[Occupymendocino] Fwd: Meeting minutes-- Sept 19th & October 3rd

[she-la]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Meeting minutes-- Sept 19th & October 3rd
From: she-la <sheila.dawn50 at yahoo.com>
To: occupymendocinolist at mcn.org
CC: 

Sorry for the delay. Daniel will send the minutes of the Oct 17 the meeting.
   
Sept.19th
Present: John F.,Agnes, Irene, Jinx, Sheila, Daniel, Richard
  Facilitator & Secretary : Sheila Dawn  
   Richard had requested  by email that the meeting time be changed to 12 p.m. to accommodate his need to attend a friend's funeral.
 
   On Richard's suggestion, the meeting began in the Peace Garden as it was a sunny day. Richard spoke of his efforts to organize an event at the Peace Garden. It was planned to coincide with the celebration of the International Day of Peace, the following Monday, the 21st of September. He showed the brass plate and the wooden plaque that would officially name the garden , The Howard Ennes Peace Memorial Garden. The plan is to have a ceremony every year honoring  a community member for his/her peace activism. This year, the inductee is Zach (Gary) Zachary who will have his name engraved on a small brass plate. Zach, who passed on July 6th was chosen for his continual focus on peace efforts having been one of the founding members of the Peace & Justice Center and a long time member of Veterans for Peace. 
  Refreshments of tea, coffee, apple juice and cookies were planned. Agnes and Ann secured donations from Corners of the Mouth & The Cookie Company.
   Richard showed the group the front page story of The Mendocino Beacon containing a full description of the event along with pictures of both Howard  & Zach. The ceremony was planned for 1p.m. and included musical performances by several local musicians.
     Due to the good publicity, and the respect for the two honorees,  it was expected to draw 40 to 60 people.
     We moved the meeting inside.

       Reports:
   John Fremont gave an update of  continued plans for the 2nd Tuesday Town Hall Forums.(Originally conceived as a way for those who don't live within the city limits to have input to the City Council on future decisions.)
     He said that the subcommittee  overseeing the Tuesday meetings felt that there needed to be more definition as to what purpose and what types of  groups would be permitted to use the facility without charge.  He also stated that a refundable cleaning fee of $100 was being sought by the City Council. John felt discouraged by what was perceived as additional limitations.  
    Sheila offered that since the cleaning fee was refundable,  a motion could be made to have it come from either the Occupy Mendocino or the Peace & Justice bank account. The City Council agenda for this discussion is scheduled for  Tuesday, Oct 13th due to the Columbus Day holiday.
   As this is the 2nd Tuesday, the group forum date has been postponed to Friday, Oct 23rd.  The guest speaker for that day is Norman DeVall who will address  county politics, past and present. 
    The November speaker is George Rhinehart of Noyo Headlands Unified Design Group (NHUDG)
      Agnes gave a report on the Vandana Shiva event of September 7th. Everyone  who attended was impressed with the relevance of Shiva's words to protect our freedom to grow the food we eat from our own or shared seeds by resisting the new seed law that bans the selling of seeds beyond a 3 mile radius. Organized by Robin Sunbeam of Ukiah and Agnes with the help of others in the Ukiah  & Willits areas, it was a fundraiser for the County Charter project. It was sold out by the day of the event and included over 75 items for the silent auction. The event was a great success bringing in $9000 in funds before expenses were deducted. Expenses were estimated to be around $2000.
      Channel 3 is up and running again. Terry Vaughn of Mendocino TV has gotten the right to use the MCTV archives. He also does live recording of City Council meetings among other current events.  We spoke of contacting Vaughn to get publicity for a County Charter. 
     Red John of KNYO radio--107.7--has changed the time of his show to Fridays from 1 to 3p.m.--another opportunity to inform listeners of our charter efforts.
      The sequel to the Grassroots Democracy class taught by Jim Tarbell last year is being organized by Carrie Durkee  & Micheal St. John this semester. It is a Citizenship class which began in September and runs through December on Thursdays at 6 p.m. at the old CR campus now under the aegis of Mendocino College. Drop-ins are welcome. 

The 1st Democratic debate is on for Tuesday, Oct 13th. A Bernie Sanders for President office has opened on Main Street near Windsong . Occupy members are planning to watch the debate with other supporters at that site.

