Marin Chapter of the California Grand Jurors’ Association

Approved Minutes of the Membership Meeting of June 18, 2009

Present at the meeting were: Roberta Robinson, Ron Lucas, Dennis Brown, Jan Gross, Catherine McKown, Sterling Harwell, Gene Dyer, Lowell Smith, Trish Hibben, Bob Abeling, Russ Brubaker, Bernie Bolger, Reva Saper, Irwin Taranto, Ted Freeman and guest Gail Harwell.

The meeting was called to order by Chapter President McKown at 10:00AM. Both the minutes and agenda were approved unanimously, without change. She went on to make her president’s report, thanking those who had helped over the year, especially committee chairs, officers and specifically the Treasurer Irwin Taranto for serving in the position for four years. She welcomed all. (The new Chapter Grand Jury Training Manual, with the new electronic section was passed around for all to see. The CGJA Manual was also passed around.)

Questionnaire results from the reunion were passed out. She announced that the new GJ welcoming party will take place at the Embassy Suites, Wednesday, July 15, 3:00-5:30PM. It was unanimously approved that an expenditure of up to $225 could be made for the party. The picnic will be in September, put on by Ed Schultz, date to be announced.

Under Director Reports Sterling Harwell reported that he was quite pleased with the past year, seeing the group get livelier and lots of innovation. He said that we had a lot to be proud of … The Treasurer reported that we lost only $50 on the reunion and that the treasury now contains a total of $3925.81. It was reported that the entire slate was elected for the coming year, that is: President Catherine McKown; VP Bernie Bolger; Secretary Ted Freeman; Treasurer Frank Keenan; and Directors Sterling Harwell, Karin Hern and Trish Hibben. It was further reported that the County will pay for the new grand jurors as members of the Chapter. It is not known, at this time, if the County intends to pay for the state training at Concord, public money being as tight as it is.

Committee reports: Roberta Robinson, representing the Social Committee, passed out a sheet summarizing their activities and accomplishments for the year. The committee started the year with eight members and currently has three active members. They have done such things as select restaurants for meetings; planned the reunion luncheon and the party for new grand jurors. The Public Outreach Committee did a binder, summarizing what they had done during the year. The Continuity Committee has struggled to do what they can to help without interfering with the Grand Jury. They approved a charter. Their hope is to bolster the jury. Lowell Smith was thanked for the fine job that he has done in lining up Speakers. Sterling Harwell reported that the Public Issues Committee has not really become active as yet, but he hopes to get it going. For the Communications Technology Committee, Sterling spoke saying that members of the committee would be happy to coach members on tech stuff. He said that the web page is now 12 pages long. Everyone agreed that it is a great site. The Excellence in Reporting Committee has not been active this year. He said that work should start at the Continuity Committee and feed to this committee. The Orientation Committee reported that they will be doing the usual local training during six days in July. A number of people were mentioned and the parts that they will be doing. The outgoing GJ will be heavily involved. There will be a panel of past grand jurors. The expenditure of up to $125 for training refreshments was approved unanimously.

It was reported that there are three holdovers to the new grand jury. There are 13 or 14 men and five or six women. The Court was very pleased with the interview process, and there was a good correlation between our recommendations and the judges’ choices.

The speakers for the meeting were Jeff Skov and two other members of the current jury, speaking on and answering questions about the jury’s latest reports. The topics of the reports were: Marin General Hospital; the County Probation Department; Walker Creek; and the Structure of County Government (released that day). A number of questions were asked and answered having to do with either, specifically the reports mentioned or procedures and the relationship of the Chapter to the Grand Jury.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:35 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ted Freeman, Chapter Secretary