Green Party of San Diego Council Meeting, November 13, 2001
Draft Meeting Minutes
prepared by Magali Offerman


Meeting started close to 7pm and ended sometime around 9pm. (yep, forgot to
keep track)
Location: Dave's Coffee House, Hillcrest

Facilitator: Lupita Jimenez
Time keeper: Tammy Tatum
Notetaker: Magali Offerman
Present: *Micky Adams, *Lupita Jimenez, *Karine Megerdoomian, *Ed Zugates,
*Ric Newbery, *Tammy Tatum, *Magali Offerman, *Carl Sachs, *Michelle and
*John Delehanty, Larry Maldonado arrived during the bylaws discussion (Uptown Greens
member).
*council members

I - TREADURER'S REPORT
Micky Adams handed out copies of the latest report. (Numbers on handout will
be posted online)

Numbers are as follows:
- Karine mentions she needs to be reinbursed for video viewing receipt
later.
- Donations:
We need to give Cameron $5 a month donation for server. $60 a year is
approved by consensus.
- Karine paid $35 for domain name (sdgreens.org) registration and needs
reinbursement.

II - ARMENIAN GENOCIDE UPDATE
Karine submitted the proposal to Don E. and Michelle D., coordinators of the
GPCA Green Issues working group.  Michelle received it and final agenda will
come out in early Dec. 2001

III - STATUS THANK YOU LETTERS
Karine submitted all paperwork to Michelle which included the postcards from
the latest donors. Michelle will mail those to Magali and receives her
address.

IV - BYLAWS PROPOSAL
Magali Offerman prepared a proposal to change the bylaws and asked the
council to approve it and pass it on to the membership.

The following concerns were brought up in regards to approving this proposal
at this meeting:
by Ric
- There were only two copies of the proposed bylaw changes. People need to
read what they are deciding on. Seconded by Tammy. Karine pointed out we
could make copies accross the street.
by Michelle
- Timing of this proposal is not good if the membership will end up voting
on it at the council election this year. Would like to avoid having a
similar situation as last year.

It was agreed to discuss the bylaw proposal and agree on what to do after
the discussion was over.

Discussion:

Ric started with making the following three points of clarification for
everyone there since there weren't extra copies.

Change #1
Would allow any non-citizen or persons not able to register to vote to
become a member of the Green Party simply by requesting it on written form
and meeting two pre-requisites. 1) That they are 12 yrs. of age 2) That they
don't have voting privileges in another political party.

Change#2
Would change the definition of 'active' members to include those volunteers
who are on a list of 'active' members from locals, committees and working
groups. The definition of 'active' members would be left to each of those
bodies. Currently the definition includes those members who attend a general
membership meeting at least once in the past twelve months. 'Active' members
have voting priviledges that members don't.

Change#3
Would recognize active members from locals as active members on the county
level regardless of whether they live in the geographical area of that local
or not. Currently, individuals are free to be part of any local but if you
don't live in a local's geographical area or have attended a membership
meeting, the county does not recognize that person as an active member. This
would enable any Green Party members who are active in other Green Party
recognized bodies to vote on county matters at general membership meetings.

Concerns, comments and responses:

Concerns on change#1
Ric - It would allow anyone unable to register to vote to become a member of
the GPSD without making a real commitment to the party. Registering Green is
making a committement to the party. Michelle seconded the committment
comment.
Michelle - 12 years of age is too young to become a gp member. This was
seconded by Lupita and several nods from the room.

Responses from Magali:
- Currently the only requirement for a U.S. citizen to be a member of the
GPSD is to be registered as a Green. The requirement for someone unable to
register to vote is to be 'active' within the county structure which means
that person needs to put time and effort into the party. This treats those
unable to register to vote and citizens differently, asking one to meet more
requirements than the other. The level of commitment an individual makes to
the party cannot be measured by their registration status or their wish to
be members of the party through writing. (Members don't have voting powers
at the county level anyway except on the ballot.)
- I agree to change limit to 15 years of age. This would facilitate the
creation of locals within High Schools.

Concerns on #2

Michelle - Maybe we should require two meetings a year not just one. Is
concerned about quorum
Karine - Other political parties have membership fees which makes it easier
for the membership coordinator to figure out who has voting priviledges.
Tammy - Locals and counties are two separate organizations. The requirement
to be considered an 'active' member (meaning you get voting privileges)
would be lowered by not requiring members to attend a meeting of the general
membership meeting.
Karine - The proposed changes would make it difficult for the county
membership coordinator to keep track of who is active or not when
locals/committees/working groups don't submit their lists of members/active
members. Seconded by Ric.
Tammy - Participation in a local means you have a voice in that local. To
have a voice at the county level you should participate at the county level.
The locals have a voice through their representative to the council. Carl S.
seconds this.
Ric - Allowing locals, committees and working groups to decide who their
active membership is on their own would take away any controlling leverage
the county has.

Responses:

by Magali
- With these changes, the county coordinator does not have the
responsibility to figure out who's active or not outside of his/her general
membership lists. The locals, working groups and committees do. If these
groups don't submit their lists, those members are not added to the list of
active members.
- Being active within a local means you are active strengthening the party
and promoting it as a whole, not just as a local. An activity like the
Uptown Greens' forum will benefit the county as a whole.
- the representation discussed here is at the general membership not the
council. currently, at general membership meetings, anyone 'new' to the
county but who's active as a green somewhere else does not get to be part of
the decision-making process.
- Decentralization and grassroots are main parts of our organizing as the
Green Party. We should give locals more control over the decision-making
process.
by Micky
- Locals should have a say on what goes on at the county level - Why is
there a division made between local members and the general membership?
by Karine
- If grassroots is what we are about then what is the relationship between
the locals and the general membership? The way it is now, there is a schism
that is not needed. Why? (Ric responds to this but the notes are at the end
of this discussion outline because it leads to another issue.)