County Charter:
   Deadline to add your name to the list of Commissioners to construct the wording of the County Charter is January 15th. Commissioners are not paid.
It costs $500 to run a Bio in the election pamphlet. Some of the funds raised by the Vandana Shiva event will be used for this purpose. 
   Agnes estimates we need to turn in 25 petition sheets every month to meet our goal of 4000 signature by January 15th. We currently have 1000 signatures . It was unknown at the meeting time how many signatures have been turned in by the inland gatherers.
Agnes reported that Ellen Rosser  of Point Arena plans to seek out Republicans who would be sponsors of the Charter petition.
 
   Sheila was asked by John F. to report on the KZYX license renewal recently granted to the station after a 2 year delay. She reported that she had not yet read the official response by the FCC.  The meeting ended abruptly when Agnes interrupted the speaker, being frustrated by the ongoing explanation of the viewpoint of the source of the email to John F. A few words were exchanged about proper process. Agnes presented buttons for  the group to distribute and left the meeting.
  As it was the 4th anniversary of the emergence of the Occupy movement, the rest of the group stayed on to celebrate  the continued activist efforts of  Occupy Mendocino with an Occu-pie provided by Sheila.
     The situation was resolved through an exchange of polite emails between Agnes & Sheila.

October 3rd Minutes
   Bob L.- Facilitator; Daniel -Stacker, Sheila -Secretary
Present: Bob, Daniel,Sheila, Agnes
       The first agenda item was a review of the process that governs Occupy Mendocino's meetings as new people have attended without being properly oriented to prior agreements of the group.
    1)  Respect for each other as well as the agreed upon process.
    2) No interruptions of someone who has been recognized to speak.
    3) No cross talk. Those wishing to speak are to raise  a hand to be recognized and stacked by the person designated to do so.
    4) Motions are made and seconded to decide a course of action.
    5) Decisions are sought to be made by consensus. If necessary to resolve differences in a course of action, the majority of Aye or Nay votes will be the determining factor.
   It was suggested that the group begin to have timed agendas to give adequate time to all agenda items. No motion was made.
  It was also suggested that the meeting begin with a brief check in to allow for airing the emotional state we bring to the meeting.
   Agnes recognized that she has difficulty in speaking up about things that upset her.
    Sheila said that when meetings are small the tendency is to be less formal and attentive to the established process. She also recognized that when people are interrupted they often forget what they had intended to say so it is important to curb the tendency to engage in  a conversational type of discourse.
     Concern was expressed about  the need to model good communication skills and adherence to process for the benefit of all but especially to keep new members' interest engaged who might be discouraged by negative vibes.
There was a discussion to change the time of the meeting to the earlier time of 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. to allow  more time to participate in other weekend activities.  As there were so few members present, it was decided to table a vote to the following meeting of Oct. 17th.
  
A motion was made to pay the Internet fee for the website for another year. Mark S. will ask Jessie to write a check for the required fee.(about $45.)

A number of discussion groups occur in Fort Bragg. One at David's Deli on Friday mornings and a Thursday 8:30 session at Linda J's.

We have added this as a regular agenda item to share new information. 
Current News Items
   A recent court decision outlawing long terms in solitary confinement was noted. Also discussed was the death penalty as a faulty and inhumane practice.
  The ramifications of the new state Marijuana law were explored. The taxation of growers provision was deleted. There are winners and losers in the bill's implementation --Cooperatives, which are  currently allowed in SB 420 will be phased out after one year. The legal status of marijuana will change from being labeled a public nuisance to being recognized as an agricultural product with a corresponding change in the agency charged with regulation.
  Agnes noted that a bipartisan effort to create a 21st century Glass-Steagall Act is being  authored by Sen. Warren of Mass. and Sen. McCain of Arizona.
   Bob spoke of the comeback of cooperatives in Detroit & San Francisco. He felt that the current political climate in government views such efforts as a move towards socialism and resists the change away from capitalism.
   
 Note:  The  meeting of November 7th will begin at the new time of 12 noon and end at 2 p.m.
                         Respectfully Submitted
                            Sheila Dawn