Garrett County Commission for Women October 3, 2017 Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Judy Carbone, Chair at 5:02 pm.
IN ATTENDANCE:
Judy Carbone, Sherri Fredlock, Cherie Krug, Kristal Huber; via video conference: BJ Gallagher, Michelle Harman, Robin Bissell
Guest attendees: Lisa Thayer-Welch and Cheryl DeBerry
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited along with a moment of silence.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Sherri Fredlock reported that checking balance as of our previous meeting was $1,574.38. A check was written for yearly MLAW dues for $75.00 and a deposit of $3,500.00 was made. That amount was our yearly disbursement from the County Commissioners. Balance in checking as of this date is $4,999.38.
OLD BUSINESS:
Introductions of Commissioners and Guests then took place.
MINUTES: The minutes from the August meeting were approved with a motion made by Cherie Krug and seconded by Michelle Harman; all in favor.
Judy followed up that this amount from the County Commissioners was an increase of $500 vs. the previous year and this may be a reflection of the strategic plan submitted by the Commission as well as the impressive scholarship recipients that the County Commissioners met at our HOF Brunch.
- Name Tags – Judy will get Michelle’s badge to her.
- On 10/2/17, during their meeting, the County Commissioners approved our revised By-Laws and
Guiding Principles - Update of the Maureen Sharps Scholarship was provided by BJ Gallagher. This will be a $5000.00 scholarship to a woman with a child/children who is attending Garrett College. It was clarified that the GCCW will be including this in their scholarship process for the spring of 2018.
- BJ requested updated By-Laws and Guiding Principles for inclusion on the GCCW website.
- Scholarship info will also be needed to begin advertising in January/February.
- Member Nominations: we have 2 potential members present at this meeting and 2 others who are interested. Cherie Krug will follow up with Cheryl DeBerry and Lisa Thayer-Welch at some point after this meeting to see if they desire to be on the GCCW and, from there, Linda Carr will write a letter to the County Commissioners recommending appointment, if they so desire.
- “In Between Meetings” – a meeting was held in September to address one of the 6 areas of concern as identified in last year’s Listening Session. Sadie Liller from the Garrett County Health Department spoke on the opioid epidemic. Judy reported that we sent a thank you note to Sadie and Bob Stephens, Health Officer, to whome Sadie reports and that Mr. Stephens requested the following of the GCCW: that we form some type of relationship with the Drug Free Community Coalition (Lisa Thayer-Welch was able to provide some insight into this organization and give some suggestions on how we may be involved) and stated he would welcome our presence at meetings. These meetings are held the first Wednesday of every month from 11:45 am to 1 pm. Kristal Huber agreed to participate in these meetings on our behalf. The second thing he asked is that we participate in “Anti-Stigma” events and that this is a topic that could be addressed by our group. It is noted that two of the events have already passed.
- The Fall Event that we have planned including representatives from various women’s organizations in the county is set for October 26th at 5 pm. There will be discussion on how to bring greater awareness and education on the key areas identified at the Listening Session: poverty, opioid epidemic and substance abuse, economic development, transportation, lack of female political leaders, and domestic violence. Invitations have been sent and, at this point, we have affirmative responses from Barbara Miller of Community Action and Heather Hanline of the Dove Center. The will be a brainstorming session of how the organizations can work better together and possibly develop a plan for an event next fall. We will need a volunteer from the GCCW to moderate this event. Judy will send out an agenda and ask for volunteers.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Hall of Fame – Possible dates were discussed and Judy/BJ will check with Dutch’s on the availability of the room for the event.
Scholarship – As yet unchaired. We do need the records for this committee from Robin McGill. Lisa Thayer Welch volunteered to reach out to her.
Legislation – The MLAW Fall Agenda Conference will be held on November 18th at the Howard County Community College. Legislation concerning women will be presented in the morning. Typically the MD Commission for Women held a round table in the pm however, that is being moved to Spring of 2018. There will be an advocacy seminar that may be attended in the pm for the Fall Conference. Cost for the event is $35 and a motion was made by Cherie to approve funding for up to 5 GCCW Commissioners to attend the event. BJ seconded the motion and all present were in favor. Judy will email registration forms for the event and all interested parties should complete the form and send to Sherri who will send a check to MLAW for up to 5 registrants. The deadline for receipt of the form is November 1.
PR/Website – BJ needs photos of HOF for the website and she will email Linda for these. She also needs updated by-laws, guiding principles and updated contact info for commissioners. We are going to explore the ability to have the GCCW website linked to the county website. A new brochure was discussed and the question was raised as to whether this was something that would be utilized. A suggestion for a business card sized publication basically referring interested parties to our website was made and met with positive comments. Judy felt that Linda Carr may be able to help with this and will follow up with Linda.
Membership – See comments in New Business regarding potential new members.
Historian – No report.
Community Service – Kristal brought up the idea of a back to school event next year that would provide haircuts and involve volunteer stylists from the community. She is also going to look into checking with other organizations such as the Dove Center about partnering in their events. This will be something that will be discussed at the 10/26 event.
NEW BUSINESS:
- The Fall Update to the County Commissioners should take place at on of their November meetings to keep consistency with what was done last year. We should provide an update on strategic planning, a report of the 10/26 combined organization session, etc. We need volunteers to be present and speak on one or more of these items. Email communication will be sent prior to the update. Judy will check with Carol in the Commissioner’s Office to see what dates are available.
- Social Media Presence – Kristal volunteered to set up a GCCW Facebook page and Sherri will bring an example of a Social Media Contract to the next meeting.
- Poverty Simulation – Judy reported that she has heard from Nancy Forlifer in Allegany County and a poverty simulation will be held at WRMC on December 5th from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. This will conflict with our next meeting but arrangements could be made to reschedule the meeting with enough Commissioners were interested. No one had an interest at this point.
- Student Commissioners – tabled till next meeting.
- Related Events – The AAUW will be holding a Dough Raiser fundraiser at Uno’s on 10/12 and
the student chapter of AAUW will be holding screenings of “Iron Jawed Angels” on 10/18 at 3 pm and 6 pm. Engage Mountain Maryland will be holding a voter registration between viewings.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 pm. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 from 5 to 6:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Carr (via Sherry Fredlock) Secretary