Concerns on #3:
Ric - The possibility of a local forming without the minimum requirement of
5 members is created with this. Seconded by Carl S.

Responses on #3:
by Ric
- There's nothing in the bylaws that keeps anyone from participating at the
local of their choice.
by Magali
- The intent is not to get rid of the minimum requirement. Agrees to change
wording to ONLY reflect the concept that the county should recognize as
active members those people who are active in locals regardless of where
they live.
- Nothing keeps people from participating in the local of their choice. The
issue is about who the county recognizes as an active member which affects
their voting privileges at the general membership meetings.   Currently, the
decision-making body of the county is the general membership which doesn't
necessarily include the membership of each local.
by Michelle
- Points out that there haven't been problems with people not being able to
vote at council meetings since last year's council election. Magali agrees
and points out the reason is because all the decisions thereafter were made
by consensus. There was no need to use the fall-back option of voting.
Karine prepared the active membership lists for every meeting that a
decision was going to be made.

Section 4-1.6 of the proposal was not discussed at this meeting.

Decision on Bylaws proposal:
Magali will revise the proposal and present it again at the next council
meeting.

Explanation of relationship between locals and general membership by Ric N.
The state requires us to account for (1) Voters in the county (2) Local
members
At the time the bylaws were written, there were no locals. The county
membership needed to be managed in some way that would enable people to
participate in a grassroots structure. That's when the concept of the (3)
the general membership came into place. There were different ideas on the
path this would follow as the GPSD grew but as Ric views it, there would be
representation from the locals at the council. He mentions that as an
organization gets larger and larger, it is not possible to have everyone
represented. He recognizes that the general membership, as an attempt at
having a "town hall" type of experience, does not work. He would be for
getting rid of it alltogether at an appropriate time in the future. Ric also
mentioned that the San Diego County Greens are unique from other chapters in
the state in having the county general membership as its decision-making
body. The comments in the room then shifted to making it the goal of the
county to work toward getting rid of the general membership and empowering
the locals.

VI - YOLANDA ESCAMILLA FOR CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8

Lupita reports on a group of Greens interviewing her shortly after the last
council meeting. That report was sent to the Council listserv. You can read
it at the end of th
General Membership. An 'active member' is defined as any member, in good
standing (see Paragraph 2-3.9), who is at least 15 years of age and meets
any one of the following criteria:
a) The person is an 'active member' of a Committee or Working Group (as
escribed in Rule C), or a Green Local recognized by the General Membership
(as described in Article 4). Each Committee, Working Group, and Green Local
shall define who an 'active member' within their group is, maintain a list
of its active members and deliver any changes to the Membership Coordinator.
b) The person attends at least one General Membership meeting during the
previous 12 months.

[END]


-------

Article 4 - Locals & Clubs

Section 4-1 - Descriptions

4-1.1
Local Organizations and Clubs, hereafter referred to as Locals, are charged
with fostering community empowerment and Party growth within their borders.
There are three general types of Locals; Area-Based, Issue-Based, and
Tribal/Ethnic Group Based. These classifications do not necessarily preclude
other types of Locals from being recognized by the GPSD.


[START of edited version]

4-1.1
Local Organizations and Clubs, hereafter referred to as Locals, are charged
with fostering community empowerment and Party growth within their borders
BUT MEMBERS ARE NOT LIMITED TO WORKING WITHIN THOSE BORDERS AS LONG AS THE
LOCAL'S PRIORITY IS TO CARE FOR ITS MAIN GEOGRAPHICAL AREA. There are three
general types of Locals; Area-Based, Issue-Based, and Tribal/Ethnic Group
Based. These classifications do not necessarily preclude other types of
Locals from being recognized by the GPSD.

[END]


4-1.2
The membership of Area-Based Locals shall be the Green Party registered
voters in the appropriate neighborhood or geographic area of the County.

[START of edited version]

(add this to the sentence in 4-1.2)
AND OTHER PERSONS WHO FALL INTO THE MEMBERSHIP DESCRIPTION IN SECTION 2-2.2.

[END]

4-1.3
The membership of Issue-Based Locals shall be based on participation.

4-1.4
The membership of Tribal/Ethnic Group Based Locals shall be that by which
the Tribe or Ethnic Group currently defines itself in matters separate from
the Party.

4-1.5
Only Locals officially recognized by the GPSD, as described in Section 4-2,
are authorized to claim Green Party affiliation. Officially recognized
Locals may select a representative to the County Council as described in
Paragraph 3-2.2.

[NEW PARAGRAPH]

4-1.6
A GPSD Local shall not take any public position on county-wide or state-wide
issues contrary to that taken by the GPSD or GPCA, without receiving
consensus at the County general meeting.

[END]

[NEW PARAGRAPH]

4-1.7
Only 'active members' of each Local are allowed to vote at a meeting of the
GPSD General Membership. An 'active member' is defined as any member, in
good standing (see Paragraph 2-3.9) who meets the criteria defined in the
Local's bylaws. A person who does not reside in the neighborhood or
geographical area of an Area-based Local may be regarded as an 'active
member' as long as the Local's priority remains the care for its main
geographic area members.

[END]