Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Betty Courtemanche, Joan Craig, Ken DelPapa, Tessa Forbes, Susan Geiser, Carol Gloff, Alissa Leonard, Dave Murphy, Sybil Schlesinger, Laura Senier

Interested Persons:  Deb Robi Brown, Kristin Djorup, Carol McSherry, Caroline McSherry, Jim McSherry, Peg McSherry, Tara McSherry, Erin Pastuszenski, Fan Lucy Pope, Maria Waller

Joan called the meeting to order at 7:35. 

Speakers

After the current board was introduced, the "We the People" essay winner, Natick student Caroline McSherry, read her essay.  Guest speaker Nancy Carapezza of LWVMA (past president and current Wayland League member) spoke about the LWVMA’s  priorities over the next two years and about what the modern LWV is like.

Minutes

The minutes from the March 13, 2003 Membership Meeting were approved with removal of Margie Packer’s name from the list of attendees.

Financial Report

Treasurer Margie Packer presented a financial report, detailing our income and expenses to date.  Our balance is $447.01.  Laura Senier moved to accept the report and Mary Avalos seconded.

Accomplishments

We reviewed the many accomplishments to date (all of which are listed on our calendar).  We commended Alison Murray of the Boston Globe for covering our events, as well as Phil Maddox of the Natick Bulleting and Tab and John Brodkin of the MetroWest Daily News, and we especially thanked Mary Avalos and Jill Caso for getting the ball rolling toward re-starting the LWV Natick.

Election of Officers

Carol Gloff of the Nominating Committee presented the slate of officers.  We are looking for more people to be on the Nominating Committee.  Off-Board positions  do not require a vote.  The following slate was presented and accepted:  Co-presidents Mary Avalos and Laura Senier, Treasurer Margie Packer, Secretary Susan Geiser, Director of Communications/Public Relations Marjorie Gove, Director of Voter Service/Citizen Education Moira Munns, Director of Membership Alissa Leonard, Director of Legislation/Program Joan Craig, Nominating Committee (off-board) Joan Craig and Carol Gloff, Environmental Issues (off-board) Tessa Forbes.

Future Plans

Mary Avalos discussed the upcoming forum on Natick affordable housing (40B housing), including and the well-rounded panel who will present information on all sides of the issue and answer audience questions.  We also plan to focus on fundraising and voter registration in the immediate future.  Erin Pastuszenski (LWVMA) answered questions and reported on upcoming activities at LWVMA.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15.

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Geiser, Secretary

Present:

Mary Avalos, Laura Senier, Alissa Leonard, Margie Packer, Joan, Craig, Moira Munns, Marjorie Gove, Tessa, Forbes,

Minutes:

Joan Craig moved to approve the minutes of the October 14 meeting with the changes that were e-mailed to Susan Geiser, Alissa Leonard seconded.  It was approved unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

Margie Packer reported that we have one new member plus the $12.00 dollars from 40-B forum.  These will show in the end of November statement. We currently have $567.00

Sunday Social:

Alissa Leonard did a great job.  Joan Craig asked if we should do some type of follow up to the people who attended.  Mary Avalos suggested adding the names to the interested list for the next newsletter.   However it is three months away so it was decided a thank you note should be sent out. 

Membership:

Renewal letters went out.  Erin Pastuszenski will notify us when renewals come into the office.  Alissa Leonard got an inquiry about affordable housing she is going to send them to Sarki Sarkisian office.  Joan Craig wanted to know if we would let the anonymous donor have a bill in January.  Margie Packer is going to send an updated projection out.

PTO meetings are going well .

Voter Service/Pegasus Cable Show:

First shooting was held on Monday November 10, 2003.  It went well.  It took about an hour and half. 

Budget Forum Planning for this will be tabled until after holidays.

Quarterly Meeting:

The last week in February was suggested.  The date that was given was Tuesday February 24, 2004.  Joan Craig is going to try and get the Morse Room.  Laura Senier suggested inviting a speaker from the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow. 

PAYT:

Erin Pastuszenski said that we do not have time to put a study together.  In lieu of this, we decided to focus efforts on education and getting the vote out.
Educational forum: Ian Bayne (against PAYT), Phil Lemnio (Present income on town finances) Terry Miller (PAYT task force chairman).  Alissa Leonard spoke about inviting someone from Natick Saves: Citizens for Pay as you Throw www.naticksaves.org.  When details are final we will send postcards to invite Town Meeting members and other elected officials.  We will also hang signs at places around town where bags are sold, advertising the forums and encouraging people to vote.  We will reserve the Common signboard for posters the week prior to the forum and the election (Tessa Forbes’s husband to do sign lettering. 

Senior Center is sponsoring a forum on December 8, 2003 at 10:00 a.m.

Media:

Email chains to advertise forum and encourage voter participation.  Marjorie Gove to add people with good e-mail chains to our e-mails for this are Dick Miller, Chris Weithman, Diane Packer, Natick Saves, the Balls, Tim Collins, Bayne, and Moira Munns will obtain e-mail addresses for PTO newsletter editors and forward to Marjorie Gove.  Laura Senier to tape PSA to air on Pegasus, advertising our forums and emphasizing the importance of voting.

