SDSA BOARD MINUTES
MARCH 12, 2007
Members present: Lynne Armstrong, Roberto Flores, Joe
LaMonica, Mauro Gamez, Travis Peterson and Cris Ramirez
Members absent: Jeanne Belaire, Ruth Dalrymple, Bryan Gerard,
Olga Hernandez, and Richard Moon
Guests: Dan Graney
The meeting was called to
order by Lynne at 7:00 PM. Travis
requested an addition to the board minutes of the last meeting. He requested that they include the fact that
his absence at the last meeting was due to attendance at a meeting regarding
SDSA business. The minutes were approved
as amended.
Roberto reported that SDSA as
a corporation has been officially dissolved and provided the committee with the
official notice from the Office of the Secretary of State, stating this. He also indicated that the list of “things to
do” during the transition period, had been accomplished in record time, six
weeks. He thanked the board for their
efforts in accomplishing these tasks.
There was no treasurer’s
report. Lynne reported that $365 was
collected at the Kucinich event from SDSA memberships and renewals and the sale
of T-shirts and decals. There is an
outstanding bill of approximately $190.00 for the printing of more brochures,
leaving a balance of about $700 in the account.
Cris reported that thanks to
Olga the SDSA Minutes page is now up and running. From now on the SDSA membership will be sent
a link that will take them directly to the minutes page. The minutes for board and membership meeting
are listed by dates. Minutes will be
available for an entire year.
Lynne discussed sending a
fancier, more colorful announcement about membership meetings. One concern raised was the amount of disc
space that is required to download these documents and because of that perhaps
they should be used for special meetings.
Olga will be sending Cris a sample of the type of announcement Lynne is
requesting.
Lynne made a specific request
to Mauro that he check his e-mail weekly, and he agreed to do so.
Cris reported that Mark
Spencer is considering assuming the position of chair of the Board Development
Committee and currently there are four members on the committee.
The Communications Committee
and Budget/Finance and Fundraising Committees have not been able to meet
yet. The Membership Committee will meet
on March 15th and Olga provided the committee with a written report
listing new members and those who have renewed.
Dan provided the Board with a
report on the Endorsement Committee, in lieu of Richard’s absence.
Lynne made a motion that we
approve, by acclamation, the members of the Endorsement Committee and the Chair
of that committee, Dan Graney. The
motion passed. The board approved a
budget of $50 for preparation expenses for the Endorsement Meeting. The additional $1250 needed for dissemination
of the endorsements will be discussed at the April board meeting. Lynne made a motion that we approve, by
acclamation, the mayoral and city council candidate questionnaires. The motion
passed. Dan passed around a list of
candidates who have filed for mayoral and city council positions. The Criteria for SDSA Financial Support of
Candidates, the Pro-Equality Platform of SDSA, and Policies Governing
Endorsement and Financial Support of Candidates for Public Office, were
discussed, and after some grammatical corrections were made Cris moved that
these documents be adopted, Roberto seconded and the motion passed. Dan recommended that the Pro-Equality
Platform of SDSA be posted on the web site.
Lynne and Roberto will work with the Endorsement Committee to finalize
the details of the Endorsement Meeting.
The Program and Events
Committee passed out a tentative agenda of annual events and a tentative budget
for these events. Mauro suggested that
we sponsor a Stonewall Drag Spring Fiesta at the Saint on April 19th. He also suggested having a picnic on Labor Day;
two members have offered a location for this event.
Dan expressed a concern about
a lack of a budget, and too many events being planned. Dan suggested that this be discussed in
committee and finalized before being presented to the Board. Roberto stated that because of the number of
activities and events taking place, committees have been unable to meet. Joe mentioned that he thought fund raising
events were important because they bring the membership together and there is
an opportunity for members to get to know one another. Roberto made a motion to accept two proposed
SDSA events, one on March 31, a SAlIR benefit for Olga, and the other on April
19th, the SDSA Drag Spring Fiesta at the Saint, with the contingency
that the details of these events be sent to the Board via e-mail. Joe seconded and the motion passed.
Joe indicated that he is
still recruiting members for his Voter Registration and Mobilization committee
and hopefully he can meet with them after the next membership meeting. Travis reported that the Peace Officers
Committee has been granted eight hours of sensitivity training. The training will take place sometime in May.
Cris reported that since the
last board meeting in February, four motions were made and voted on. The motions were:
1. To accept the Standing Rules of Endorsement
as amended and presented to the Board in November of 2006. The motion passed.
2. To publicize the SDSA By-laws on the web
site. The motion passed.
3. To have either Lynne and/or Roberto write a
letter on behalf of SDSA protesting the obscene utility company pay raises and
the RIF which seems to be how they are raising the money for the salary
increases.
The motion passed.
4. To make it an SDSA policy that the names of
persons who move and second motions in regard to SDSA business---including the
business of any of its committees, including the Executive Committee---shall be
recorded in the minutes of such deliberations (including e-mail voting records);
persons abstaining or not present to vote shall also be named; persons being
discussed, and those making significant verbal contributions to the
deliberations, shall also be named.
There were five votes in favor of this motion and five against it. The deciding vote was cast by Mauro at the
meeting, and the motion passed.
Lynne reported on the
Kucinich event and how inspiring his speech was. Roberto reported on the John Edwards rally. Lynne also reported on the Texas State
Stonewall Democratic Caucus and specifically that the Democratic National
Committee has adopted new rules that will officially recognize LGBT Americans
as part of its affirmative action policy and will require all fifty state
Democratic parties in presidential elections to increase the number of LGBT
delegates beginning in 2008. Names of
possible speakers for the September fundraiser were discussed, Gore, Kucinich,
Hilary Clinton and Barney Frank. Both
Roberto and Lynne discussed their impressions of Equality Texas Lobby Day. They feel that this is such an important
educational experience that members should definitely be encouraged to
attend. Travis discussed the results of
our presence at the Laramie Project at Trinity University. Our presence there produced very little results. Chris Forbrich will be speaking at the next
membership meeting about the debate he participated in, at UTSA, on
homosexuality.
Cris indicated that she
wanted to state for the record that she was not in favor of sending out a
solicitation letter to the membership requesting funds for this particular
endorsement activity.
Cris made a motion to adjourn
the meeting, Lynne seconded and the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Cristina M. Ramirez,
Secretary