Co-ordinating Committee Minutes - November 14th, 2016
Minutes as contained in the agenda for, and approved by, December 5th meeting
Coordinating Committee Minutes, November 14, 2016 Conference Call Meeting, November 14, 2016 7:30PM to 9:30PM 1) Roll call (Quorum is at least 12 members of 23 current members) Coordinating Committee members present (19): Victoria Ashley, Marla Bernstein, June Brashares, Eric Brooks, Susan Chunco, Sanda Everette, Mike Feinstein, Mike Goldbeck, Bert Heuer, Tarik Kanaana, Liz Kroboth, Matt Leslie, Mike Murphy, Mimi Newton, Ajay Rai, Lynne Sandoval, Laura Wells, Karinna Zarate, Stephen Zollman Coordinating Committee members not-present (4): Alex Shantz, Trinidad Castaneda, Sasha Karlik, Ann Menasche Guests: Doug Barnett (GPCA Treasurer), Wanda Jean Lord (Kern County Council Member) Quorum reached at 7:35 with seventeen (17) present: Victoria Ashley, June Brashares, Eric Brooks, Susan Chunco, Sanda Everette, Mike Feinstein, Mike Goldbeck, Bert Heuer, Tarik Kanaana, Liz Kroboth, Matt Leslie, Mike Murphy, Mimi Newton, Ajay Rai, Lynne Sandoval, Laura Wells, Karinna Zarate, Stephen Zollman Bernstein joined at 7:42pm Zarate joined at 8:30pm _______________________________________________ 2) Roles Facilitator: Bert Heuer Minutes taker: June Brashares Time keeper: Eric Brooks Vibes Watcher: Susan Chunco _______________________________________________ 3) Approval of agenda (10 minutes) Proposal (Everette): Approve adding late items to the agenda: #5 Decision: Appointment to Committee #12 Decision: Appointment of CC Liaison to Bylaws Committee and Discussion of needed appointments of liaisons Approved by consensus Amendment (Everette): Amend agenda to correct the items appearing as the second #12 & #13, to be re-numbered to #14 & #15 Approved by consensus Proposal (Heuer): Approve agenda as amended Outstanding concern (Stand aside): Murphy (stated concern that he is unable to see the agenda) Approved by consensus _______________________________________________ 4) Decision: Approval of Coordinating Committee minutes Decision: Approval of Coordinating Committee minutes, October 3, 2016 (Newton) Minutes of the October 3 meeting below in Addendum 2 [Minutes from Oct. 3 need to be posted to the website at http://www.cagreens.org/committees/coordinating/meetings/2016 then the reference to Addendum 2 can be changed to the correct weblink] Outstanding concerns (Stand aside): Feinstein (read a statement and also emailed it to the CC list, stating his outstating concern as: €œAnn Menasche was not elected to the GPCA Coordinating Committee because write-in voting is not provided for in GPCA bylaws, nor has it ever been used nor counted in the GPCA €™s history for at-large Coordinating Committee seats http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2016-07-03#Section_8-4_Elections; and because advocates for seating Ann Menasche failed to propose a bylaws interpretation under Article 13 of GPCA Bylaws that would have allowed this, which is the only procedure under party rules for which such write-in votes could be allowed http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2016-07-03#Article_13-3_Bylaws_Interpretation." ) Rai (shares same concern.) Everette (shares same concern.) Bernstein (shares same concern and additional outstanding concern: that Ann Menasche was not registered Green for a few months prior to the CC election.) Approved by consensus _______________________________________________ 5) Decision: Committee Appointment Proposal (Everette): Appoint Gloria Bram of Orange County to Finance Committee Amendment (Everette): Have Bram €™s appointment to Finance Committee not start until her SGA term begins on Monday November 21. In the presence of outstanding concerns, consensus was not sought on the proposal Proposal (Heuer): Recommend to Finance Committee to invite Bram to their next Finance Committee meeting as an observer and report back to the CC on the Finance Committee €™s recommendation. Approved by consensus _______________________________________________ 6) Decision: Certification of San Joaquin County Council (June Brashares) (five minutes) Proposal (Brashares): Certify the new County Council of San Joaquin County The minutes of the October 11, 2016 meeting and bylaws of the Green Party of San Joaquin County were received (sent in email on October 24 to CC list) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Eric LunaAttached are the minutes and bylaws for the Green Party of San Joaquin County Council from the election meeting that we held on October 11, 2016 in Stockton, CA. We are asking for our county party to be certified. We elected the following five people to the County Council: Eric Luna Mark Miller Colt Gonzales Samuel Mello Jasmine Ryan Thank you. Eric Luna County Council member of the Green Party of San Joaquin County Approved by consensus. Feinstein stated that it has been the practice that when the CC approves a new County Council that includes in their minutes their SGA delegates, those delegates will be added to the SGA without the usually required email to applications@cagreens.org _______________________________________________ 7) Decision: Certification of Sacramento County Council (Victoria Ashley) (five minutes) Proposal (Ashley): Certify the new County Council of Sacramento County The minutes of the October 15, 2016 meeting and amended bylaws of the Green Party of Sacramento were received (sent in email on October 30 to CC list) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: nicole castor Date: Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 5:37 PM Subject: Certification of Sacramento County Green Council To: Victoria Ashley I am writing on behalf of the forming Sacramento County Green Party Council (Green Party of Sacramento County), asking that you include in the agenda, for your next GPCA Coordinating Committee meeting, my request for the certification of our county council as a recognized Green Party County Council. Our General Meeting was held on October 15, 2016, in a Sacramento County Public Library (ADA accessible). This meeting was publicized, to Sacramento County Greens, twenty-one days in advance, by "email blast," sent by our GPCA Spokesperson, Mike Feinstein. It was also promoted on social media and by word-of-mouth. At this meeting, bylaws were approved and a council of seven members were elected. It was also decided that appointments for specific officers would be decided at the next meeting, scheduled approximately one month after this first meeting. The following Sacramento County Green Party Members were elected to council by consensus: Jared Laiti Gary Blenner Michaela DeMarzi-Lay Sharyn Obrigewitsch Christopher Carlson James Lee Clark Nicole Castor Please see the attached documents which show the minutes from this meeting as well as our amended bylaws. Please feel free to contact me for anything you may need, in addition, to certify our council. Sincerely, Nicole Castor Feinstein stated that Sacramento amended their bylaws to change from 7 to 5 county council members, but because notice of the change didn't go to the Secretary of State in time the bylaw amendment didn't go into effect. Therefore the GP of Sacramento County was able to elect 7 members for their county council even though it appears in conflict with their bylaws. Approved by consensus _______________________________________________ 8) Decision: Certification of Yolo County Council (Laura Wells) (ten minutes) Proposal (Wells): Certify the new County Council of Yolo County The minutes of the October 24, 2016 meeting and bylaws of the Green Party of Yolo County were received (sent in email on October 28 to CC list) Concerns were raised that Yolo had not met the requirement of following the procedures in the bylaws of Section 6-6 Appointments to Vacancies in Counties In Which No County Council members were elected in the primary election http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2016-07-03#Section_6-6_Appointment_to_Vacancies_in_Counties_in_which_no_County_Council_members_were_elected_in_the_primary_election ) Addendum 1 In the presence of outstanding concerns, Wells withdrew the proposal Wells stated she will work with the Greens in Yolo to assist them in following the procedures in the bylaws and will request help as needed to re-activate their county council so a proposal to certify them can be brought to a future CC meeting. _______________________________________________ 9) Decision: Certification of Riverside County Council (June Brashares) (ten minutes) Note: this is the county that we tried to do an online vote to approve after the October meeting, but we never received the correct information from them. Brashares had been told the number of Greens who attended the September 24 meeting in Riverside County were not sufficient to re-activate a county council so had not pursued it. The information needed to certify a county council has not been received yet so Brashares withdrew the proposal. Feinstein stated he was at the meeting on September 24 in Riverside County and was sure there were more than 20 Riverside Greens there. Jessy Lemieux was checking registrations and took minutes. Brashares will try again to get the documentation from the Riverside County €™s September 24 meeting and would appreciate any help contacting Jessy Lemieux. 10) Report from Agenda team (Tarik Kanaana) (15 minutes) Report on the planning for the General Assembly (GA) to be held in Ventura in 2017 Draft agenda is in process of development. Proposal (Kanaana): Do an online vote for approval of the Draft Agenda for a GA to be held Jan 7 - 8 in Ventura County. Amendment accepted by sponsor (Wells): Move GA to later in January or early February. Amendment (Kanaana): Instead of an online vote, the draft agenda for the GA will be submitted to be a decision item for the CC meeting on December 5th, 2016. Amendment (Feinstein): Amend proposal for the GA to be scheduled for the weekend of the 3rd Sunday in February, Feb. 18 & 19. (Presidents day weekend). Approved by consensus _______________________________________________ 11) Report on result of online vote Decision: SGA Email List Moderation Proposal, As Modified (Newton) (15 minutes) Action needed: A call for SGA Moderator