Agenda

Times are approximate and subject to change at the Chair’s discretion.

Meeting Minutes

Attendance: Lorenzita, Tiffany, Minnie, Aimee, Jesser,  Mike Y, Jackie S., Paul John, Alvin,  Anthony, Shaun, guest: Aaron R.
Chair: Lorenzita
Notetaker: Minnie

7:05 – Call to Order

• Minnie motions to adopt the agenda, Alvin seconds
• Tiffany motions to adopt last meeting’s minutes, Minnie seconds

Review of last week’s action items

• Aimee/Shaun continuing to work on book brainstorm with Victoria F
• Tiffany/Shaun will work on Back to School Solidarity fund resolution
• Anthony – Red Rabbits Training request is pending – closest thing for event prep, safety and de-escalation
• Some ideas are re-upped for this round and added to the action items list

Treasurer’s Report – Aimee

• Running list of trez report is here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NRiPv9V3nZs-Ri-wx_WrL6OJP7V8rPPnAHqvlbwu1Lo/edit
• Money is coming in, we’re looking good
• Merch/volunteer shirts for Holiday Solidarity are ordered by Paul John
• Small issue with Back to School Solidarity money. There was an outstanding Wal-Mart purchase that wasn’t accounted for. $980 of the $1533 is actually accounted for. Will go back through and check everything. We may not have as much left over from BTS as we thought. I didn’t catch it.
• Shaun – we have $1,000 check from NV Dems for Back to School Solidarity. Aimee – that will undo this possible error.
• Minnie – Can we keep track of Venmo donations for future year fundraising? Tiffany – yes we do but we don’t get email/phone number.

Coalition Corner – Shaun

• Chispa has signed on as a Holiday Solidarity co-sponsor. 20+ co-sponsors.
• Co-sponsored an event with Fifth Sun and Solidarity Fridge this past weekend
• Getting to know you meeting with CCEA. Shaun went to e-board meeting. They were really welcoming. Lots of room for partnership. Teachers really feel unheard. After January, will continue these bonds and keeping relationships going.
• IATSE 720 declined co-sponsor. They will have their own toy drive but smaller due to lack of funds. Could maybe get involved with that to grow that partnership.
• Sunday Solidarity used to be a coalition event and could be again
• The number of Holidarity co-sponsors shows how much we’ve grown. Gets the word out there.
• Anthony – suggests for future do two flyers. One has the details, one has all the sponsors. Consider a minimum sponsorship – either a dollar amount or # of volunteers.
• Tiffany – we need people to request kits. Don’t need as many volunteers. Have 60 volunteers and funding is outpacing the request.
• Lorenzita – Push back on minimum sponsorship. Especially if our sponsors are reaching out to communities that are harder for us to reach.
• Shaun – it should be case-by-case.

Mutual Aid Reading Group Facilitator Recruitment

• Erika B will facilitate 1st or 2nd week
• Tiffany spoke with Wild West Fund. CC will probably facilitate a meeting. Tiffany will follow up with them.
• Aimee will follow up with Victoria F about facilitating one session.

Adding Accessibility Info  to All Events – Minnie

• Can we add accessibility info to all of our events? Wheelchair accessible, captions for online events,
• Jackie – we can create an accessibility checklist
• Mike – we can target emails to those who RSVP
• Tiffany – we could put the event information on the calendar.
• Minnie – will research and draft a list with input from comrades
• Alvin – will share a list from Mobilize with ADA accommodations list.