Letters to the editor emphasizing the forum and getting out to vote, Moria Munns and Laura Senier to write letters to the editor to talk about the forum and the importance of getting out to vote.  Joan Craig to ask Harlee Strauss, Marcia Kaufman, Shirley Brown to write a letter about the importance of getting the vote out.

There will be no December board meeting.  We will reconvene in January.  Adjourned 9:30 p.m.
 

Submitted By Margie Packer

Attendees: 

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Tessa Forbes, Susan Geiser, Marjorie Gove, Alissa Leonard, Moira Munns, Margie Packer, Laura Senier 

Laura Senier called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m. 

Minutes from 11-11-03
The minutes from 11-11-03 (by Margie Packer) were approved as corrected.

Treasurer’s Report
There was no treasurer’s report.

Membership
Alissa Leonard incorporated everyone’s comments into her draft letter for the membership drive.  We like the length of it, and we will send them out to people who we know personally.  We will make the letterhead, Alissa Leonard will bring Joan Craig a ream of paper.  We think we should have enough brochures, but everyone should send Alissa a count of how many brochures they have.  We need more stickers (saying for more information contact Margie Packer, etc.), Marjorie Gove will do this again - 200.  We will include #9 return envelope (Marjorie has enough), we’ll put Margie’s address on labels and stick them on envelopes.  Alissa will get a date and place for the membership drive.

We have 45 members (9 are household, 7 are not current).  Instead of asking Erin Pastuszenski to drop the 7 from her report so we won’t have to pay for them, Alissa will ask Erin to regenerate the original letter and Alissa will write on top "in case you’ve forgotten" or something to that extent.

We should make sure that Erin Pastuszenski can come to our meeting when we discuss membership dues amount.

Bylaws
Susan Geiser reported that the bylaw committee is _ way through.  The committee expects to finish the draft bylaws at its meeting next Tuesday, and will report to the whole board at the February meeting.

Website
We are now linked to the town’s website.

Pegasus cable show
Moira Munns is now ready to pick this up again.  We’ll ask Deb Robi to do some narrating.  We’re doing the first 2 segments this year.  We want this program aired before the 3-30-04 town election; Moira’s piece will be done before that, but the broadcast timing depends on everyone else’s pieces.  Moira will check with people and report back if she needs help.  Tessa Forbes emailed Randy in December, and is willing to do "Man on the Street" interviews; Moira will contact Randy. 

Town Crier
Margie Packer and Mary Avalos had a fun experience doing this last summer.  The program is willing to have us on every quarter to talk about what is going on with LWV.  Laura Senier will do this and Alissa Leonard will think about it.

Senate race
The Primary is 2-3-04, the election is 3-2-04 (for Precincts 6, 7, 9, 10).  The Town Clerk’s office needs help on March 2 (take box of ballots and separate into Dem, Rep. and state), and we will send a request to our membership via email.  They also need people in the afternoon and evening after the polls close (at Lilja, Morse Library and Memorial School).  We should have a LWV contact and that person will coordinate with the Town Clerk.  We will have our membership respond to the email request to Moira Munns, and Moira will coordinate the request to our membership and responses by Feb 24.

The Needham LWV is sponsoring a candidate’s forum on 1-26-04 at Olin College.  All candidates (Dem & Rep) have been invited to attend.  Marjorie Gove has sent notification to our members and press releases to our local paper advertising this event.  The forum will be re-broadcast on Pegasus.  The Sherborn forum tomorrow night is just for Dems.

Quarterly Meeting
This was tentatively set for 2-24-04, but because we have such a full calendar for Spring, we will cancel the quarterly meeting and hope that all can come to our forums, etc.  We will mail (not email) a member survey so that we can formulate our program for the next year.  We will also send out our newsletter to keep members current.

Calendar
We agreed to do two candidate’s forums for this spring Town Elections.  One will be during the day at the Senior Center, either 3/15 or 3/17, and one will be in the evening, at the library, on 3/18.  The Budget Forum will be 4/7.  The Annual Meeting will be on May 11.  We will tell membership via the newsletter about the Annual Meeting and that we need a quorum of X number of people.

Annual Meeting
We will have it on May 11 (this was a Board Meeting date).  Laura Senier will call Erin  Pastuszenski to see if we can get Lisa Hughes as the speaker.  We also discussed having Marjorie Claprood as a speaker, in the event Hughes is not available.  The newsletter should also ask for people interested in being on the Board to contact the Nomination Committee. 

Budget Forum
Joan Craig will call the panelists for that.  Joan will moderate.

Candidates Forum
All candidates (even the ones for uncontested races) should be invited.  We will put the School Committee and the Selectmen on consecutive panels.  7:30 - 9:30 will be the Selectmen and School Committee members; 7:00-7:30 will be other town-wide contested races.  All others on the ballot (whether precinct or town-wide, or contested or not) will be invited and identified and asked to wear a name tag so that the audience can approach them afterward.

Spelling Bee
We will participate in this again.  Last year we received donations covering the $100 fee.  This year do we want to get a corporate sponsor (it costs $400 but they get full page ad)?  April 23, 2004 is the deadline for registration.  We can put a request in the newsletter for a sponsor.

April Board Meeting
Rescheduled for 04-27-04 (might have to reschedule if town meeting continues).

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary

Attendees: 

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Tessa Forbes, Susan Geiser, Marjorie Gove, Alissa Leonard, Moira Munns, Margie Packer, Laura Senier 
Interested Persons:  None present

Minutes from 9-9-03

The minutes were approved with the following changes:  Under 40B heading, correct spelling of Aaron Gornstein; Under Natick Days heading, 2nd line, after receipt, add "they will mail us a check"; Under Voter Services heading, correct spelling of Jane Hladick.

Treasurer’s report

There were no changes or updates.

Town Meeting

We won’t be able to sell food, but we’ll staff an information table.  In the membership brochures, we’ll direct people to call Alissa Leonard for more information, and to send checks to Margie Packer.  Marjorie Gove will prepare 60 brochures with new labels, and we’ll add our website address.

Sunday Social

Marjorie Gove will email the invitations, to membership and interested persons.  Alissa Leonard will mail invitations to those on the former Natick LWV list.  Laura Senier will take brochures to the event.  Marjorie will get a calendar listing for our quarterly meeting.  We will have reminiscences about the former Natick LWV, and a few facts and figures about our current number of members, finances, etc.  Roche Bros. is sending us gift certificates, Joan Craig and Laura Senier are donating platters.

Phone-A-Thon

Mary Avalos and another member will go on October 26th to Newton.  Others welcome.

Membership

We have two new members.  Alissa Leonard sent our renewal notice to Erin Pastuszenski at LWVM for our renewals.  Alissa will work on a letter for January campaign to solicit new members. 

PTOs

The only principal who said no to our attending a meeting was Lilja’s, but we can send LWV information in writing.  Mary Avalos will contact the Lilja principal. 

Website

LWVNatick.org.  We’ll add information about the quarterly meeting location.  Add "local"  to "we haven’t taken a stand on local issues".  Ask Erin Pastuszenski to add our link to LWVM’s website.  We will all bear responsibility for checking website periodically and sending updates/corrections/changes to Marjorie Gove.  Laura Senier will send thank you note to Jeanne Williamson Ostroff.

Newsletter

Going out 10/19/03 or earlier.  Tessa Forbes has environmental updates on milfoil, Natick EPA compliance, Cochituate Rail Trail, and Morency Woods.  We should add that the 40B forum will be broadcast on Pegasus, and that 70 people attended.  We should send the newsletter to Erin Pastuszenski too.  Add that readers should call Laura Senier or Mary Avalos for more information about LWV Natick.  We should list board members, telephone numbers and email addresses.

40B

Mary Avalos called all participants to thank them, and will send a letter too.  The library will print stationary for us.  Mary will look into getting PO Box and extra keys (for co-presidents, membership, treasurer).  In the meanwhile, we should put the writer’s return address underneath LWVM letterhead.  In the long-term we should add LWV Natick’s URL and PO Box to the letterhead.

Pegasus Show

Tessa Forbes is coordinating the "Man on the Street" interviews which will ask three questions:  (1) what precinct do you live in; (2) name a place where one can vote; and (3) when are Natick elections held.  Tessa will call MetroWest Daily for photos of former Natick LWV.  We should also check microfiche or Deb Robi’s husband (who is at a local news station) for old footage of people voting.

LWVM Conference

Laura Senier is attending, and Marjorie Gove is going to just the morning session.

By-Laws

Susan Geiser has started working on them.  Marjorie Gove will sent out a separate solicitation for help on the bylaws. 

Meet Your Town Meeting Member

We won’t include this event in the newsletter.  First, we’ll do survey at Town Meeting to see what the interest is.

Town Budget Forum

Modular 4 of the Pegasus series will cover information on how the budget is made and will explain terms.  Mary Avalos will talk with Phil Lemnios about whether we should move this to January or keep it in March, and format changes (whether we should separate out an explanation of the process from an explanation of this year’s budget).  Then, Joan Craig will contact Phil Lemnios, Jim Connolly and Frank Foss to get dates.  We prefer Wednesdays because of other town meetings.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:25.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Susan Geiser, Marjorie Gove, Alissa Leonard, Moira Munns, Margie Packer, Laura Senier 

Laura Senier called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m. 

Treasurer’s Report

Erin Pastuszenski personally donated $30 for a matching gift.  We reviewed the accounting books for May, June & July, and the income and expenses sheets.  Mary Avalos will create a list of questions for anonymous donor about how we can use the matching funds (i.e., for Phone-A-Thon?), and will write a thank you note.  We will not do a letter campaign until 2004.  Margie Packer will clarify with Erin Pastuszenski about postage for a letter campaign, and will ask her if LWVM can print the letters (since our members will be joining LWVM while we’re still a MAL).  Total income through the end of year is expected to be $1,310.  Total expenses should be less than $300.

Phone-A-Thon

We will pick a location and date (usually in October on Sundays) and solicit volunteers by email.  We get $10 for each member calling, plus 10% of donations.  Marjorie Gove will coordinate with Mary Avalos.

40B

This will be on Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m.  Speakers will be:  Tony Hall, Aaron Gornstein, and Sarki Sarkisian.  Each speaker will have 15 minutes to speak.  At 8:25 we will open it up to questions, to which all panelists can respond.  We will wrap up at 9:30 to allow people time to mingle with the panelists. 

We will have a basket with a note card saying that any donations are gratefully accepted.  We’ll also have membership brochures there, and a sign-in sheet.  Mary Avalos will prepare flyers on blue paper that she already has, to be distributed at our table at Natick Days.

We will invite all legislators, boards, TM members, LWV Natick members.  Joan will get labels from Town Clerk for the postcards.  Marjorie will markup postcards and will have enlarged posters for around town.  We will have a big sign on Natick Common.  Tessa Forbes’ husband will make the sign, Joan Craig will check whether the library has a poster board that we can re-use and will tell Tessa.  Marjorie Gove will tell them what should go on the sign and what colors to use.  Tessa should bring the sign to Joan, who will put the sign up on Sept. 22.

Membership

Alissa Leonard wants to have a reception in Spring, maybe before the Candidates forum in the smaller room in the library.  We could also have a potluck at someone’s house or at the park on Speen St., or have a chocolate tasting.  January or March are good times.

For our member renewal letter (from LWVM but personalized for Natick), we’ll list our accomplishments so far and set out what they’ll get for their donation this next year.  We should add that they can join without becoming active (we should target already active people because they understand what LWV can do even without them being active). 

We discussed ordering some LWV T-shirts to sell and have on hand for the Sunday Social or a new member reception. 

We should do a letter drive where we each write to 5 people who aren’t members.  We should write to the people on the sign-in sheet from the last quarterly meeting (Susan Geiser has this).  Margie Packer will find out the cost for letterhead and compare that to our cost of making it ourselves and color-copying at Kinkos.

We might do a membership directory.  Also, we should let people indicate LWV areas of interests, and to opt out if they don’t want to be contacted.

Margie Packer will copy completed new member forms and send them to Alissa Leonard, and continue to send out emails to the Leadership Team.

Natick Days

Our moonwalk is a turtle between the funeral home and Town Hall.  Between 3:30-4:00 we must take our tickets to the gazebo where they’ll give us a receipt, they will mail us a check.  We should start shutting down by 3:30 (have someone at end of line to say we’re closed).  Margie Packer has a container for collecting tickets, will bring stack of membership brochures, and Joan Craig will provide other brochures (i.e., how to pick a candidate).  We should bring rocks to put on pamphlets.

PTOs

Alissa Leonard is coordinating who will appear at each PTO meeting; the elementary schools are on same night of our 40B forum (Oct. 1).  We should have membership applications handy (at least 10), but ask PTO first what we can distribute.  Margie Packer will call Erin Pastuszenski for 300 brochures.  PTO members should be directed to our Membership Director (Alissa) for more info: 508-655-8709.

Strategy Planning Session

Laura Senier will re-do the schedule to provide more breaks, but basically the same items will be covered.  We should come prepared to answer 3 questions:  (1) What you think our most important goal should be in next year (in any dept.), (2) What should we do to meet that objective, (3) How would you define success in that goal.  Laura will try to book this room for the session, or else the Senior Center.

Town Meeting Fundraiser

Coffee sold well in Framingham.  Laura Senier will get boxes and cups/lids from Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds also donates.  We won’t have hot water for tea.  We’ll also sell bottles of water and candy.  Charge $1.00 for everything.  Two people should be at the table at all times, even after TM starts.  Email should go out to our membership to let them know we’ll be there and to stop by the table.  We should bring a table (Moira Munns can make sure there’s a table available at NHS).  We should be there at 6:45 to set up.  Joan Craig will bring a cashbox and Alissa Leonard will bring change.  Laura Senier is coordinating this.

Sunday Social/ Fall Quarterly Meeting

This will be Nov. 2.  Laura Senier will check if 2-4 p.m. is OK with Ricky, and if Jay is also a host (to put on invitations), and what her preference is for who should take RSVPs.  We will ask former leaguers to talk for a specific length of time about projects we used to do ? "structured reminisces" ? called "looking back, looking forward".  Laura Senier will ask the Lebowitzes to talk about some of the former projects, and will ask Ricky Ball who else can help with the reminiscing.  We will do a press release (or at least to calendar release), also inviting the public.  We will have membership brochures present. 

Current members will be invited by newsletter, former members by cards (we should buy stationary -  Alissa Leonard will check if LWVM has letterhead with no address).  Alissa will call Joan Craig to check wording and then they’ll run it by Ricky.  105 names are in that booklet of the former Natick LWV.  Margie Packer will ask Erin to send us more brochures (there’re $.10 per brochure). 

Ricky Ball will provide coffee and tea.  We’ll ask certain members to provide baked goods, Laura will donate a fruit plate, Joan Craig will donate platter of deserts (Laura to pick up), ask Roche Bros. to donate finger deserts, Margie Packer will make brownies. 

Lucy Pope

Joan Craig will send a sympathy card to Lucy, whose husband recently passed away.

Pegasus Show

Moira Munns has drafted the first segment.  She will have a meeting with Geralyn of Pegasus before the end of month.  Kristin Djorup (a prospective member) might be interested in helping with this. 

Voter Service Drive

Moira Munns should contact Natasha at NHS about doing a voter service drive in the Spring (they set up their schedule in the fall for the whole school year).  Moira will call Jane Hladick first (to work with her on this) and then contact Natasha.

Communications

The next newsletter will go out on Oct. 20.  We should include in the newsletter a blurb on what a MAL unit is and what we need to do to become our own unit.  Joan Craig will do summary of 40B.  The deadline for articles is Oct. 15.  Alissa Leonard will provide info on membership.  Laura Senier will write a blurb on the anonymous donor.  We should include the Phone-A-Thon info.  We won’t do observer reports for this issue.  There are guidelines on LWVM’s website for observer reports; we could nominate someone to chair observer reports.

Website

We will post minutes of membership and Leadership Team meetings; attendees can specify a discussion as "not for the minutes".  We won’t post agendas. 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:17 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Tessa Forbes, Susan Geiser, Marjorie Gove, Margie Packer, Laura Senier 

Interested Persons:  None present

Laura Senier called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. 

Financial Matters

We have $450.00, and one new member has joined.  Margie Packer requests that, before Labor Day, each person estimate the costs for their particular area expected between now and the end of the calendar year.  We need to estimate the cost of the Sunday Social, including the publicity and food.  Laura Senier will check with Framingham LWV regarding their profit from selling items at Town Meeting, the prices and profits on each item, and what items are sold.

An anonymous donor will match personal membership dues and letter campaigns between 7/14/03 and mid-June ’04.  It’s a full match up to $1,000, with a cap of $100 per donor.  We can use this incentive to encourage new memberships at the Sunday Social (most of whom will be former members) and at the PTOs.

Natick Days

Mary Avalos reported that we’ll be offering the little kids’ moon walk from 10-4, and that we’ll need people to take tickets in 1 or 2 hour shifts.  Memorial School recently did an obstacle course and raised $275.  We conservatively estimate that we’ll make $200.  We will receive _ of what Natick Days makes on our event.  Margie Packer will send out a list asking people to sign up for a shift, and will send out postcards with the reply to Margie.

40B

This event is scheduled for September 24th (but see below about possible change of date).  Doug Foy (who supports affordable housing in the right location) is interested in being a speaker but has not yet committed to the date (he’s expected to give an answer by the end of this week); we need to consider whether we could move the event to the following Wednesday if that is when Doug is available.  Ricky Ball also can’t make the 24th.  Tony Hall of the City of Boston Office of Community Development has agreed to speak (on the laws rather than pro or anti) and also to step down if we sign a bigger speaker.  Aaron Gornstein, President of CHAPA (Citizens Housing and Planning Association) represents mostly developers but is expected to present the big picture on how to build housing.  Bill McGloughlin, President of Avalon Bay, has not committed yet to speaking.  He’s accustomed to speaking to groups hostile to his position, and has been a speaker at a LWVM event.  Laura Senier and Mary Avalos will send a letter of inquiry to Bill to see if he can come.  Sarki Sarkisian has committed to presenting the Natick view.  Joan Craig will moderate.

If we get a high-profile panel, we might consider asking for a $1 donation at the door.   We could ask Wellesley, Weston or Sherborn to advertise this event to their members, in which case we would book the Wilson auditorium.  Framingham LWV’s forum was more morals-based, featuring ministers as panelists.

September 21 Strategic Planning Session

This will be a 4-hour meeting at Mary Avalos’ house.  Laura Senier will propose a draft agenda at our next meeting.  We will not have families join us afterward, as we originally considered, because of the already-long day.

10/24 & 25 Phone-A-Thon

This is sponsored by LWVM.  They will give us names and numbers of known LWV supporters in any town who we can call from LWVM offices to support LWVM.  We will get 10% of the pledges to LWVM.  Usually the bid donors are tapped the first night, so it’s more important to have volunteers call then rather than the second night.

October 21 Town Meeting

We received permission from Paul Connolly (the Town Moderator), the Selectmen, and the Board of Health to sell food and drinks at Town Meeting.  We still need permission from the School Department.  We can sell coffee (must have covers), tea, pre-packaged drinks and snacks, and bake sale items.  There is a $25 fee to the Selectmen, and the Board of Health might waive the $100 fee.  TM will be at the High School.  Similar to the last TM, we should write down the names of all who we give applications to so that we can follow up with a phone call if necessary.

Fall Quarterly Meeting and Social

This has been re-scheduled for November 2, which works for Ricky Ball too.  Alissa Leonard and Joan Craig have ideas about how to phrase the invitation to maximize participation by former LWV members.  We will need members to man the tables during the meeting and to carpool to the Sunday Social.  Marjorie Gove will send out emails soliciting this help.

Pegasus Show

Laura Senier and Moira Munns met with Jane Hladick (the Town Clerk) on August 7th  (Geralyn Lemieux of Pegasus was expected but didn’t attend).  They decided that we have too much information for one 30-minute show, so there will be a series:  the first session will be on voting, why a large turn out is important, where to vote, etc.; the second session will be on Town Meeting, how to get on the ballot, what Town Meeting does; the third session will be on town-wide offices and what they do.  We want the first segment ready to air by mid-November.  Moira Munns will prepare the script, Jane Hladick will review it, and the rest of us should contribute any creative ideas so that the show is not just talking heads.

Know Your Community Booklet

This will require a big donation, so we will put this off from the Fall to the Spring.  The scripts from the Pegasus show can be used to write this.  If the Welcome Wagon is ever resumed, this booklet would be good to distribute that way.

Roster Update

Margie Packer reported that we have one new member.  She has membership packets, which she’ll bring to the next meeting.

PTOs

Alissa Leonard has us on the agenda for Lilja PTO meeting in October, and is working on getting us on the remaining PTO agendas.

Newsletter

We want the next newsletter to go out 2 weeks before the next meeting (mid-October).  We need information on the quarterly meeting, and the Sunday Social.  Mary will write a re-cap of the then-completed 40B forum.  We need people to write observer reports (such as of Town Meeting).  We should include in the newsletter a request for Phone-A-Thon volunteers.  We should also include an announcement of the matching funds available thanks to the anonymous donor.  Environmental issues should be included, such as an update on the Lake Cochichuate herbicide issue or Pay-As-You-Throw (which is on the Warrant for Town Meeting).  Tessa Forbes will email Joan Craig and work with her on legal and environmental issues and also check with Frank Foss (Chair of the Finance Committee).

Website

Laura Senier will call Josh Ostroff to set up a meeting the week of August 25th.  Marjorie Gove will attend.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees: 

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Tessa Forbes, Susan Geiser, Carol Gloff, Marjorie Gove, Alissa Leonard, Moira Munns, Margie Packer, Laura Senier 

Interested Persons:  Erin Pastuszenski

Laura called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m.  We introduced ourselves by name and position.

Minutes from May 23 (submitted by Margie Packer): 
- Title: correct name of League and date (23rd)
- Members present:  correct spelling of Avalos
- Minutes:  Correct spelling of Doug Foy’s name (make this change throughout the Minutes)
- Financial Report:  Change "by laws" to make it one word; in the second to last sentence, delete "goes" and substitute "runs from"
- Calendar:  capitalize Orientation Meeting
- PTOs:  change "PTP" to PTO
- 40B:  bold the title; change the date from 1993 to 2003
- Candidates Night:  bold the title
-  Budget Forum:  In the second sentence, strike "a" and substitute "the Town"
- NEF Spelling Bee:  add "Avalos" after "Alan"
- Yard Sale:  bold the title; correct spelling of Mary in last sentence
- Annual Meeting: in the last sentence, add semicolons after each item; change "are bringing brownies" to "is bringing brownies"
- Nomination Committee:  add Joan and Carol’s last names
- 40B:  lower case c for "checking"; add "Ball" after Ricky; lower case for morning
- Add last names throughout Minutes

The Minutes were approved with these changes (Susan abstained from voting because she was not at the May 23rd meeting).

Natick Days:  Joan announced that we will be getting one moonwalk.

Meetings:  After discussion, we decided that our meetings will be on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, in the library from 7:30-9:00.  The next meeting will be on July 8th, then August 12th and September 9th.  Joan will book these meetings tomorrow morning, and will try to get the Community Room because we can stay until 9:30.  Subcommittees should get together and agree upon when to meet as needed.

40B:  Joan and Mary will spearhead this committee. Mary has emailed Ricky about chairing this committee but Ricky hasn’t responded; Mary will follow up with a phone call to Ricky.  The event will be on September 24th.  Aaron Gornstein of the state Affordable Housing Coalition (which favors leaving the laws alone), and the Natick Community Development Office will work with us to develop a panel.  Mary said that there is a hearing on changes to 40B at the state level starting tomorrow.  Betty Fancy (sp?) in Natick is the local Affordable Housing Coalition representative.  The Community Development Office is holding public meetings every other Wednesday night on its proposed affordable housing overlay plan. 

4th of July Parade:  We can borrow the banner from LWVM; Erin will check to make sure it’s available.  The marchers for our unit are Laura, Ken DelPapa, Moira, Alissa, and Margie.  No one knows anyone with a convertible.  Local car dealers in past years have offered to provide a car and driver; Laura will call dealers.  Our new Director of Communications (Marjorie) will email our membership to see if anyone can join us.  Susan will email to Marjorie the membership list, saved first as word file, and cc Alissa.  Mary will call Richard Philben (sp?) (on Pond St) to get our unit registered for marching in the parade, and will try to get any fee waived; we will request not to be next to the Fire Dept. because of the noise.

Town Crier:  We have reserved a 15 minute spot, which will be filmed on July 2 from 7-8pm.  Mary and Margie will be our representatives on the show.  Laura will email John (her contact at Pegasus for the Town Crier program) and cc Mary and Margie, to inform John who will be appearing.  The spot will air throughout July (and probably longer). 

Forum on S. Natick land swap:  We want to have a forum on this.  Mary will ask Sarki what the timing is, so that we will know whether we need to put this on before Fall Town Meeting or if it can wait.

New Board Orientation (led by Erin):

Erin gave us each an orientation folder containing policies and other materials.  Also, Erin has given 2 disks to Laura, full of LWV information for us.  Laura will distribute pertinent parts to each of us.  We should feel free to call Erin at home, 508-359-8064, or email her at erinSP@aol.com .

Mission:  As leaders, we need to keep the mission of LWVM Natick MAL Unit in mind:  it’s both nonpartisan and political (so we should expect that members will be politically active), it encourages participation in government, it provides education on issues, it advocates for changes in law based upon its positions that it has adopted

History:  LWV began out of women’s suffrage.  In the 1940’s, the name became LWV of US.  Key aspects are that it:  is nonpartisan; is grass routes (this determines what issues are studied at the state or national level); educates citizens; and, advocates.  The national and state positions are in our folders.  We can (with lot of assistance from LWVM) study a local issue and if we come to consensus then we can advocate at Town Meeting, with selectmen, etc.  Guidelines for work on issues are in our folders.  We can distribute written materials as part of our education function (as long as they fairly summarize the positions).

Structure:  LWVUS is an umbrella organization; each state has its own league, plus locals leagues and MALs.  The Natick MAL is the vehicle to revive the league in Natick.  Perhaps we could be our own league soon (as "LWV of Natick").

Non Partisanship Policies:  The Nonpartisanship Policy that the Natick MAL Unit previously adopted is in our folders, as is an example of a more comprehensive nonpartisanship policy.  Consistent with this policy, someone on the Leadership Team can run for Town Meeting Member but might need to resign from the board if she wants to run for certain other positions (i.e. School Committee).  We can always speak our own opinion but must be careful when speaking on behalf of LWV Natick; the two Co-Chairs can speak on behalf of LWV and they must check to make sure the content is consistent with LWVMA and LWVUS.  Appearing on a list of contributors to a political candidate is a public stance, so any political contribution must be small enough that we don’t appear on a list.  The Nominating Committee and Off-Board positions aren’t part of the Leadership Team, but the Executive Board (Officers) and Directors are.  Chairs and Voter Service should not be involved in any way with a political campaign; others could stuff envelopes, but anything else must be checked with the Board with a view toward what is acceptable in Natick.  Local LWVs have policies both ways on whether the Leadership Team can sign candidate petitions for elections (some say it just supports a candidate’s right to appear on ballot, while others say that it supports that candidate).  Erin advised us to read the Nonpartisanship Policy after every annual election.

The other policies page in our folder:  Some of these are brief, and if we want to adopt anything we can also look at the full blown state version of that policy. 
- The restrictions on using the mailing list:  The prior Natick Board revised this policy, and we can look at and vote on it at our next Leadership Team meeting. 
- Bylaws:  In In League (on the LWVM website), we can download by-laws.   The Leadership Team (or a bylaw committee) can revise the bylaws and the membership vote on it at the next quarterly meeting (Oct. 19th). 
- Membership meetings:  At membership meetings, we might want to schedule a break for socializing so that we can be more efficient during the rest of the meeting. 
- Reimbursement policy:  We should look at this and consider adopting one.
- Leadership Team:  Each person who needs to report something should circulate a written report before the meeting so that we don’t spend lot of time at the meeting reporting.  The new state directory will come out in 2 weeks.  Everyone on the Board works for the good of the organization and helps each other out, we don’t just work on our individual elected area.  We all will work on the program, calendar, approve plans and projects of committees.  The entire Board is responsible for the growth of LWV and keeping members involved.  We should consider holding a new member orientation once we’re our own league.  Joan suggested that we should all have membership flyers with Alissa’s name on it and that Alissa should send checks to Margie.  Erin will send us 100 flyers.  Erin gave the Medfield Know Your Town booklet to Moira.  We all are responsible for keeping the league fiscally sound; we should create a budget for the next 6 months, detailing where we will get the money from.  The disk that Laura will copy for us has the descriptions of all Director positions.  The last item in our folder has a list of contents of the disks.  We need to be thinking always about what to put in the newsletter.  Erin gave examples of other leagues’ newsletters to Marjorie, and advised that LWVM can  establish an address, NatickLWV@lwv.ma.org, and have that forwarded to Marjorie; instead, Marjorie could set up another email account with the same name, at attbi.com.  We also should try to focus our efforts and not take on too much.  When we develop committees, we should make it clear who they report to (with our current structure without any committees, everyone reports to the Co-Chairs).  Each Director should try to build a committee under her.  We should all attend meetings, read materials in advance of meetings so that we can be as efficient as possible.  We might want to try a timed agenda, and get people to limit themselves to a certain time limit (do this one week in advance).  The Board makes decisions, and committees/Directors carry them out.  We should try to use committees as much as possible.  Margie should present monthly updates on our finances. 

Other local leagues:  We should develop relationships with other local leagues (we have done so with Framingham and Wellesley).  We will get a field service rep and that person will help us make connections with the other towns.  We can also do a joint event to help spread work around. 

State events:  We should try go to as many LWVM events as possible:  The Fall Conference (October 25th) is primarily on healthcare but there are workshops on other topics as well.  The Conference is free.