applicants shall be sent to the GPCA Inform, GPCA Forum and SGA Votes Email lists Everette sent out a draft to CC list. CC members should send feedback within 48 hours. Newton will work with Everette on it. _______________________________________________ 12) Appointments of CC Liaison to all committees and working groups This was supposed to be done some months ago after the July election. Bylaws Committee has made a specific request for a liaison from one of the current 6 members Proposal (Brashares): Appoint Newton as CC Liaison to Bylaws Committee Approved by consensus Feinstein stated that the CC needs to appoint a Liaison to Electoral Reform working group (ERWG) at next CC meeting. Heuer stated it will be agendized for the next meeting and he will work collecting info from Committees and Working Groups to make a list of the open positions for the next meeting. 13) Decision: Approval of Finance Committee Requests (Victoria Ashley) ( ten minutes) Discussion was held about Finance Committee topics. Due to lack of time the remaining items on the agenda were not discussed. At 9:30pm the meeting was adjourned. A few people stayed on the call and had an informal discussion about Finance. All had left the call by 9:37pm The following items were not heard: 14) Discussion: Amendment of IT-Protocol to establish guidelines for SGA Elections administration (Ajay Rai/Sanda Everette) (10 minutes) 15. Discussion: Special election will need to be called within two days due to resignation by Adia Williams --------------------------------------------- 14) Discussion: Amendment of IT-Protocol to establish guidelines for SGA Elections administration (Ajay Rai/Sanda Everette) (10 minutes) Proposal: That the GPCA IT Protocol be amended to add the following text Section 4-8 Standing General Assembly Elections Administration Under GPCA Bylaws 7-6.2 Decision Items, "The following decision items shall automatically be placed before the Standing General Assembly, 7-6.2(d) Election of the Coordinating Committee; and 7-6.2(e) Election of the GPUS Delegation. The Standing General Assembly Votes List and the Standing General Assembly Voting Page shall be utilized to conduct these elections. (http://www.cagreens.org/bylaws/2013-06-23#Section_7-6_Standing_General_Assembly) 4-8.1 Voting Page All candidates shall be entered into the Voting page data base in the order their applications were received. The date, hour and minute of submission for each application shall be published on the candidate applications display page. The background section on the voting page for each election shall specify that the candidates have been entered in this order by design. 4-8.2 Candidate Application Submission Under GPCA Bylaws 8-4.2 "Candidates must submit an application to the Coordinating Committee by the last Monday of April to be eligible. Applications must include a biography and what they wish to accomplish on the Coordinating Committee. € 4-8.2(a) Applications must be sent by the candidate themselves. Each candidate shall submit their toapplications@cagreens.org. Applications will not be considered valid if sent to any other address. Applications will not be considered valid if sent via social media, not to personal email addresses. 4-8.2(b) Applications shall include the candidate's name, city, county and email address, along with their biography and what they wish to accomplish. Together, the biography and what the candidate wishes to accomplish shall be no longer than 600 words, but may include links to additional content. 4-8.3 Candidate Application Display 4-8.3(a) A stand alone candidate page shall be created on the GPCA website that shall include all candidates for the female and male Coordinating Committee seats. A stand alone candidate page shall be created on the GPCA website that shall include candidates for GPUS Delegation €” delegates and alternates. 4-8.3 (b) Each candidate shall be listed separately. Each listing shall include the candidates name, city, county €” and the biography/what they wish to accomplish that was submitted with their application. Such text may be amended by the candidate up until two days before the close of the discussion period, via email to applications@cagreens.org. 4-8.3 (c) Candidates may submit a photo, but are not required to do so. Candidates are asked to submit a square photo or one no greater than 10% difference between height and width. Candidates are asked to submit a link to the photo if possible, but this is not mandatory. Any candidate who does not submit a photo shall not have one posted without their consent. The candidate photo may be amended by the candidate up until two days before the close of the discussion period, via an email to applications@cagreens.org 4-8.3(d) Candidate emails shall be embedded on the GPCA website as links to their names on the candidate page and not displayed openly --------------------------------------------- 15. Discussion: Special election will need to be called within two days due to resignation by Adia Williams 8-4.5 Upon a mid-term vacancy occurring on the Coordinating Committee (but not a vacancy occurring