Proceedings of the 1997 Annual St. Joe Valley Greens Congress
The 1997 Congress began with a potluck lunch held Saturday, November 1, 1997, at the Central United Methodist Church. Following the lunch we held a panel discussion featuring Joy Brayak of the YWCA and Rev. Mike Matha of Broadway Christian Parish on "Dismantling the Social Safety Net: Local effects and perspectives."
The Greens Congress began after a lively audience interchange with our speakers.
Congress chose action issues for 1998
The assembly heard reports on issues that had been ongoing for the past year which included CARE, nuclear waste transport, solid waste recycling, pollution prevention, sustainable economic development, electoral politics, and community oriented government.
We decided to compile a list of public offices coming up for election so that, in the future, we can talk about electoral politics with specifics in mind. In addition Mark Anderlik announced that there are local meetings being held now regarding community oriented government. Mark gave everyone a handout about it. As community oriented government becomes more of an issue in the county, we may revisit it. Mark will keep us up to date at monthly chapter meetings.
Neve Gordon talked about organizing and accountability. A list of elected officials, their addresses and phone numbers, from the local to Federal levels of government was given out. Neve encouraged all of us to be more active in contacting elected and appointed officials and holding them accountable for their decisions. We will keep some records of calls and letters generated and member activities.
The Congress discussed each of the issues mentioned above and determined which we would pursue over the coming year. We conducted small group discussions around the chosen issues which were:
- nuclear waste transportation
- solid waste recycling
- sustainable economic development
- social safety net
Solid Waste Recyling
The Solid Waste Recycling group debated strategies and encouraged everyone to write letters and make phone calls to Waste Board members to promote recycling. At this point a vote has yet to be taken by the Waste Board on curbside recycling. The Board's next meeting is November 10, and several members of the Greens Solid Waste group will attend. The Solid Waste Recycling group may convene after the upcoming Waste Board meeting to choose their strategy based on what happens at the Board meeting.
Nuclear Waste Transportation
The Nuclear Waste Transportation group asked all Greens to call or send thank you notes to Sen. Dan Coats who voted "no" on the federal nuc transport bill. The group plans to coordinate an educational public meeting sometime in 1998 with either Mary Olson of NIRS or with Nuc Watch. During 1998 the group plans to give six presentations regarding nuclear issues to other local activist groups and will support a national conference on nuclear issues in St. Louis, if that again becomes a possibility. The Nuclear Waste Transportation group will meet again in January.
Sustainable Economic Development/InterGrowth
The InterGrowth group met under the direction of Tom Brown, one of the authors of the EPA grant proposal. InterGrowth is waiting to hear from the EPA. The next round of grants is expected around March, 1998. Whether the InterGrowth grant is approved or not, Tom, John Fonash and Ted Ward will contact project partners in the spring to begin organizing on our own.Without seed money the project will advance more slowly, but the InterGrowth group felt it is worth pursuing without EPA support.
Social Safety Net
The Social Safety Net group wants to gather more information on the effects of dismantling the net and present their findings to the Greens. They may decide to mount a public education campaign, but no formal committee has been convened. Neve Gordon will obtain the information and keep us informed.
General Discussion
We decided to move our next meeting to December 2. We will devote 1/2 of the meeting to a discussion of the direction of the Greens nationally, current national controversies and background. Carol Bellin believes our local chapter can play a role at the national level if we are interested in accepting the challenge.
We exchanged ideas about fund-raising. One pressing financial concern is underwriting Suzy Holshue's trip to California for the next Green Council meeting. In the past we made an obligation to help her with the cost. Suzy and Carol described the activities and composition of the Green Council and answered questions about it. Carol offered to find a sponsor who would cover the cost of the trip, then the chapter could pay off the debt to the sponsor. Dave Menter suggested soliciting memberships and donations door to door regularly to raise money for this and other matters. We agreed to try canvassing in December: Suzy, Carol, Ted, Tom, Roger Voelker & Luella Fogarty volunteered to knock on doors under Dave's supervision. It was also agreed that telephone canvassing for membership renewals should be done on a regular basis, and this duty should be the responsibility of the Secretary.
Election of Officers
Before holding elections we defined the duties of each office. We also decided to combine the offices of Secretary and Treasurer and to create the office of Assistant Secretary. Our constitution requires that Chair and Co-Chair be one female and one male, normally alternating. The Chair fell to a male this year, and we had nominees. There were no female nominees for Co-Chair, so we will try to fill the Co-Chair position at the next chapter meeting.
The offices, those elected to serve in 1998, and the duties of each are listed below:
Chair - Dave Menzer
- Runs chapter meetings and sets agendas
- Organizes and schedules events
- Follows up with action committees and chapter officers to ensure they are meeting their goals and facilitates meeting goals if committees and officers are falling behind
- Serves as spokesperson for the local chapter or coordinates selected spokespersons
Co-Chair - Beth Schaefer Caniglia
- Coordinates duties with Chair
Secretary/Treasurer - Luella Fogarty
- Maintains bank and postal accounts
- Collects, deposits and disburses funds
- Makes payments to Around The Bend and the Greens National for newsletters
- Makes payments to vendors and reimburses members for expenses
- Generates and presents monthly financial reports
- Maintains a database of members and contacts
- Maintains mailing lists
- Records minutes of meetings
- Collects and responds to email and postal mail
- Handles local and national membership renewals
- Coordinates newsletter distribution with Around The Bend and the Greens National, particularly mailing address maintenance for recipients of ATB and Synthesis/Regeneration
Assistant Secretary - Tom Brown
- Coordinates duties with Secretary
The Annual Congress adjourned after the election of officers.
Contact:
St. Joe Valley
Greens
PO Box 11124 , South Bend, IN 46634
219-289-9220 (voice);
219-289-9223 (fax)