Marin Chapter, CGJA
Membership Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The meeting took place in the Supervisors’ Chamber at the Civic Center.
Present were: Catherine
McKown, Frank Keenan, Lowell Smith, Karin Hern, Owen Haxton, Gene Dyer, Irwin
Taranto, Reva Saper, Russ Brubaker, Bernie Bolger, Al Lozano, Dennis Brown, Judy
Chapman, Ed Schulze, and Ted Freeman.
The meeting was called to order by
Chapter President McKown at 10:00 a.m. with a quorum present. The agenda was
approved.
The speaker was Dr. Marjorie
Belknap, a member of the Marin Commission on Aging.
Her topic was “Issues and Initiatives re. Aging.”
She spoke and answered questions for about 45 minutes.
She spoke of the Medicare Act and the Older Americans Act
which are the basis for such organizations and many services to older folk.
The money to carry out their programs comes from the Federal Government
through the State and the County.
They have a number of committees to carry out their functions such as Nutrition
and Health, Legislative, Public Education, transportation and an ad hoc
committee on elder abuse. (According to Federal Law, the apparent definition of
“older Americans” is anyone 60 or over.)
They operate under a three-year plan and work with the Marin Foundation
although the Commission gets no money from the foundation. She stated that the
County had been very generous in assisting them in their functions. She also
said that most State-funded programs will disappear next year.
Catherine in her remarks
spoke briefly of the tour last month of the Health and Wellness Center in San
Rafael and the recent CGJA Conference in Sacramento.
At the conference, there were eight members of the chapter, including two
members of the current Marin County Grand Jury.
There seemed to be agreement among the attendees of the conference,
present, that the conference was not exceptional.
A favorable written review of the Conference by Betty Mattea was passed
out to all.
Catherine mentioned the Report Writing Workshop that took place last week in
Sacramento. She thought that it
went quite well. Many of the
attendees had had not attended the summer seminars and had no prior training in
report writing. She also mentioned
that Owen Haxton will become a member of the CGJA board.
2009-10 Grand Jury Foreperson, Judy
Chapman spoke briefly. She said
that things were going well, that the jury works well together and that they are
started on some investigations. She noted that four member of the GJ attended
the report writing workshop last week.
She said that they are looking for informative speakers and asked our
help in finding such.
The budget for the chapter, prepared
by Treasurer Frank Keenan, was passed out and explained.
The budget was amended to include $200 for an annual picnic/barbeque as
was done this year. The amendment
was approved unanimously as was the amended budget.
Lowell Smith for the Speaker Program
reminded us of the December 15 meeting/holiday party at his house in Novato.
(You should have received details and directions in an email.) He also
mentioned other upcoming possible events and speakers, Assemblyman Jared
Huffman, Economist Robert Eyler, Charles Daldorf
(League of California Cities) and Get Ready Marin.
The Orientation Committee will meet
on December 8, at 2 p.m. in the Civic Center cafeteria.
The Continuity Committee will be
having a meeting at Karin Hern’s home.
Time and date not yet set.
Bernie Bolger reported that the Public
Issues Committee has met a number of times; the next meeting is December 3rd.
They have had speakers and are planning
others, such as Margaret Jones of the League of Women Voters.
They are thinking of such topics as COM, Marin General Hospital and the
Coroner’s Office. In connection with this report, a proposed letter to the
newspapers was discussed. The
letter had to do with the merger of the
Coroner’s Office under the Sheriff.
There was heated discussion of the content of the letter and whether such
a letter from the Chapter was appropriate.
This led to a broader discussion of the role of the Chapter and to what
extent they should be involved in issues like this one.
There was a motion passed 9-2 to approve the draft to be vetted and voted
on at a special December meeting as to whether it should be sent.
The Nomination/Elections Committee
plans to get started early to fill next year’s slate.
The By-Laws Committee will have
updates in January.
The Communications/Technology Committee
is planning computer training for the next grand jury training session. They
showed slides of a public forum website that they have been working on.
People would be able to make comments on Marin County Grand Jury reports.
It would be a separate website for this purpose.
Those who would comment would first have to register.
There will be a vote at the January general membership meeting as to
whether to adopt the proposal by the committee.
The Excellence in Reporting Committee
will start their work in January.
The Public Outreach Committee has
met and is developing a program to do public recruiting for the Grand Jury.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.
Ted Freeman, Chapter Secretary
(approved 1/21/2010)