SJVGreens Minutes

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Minutes of St. Joe Valley Greens Congress

January 20, 2007; Tom Brown, Secretary

I. Present

Karl Hardy, Jeff Sutter, Tom Brown at 1:00 PM. Lance arrived shortly after 2:00 PM. Dave Vollrath arrived at 4:00 PM.

II. Quorum

Karl, Jeff and Tom estimate there are five active members in the St. Joe Valley Greens. Karl reads the quorum requirements of the charter out loud. The charter requires at least 50% of the active members in attendance to constitute a quorum.

Karl calls the three absent members (Kathleen Petitjean, Lance Howard and Dave Vollrath) to find out when they plan to arrive. He left messages for Kathleen and Dave. Lance said he would come in an hour. Kathleen is ill and cannot attend.

During the call to Lance, he confirms there are six active members. Therefore, there is a quorum (50%) of membership at 1:30 PM. Voting is postponed until more members arrive. By 4:00 PM, 5 of 6 active members are present.

Karl volunteers to chair the Congress since Kathleen cannot attend and opens the meeting at 1:30 PM.

III. Proposals

There are no notes of the discussions generated by the proposals. The Secretary is not good enough a typist or note taker to manage recording the discussions. Further, detailed notes would make the minutes too extensive.

Since all proposals passed by consensus, were withdrawn, or were amended and thereby passed, there are no minority positions to record.

The proposals (motions) are categorized as:

Elections are held after the proposals because some proposals will affect the Charter/Bylaws.

A. Chapter Maintenance

Proposal 1.
Tom proposes that the SJVGreens amend the bylaws to (a) remove references to organizations to which we do not belong and (b) insert the Indiana Green Party where appropriate.

Dave seconds the motion.

The proposal passes by consensus.

Proposal 2.
Jeff proposes we raise membership dues to regular - $40, student - $20, hardship - $0, and strike language regarding national dues and the supporting membership category.

Karl seconds the motion.

The proposal passes by consensus.

Proposal 3.
Jeff proposes we set a goal of recruiting 25 new members and complete one fundraising event.

[Sec. - I did not catch who seconded the motion and didn't realize this until I prepared the minutes for publication.]

The proposal passes by consensus.

Proposal 4.
Karl proposes that we strike all language which specifies when Congress shall meet or officers shall serve or be elected.

[Sec. - In an effort to be concise, I am probably too brief here. The sense of the proposal is to remove outdated, restrictive or unrealistic references to specific dates for Congress, such as "before the National Greens/Green Party USA Gathering and after Election Day" or "by the summer Congress."]

Lance seconds the motion.

The motion passes by consensus.

Proposal 5.
Regarding the tenure of elected officers, Dave proposes that we strike "shall serve no more than two terms in a row or three years out of five" and insert "It is a preference to serve no more than two terms in a row or three years out of five".

Jeff seconds the motion.

The proposals passes by consensus.

B. Partisan Goals

Proposal 1.
Karl proposes undertaking a political research project toward the end of furthering the interests of the SJVGs and progressive politics in Michiana.

Lance seconds the motion.

The proposal passes by consensus.

Comment (Tom) -- Examples of potential spinoff projects are:

  • Jeff suggests research to identify political opportunities. The opportunities may suggest recruiting a progressive candidate to run for office.
  • Develop systematized political data for presentation to the public and form a coalition with other progressives who would help publish a progressive voter guide, sponsor candidate debates or other nonpartisan political activities.]

C. Non-Partisan Goals

Proposal 1.
Tom proposes that the SJVGreens create a non-profit 501(c)3 organization to apply for grants for media projects and other educational activities.

Jeff seconds.

The proposal passes by consensus.

Proposal 2.
Tom proposed establishing a progressive world wide web portal for the Michiana area and inviting other progressive groups to participate.

Karl seconds the motion.

The proposal passes by consensus.

IV. Election of Officers and Delegates

A. Officers

Karl volunteers to serve as lead coordinator. Jeff volunteers to serve as co-coordinator. Lance and Tom volunteer to serve another term each as Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.

The officers are elected by consensus.

B. Delegates

Dave volunteers to continue to serve as our delegate to St. Joe Valley Project, Indiana Green Party and the South Bend Mayor's Council on CSOs.

Karl volunteers to serve as alternate delegate to IGP.

The delegates are elected by consensus.

V. Adjournment

Dave moves to adjourn at 5:37 PM. Karl seconds. The motion passes by joyful acclamation.

 St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN