SDSA Board Minutes

 

February 12, 2007

 

 

Members present:  Roberto Flores, Lynne Armstrong, Mauro Gamez, Joe La Monica, Ruth Dalrymple, Bryan Gerard, Richard Moon, Olga Hernandez, and Jeanne Belaire.

 

Members Absent:  Travis Peterson

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by newly elected Co-chairs Roberto and Lynne.

 

The meeting began with a welcome by Roberto and Lynne, to the newly appointed Board Members, Richard and Mauro and the rest of the Board.

 

The first order of business was an explanation of the structure of the Board and the roles of the Co-chairs by Roberto.  The Executive Committee, Roberto, Lynne, Cris and Ruth, will begin meeting to assure that Board Meetings are conducted in an organized and timely manner.  The Co-chairs and Board Members will communicate via e-mail; however, these will be limited to items that are urgent or time sensitive.  In extreme cases, telephone calls may be utilized.  If a motion is made and voted on, copies of the vote need to be sent to Cris for her to record and report the outcome.

 

Bryan made a motion that the Communications Committee take the issue of setting up guidelines for categorizing and sending out e-mails to the Board Members under advisement.  Richard seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Cris passed out Policies and Procedures Handbooks to the Board Members and indicated that some of the items will need revision to conform to the new By-laws.  Board Members, as well as committees, will review the handbook and suggest revisions.  The Board agreed that the minutes of the previous membership meeting should be read and approved at each membership meeting.  The Board agreed that each standing committee should provide information about their respective policies and procedures and these should also be included in the handbook.  As soon as feasible, SDSA minutes will be posted on the web site and members will be provided with a link to the web site to read them.  They will be notified regularly, via e-mail, that the minutes have been posted.

 

Ruth reported that at the last Board meeting SDSA had a balance of $1388.29.  Since then, there has been a total of $609.99 in expenditures leaving a balance of $789.20, which will go to Olga to help defray her costs to the National Stonewall Conference.  Ruth indicated that anyone can make deposits.  Cris will be opening SDSA mail and forwarding it to the appropriate person.  Cris will also make deposits when necessary.

 

 

 

Olga made the following motion:  That the name of the checking account styled Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio Political Action Committee (PAC) be changed to Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio.  Richard seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Richard made a motion that the following be removed as signatories on this account:  Bryan W. Gerard, Norma Martinez Rogers and Richard C. Moon.  Cris seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Olga made a motion that the following be added as signatories on this account:  Jean Lynne Armstrong, Roberto J. Flores and Cristina M. Ramirez. Cris seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Cris made a motion that Ruth A. Dalrymple remain a signatory on this account.  Bryan seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Ruth reported that the current PAC account has a balance of $111.48.  Ruth has collected $559.48 in membership dues, T-shirt and bumper sticker sales, these will be deposited into the new account.

 

The Board discussed fundraising for the upcoming Endorsement Meeting on April 1st.  Richard is preparing a budget to submit to the Endorsement Committee next week, and then to the Board.  Membership renewals will provide some of this money.  Bryan indicated that he had theater tickets to the Bijou to raffle off at the next general meeting.  Lynne has two tickets that she will donate to the raffle.  There was a brief discussion on changing banks, because Frost Bank charges a $10 monthly service fee.

 

Lynne announced the appointment of Jeanne Belaire as Assistant Treasurer.

 

She also announced that the following Board Members were appointed as “organizers” for the SDSA Standing Committees. 

Board Development Committee-----Cris Ramirez

Communications Committee---------Travis Peterson

Endorsement Committee--------------Richard Moon

Fund Raising Committee--------------Ruth Dalrymple

Membership Committee---------------Olga Hernandez

Political Relations Committee--------Bryan Gerard

Program and Events Committee------Mauro Gamez

Voter Registration and Mobilization

Committee--------------------------------Joe La Monica

The organizers are responsible for recruiting members and setting a meeting time and making sure that the committee elects a chair and a recorder.

 

There was a lengthy discussion on the role of fund raising and finance.  The Board recommended that the name of the Fundraising Committee be changed to Budget/Finance/Fundraising Committee.

 

Olga will provide membership lists to the Board Members so that they can contact members and recruit for their committees.  These lists are confidential and are only to be used by the Board.  Olga reported that there are currently 129 members in SDSA.

 

Lynne indicated that the call list for meeting reminders is up to 42 per person.  Currently Lynne, Travis and Charlie Gallimore are doing the calling.  Members of the Membership Committee will be recruited to help with the calling, if necessary.

 

The Board discussed the possibility of Standing Committees meeting after the membership meeting.  The organizers of these committees will decide on meeting times.

 

 The agenda for the next membership meeting will include an announcement about standing committees, financial reports, approval of By-Laws, raffle, approval of minutes, and general announcements.

 

Bryan will post events on the SDSA web site calendar and they well be announced at the membership meeting.

 

There was a question about a time change for membership meetings.  The next meeting will be at 7:00 PM, after this the membership meeting time will be as usual, at 6:30 PM.

 

Cris reported that two motions were passed prior to this Board Meeting.  One motion was to buy more SDSA brochures for distribution at the Laramie Project at Trinity University.  Volunteers are still needed for this event and Bryan will make an announcement about this at the general meeting.  The second motion was that SDSA give $100 to Equality Texas’ “Love Makes a Family” exhibit.

 

Mauro discussed the possibility of having an official candle lighting induction ceremony for the Board Members at the next meeting.  He will assume the responsibility for this.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 PM.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Cristina M. Ramirez