MARIN COUNTY CHAPTER OF THE CGJA

Notes from the member gathering of September 16, 2010

It was determined by the members present that there was no quorum of the BOD present and therefore no actions could be taken by the BOD

Board Members present: Karin Hern, Woody Weingarten and Owen Haxton. Julie Pizzo and Catherine McKown were absent. Al Lozano and Judy Chapman were excused. Betty J. Mattea, serving as the immediate past president (Catherine is Treasurer) was present, but it was the sense of those present that Betty could not be included to form a quorum. Members present: Lowell Smith, Irwin Taranto, Sterling Harwell and Gene Dyer.

In the president's report: 1) Owen noted that there were 336 Introductory CGJA Members resulting from the efforts of Trainers during CGJA Training Sessions. It should be noted that approximately 800 new jurors attended training sessions this year. The Member Relations Committee, under Dan Mufson’ able leadership are making plans to turn these new members into members in good standing next year. Although 336 of 800± does not appear to be a success, when considering that CGJA voting membership stands at only 228± it is a great result. 2) The Chapter is preparing a form to be used to recognize gifts received from donors for IRS purposes. 3) The Regional Chapter conference held in August was considered so worthwhile that the participants have scheduled another on Saturday, November 13 at “The Club”. Chapters represented were: Sonoma, Napa, Contra Costa, San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin.

The Bylaws, Policies and Procedures Committee agreed: 1) to consider and bring back to the Board the question of formally appointing a Liaison person to the Superior Court (Betty J. Mattea), the County Counsels Office (Karin Hern) and to CGJA (Owen haxton). These appointments should be crafted in a manner that does not create a conflict with the responsibilities of the Orientation & Training Committee. 2) To consider a proposal to develop a process that will enable email voting by the membership should an occasion arise where the BOD believes it would be appropriate. 3) Karin informed the gathering that the Marin Chapter now has a letter prepared that the Treasurer may use to inform those who donate to the Chapter that their donation is tax deductible.

Lowell has agreed to work with Owen on the Social Committee and reviewed the meetings for the rest of this presidential year, as stated in the Agenda. There will be a luncheon membership meeting on Friday, October 29, 2010 at the McInnis “Club”. During the morning portion of the meeting, those who attend the CGJA Conference will report on that activity. After lunch Lowell is arranging for the LWV to give a presentation on the ballot measures for the November election. The December meeting will be a Christmas Party, hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Lowell Smith on Saturday December 18^th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at their home (details will be sent out in the near future). There will be a membership luncheon meeting Friday, February 25, 2011. During the morning portion of the meeting we will kick off both the membership drive and efforts to nominate Board members for the coming year. After lunch Lowell will schedule a motivational speaker, TBA. Our regular Annual Meeting will be held on May 27, 2011 at the “Club” at McInnis Park.

Sterling Harwell reported for the Communications Committee that they need some "new blood" on this committee. There was a lengthy discussion on the need to bring our web page and other communication vehicles into the 21st century. In addition, Sterling indicated that the membership minutes page is seriously outdated. Do we need to continue to publish this? What member has an opinion on this question? Included in this long discussion was a suggestion that we seriously consider using Facebook as a means of communicating with members. It was also suggested that if there are any "younger" members who have superior computer skills, they would be most welcome to contact the committee. Karin suggested several recent jurors who qualify in the "skills" department. She will try to contact them and ask for their help.

The bylaws committee will continue to investigate the possibility of having the membership vote by email.

Karin reported that the EIR Marin Chapter Committee has sent in their recommendations and, in fact, the committee has selected the winners (it is a two-part award: one for a best report and one for excellence in news media reporting) which will be announced at the AC in San Diego in October.

A brief discussion occurred on the telephone tree concept that Al Lozano has asked about. It appeared that the general opinion was that telephone trees are ineffective unless there are members who will actively execute the tree when a need is identified where its use will benefit the chapter.

Woody Weingarten discussed his Public Issues Committee progress. The Committee will meet at Sterling's home, October 13 @ 1:30. All interested members are invited to attend.

Under the "Open Comments" of the agenda, Sterling raised the issue of improving the interest among our members by having livelier meetings. He suggested, for instance, that there are at least a couple of committees that would be already prepared to give a presentation to the membership. The Orientation & Training Committee, Catherine McKown, Chair, could ask one of her committee members to do his/her presentation that is given to the new jury. Many of the members do not have an updated concept of how the orientation is currently structured. A brief overview could be given and then one of the subjects that use a PowerPoint presentation could be given. Also, the Outreach Committee could describe their function and the PowerPoint presentation they have could be shown. The members present liked these ideas. President Haxton will follow up.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:09

Betty J. Mattea

Secretary du jour