General Body Meeting

March 3, 2022

General Body Meeting

Agenda

All times are approximate

7:05 Call to Order

Sign in

Community Agreements review

Adoption of agenda

Approval of the February minutes

Land Acknowledgement

7:10 Treasurer’s Report
7:15 Urgent Vote Ratification: Filling Steering Committee Vacancies
7:20 Bylaw Amendment Resolution
7:25 Portfolio Reassignment Announcement
7:30 “Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Murdered Isaiah Tyree Williams” Statement Ratification
7:35 Mutual & Community Aid Priority Update 
7:45 Housing Justice Priority Update
7:55 Electoral Priority Update
8:05 Upcoming Events
8:10 Open Comment Period
8:30 Adjourn

Meeting Minutes

Chair: Angel L.

Notetaker:  Tiffany S.

  • Meeting called to order at 7:20pm
  • Treasurer’s Report
  • Electoral Priority Update
    • Anthony: Cody H. has stepped down from his position as steward. Cody was very insightful and helped a lot in his time as steward and we want to thank him for all his hard work. We are looking for people interested in being stewards. Send Anthony or Roy a message if you’re interested.
    • Roy: Electoral priority is focusing on putting out a voter guide for the primary. Join electoral research sessions every Wednesday at 6pm
  • Housing Priority Updates
    • Has a regular place they have been canvassing, met tenants who are interested in organizing. Numerous eviction notices there… Community meeting coming up on Sunday
    • Canvassing event coming up this Saturday: https://lvdsa.org/events/eviction-defense-canvass-2022-03-05/
    • Continuing research on landlords who are gouging tenants on rent
      1. Next research session March 10
    • Tenant incident report form: looking for stories from people who’ve had bad experiences with landlords
    • NLG chapter at UNLV will be helping with a Know Your Rights training
  • Anthony motions to adopt the items on the agenda with the chair’s discretion to go out of order, Gordon B. seconds, no one is opposed, agenda items are adopted at 7:41pm
  • Urgent Vote Ratification: Filling Steering Committee Vacancies
    • After a SC vacancy opened less than 24 hours before the resignation, the SC held an urgent vote to use the results of the election to fill the vacancy.
    • Statement from SC on reason for urgent vote was emailed to all members on February 9th: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pPmsqhvxplX-bX1Q1s2H8wIeaAU189n4v9FeYZPlSRU/edit
    • Members must ratify the vote
      • If a simple majority agrees with the decision, then Victoria will remain in Jackie’s vacancy as a member of the Steering Committee and Natasha will remain appointed to temporarily fill Shaun’s position. If a simple majority opposes the decision, then Victoria will remain the temporary replacement for Shaun, and we will hold another Special Election to fill Jackie’s vacancy during an upcoming General Meeting.
    • Anthony motions to call the question, Tamara seconds
      • Resolution passes 29 in favor, 0 opposed, 18 abstain
  • Bylaw Amendment Resolution
    • Proposes 3 changes to the ways LVDSA elections occur: absentee ballots instead of proxy, release total votes to members no less than 24 hours after election, if vacancy occurs on SC within 30 days of an election SC can apply results of election to the vacancy
    • Needs to pass at successive general body meetings by 2/3rds vote
    • Kara H motions to pass via unanimous consent; seconded by Aaron R
      1. Sarah L opposed to unanimous consent, wants to know more about resolution
    • Tiffany speaks in favor: makes elections more democratic, fair and transparent. Have to make it more convenient for members, build trust in org through transparency, educate members on STV method. SC had multiple vacancies, want to administer elections when they don’t take away energy from
    • Minnie speaks in favor: intentions when crafting bylaws was absentee ballots not proxy so this is a correction
    • Motion passes with 33 in favor, 0 opposed, 15 abstain. Motion will be voted on again at next’s month’s meeting
  • Portfolio Re-Assessment
  • “Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Murdered Isaiah Tyree Williams” Statement Ratification
    • Mike Y motions to ratify the statement by unanimous consent, Gordon B seconds, no opposition. The motion passes by unanimous consent
      • Tomorrow More Than a Hashtag is holding a press conference tomorrow at 10am with Isaiah Tyree Williams’ family, we encourage everyone to attend if they can.
  • Mutual & Community Aid Priority Update
    • Sebas A: Brendan B. stepped down as priority steward and Tamara T. was appointed to replace him. The priority has met the goal set out in the resolution to give out 3000 instances of aid. Had a tree planting at the most recent Sunday Solidarity with Nevada Plants. We have a future brake light clinic in the planning stages. Also discussing how to incorporate skillshares.
    • Tamara T: On the 4th Tuesday of every month we have Hendershare and need volunteers.
    • Minnie W: The resolution for this priority has called for a portion to be internal to members and a portion to be outward facing. There has not been capacity to undertake the internal portion and so there is a proposal in the signature-gathering stage to amend the priority resolution and remove the internal portion so we can focus on the community events. It needs signatures by 24 members to be voted on. If you are interested in signing on, you can fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOABfbvTlT2j19VV6JJAUVEVo0efvEpEjwjDVwPdaZF2jdaw/viewform?usp=sf_link
  • Upcoming events: https://lvdsa.org/events
  • Antony motions to adopt last meeting’s minutes, Gordon B. seconds, none opposed. Last meeting’s minutes are adopted at 8:09pm
  • Open Comment
    • Natasha S.:  National DSA puts on Regional Organizing Retreats every year (formerly known as Regional Leadership Trainings). They picked us to host the Southwest Region retreat this year, the weekend of April 23-24! This means delegations from chapters in AZ, NM, UT, and SW TX will be coming to participate in organizing trainings led by national DSA. As an extra bonus, we get to have 15 attendees of our own (more than the 3-5 other chapters get).
      • They need our help for picking venues/catering/etc, and I want your input as well! So we’re throwing together a little Regional Organizing Retreat Planning Working Group.
      • Need help with potential venues, food options.
      • We need solidarity housing for comrades coming in out of town, looking for 13 people to volunteer to let a comrade stay with them during the retreat. Everyone will be required to be boosted, you can request that they take a rapid test before coming to your house.
      • We also get to plan the social
      • More details on Slack!
    • Tiffany S: Housing justice sweatshirt is available for pre-order: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfpIEP3DRQogmqUdaWSVi28k3Y91t5LNRxdmwHbmsYxY4RqHg/viewform
    • Anthony L.: Reminder about the SCC meeting coming up this weekend, important that we maintain control so please attend.
    • Minnie: Join our reading group discussing The Red Deal.https://lvdsa.org/events/red-deal-reading-group/
    • Gordon B.: Left caucus does not have a slate out for the SCC elections this weekend. Believe it will be obvious who to vote for.
  • Meeting adjourned 8:18pm