Amy Vilela Endorsement Vote Logistics – Anthony

• We will be using Opa vote
• Individuals who sponsored the endorsement get priority to speak as part of the initial motivators
• Do we continue to use the 3 v. 3? Alvin – like any other debate someone could vote to extend the speaking time. Anthony – bylaws say endorsement votes that people in writing can ask for more speaking time if they have relevant information about the campaign. Roberts’ Rules has motion to extend time also.
• Ballots will be emailed for voting to take place after the meeting. So should we have an email prepped and ready to go?
• Tiffany – We can automatically send an email from Opa Vote or give out codes. During convention we gave out codes because we were voting in real time during the meeting and also had absentee ballots. If we vote after the meeting, we can take absentee ballot requests and add them to the sign in from the meeting and give people 24 hours to complete their ballot. General agreement with this process.
• How much time do we allot for the candidate’s opening statement? 2 minutes is proposed and there is no opposition.
• AFter the candidate speaks, they must leave the meeting.
• Report is given from the Electoral Priority Campaign. This is the research report to help the voters make an informed decision. Details are outlined in the endorsement criteria resolution. Endorsement Research Report.
• Then debate opens. 3 v. 3. 1 minute or 2 minutes each? Tiffany will check what we did at convention. We did 1 minute previously. No opposition to keeping it the same. 3 v. 3 with 1 minute each.
• When will we explain to the general body about how we will engage in this campaign? The details of IE. Anthony proposes we do this first before the research report.
• Then adjourn the meeting. How long do we keep the voting period open? Tiffany suggests 24 hours. Anthony thinks it’s too long. Suggests until midnight that night. Changes to agree to 24 hours.
• Alvin asks who will get a ballot? Just general body attendees or the whole membership.
• Anthony – precedent says only general body who is present. Tiffany – plus we need to include absentee.
• Lorenzita – Proxy is when someone in the meeting votes for you. Absentee is when we send them a ballot even though they aren’t present.
• Tiffany –
• We didn’t do proxies at convention. We had absentee ballots. Normally we have had people fill out a form to request an absentee ballot 24 hours before the meeting. Then we merge that list with the members who attended and send out the opa vote at one time.
• Mike – Send out the absentee request form with the email and agenda one week before?
• Tiffany – would advocate for two weeks before. In the bylaws it says need two weeks notice. Request the ballot. Anthony points out bylaws require 48 hours notice to request a ballot. Tiffany says this is important because each member needs to be vetted.
• Aimee – generally agrees with everything that’s been said
• Mike – I am good on the timeline. Email will go out Thursday announcing the endorsement vote and info re: absentee voting and deadline to submit questions for Town Hall
• Lorenzita – Going back to 2 minutes v. 1 minute v. 90 secs  for debate
• Minnie proposes 90 seconds, meet in the middle. There is no opposition.
• Anthony – premise of a proxy vote is to have someone present on the meeting for you on your behalf. Meeting is not being recorded. Won’t hear the debates. Have to do proxy so you pick a person that is your proxy to vote for you.
• Jesser – Does the proxy vote at the same time as the person voting at the meeting?
• Alvin – Think of day-of logistics. Can have someone still relay all this information to them in an absentee format. This is what we’ve done before.
• Shaun – We’ve had proxies before. It’s good to have someone stand in for them at the meeting.
• Mike – Concern is If someone doesn’t show up to town hall, general body meeting, is misinformed but is still receiving a ballot. Can we distribute the report from the EPC to make sure people are more informed?
• Anthony – allowing absentee opens us up to harmful actors. Members who don’t participate etc. People who are trashing us on twitter right now are still members and would be able to vote.
• Tiffany – if they’re voting members, then they should be allowed to vote
• Alvin – active/inactive shouldn’t make it easier or harder to vote. What if you’re new to the chapter and you don’t feel comfortable asking someone to be your proxy. Giving everyone the agency to cast a vote. We have a system for absentee ballots.
• Shaun – big problem with engagement right now. I want them to back up their votes with being involved. Asking for a proxy is not too much to ask. Worried about whipping paper members who aren’t invested in the chapter and then don’t show up to do the work.
• Lorenzita – Most of the active core members would come to the general body  meeting anyway.
• Shaun – Not hypothetical. This has happened before.
• Alvin – Who would be designing the proxy system? This seems like a big job. Question is why has member engagement dropped? We need to make this as easy as possible for members to engage.
• Anthony – the bylaws say we do a proxy vote. I’m confused about why we’re bending on this thing.
• Tiffany – we’re not bending on this thing. We have used an absentee system in the past.

Shaun motions to go into executive session. Jackie objects, Anthony seconds.

• Shaun – inappropriate to have people in the campaign in this conversation. People have organized paper members to participate before who have never participated again.
• Alvin – We have 500 people in LVDSA, maybe 50 active people. Want to make it as easy as possible for 450 people to participate in this process.
• Anthony – Motion to allow one person to be a proxy for one other individual. A 1:1 ratio. Tiffany seconds.
• Alvin – Motions to amend the motion to a 3:1 proxy ratio.This is what NV Dems does. Shaun seconds that motion.
• Paul John – argument is 3:1 v 1:1 proxy? I’m really not too sure. What’s really the difference when it comes down to the voting?
• Jackie – in sending a proxy, whether you get 3 people v. 1 person. IN 1:1, based on our max attendance at a general body meeting,  only 70 additional people could vote. In a 3 to 1 situation, then 3 times as many people. In proxy v. absentee, you don’t get a vote. You are trusting someone else to vote for you. In absentee, you vote on your own.
• Shaun – calls the question
• Anthony – make space for Aimee to speak
• Aimee – we shouldn’t mirror what the Dems are doing
• Lorenzita – motions to table, Anthony seconds. Lorenzita would like this to be figured out in the slack in the next 48 hours.
• Anthony – Town hall will be recorded. Unanimous in electoral group to do this for all candidate town halls.

Mutual Aid Steward Replacement Discussion

• Aimee moves to discuss this in slack, Lorenzita seconds

Chair for next meeting

• Paul John will chair the next meeting
• Lorenzita will be the notetaker, Tiffany is the backup

Other Actions and Proposals

• Minnie – We need a schedule for steward reports. Aimee – this was easier to be loose about when we had a meeting every week. Tiffany suggests the meeting before the general body meeting. No opposition.
• Aimee – DSA report back from member survey. Nothing is groundbreaking. Some interesting information but Aimee will share it once they push out additional information to the attendees.

Meeting is adjourned at 9:06pm