Central Committee Meeting Minutes – June 2018
This date, pursuant to the Ohio Secretary of State directive 2018-02, this meeting was called to order at The Willis Educational Center, Rm 212, 74 W. Williams St., Delaware, Ohio 43015.
Attendance / Roll call was taken via sign-in sheets, identification can be viewed therein. According to sign-in there were 91 members present, however some may not have signed.
Mindy Hedges was requested to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and the meeting was opened.
Former Chair Ed Helvey was appointed temporary Chair, and former secretary Carol Young was appointed temporary Secretary for the purpose of electing a new Central Committee Chair and a new Central Committee Secretary.
The newly elected Central Committee members asked to rise and given the official oath of office followed by the Election of the Central Committee Chair: The nomination of Peg Watkins was made by Jacob Fathbruckner & seconded by Emma Mirles-Jones. Judge Pat Delaney, of OH 5th District Court of Appeals then gave the Oath of office to Peg Watkins and transfer of leadership proceeded.
Ed Helvey introduced Bill DeMora (from ODP) and he guided Peg through appropriate steps for transferring the newly elected Central Committee officers and then members.
After nomination was made by Tonya Bruce and seconded by Rand Guebert, all in favor, Carol Young transferred the Central Committee Secretary position and Barbara Berry was appointed.
The meeting was then moved to unite the Executive and Central Committee members by David Carpenter and motion to approve was made by Mindy Hedges and seconded by Emma Mirles-Jones. Motion was carried.
This meeting was then called to proceed.
Central Committee positions are elected and at-large or vacancies can be filled after attending 3 monthly meetings in the past 12 months. Motion by Cara Posey and seconded by Mindy Hedges.
Tara Talgar was appointed to the Concord H vacancy after the nomination by Spencer Dirrig and seconded by Indu Rajan.
With a female in the Chair position, 1st Vice chair positions requires a male, 2nd Vice Chair is seated by a female. Both positions offered two potential options.
At this time candidates for the 1st Vice Chair position were taken and David Carpenter was nominated by Kevin West and Brian Jaffe was nominated by Cara Posey. Both candidates were provided opportunity to provide their qualifications and a ballot vote later followed.
Brian Jaffe spoke about his dedication and activity in the party. He is currently involved in IT and web construction for the party, including building the data base and the newsletter. He also volunteers on the Communications Committee.
David Carpenter presented himself as a problem solver and stressed the need to win in August and November 2018. The need is to encourage voters to get to the polls and turn a blue wave in Delaware County.
Next business was for the 2nd Vice Chair position. Nominations from the floor included Julie Houston, nominated by Shirley VanSickle and seconded by Kevin West, as well as Donna Sinclair, nominated by Nancy Cline and seconded by Amy Predieri-White.
Donna Sinclair gave a brief bio and talked about her activity here in the party. She previously worked on the Hillary campaign and has since taken over the headquarters office and staffing. She expressed a vision and how to grow the party here. Her call was to be visible as a Democrat and support our candidates.
Julie Houston addressed the group by emphasizing her years of involvement as the 1st Vice Chair to Ed Helvey and her belief in leading by example. Her message was to be the “Best you can be and do the best you can – and be part of the change as we go forward”.
Ballots were provided and later collected, then tallied by Bill DeMora.
Corrine Lyman asked for the floor to comment that all four of these candidates were dedicated and worthy of these positions.
The treasurer nomination was made by Linda Gaffey and seconded by Zach Nichols for John Schmarr to resume the position he currently holds. There were no other nominations, he accepted and motion was carried.
Amy Murphy moved, Mindy Hedges seconded to have Barbara Berry be accepted to the Executive Committee Secretary. All in favor. So moved.
At this time current Delaware County office holders were recognized: DTT -Roger VanSickle, GVC-David Simmons, DCC-Mayor Pat Monaghan, Chris Jones, George Hellinger, Jim Browning/Judge Patricia Delaney, WCC –Alex Heckman, Valerie Cumming, Dave Martin.
Results were then announced for the office positions. Congratulations to David Carpenter as 1st Vice Chair, Julie Houston as 2nd Vice Chair.
Further business included – Peg reviewed upcoming special events, reminder that the early vote center will open July 10th, support our candidates on all levels. And VOTE!
Mindy Hedges asked for volunteers to help on the Danny O’Connor campaign.
Joyce Bourgault requested support for the Sherrod Brown fund raiser she is sponsoring.
Candidates in attendance were recognized –
Louise Valentine – District 19 (she thanked everyone for their support)
Indu Rajan – Auditor Aileen Wagner – County Commissioner
Kathy Tate – 68th District
Liz Shirey from ODP – congratulated those newly elected and thanked everyone for helping the party grow. She mentioned that every Re-organization meeting is attended by a rep from ODP. She welcomed connecting with others around the state.
Peg stated that certificates were made for each person and Carol Young distributed them after the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Berry
Secretary