Membership Meeting of the Marin Chapter of CGJA
January 15, 2009

1. Convene Meeting: Vice President Robinson called the meeting to order at 9:45am.

2. Quorum Present: Secretary Hern confirmed that a quorum (21) was present to conduct the business portion of the meeting.

3. Announcements: Robinson confirmed that the next membership meeting would be held at the Bay Model in Sausalito in March.

4. Approval of Agenda: The agenda was unanimously approved.

5. Approval of Minutes: The member meeting minutes of October 2008 and November 2008 were approved.

6. Guest Speaker: Professor Lawrence Goldberg, an instructor at The Fromm Institute at USF and co-lecturer with Richard Rubin, provided a fascinating and instructive “Analysis of the Electoral Process.” Prof. Goldberg reviewed the 2008 Presidential election in detail, highlighting the successes of the Obama campaign and the strengths and weaknesses of the Republican and other Democratic candidates’ campaigns against the
background of national and international issues and events.

7. Reconvene Meeting: Robinson reconvened the member meeting with 11 members present.

8. Grand Jury Update: (none)

9. Vice President’s Remarks: (none)

10. Board Members’ Remarks/Reports: Hern encouraged all members to attend the upcoming 10th Anniversary Celebration (of MCCGJA) on February 21.

11. 10th Anniversary Celebration: Trish Hibben announced that invitations to the event were being sent out, based on mailing lists of past jurors provided by Taranto and Haxton and indicated that the current sitting grand jury had also been invited. A telephone campaign would also be underway, and she assured all members that parking at the event at the Lagunitas Country Club in Ross would be ample.

12. Committee Reports:
Lowell Smith reported that the Speaker Program activities were being coordinated with the Social Committee to energize meetings and confirmed the next member meeting would be at the Bay Model on March 19 (with optional lunch at Le Garage) in Sausalito. He advised that the April 16 meeting would focus on an economic overview, and the May 21 annual reunion luncheon would be at the San Rafael Yacht
Club (although there may need to be a back up in the event construction is not complete), where Sharon Jackson (of the Marin Health Care District) would be the keynote speaker. He suggested that Jeff Skov, the current Foreperson, might attend the June meeting to provide an update of the 2008-2009 Grand Jury’s activities, and that the July and subsequent meetings might feature a panel discussion, the Environmental Forum, restaurant reviews, Commission on Aging, Russell Brubaker, etc.

Robinson reported that the Financial Review Committee would meet with Treasurer Taranto shortly, and confirmed that the Association currently has $4,797.63 in cash ($1578.54 in checking and $ 3219.09 in a CD) with no liabilities.

Harwell reported that the Communications/Technology Committee continues to work on the news page layout to facilitate reading without having to scroll across the screen/page. He requested anyone with word processing, excel, or other computer skills please join the committee.

Layne reported that the Continuity Committee will meet soon since it had been asked to (1) identify for the sitting Grand Jury any open issues for follow up on elected officials’ responses to Grand Jury report requests, and (2) identify for the Public Outreach Committee the major accomplishments of the Marin Grand Jury. Layne indicated he would request former Forepersons to comment on the issues of their jury year.

Harwell reported that the Excellence in Reporting Committee had met and reviewed the criteria of the California Grand Jurors’ Association and concluded that the state organizations’ program isn’t very actively running. However, we are asking for CGJA’s feedback on how to submit reports to them as well as commence our own local awards program.

He confirmed that the Manual Update project was demanding a lot of attention and encouraged more members to get involved in the EIR activities of reviewing GJ reports and recommending awards of excellence.

Robinson noted that the Public Outreach Committee had recently met with volunteers to provide Grand Jury recruitment speeches at community organization meetings. Frank Keenan presented a terrific power point review for speakers to utilize, the content of which will be emailed to Board members and presented live to the Board at its next meeting. Speakers will be trained on the use of the power point materials and projector.

Hern reported the Bylaws Committee hopes to meet soon.

Hibben reported that the Membership Committee would meet next month.

Harwell commented that the Public Issues Committee had proposed a comprehensive committee charter, including recommending topics and issues to the sitting Grand Jury and conducting its own confidential investigations, that the Board felt went beyond what was contemplated for the committee’s purpose and activity. Interested Board and committee members will meet to determine a consensus on the scope of activities for the
committee with Hibben representing the membership and what will potentially bring the most value to it.

Harwell noted for the Orientation & Training Committee that its subcommittee focused on updating the Grand Jury Manual met in December to review the draft revisions proposed by Harwell and divided up responsibility for review and revision of various chapters of the Manual to several committee members. The subcommittee will meet again with a focus of finishing the revisions in March for submittal to County Counsel in
April and final republication in May.

Robinson again asked on behalf of the Social Committee whether members want liquid refreshments at member meetings, noting that the price of coffee can be considerable depending on the venue. It was agreed that the cost of providing water and coffee will be considered at each upcoming event before action is taken and that members should bring their own beverages to the Bay Model meeting since it is not a restaurant or the Civic
Center.

13. New Business: Layne noted that Haxton had prepared a timeline for the nominations and elections process and queried whether there was a desire to hold elections earlier, and the Board had determined that the election in May is appropriate, with installation of officers in June. It was M/S/C to approve Haxton, Mattea and Melapheny as the Nominations-Elections Committee.

14. Miscellaneous and Good of the Order: Robinson noted that the member turn out for the speaker was good (21) but it was disappointing that only 11 members remained for the business meeting. Hibben agreed to study and make recommendations on how to make meetings more interesting to members. It was suggested that member attendance be reported in the minutes and that attendance be tracked. It was also suggested that the
business of the meeting be conducted before the speaker presentation. A general discussion of the purposes of the Association and its social and legal duties followed. It was suggested that the Membership Committee needs to design programs for the Social Committee and Board to implement for the membership.

15. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 12:10pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Karin Hern, Secretary of MC-CGJA Board of Directors