Note:    Due to the Coronavirus and continued quarantine requirements ordered by the Governor, the regular monthly meeting was held via a Zoom session and appropriate notice had been provided.

Executive / Central Committee Meeting June 18, 2020

This meeting was once again hosted by Melanie Farias and a list of __#__ attendees is attached for the record.  

Chair Peg Watkins opened the meeting and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Old Business  –   

 Secretary’s Report  –  Minutes of the previous meetings were addressed and open for discussion as follows:  Minutes of 4/30 meeting – no discussion and a motion to approve was made by Steve Schottle, seconded by Jonathan Chu, all favored and passed as written.  Minutes of the 5/26 meeting had no discussion.  Steve Schottle made motion to accept, seconded by Cheryl Luce, all favored and motion passed as written. Minutes of the 6/2 had no discussion.  Motion to approve was made by Cara Posey, seconded by Judy Carpenter, all in favor and motion passed. (Note the 5/26 and 6/2 meetings reflect as re-org and election for officers).  

 Treasurer’s Report  – Roo Dirrig presented her report dated from 6/1-6/17 in a simpler format.  It indicated re4venue generated from donations for masks and yard signs.  No questions and a motion to accept and approve the report was made by Cheryl Luce, seconded by Abby Metheney.  All favored and motion passed.

Also, John Schmarr and Roo went to the bank to change over banking information.  The bank is requiring a statement, to update their records, be submitted by the Secretary declaring the change of proprietorship. Said letter has been provided.

Board of Elections report – was provided by Deputy Director Anthony Saadey.  He reported that the final 2020 Primary shows that 185 Democrats filed Republican votes, and 7 for Libertarians, while there were 3274 Reps that filed Dem votes, 38 to Libs.  There were 2179 Independent votes cast.  He also continues to appeal for poll workers for the November election, as an overwhelmingly large volume is anticipated.  Plans are underway early to spur interest. Anyone interested is asked to call Rob Katula (740-833-2096) at the Board of Elections for more information.

New Business – 

Peg then brought to the meeting a Resolution  ‘Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis’modeled on a similar resolution recently passed by the Ohio Democratic Party.  Peg read this aloud as it was shown on the Zoom screen.  She requested that the Delaware County Democratic Party attach to the other supporters as named in the Resolution and approve it as such.  A motion was requested from the floor. Marian Jacques made the motion and it was seconded by Heather Karr.   Andre Washington expressed a thank you for the interest and consideration.  Lengthy comments from floor brought these concerns.   Pamela Foster requested the word ‘violence’ in the resolution be changed to brutality.  Robert Davis expressed the resolution goes a long way but asked for it to add a declaration for a specific plan of action and to commit to direct peaceful equal justice as a party.  Peg stated that the police chief has put out a message that peaceful demonstrations were acceptable.   Mindy Hedges requested that the matter be tabled until the next meeting so that the resolution be made available for member review.  Marian Jacques suggested an ad hoc committee be formed, Andre agreed but expressed the motion to accept the resolution with said changes be passed today.  Pam Warrick requested with the changes, that Westerville also be added to the other organizations.  Emma Jones expressed concern over delays by tabling. She encouraged the current passage with changes as already stated.  Spencer asked to speak to the vote.  He said “pass it now and adjust further in the future”. Mallorie Watts echoed the same. No second therefore Andre stated the original motion is dead.  There was no table at this time.  Mindy requested to remove her request to table and review for further options.  Andre requested all in attendance to decline her request and pass the original motion after strengthening the message as stated.   Liz Osorio (parliamentarian)  intervened and said Mindy cannot withdraw her motion to postpone.  Raise to question to approve the resolution w/move to amend via an ad hoc committee.  Robert Davis stated his agreement to vote with commitment to revisit in a timely manner after the ad hoc. The vote was taken to table Mindy’s original motion to table the resolution. Passed.  Then Marian Jacques made a motion to “adopt the existing resolution and for the ad hoc committee and include the changes ‘violence to brutality’, Westerville and a plan of action going forward”.  Spencer moved call to questions, seconded by Steve Schottle.    Cathy Holdren doesn’t want 2 separate resolutions made public. Too confusing.  Abby Metheney suggested 10 time frame with request that the revised resolution at it’s fullest adjustment be made available for review. Peg offered – there will be a special meeting held on 6/30 and the resolution can be revisited at that time.  Corinne Lyman added to the discussion for clarity. Andre then asked to approve the resolution with the Chair commitment to appoint ad hoc committee for further development.  Vote was taken and passed by majority.   New further motions were voided since they were not necessary at this point.

Peg noted that John Hartman’s request to withdraw from the County Commissioner office has been accepted.  Pamela Foster has decided to seek election for the office.  She has already reached out to others as support for her campaign.  A special meeting is scheduled for 6/30 to vote on that nomination from the Executive Committee, and party support.  A mail notice will be sent out as soon as possible.

Peg then gave notice to the State Convention which takes place on August 1, 2020.  We are able to send 4 ladies and 5 men attendees.  After nominations were taken from the floor and closed, the following ladies were highest vote getters and will be attending- Pam Foster, Indu Rajan, Roo Dirrig & Aileen Wagner.  A call to vote was requested by Melanie and seconded by Marianne Gabel.  All approved.

The following men were then nominated – Joydeep Gupta, Caleb Lohr, Rob Katula & Ken Wright.   Ed Helvey moved to close the nominations, seconded by Emma Jones.  Vote was taken and these men were selected to attend.

Peg was delighted to announce that a new committee has formed.  PROD (Precinct & Regional Organizing & Development) has formed and will be under the combined management of Pam Warrick & Cathi Kulik.   The previous Regions will be structured and breakout sessions will be coordinated in the future. There will be more information going forward.  We appreciate their willingness to accept the responsibility, which will enhance our growth.

Since the meeting was already on overtime, other committee reports were postponed at this time.

A motion to adjourn was made by Melanie Farkas and seconded by Emma Jones.    Meeting adjourned. 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Berry,  Secretary