners requesting a Statement on Sexual Assault/Harassment and Support of Local Initiatives has been sent out to commission members. Judy
called for a vote with all in favor, two abstentions. Judy will send to County Commissioners. - A debrief was held on the Hall of Fame Breakfast. There were 92 in attendance and positive comments had been received by all members present. Because we were at standing room only,
BJ thought we might want to reconsider the venue and possibly push the date up a week or two to better accommodate our Legislators and the hope of better weather. It was agreed that the Hall of
Fame committee would do some research on this and get back to the group. According to Sherri, we did make about $445 on this event but if several of the items had not been donated, we would
have just broken even. - Maureen reported that the sub committee handling the Fall Event was meeting directly after the main meeting was done. They were currently considering a one-day event on October 20th which
would include a possible listening session and networking event. More details to come. - The group needs to vote for new officers at the August meeting and Maureen asked that anyone wishing to hold an office for 2018 – 2019 or to nominate somebody else, please let her know by
July 31st. - Nominations are also open for prospective new members to the Commission. In addition to the two women present (Heather Cooper and Rachel Bruch), three other women had expressed
interest in joining the commission (Caroline Blizzard, Leah Diehl, and Dawn Beitzel). Maureen had not received bios from Leah or Dawn but would contact them to see if they were still
interested. We currently have 11 members on our commission, down from the 12 to 15 as mandated in our by-laws. - A discussion was held on how best to utilize the Garrett County women’s Data Sheet, as compiled by Cheryl DeBerry. They were distributed at the Hall of Fame breakfast and the
County Commissioners have also received a copy. Cheryl has posted some of the statistics on our Facebook page. All members should also have a digital copy they can share as well. It was
suggested that they be distributed to different women’s groups in the area, particularly the Civic Club, as well as to the Guidance Offices as the high school and college. The most glaring statistic
is the one about wage differences between men and women. The reasons behind this (occupational choice perhaps?) is a further topic of discussion. County officials are saying that
jobs are coming, but they do seem to be primarily male oriented. Women currently make up 52% of the county’s workforce, while 56% of county women live in poverty.
COMMITTEE REPORTS: Hall of Fame – Discussed in Old Business.
Scholarship – Lisa was pleased with the caliber of all the winners of the scholarships and reported that all press releases have been sent. BJ asked Lisa for a digital copy of it to give to the Sharps Family. BJ and
Cheryl will work with the Tucker County foundation (the group managing the Sharps Foundation Scholarship) to get the funds to the winner of the Maureen Sharps scholarship.
Legislative – Linda had sent the MLAW final legislative report to the members earlier that day and gave a brief recap of the passed legislation. (Power was lost at the College at this point).
PR/Website – As previously reported, Cheryl has been posting on Facebook different photos of the women in the area as well as statistics compiled by the Maryland Commission for Women. If anyone has
relevant content to share, just let her know.
Membership – as noted above.
Historian – No report.
By-Laws – No report.
Community Service – Kristal talked to the JR ROTC students at both high schools as well as the EMS club about women leaders and alternative career paths. Linda gave an update on the GEMS program
which currently has 10 women mentoring 11 girls. They had two events recently (bowling at The Alley and meeting with hair and makeup professionals before The Belle Soiree, held in late May, which also
was a fund-raiser for the organization.
NEW BUSINESS:
- Sadie and Lisa reported on the Opioid Town Hall Meetings to be held on June 14th in Oakland and on July 10th in Grantsville. These are community wide events and the women of the
commission were asked to help spread the word. At the first event, Ashley Elliott, a recovering addict, will speak and Sadie will deliver a presentation on local statistics. Lisa called it an
“exchange of ideas” where others can bring issues and answers before the community. The first two meetings will be a general discussion with a third “Call to Action” meeting being held on
August 31st. The goal is to help erase the stigma of addiction and provide resources for families of addicts to get help. They are also looking to work with various communities within the county
including the faith-based communities, schools, businesses, Health Department, Community Action, law enforcement and more. The idea is to plan various events in the community from
September 2018 through October of 2019 to help raise awareness and promote resources. Sadie passed out information cards and invited commission members to go to Addictionhappens.org for
more information and to follow them on My Garrett County. Lisa is pulling together statistics working with local health officials to provide packets of information. - It has been brought to our attention that the plaque in the County Courthouse honoring the past Hall of Fame winners has run out of space for new inductees and that it has not been updated
since 2013. We were asked if we wanted the county to purchase a larger plaque or to get a second one of same size. The original inductees each had their own space with name and year of
induction although the last year posted listed all three honorees of same year on one nameplate.
After some discussion, it was decided that each woman deserved her own nameplate and Judy was to get back with Carol at the Commissioner’s office to see if we could get the larger plaque
but with smaller nameplates so we could continue in that tradition and possibly re-use the current ones.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 pm. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 7 from 5 to
6:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Carr
Secretary