MARIN COUNTY CHAPTER OF THE CGJA

MEMBERSHIP MEETING

JULY 15, 2010

Board of Supervisors Chambers

 

Members present:  Ann Marie Melanephy, Irwin Taranto, Dennis Brown, Nick Clark, Frank Keenan, Ron Lucas, Sterling Harwell, Betty J. Mattea, Advisor to the BOD; Al Lozano, Director; Woody Weingarten, Director; and Owen Haxton, Chapter President

 

The meeting was called to order by President Haxton at 10:12 AM.  There were 11 members present. A quorum was established and the agenda approved.  Approval of the previous minutes was deferred awaiting submission of those minutes. 

 

President Haxton noted that committee chairs have not yet volunteered or been appointed and in the future the agenda will include input from committees and Chapter Officers.

 

He commented to the effect that the one day he participated in the orientation of the new jury, he was impressed with the willingness of the jurors to raise questions with the presenters; that the reception to welcome the new jurors to the chapter was well attended and all seemed to enjoy themselves; reiterated the remarks he made at the reunion regarding: board meetings will be on the third Thursday of a month (- December); there will be four membership luncheon meetings; there will be greater emphasis on the Chapters Continuity committee and its activities and that CGJA invited Marin Chapter to submit a proposal to host the 2011 CGJA Conference.

 

President Haxton indicated that at this moment, we have 72 Marin Chapter members recorded as dues paid.

 

At this point the members present addressed the four items requiring a vote of the members.

 

1.      Shall the Marin Chapter submit a proposal to host the 2011 CGJA Annual Conference (AC).  After much discussion as to what it means to host a CGJA AC, the members present voted to support sending the proposal to CGJA in order for it to be considered by the CGJA Board at their August meeting.

 

2.      Ed Schulz has offered to put on the picnic this September, 2010.  Is the membership supportive of this endeavor?  It was successful last year and some members agree that it should continue.  The vote was to take Ed up on his offer for a September picnic.

 

3.      Lowell Smith and his wife have (again) offered to provide the setting for a Chapter Christmas party.  The date of December 18, 5:00-7:00 PM has been suggested.  The membership present voted to accept this offer and information about the event will be circulated to the membership in a timely manner.

 

4.      Owen Haxton presented the option to have just 4 business meetings a year (locale tba).  One would be the Annual Reunion, another would be the picnic and the dates for the remaining two are to be selected a little later this year.  This idea is a trial for the year to see if it will be well received by the membership.  The membership present voted to support this ‘trial’ plan.

 

5.      BOD meetings will be held monthly (unless cancelled in a timely manner) at the Civic Center, in the Board of Supervisor’s Chambers.  This arrangement will assure adequate space for any interested member who wants to attend BOD meetings.  NB:  from our bylaws, all BOD meetings are open to the membership.

 

6.      The remainder of the meeting was spent in a wide-ranging discussion of what it takes to “excite the members” and “attract participating members.”  Some suggestions were: a. A telephone tree to get the word out and to encourage members to participate; b. committees that are more active and actually accomplish something; c:  more activities that are of a social nature; committee chairs are encouraged to contact each member of the 2009-2010 jury to ascertain whether or not jurors would be interested in joining their committee.

 

7.      There were no remarks in open comment.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:35 AM

 

Recorder pro tem

Betty J. Mattea

7-15-10