as a result of any seats not being filled during an annual regular election), the Coordinating Committee shall publish a Notice of Vacancy and Call for Candidate Submissions to the active County Organizations, for candidates seeking to fill the remainder of the vacated term. The Notice shall contain the timing of the submission, discussion and election process, and the time remaining in the term for which a vacancy has occurred. The Notice shall be published within two days of the vacancy occurring. The submission deadline shall be 21 days from the publishing of the Notice. The discussion period shall begin on the first monday after the close of the submission period. No vacancy shall be noticed to be filled if from the resultant timeline above, the seat would be filled after the first Monday of the April before the end of the vacated term. Not withstanding the above, for 2013 only, there shall be a separate, one-time election for male and for female seats, combining unfilled two-year seats in the election, and the remainder of one-year seats not previously scheduled for election until 2014, where the top vote getter(s) will fill the two-year seats and the others will fill the one-year seats still on the agenda because announcement not sent to inform list ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Addendum 1 Section 5-1 Recognition 5-1.1 A County Organization is considered recognized by the General Assembly if it adopts and files organizational bylaws with the Coordinating Committee and Bylaws Committee that are consistent with GPCA bylaws and California law, that: 5-1.1(a) Describe the county's organizational structure, including membership and decision-making; 5-1.1(b) Describe the process for filling County Council vacancies; 5-1.1(c) Describe the process for selecting General Assembly delegates; 5-1.1(d) Establish the position of county treasurer and describe the process for selecting it. 5-1.2 The Coordinating Committee shall certify, based on this Article, whether a County Organization has initially satisfied 5-1.1. Once a County Organization becomes recognized via this process, it shall retain that status unless it amends its bylaws to become non-compliant. Any decision by the Coordinating Committee regarding certification may be appealed to the General Assembly. Section 6-6 Appointments to Vacancies in Counties In Which No County Council members were elected in the primary election 6-6.1 The recognized or newly forming county organization must hold a General Meeting open to all registered Greens in the county. The meeting organizers shall work with the Coordinating committee to ensure that the meeting date, time and location is publicized as widely as possible to all Greens in the county, at least 21 days before the meeting. 6-6.2 To make an appointment at this General Meeting, the County Organization must already have bylaws as specified in 5-1.1, or must them adopt at the General Meeting. 6-6.3 For decisions to be valid at this General Meeting, in counties in which where there is not a recognized County Organization, the number of registered GPCA members in the county that must attend the meeting, must be at least three. 6-6.4 For decisions to be valid at this General Meeting, in counties in which where there is a recognized County Organization, either the number shall be equal to the amount that would be necessary to sign nomination signatures to appear on the County Council ballot in that county; or at a meeting with less than that number, but with at least three, only those candidates would be eligible who present a nomination petition with a number of signatures from registered Greens in the county, equal to the amount that would be necessary to sign nomination signatures to appear on the County Council ballot in that county. 6-6.5 The General Meeting must appoint at least one member to the County Council. Only registered Green Party members in the county are eligible for appointment. The county organization shall forward minutes of the meeting to the Coordinating Committee. 6-6.6 Once the Coordinating Committee has certified that the County Organization is recognized under 5-1.1, it shall review the minutes of the County Council election and certify the new County Council, unless there is clear evidence that the Council was elected in conflict with that County Organization's bylaws. Any decision by the Coordinating Committee not to certify may be appealed by that County Organization to the General Assembly and shall require a 2/3 vote to certify. If an in-person General Assembly is scheduled to occur within 60 days of the receipt of the petition, the Coordinating Committee shall place the vote on the draft agenda, and any agenda approved by the General Assembly must include the vote. If an in-person General Assembly is not scheduled to occur within 60 days of the receipt of the petition, the Coordinating Committee shall submit the petition for a discussion and vote of the Standing General Assembly at the next available starting date for on-line proposals, as defined in these bylaws.
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