August 1, 2017 — Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: Judy Carbone called to order the August 1, 2017 meeting of the Garrett
County Commission for Women (GCCW) at Garrett College, McHenry, MD at 5:10 PM.
IN ATTENDANCE:Judy Carbone, Chair, BJ Gallagher, Vice-Chair, Sherri Fredlock, Treasurer, Linda Carr, Secretary
Maureen Myers, Cherie Krug, Kitty Lauer
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited along with a moment of silence.
MINUTES: Minutes from the June 2017 meeting were approved as submitted.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Sherri Fredlock reported that the current balance of our checking remains at $1,574.38. The only upcoming expense is a renewal to (MLAW) Maryland Legislative Association for Women of $75.00. A motion was made and voted on unanimously to continue membership within that group.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Nametags. Judy still has nametags for Michelle Harman and Kristal Huber. Cherie reported that she had worn hers.
2. Election of Officers. As discussed in the last meeting, Maureen and Cherie prepared a ballot for the nominations of officers for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. A motion had been made and approved that the existing officers were asked to continue in their duties. Nominees were Judy Carbone as Chair, BJ Gallagher as Vice Chair, Sherri Fredlock as Treasurer, Linda Carr as Secretary. These were voted on unanimously by the membership.
3. Planning Committee Meeting Report. Judy noted that notes from this meeting had been sent out along with a list of the items to be voted on this evening. The committees were reviewed as to their purpose, relevance and leadership as per by-laws. It was discussed to eliminate the Education committee (as this was covered under the Community committee) and to add a Hall of Fame Committee. Various committee heads are asked to review their committees description and have an update on their purpose and duties by the September meeting. An updated document entitled “GCCW Committees and Description of Scope of Work” (preparded by BJ) was disseminated, which will be the basis of an Operating & Procedure Manual which will be developed. A Nominations Procedure had been prepared by Maureen and Cherie and discussed at the planning meeting with revisions being sent to other Commission Members as well as the final Nominations Protocol. A motion was made to accept this new Nominating Procedure as amended. The floor was open to discussion and hearing none, Judy called for a vote. This passed unanimously. A second motion was made to accept the proposed By-Laws and Guiding Principles as amended. The motion was seconded and voted on unanimously. Judy will send amended documents to Carol Riley at the Commissioner’s Office.
4. Member Nominations. Although our new nominating procedure follows a strict protocol for bringing on new members, after this month our Commission will only have 10 members of the required 12 to 15. Maureen and Cherie had come up with some names for us to ask to join the
Commission as early as this October to get a full membership again. Names submitted for consideration were Lisa Thayer-Welch, Jessica Fike, Cheryl DeBerry, Nancy Railey and Dallas Ouellette. Judy will reach out to Lisa Thayer Welch and Dallas Ouellette, Linda will reach out to Nancy Railey, Maureen to Jessica Fike and Cherie to Cheryl DeBerry. Sherri Fredlock had also spoken with another woman, Heather Cooper, who has shown an interest in the committee and will reach out to her again to gauge her interest. A deadline of September 1st was set to reach out to potential nominees.
5. Update on June “In Between” Topic Meeting. Judy gave an update on the June “in between” session which was a presentation by Sadie Liller of the Garrett County Health Department about “Opioid Use and Prevention”. Although there was a small turnout, a good conversation was
had with Sadie on opioid use in our area. There are 456 women in our community currently in treatment, which is about 5% of our population. In 2016, there were 35 drug addicted babies born in Garrett County, up from 22 in 2015, so this is clearly a growing concern for our Commission. There seems to be a need for a recovery house or treatment facility in the county as well as awareness on prescription drug disposal and other issues. Judy will follow up with Bob Stephens, the new county Health Director, to discuss the possibility of more informational sessions and how our commission could take a role of support and advocacy.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
HALL OF FAME: No Report
EDUCATION: No report
SCHOLARSHIP: No report.
LEGISLATION: The next MLAW fall meeting is slated for Saturday, November 18th. Several Commission members are planning to attend.
WEB: All information is current.
PUBLICITY: BJ will be heading this committee, to also include the Website. Linda sent BJ all copies of press releases related to various GCCW events.
MEMBERSHIP: See above.
HISTORIAN: Kitty is still going through old files and boxes. The Commission has asked her to define the duties of the historian as SHE sees them moving forward to bring for discussion for the October meeting.
BY-LAWS: See above.
COMMUNITY SERVICE: No report.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. New Scholarship Opportunity. BJ announced that there was a potential donor for a new scholarship donated by the family of Maureen Sharps in her honor. The family wanted this scholarship to be available for non-traditional age women returning to college that were no longer eligible for the County Commissioner’s scholarship. BJ spoke with Carol at the Commissioner’s office, and although our group is not allowed to fund-raise, there is no issue with us moving forward with a donation. BJ is working out details and will report more in October.
2. Fall Event. There was also an update on a proposed fall event. Since the Hall of Fame is the Women’s Commission signature spring event, there had been some discussion about a second fall event. At the planning meeting, we had discussed the possibility of bringing members from
other women’s groups together to initiate a future fall event or conference with various speakers as related to women’s issues. It was decided to invite one member from each of the women’s organizations in the county including AAUW, the Civic Club, Junior Womens Civic Club, Republican Women’s Group, the Women’s Huddle group as well as members of the Health Department, Community Action, and the Dove Center for an exploratory meeting to be held on Thursday, October 26th at the College. Judy will draft an invitation to be sent by the end of the summer. A motion was made to allocate $150 to provide some light refreshments for the group. Cherie will contact Goehringers Catering to set it up and to reserve the room at the College
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was formally adjourned at 6:35 PM.
NEXT MEETING: The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 3, 2017, from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. in the Garrett College Board Room — GIEC Room 127.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Carr, Secretary
08/14/2017
