Minutes
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chair Judy Carbone at 5:04 pm.
Garrett County Commission for Women
February 6, 2018
IN ATTENDANCE:
Judy Carbone, Sherri Fredlock, Cherie Krug (by phone), Kristal Huber; BJ Gallagher (by phone), Maureen Myers, Linda Carr, Kitty Lauer, Cheryl DeBerry, Sadie Liller, Robin Bissell (by phone) and Lisa Thayer Welch
There was a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Judy introduced and welcomed Sadie as a new member to the Commission. Sadie was appointed by the County Commissioners.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: The minutes from the December 2017 meeting were approved; all in favor. Linda reported that a request to the commissioners for the 2018 – 2019 fiscal year is due February 28th. Accomplishments of last year and plans for future were discussed. The commission hopes to award up to $2,500 in scholarships in April and plans to donate to the Garrett College Women’s Trip in May as well as the newly formed AAUW Branch at the College to send several students to a leadership conference this summer. Because we only, at best, break even on the Hall of Fame Breakfast and in the past only with donations from GCCW members from their personal funds, a motion was made by Cheryl DeBerry and seconded by Sherri Fredlock to request $4,500 from the commissioners to help continue expanding our role within the community. It was approved unanimously. Linda will draft a letter and send to commissioners for feedback before mailing.
TREASURER’S REPORT Sherri Fredlock reported that only one debit was made in the checking account for the past two months: $33 for a new domain name, taking the current balance to $4,755.40.
OLD BUSINESS:
- As noted, Sadie Liller is the newest appointment to our commission. We have received Michelle Harman’s resignation, but we are still at By-Law requirements with 13 members. We will follow
our nominating protocol to bring on any further new members. - BJ Gallagher and Cheryl DeBerry gave an update on the Maureen Sharps Scholarship. The Tucker County Community Foundation has agreed to take over the administration of this scholarship. Applications are currently on our website and a press release has been sent out.
- Kristal and Cheryl gave an update on our Facebook Page. The two have culled other non-profit as well as county websites for procedures and have drafted a contract that all commission
members must follow when posting on the GCCW Facebook (or any social media) page. Kitty made a motion to approve the contract as written with an option to make small revisions once
entire commission has had a chance to review the document. The motion passed unanimously. BJ, Kristal and Cheryl will be Administrators on this Organization Page. It should go live shortly
and commission members are encouraged to share information. - Maureen gave an update on the planning for a Fall Women’s Conference. The idea is for this to be a one day event taking place in late October. The plan is to have a Listening Session in the
morning to hear concerns of area women (good timing since our last listening session will have been held two years ago); have a networking luncheon with the possibility of a non profit “speed
dating” event so local non-profits can pitch their organization to prospective volunteers; then have an afternoon session with a guest speaker who could talk about topics such as leadership,
self esteem, goal setting or the like. Costs would be food, speaker fee, and possibly a location fee (location TBD). There would be a charge for the event but hopefully we could offer scholarships
to women who would like to attend but could maybe not afford to do so. Cherie gave the name of a potential speaker. Maureen has asked for help putting this together. Sadie has volunteered to
be on this committee with Maureen and Judy (others are welcome!) and will meet soon to discuss potential location and more. - Cheryl has proposed to design a new logo for GCCW. She passed out several examples and after some discussion, a new logo was selected. She will send out revised logo for final approval and
Judy will use it in advertising for the Hall of Fame luncheon. Because we are launching a new website, Facebook page, as well as new initiatives, it was decided this would be a good time to
“update” our look. Linda made a motion to change logo as amended, which was seconded by Lisa and agreed on unanimously. Sherri asked about getting new nametags for our new members
(cost is $10 apiece) and it was agreed to purchase new nametags using the new logo for the entire Commission, hopefully in time for Hall of Fame breakfast. - Judy has asked that the Commission think ahead to officer nominations. Her term expires in September and Sherri has announced that she will most likely not seek another term after this
year. As head of the nominating committee, Maureen has announced that nominations will be taken from now until August which is when the commission will vote on new officers. If you are
interested in serving in an officer’s position, please let Maureen know. - Nominations are also open for prospective new members to the Commission. Cheri has asked that commission members give her the name of any potential or interested women for her to
contact. As protocol dictates, these candidates will be invited to the April meeting as well as the Hall of Fame breakfast to get a feel for the work our commission does. Invitation letters are sent
in June and nominations made in August for terms to begin in August. It was discussed to write a press release asking for interested women to contact us about being part of the Commission.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Hall of Fame – The Hall of Fame breakfast will be held on Saturday, April 7th at Dutch’s at Silver Tree. The online application is still showing last year’s date; BJ will fix it. Deadline for applications is March
1, 2018. We do have one nomination already with several more to come. Dutch’s is confirmed although the price will be going up slightly. Simon Pearce has agreed to not only give us the gifts for our
recipients but to do the engraving as well. BJ has created an EventBrite page for those who wish to pay online. Checks are still accepted and price is $25 in advance, $30 at the door. We will stop accepting
payment on EventBrite a few days before the event. Judy will send out invitations and has already contacted dignitaries. Senator Edwards and Delegate Beitzel may not be able to attend because of
commitments in Annapolis. The County Commissioners will attend.
Scholarship – Lisa reported that packages are out, and press releases have been sent. She will record a PSA for local radio stations this week. She said she will recruit some co-workers at the courthouse to
review applications and choose recipients and any Commission member who would like to be involved is
welcome to do so.
Legislation – Linda, Judy and Sherri receive MLAW updates and will forward to the rest of the Commission. They have asked us to sign on to their agenda and a vote was held to do so, if it is not too
late.
PR/Website – The website is now being hosted through the Garrett County webpage although Cheryl must update with coding. Andrew in her office is helping to set up a WordPress website that will be
easier to update. BJ will be sent an invitation to be co-administrator.
Membership – as noted above.
Historian – No report.
By-Laws – No report.
Community Service – Linda reported that several women have signed up to be speakers for the Ladies Tea on Wednesdays at Northern High. Their guidance counselor is setting up dates and topics, Linda is
referring names at this point.
NEW BUSINESS:
- Terry Kasecamp of Garrett College has once again requested a donation to help fund the Garrett College Women’s History Trip, slated for May 3 – 5, 2018. Community members are also
invited to participate. Cost is $280 per community member; $180 per student although fundraising is underway to help lower that cost. Cheryl made a motion that GCCW donate the cost of
one participant, $180. Linda seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Sherri will send a check on behalf of GCCW. - Health Fair participation – The consensus was that it was too late to participate in Health Fair this year. It may be that after our listening session in the fall, we could create a panel event or
something else relating to issues identified there. - Possible statement relating to other nationwide initiatives: Discussed on how GCCW could advise our County Commissioners on ideas relating to current #metoo, #timesup movements
happening across the country. Judy noted that the issue (domestic violence and assault against women) was one of the issues identified at our last listening session. It was decided, however,
that without a specific request on how to move forward with that, nothing would be done at this time. Judy said she will meet with Heather Hanline of The Dove Center to determine if she has
any ideas for suggestions we can make to commissioners, and as we speak to various groups in area (as part of our outreach), any ideas brought forth will be brought to the Commission in the
future. - Strategic Planning Session – Judy noted that we had our last Strategic Planning Session last February and was asking if one should be scheduled for this month. Maureen noted that she felt
we were in the process of implementing our ideas from last year and that there was no need to review policies as we were just in first year of utilizing them. After some discussion, it was
agreed to table a strategic planning meeting until after our next listening session or until plans were underway for a fall event.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:47 pm. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 3 from 5 to 6:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Carr
Secretary