Chaplin Room at the Culpeper Center
137 South Main Street, Culpeper VA 22701
10am - 4pm, with 1-hr lunch break
http://www.culpepercenter.com/contact-us
For those wishing to attend remotely, we will be using an online video conferencing service with full two-way audio and video. Information on how to join the meeting remotely will be provided before the meeting. You will need access to broadband internet, a computer, speakers or headphones/earbuds, and a microphone to participate remotely.
This will be an in-person meeting, but with facilities for members to participate remotely through real-time two-way audio and video using the internet.)
FreeConferenceCall.com
OpaVote.com
The justification for making this an in-person meeting is that we have a very full agenda. We have scheduled 6 hours for this agenda, including a 1-hour lunch and two 15-minute potty breaks. We will need participants to be ready to begin promptly at 10am, and to be on-point at all times.
Among our important business items is the election of members for many state and national committees. If you are interested in serving on any of these committees, please feel free to nominate yourself either by writing to me or Tamar or during the meeting when nominations are requested. If you plan to nominate another for any position, make sure to check that the person is willing to be nominated and to serve if elected.
You can familiarize yourself with our national committees at this link: http://gpus.org/committees. Note that some committees we can elect you to serve on, whereas others (like the Steering Committee or the CCC) we can only nominate you to serve on, and then you must be elected by the National Committee. You can familiarize yourself at the link with the rules regarding any committee you are interested in.
We also have several important items to vote on, and candidates to nominate. The the proposed bylaw amendments are appended to the end of the agenda below. Candidate information will be posted separately.
If there was something you felt should be on the agenda but that we missed, be prepared to make a motion to amend the agenda during ratification of the agenda. It can be amended by vote.
This is a very exciting time in the Virginia Green Party. We have new locals, many new members, and a number of new projects and goals for the coming year. Tamar and I hope that as many people as possible will choose to participate in this meeting.
Below is the agenda. As is now standard, we ask that all reports be submitted in writing to the business mailing list at least 7 days prior to the meeting. This will facilitate a shorter and more business-like meeting with more time to focus on matters requiring deliberation.
For purposes of calculating quorum, the locals represented at the previous two meetings were Arlington, Blue Ridge, Central Virginia, Fredericksburg, Hampton Roads, and Piedmont.
AGENDA OF GPVA MEETING ON JANUARY 28, 2017
INTRODUCTION (10 min.)
Choose facilitator, note taker, timekeeper, vibes watcher
Ratify agenda
Approve minutes of last meeting
OFFICIAL REPORTS (3 mins each -- total 30 mins)
Co-Chair's report
Treasurer's report
Webmaster's report
GPUS representatives' report
Local reports
OLD BUSINESS
Confirmation of Tim Cotton as Press Secretary, and Press Secretary's report. (10 min)
Review of election; report from endorsed candidates Audrey Clement, Kimberly Lowe Arbouw, and Glenn Kirk. (10 min)
Review of website progress (10 min)
AFFILIATION OF LOCALS (15 min)
Shenandoah Valley Greens
BYLAWS (60 min)
Voting rights amendment (Appendix A below)
Officer elections amendment (Appendix B below)
Local affiliation amendment (Appendix C below)
Endorsements/nominations amendment (Appendix D below)
LUNCH (60 min)
PUBLIC OFFICE NOMINATIONS/ENDORSEMENTS (20 min)
Will King for HoD District 18
Gerald Anderson for HoD District 88
Andrew Frank for HoD District 58
GPVA OFFICER ELECTIONS (15 min)
Treasurer
Webmaster
Listserve Moderator
REVIEW STATUS OF COMMITTEES AND LIST-SERVES (30 min)
Are there list-serves and/or committees that we should discontinue?
For those we want to close, make sure there are no bylaws changes needed.
For those we want to keep, confirm the current chairperson assignments, and/or solicit new chair volunteers.
Give these chairs 60 days to review their policies/procedures & webpages, submit specific requests to IT Committee, submit 2017 goals to GPVA co-chairs, and Introduce themselves to their committee membership via an email to their corresponding mailing list.
GPVA COMMITTEE CHAIR ELECTIONS (30 min.)
Local Organizing
Candidate Exploration
Information Technology
Platform
GPUS COMMITTEE ELECTIONS (30 min)
Review of GPUS committees
Confirm Jeff Staples for Campaign Coordination Committee (nominated by IC, election by national committee in progress).
