GPMI State Membership Meeting

Green Party of Michigan State Membership Meeting

February 18th & 19th 2005, in Grand Rapids

Saturday
9 :00 Setup tables, coffee, registration
:15 Setup for silent auction
:30
:45 Announcements
10 :00 Officer, nat'l. rep reports
:15
:30
:45 Break (auction bids)
11 :00 View SOS response DVD
:15 Discussion – using media
:30 (DVD, Green Light, Green Pages)
:45 Discussion of proposal for
12 :00 fundraising committee, chair
:15
:30 Lunch break in union hall
:45 (auction bids)
1 :00
:15
:30 Delphi workers presentation
:45 (Ken Mathenia)
2 :00
:15 Elections – clearinghouse Coord.,
:30 Fundraising chair, other if needed
:45
3 :00 Break (FINAL auction bids)
:15 Benton Harbor presentation
:30 (Rev. Pinkney)
:45 Resolutions
4 :00
:15 Finish silent auction
:30 Tour – Environmental Action
:45 Center building, explanation of
5 :00 local environmental activism
:15 (off- site)
:30 Jane Jarlsberg
:45
6 :00 Dinner break
:15 (off- site)
:30
:45
7 :00 Public viewing of movie:
:15 “The End of Suburbia”
:30 Oil Depletion and the collapse of
:45 the American dream
8 :00 (78 minutes running time)
:15 Discussion of movie, energy wars,
:30 & holding movie viewings as a
:45 method of outreach
9 :00


Sunday
9 :00 Discussion & vote (IRV)
:15 on membership proposals
:30
:45
10 :00 Budget and fundraising
:15 (Pete and/or David)
:30 Discussions
:45
11 :00 Break
:15 Back to budget and fundraising
:30 (Pete and/or David)
:45 Decisions
12 :00
:15 Lunch -or brunch
:30 (off-site unless we order delivery)
:45
1 :00
:15 2007 National meeting -
:30 Proposal to host
:45 (Matt Abel)
2 :00
:15 Plant a Tree project and SOA
:30 (Lynn Meadows)
:45
3 :00 Clean up and clear out

Comments on draft agenda

Overall, Saturday has about a day and a half worth of activities. Then Sunday has an early ending, just in case - unlikely as this may be - the weather in Grand Rapids in February is bad and people want to get on the road while there is still some daylight.

There is no session specifically for 2006 election planning. I expect that topic will be absorbed for this meeting by the sessions on budget and fundraising. That is, we are trying to raise funds for the election and we are trying to budget for the election. I anticipate that, at the spring meeting, we will be going over materials for a campaign school, discussing how to recruit candidates, and other sorts of direct election planning.

The viewing of the new SOS response video has been placed immediately after the officer reports so that, if the reports run long, the viewing part can be dropped. This is not an invitation for these reports to run over. It is a warning that, if they do run over, the time for the next topic will suffer.

It is my understanding that we are going to have a fundraising committee with an elected chair, the chair being an unpaid volunteer just like every other party officer and/or standing committee chair. It will then be the business of this committee to define the job of a "professional" fundraiser and to hire one. Whether this amounts to the committee recommending a person and a contract to the SCC, or if the committee itself is empowered to set the terms and hire the person, is yet to be determined.

To me, it makes sense to empower the committee to set the terms and to hire the person, if the SMM decides in principle to hire a fundraiser. Inserting the SCC as an additional bureaucratic hurdle, especially given that the SCC works through a cumbersome process of e-mails, would not be a good idea.

At any rate, I hope this understanding is close to something everyone can agree on, because I've set the SMM up to discuss the fundraising committee on Saturday, and elect a chair then if necessary. Then a big part of Sunday is set up to be, essentially, a face-to-face meeting of this committee, but with the authority of an SMM to make fundamental decisions.

Saturday afternoon and evening thus became the time to discuss issues, rather than internal party business. Because there are three clear proposals on membership criteria, and because membership criteria set some of the parameters of fundraising, a decision on membership is set for the first item of business on Sunday.

Art Myatt