League of Women Voters of the Hamptons

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE HAMPTONS

September 2013 Board Meeting (9/3/13)

Meeting was convened by co-president Glorian Berk at 5:30 PM, Bridgehampton National Bank, Bridgehampton, NY

Present: Glorian Berk, Joy Cordery, Emoke Forman, Estelle Gellman, Arlene Hinkemeyer, Sally James , Valerie King, Ursula Lynch , Anne Marshall, Barbara McClancy, Carol Mellor, Judi Roth, Judy Samuelson, Gladys Remler, Sue Wilson

Not present: Naomi Epstein

July meeting minutes reviewed and accepted.

Treasurers Report

 Emoke reported that for July and August, expenses were $1906; cash income was $6360, primarily from Voter ads.  Glorian will email updated budget (she will not be able to attend next board meeting).

Information Items

 Carol received a response from League member Linn Duvall Harwell to our Constant Contact Obituary for Gene Makl. The CC notice was sent in lieu of a notice in The Voter. It was noted that there once was, and needs to be for future, a policy regarding how to officially respond to the death of a member, member’s spouse, etc. Efforts will be made to locate the past policy and the topic will be added to next month’s agenda for discussion.  Voter Guide Part II (primarily a proposition guide) will be available in Spanish on Sept. 15. The English version will be available earlier. Anne has ordered copies of the English version. It was decided she should also order the Spanish version (one quarter of the number of English copies).  The State league is looking for volunteers to work on two studies: term limits (for state offices) and ballot access as well as an update to the constitutional convention position. Anyone interested should contact Sarah Podber, Policy and Program Director ([email protected]). It was noted that this will not require ‘face-time’ but will be via conference call and email. It was further noticed that term limit study would be more technical (current position is ‘against’ term limits but is being revisited) and volunteers were needed more to review ballot access issue.  Members were urged to register to attend the League United Nations Day on October 8. Registration can be completed on the state website. This year’s topic is “Unite To Prevent Violence Against Women”. There will be a luncheon ($50) and briefing ($60). State has committed and is anxious that LWVH send as many as possible. LWVSC hopes as many as able will attend.

Upcoming Events

 September new member orientation dinner September 9. Estelle reported that they got good response from the board and preparations are in good shape. She only needs blank hangtags (Judi will bring) and dinner sized plates (Estelle will buy). Board is asked to arrive at 5:30 to set up. So far, five new members have responded that they will attend. Glorian will call those who have not yet responded. Estelle noted that there will be lots of desserts and should be enough to offer as refreshments at the lecture that follows.  September Islip Naturalization. Anne reported that LWVH is covering three days of four days: September 10 (Judy S. and Estelle), September 17 (Ursula and Joy Flynn) and September 18 (Anne M and Julia K).  National Voter Registration Day September 24 (11 AM – 1 PM). Arlene noted that we will man 11 sites throughout the Hamptons. Anne M will send out a notice to her committee and has arranged to get 500 registration forms. She has been advised that the Voter Guides will be coming in the mail next week.  Southampton Town Anti-Bias Picnic. We have sent a donation and will man a booth (Joy and Joanne Samborn – more volunteers are needed). We need to locate the banner and gather literature.  Riverhead Revisited September 26. Gladys reported that everything is lined up and it has received publicity via The Voter and flyers.

Discussion Items

 October lunch fund raiser may be in November instead. Special Events Committee will discuss it at their Sept. 11 meeting.  November 12 Member meeting Speaker. Judi and Sue are still working on finding a speaker but will not have a report until next month. Location TBD.  December Holiday Party. Need to start thinking about whether and where. Date has been changed to December 9.  Need for a Webmaster. Carol suggested that we contact high schools especially since they are required to do a certain number of community service hours. Judy S estimates that it will take someone about 1 hour per week.

Committee Reports

 The Voter. Joy reported that ads are up – she only had to place three ‘filler’ ads. Total ad revenue this year will be $10,749. She thanks those members who helped with the effort.  Voter Services. Carol is working on getting candidates lined up for vote411.org; Anne is working on questions. Carol predicts that vote411.org will become increasingly important to the election process.  Education. Judi reports that we have received $200 from the Westhampton Library and $100 from the Quogue Library to support the video project, “Promote The Vote”. She will be applying for a donation from the Bridgehampton National Bank. Given that expenses will only be about $300 for gifts plus some photocopying, the project is in good shape financially. Regarding participation, she is going to go to the schools (High Schools and Middle Schools) next week and also plans to contact the Girl Scouts.  Membership. Estelle reported that arrangements for the new member orientation are in place. She also noted that she created a membership directory 3-4 weeks ago but neglected to bring copies; on the other hand, it already had changes/corrections. We have about 120 paid members. The question was raised as to how long we should carry delinquent members. It was noted that we only pay State and National for members who pay dues so we are only ‘carrying’ non paying members vis-à-vis constant contact and The Voter. Also noted was that that February is when we normally review the list but this is not a policy. The committee will draft a policy to be discussed by the board at its next meeting.  Special Events. Gladys said they will have more to report after the next meeting and reminded everyone to ‘get out the word’ re Riverhead Tour.  Natural Resources. Sue reported that their September 17 meeting will be with John Botos, Executive Director of the Peconic Institute. She noted that the national League Agricultural update has been delayed so we do not have a position yet. She also reminded us that fracking (covered in the September Voter) is an important issue and that we all need to speak up.  Constant Contact/Facebook. In response to questions, Carol pointed out that Facebook reaches a much wider audience, potentially, than Constant Contact which just goes to members. Thus the effort involved is ‘worth it’. We had 100 readers last month; most popular topic was Voter Rights. It was suggested that requests for Carol to send out Constant Contact and Facebook be funneled through the co-presidents but it was decided that since requests are not that frequent, that policy would not be necessary.  Public Relations. Arlene commented that her talk on Suffragettes was not, regrettably, fully promoted in The Voter and was concerned that turn out would be low. Carol promised to get out a Constant Contact asap.. She also told the board that The Independent had approached her re the Viewpoints essay and she responded that we would, at some point.  Government/Health. However, Carol noted that the State Health Committee had lost its specialist. Contact Laura Ladd Bierman at State for information regarding this position.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 2 at 5:30 at the Bridgehampton National Bank.