National Committee Delegates
Animal Rights Committee
CLOSING CIRCLE
APPENDIX A: PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE BYLAWS REGARDING VOTING RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS AND LOCALS
ALTER PARA 6.1.5 TO READ::
An unaffiliated, at-large local called the Greens of Virginia is available for membership by those Greens in Virginia who are not members of an affiliated local. Membership in the At-Large Greens is restricted to those who do not have an affiliated local whose municipal center lies within a one hour drive from their place of residence, as determined by a standard Global Positioning System mapping application. At large members who are within an hour's drive of an affiliated local, but who do not believe the local is a good fit for them, may apply to the co-chairs for an exception. Such exceptions are considered a major decision and will be granted by a majority vote at any state business meeting or by the Interim Committee. Exceptions must be reviewed annually. At-large members are expected to work towards establishing a local in their area if one does not exist.
ADD NEW PARA 6.2.7::
6.2.7 Affiliated locals may participate in state party decisions in accordance with and subject to the restrictions of other relevant paragraphs herein.
COMBINE AND ALTER PARA'S 7.4.1, 2 INTO A NEW PARA 7.4.1 TO READ::
7.4.1 Each GPVA member who is registered with the state party for at least one year or is designated to party officers by his/her local representative or alternate as a member in good standing of the local is entitled to participate in discussions, nominate officers and committee members, join in consensus, and block consensus on major or minor decisions at business and general meetings; such members may also vote on minor decisions at business meetings. At-large members who wish to exercise voting rights within the first year of joining the party shall be vetted by one of the co-chairs.
ADD NEW PARA'S 7.4.2 and 7.4.3::
7.4.2 Affiliated locals of the GPVA may cast one vote on all major decisions at state party meetings and in the Interim Committee through their representative or designated alternate. The At-Large Local may cast one vote on major decisions at state party meetings by being polled by the facilitator and their majority decision, if any, recorded as a single vote.
7.4.3 Affiliated locals that have not submitted, either to the co-chairs or in a written report to the state party, confirmation of a business meeting of the local held within the previous 365 days and attended by at least three local members in good standing shall not vote on major decisions during state business meetings, or on the Interim Committee, and shall not be counted toward the threshold of Para 9.2 for purposes of overturning state party decisions or the threshold of Para 10.2 for quorum.
ADD NEW PARA 8.3.7::
8.3.7 election of state party officers and state and national committee members
ALTER PARA 10.3.1 TO READ::
10.3.1 Major decisions shall be made by consensus of those GPVA members present or, if consensus cannot be achieved, by a vote of three-fifths of voting members present, unless the Bylaws specify a different approval threshold for the decision at hand. Voting members are the co-chairs, treasurer, press secretary, web-master, and one representative from each affiliated local in good standing present, except that no person shall have more than one vote. At-large members present at state meetings may vote in accordance with Para. 7.4.2.
APPENDIX B: PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE BYLAWS REGARDING ELECTION OF OFFICERS
ALTER PARA 14.1.3 TO READ::
14.1.3 The Officers shall be elected as follows:
14.1.3.1 Officer elections are to be held at the first business meeting of each calendar year.
14.1.3.2 In odd-numbered years elections shall be held for one Co-Chair and the Press Secretary. In even-numbered years elections shall be held for one Co-Chair, the Treasurer, and the Webmaster.
14.1.3.3 Terms of office end on the date of the meeting at which a new election for the office is prescribed by Para. 14.1.3.1. Offices for which scheduled elections are not held at the prescribed meeting are vacant. (cf. Para 14.1.5.)
14.1.3.4 The Co-Chairs shall be eligible to serve no more than two terms consecutively.
DELETE PARA 14.1.4 AND RENUMBER PARA's 14.1.5 and 14.1.6 to 14.1.4 and 14.1.5 respectively.
APPENDIX C: PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE BYLAWS REGARDING AFFILIATION OF LOCALS
RENUMBER THE CURRENT PARA 6.2.6 to 6.2.7 AND INSERT NEW PARA 6.2.6:
6.2.6 As a requirement for affiliation, locals shall designate a municipal center and geographic boundaries. These should be chosen with the intent to maximize the cohesion and political effectiveness of the local.
6.2.6.1 No local shall be affiliated with the same municipal center as a local already affiliated, unless following affiliation the municipality will have no more than one local centered within it for every 100,000 of its population.
6.2.6.1 No local shall be affiliated that includes within its geographic boundary any county or city all of which lies more than one hour's drive from its municipal center.
6.2.6.3 Geographic boundaries that overlap the boundaries of already affiliated locals shall not be an obstacle to affiliation.
APPENDIX D: PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE BYLAWS REGARDING DIS-AFFILIATION OF LOCALS
ADD:
6.3.2.4 endorsement of a candidate nominated by an opposing party contrary to Para. 3.8