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The August 16, 2007 meeting of the Marin County Chapter of the California Grand Jury Association was called to order in the Marin County Supervisors' Chambers at 9:40 a.m. by President Betty Mattea.

Members present were: President, Betty Mattea, Vice President, Catherine McKown, Treasurer Irwin Taranto and Secretary, Myra Berkowitz. Three Members-at-Large: Owen Haxton, Ted Freeman and Gene Dyer. Members: Joan Holmes, Albert Lozano and current Foreperson, Roberta Robinson.

1. The minutes of June 21 were circulated and approved. There was an addition to the agenda and then it was approved.

2. Betty presented the President's Report:

a. The resignation of member Neil Kugelmas, recently elected Member-at-Large, was accepted and Ted Freeman was suggested by the BOD as a replacement. It was M/S/A that Ted Freeman will replace Neil Kugelmas as a Member-at-Large.

b. The lottery for membership dues refund was M/S/A and the following CGJA members will receive their $25.00 dues monies back: Ron Murphy, Peggy Jeffry, Wesley Huss, Dennis Brown, Anya Schandler. Betty will write a note to accompany the check advising the recipients that their membership has not been declined, but that they won the lottery.

3. Roberta Robinson, the Foreperson for this year's Grand Jury, told us that the GJ is shaping up well with a variety of amazingly intelligent and experienced jurors - seven of which were women - and that only four out of the original ten alternates remained.

There was discussion as to what procedure to follow if the GJ ran out of alternates. The final comment was that it appears that the system is whatever the Presiding Judge of the county says it is as there appeared to be many different systems in place throughout the state.

2. Betty continued her report

c. Discussion on the status of video taping at the annual CGJA Conference in San Francisco. While the program is still not “set,” it appears as if we will video 2 presentations: the presentation from the San Francisco Presiding Judge and a panel chaired by Jerry Lewi on Grand Jury Achievements.

d, The "Orientation Committee" met and were pleased with the evaluation of this year's training. Formal review of the evaluations will occur at the Orientation committee meeting, later this year (2007). If there is interest in participating in next year's training, contact Betty.

e. Reminder to vote for CGJA BOD - and follow the instructions on the envelope.

3. Continuity - no report

4. Irwin gave the Treasurer's Report:

$ 5,500 in the bank

$ 380 in receivables

5. Owen gave the Membership Report

a. Membership drive started in March and ended July 31 - a month earlier than last year.

b. There were twelve people on the ballot.

c. He explained the voting procedure (73 can vote on Chapter issues and 53 can vote on CGJA issues, such as election of statewide board members) which shows good support for the Marin County Grand Jury.

6. Question was raised as to how members know what is happening in the Chapter and with CGJA.

Answer: minutes are drafted and then are sent to membership for approval and/or corrections at the following membership meeting. When approved by the membership, they are put on the website. The chapter website gives meeting dates, schedules, etc. It also has a link with the County of Marin for the GJ reports and responses. Attendance at the monthly membership meetings and BOD meetings is another way to find out what is ‘happening.’

7. CGJA report on silent auction – Annual Conference status et al - report given by Irwin

a. Conference needs a good speaker - Irwin suggested Joe Nation

b. Sound system - cable connection to computer now available and economical

c. Equipment should come down from Sherry Chesny in Placer County

d. No further information forthcoming on the Silent Auction for CGJA meeting

8. Marin Chapter Telephone Tree to be used as reminder of meetings and other notifications. Albert needs the official list from Betty of people to be contacted. Myra will help phone but another helper is needed.

9. Treasurer should provide an upgraded roster biannually. Discussion on what should be included in the roster.

10.. Irwin and Owen summed up positions on the ballot measure

a. Irwin was in favor as reduced number of directors would be more efficient and also more economical for insurance premiums

b. Owen was in favor of reducing the number to 18 directors but that option was not presented.

c. Catherine summed up both positions.

11. Chapter Member comments:

a. Catherine attended a CGJA training session in the Tri-Counties and noted that the membership was more youthful than the Marin County chapter.

b. Owen noted that in Kern county all applicants for GJ service approved by the judge attend a seminar educating them on what is expected of a Grand Juror - which gives them the opportunity to rescind their application. The balance of the names are placed in the drum for drawing of the jurors. There was a great deal of interest in this “preliminary, brief orientation” and the subject will be on the agenda of the fall meeting of the Orientation Committee.

c. Joan asked about the Community Advisory Committee of the Marin Superior Court. Betty reported that so many questions were asked at the orientation meeting, that the facilitator suggested an additional meeting be held in September so she could bring us the answers to our questions. Betty commented that Judge Faye D’Opal conducted the first part of the orientation meeting and then turned it over to the Facilitator who will function as ‘chair’ of the committee for the entire 2 years.

12. The meeting was adjourned at 11:05 - and we will reconvene on Thursday, September 20, 2007.

Respectfully submitted,

Myra Berkowitz, Secretary