Additional training or speakers:  We should feel free to ask LWVM if we want training or speakers on certain topics.

Next steps for Natick MAL:  Typically, bylaw amendments are addressed and voted on at the annual meeting.  In the Fall, we can approve bylaws and program/calendar for rest of our year, and a formal budget for 2nd half of year.  See the sheet in our folder on recognition (p. 31 & 32), and Recognition Checklist (Appendix III.B.) to make sure we’re on target.  For the study/action area of our program, we should look at state and national action alerts and encourage our membership to make calls/emails (we don’t have to study to do this).  We should be thinking how we can build membership to reflect the diversity of Natick (men, elderly, ethnic groups).

Budget:  There are pages in our folder on developing a budget.  Currently we get $10 for each individual membership and $15 for household (out of the $45 dues).  The rest of the dues goes to LWVM (which passes some on to LWVUS).  Once we are our own league, we can set dues where we want them (most local leagues set $50, and $65 for household), but we will have to send $23 to state and $23 to federal.  We can set it lower but will need to do more fundraising to make up the difference.  There is a LWVM incentive program for net new members (where we would get to keep more of the dues).  There’s a LWVM fund for those who can’t afford the dues (state and local leagues support them).  Although non-members benefit from the work of the league, we can encourage people to join with the following member benefits:  members can participate in committees and also access the passworded part of LWVM’s website, members are invited to social activities, membership provides intellectual stimulation, plus many more benefits that are detailed on the disk and that Erin will send to Alissa.  Also, we can forward an electronic newsletter to those who haven’t paid dues, which might encourage them to join. 

Timing of recognition:  Usually it’s in the summer after the annual meeting.  The beginning of January is when all state and local leagues send in membership counts to LWVM.  Natick has rolling memberships (memberships expiring in each month), so that if we are recognized in January then we will need to make sure that we receive the appropriate dues for each person who joined since January 2003; if we don’t get recognized until later, then we would not receive the dues for those who joined earlier and didn’t renew.  We could continue to have renewal dates staggered, but then we will have to bill and notify people.  If want to have just one renewal date, then we could have the memberships of those who join now expire one year from September, and have those joining after September pay a pro-rated fee.  We should do a _ year annual report to LWVM to let them know what we’ve been up to.  Also included in our folder is form for request for recognition.  Susan will send to Erin (and the whole Leadership Team) the latest membership list, and Erin will update it by providing the missing expiration dates.

Next Meeting:  Any agenda items, read aheads, etc. should be submitted by July 1 to Laura.

We adjourned at 9:42 (moved and seconded and passed).

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Susan Geiser, Margie Packer, Laura Senier

Joan called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m. 

Minutes

The Minutes of March 27, 2003 were approved with the following change on page 2 under "Membership":  "Lebowitz’" was changed to "Balls".

The Minutes of April 14, 2003 were approved as drafted.

Calendar

We reviewed Joan’s updated calendar, and decided that the Fall was too busy with the Quarterly Meeting, the Sunday Social, the 40B Housing Forum, meetings with PTOs, Pegasus with the Town Clerk, and Meet Your Town Meeting Member.  We decided to postpone the latter until 2004.  We also decided to combine the Quarterly Meeting with the Sunday Social, and to have the 40B Housing Forum as a separate event (rather than combined with the Quarterly Meeting).

Joan will update the calendar for the next meeting.

Membership

Margie relayed her conversation with Sybil Schlesinger, who wants to join but prefers to attend a meeting first.  Margie will send her our Enewsletter and Joan will call her.  Most of our recent new members are from the table that we did at Spring Town Meeting.  Joan will call those who talked with us there but haven’t yet joined.

Finances

Carol Gloff donated $35 for the Spelling Bee.

Mary has $175 in expenses so far, plus about $15 of Josh Ostroff’s expenses that she’ll submit.

Yard Sale

Mary, Susan, Margie and Jill Caso volunteered to man the table.  We still need 4 more volunteers so that each volunteer can do a 2-hour shift with another volunteer.  Susan, Joan and Margie volunteered to help Mary price and mark the items.

Sunday Social

We discussed the timing conflict that the Balls had for early Sunday afternoon, and that Sunday a.m. conflicts with church and Sunday late afternoon is too late.  We decided to move this event to the fall and combine it with the Quarterly Meeting (and consequently to spin out the 40B Housing Forum as its own event).  A possible date is October 19th from 2-4 p.m.  If Ricky can’t host then, we could hold the event in the library’s Local History Room.  Mary will call Ricky to see if this date works.

40B Housing Forum

We decided to have this as a separate event, possible dates are Tuesday September 23rd or Wednesday September 24th at 7:30 in the library.  Mary will call Ricky Ball to find out Doug Foy’s views on this subject.  Mary will check with Sarki for a recommendation of someone with an opposing view to Doug Foy’s.  Joan will check the town calendar to see if there are any significant conflicts with either of the proposed dates.

We discussed the possibility of having Ricky Ball chair the 40B forum.  Mary will call Ricky to ask her.  Mary will also call Doug Foy to find out his position on 40B and his availability.  If Doug is against 40B, we could ask Margaret Murphy (a LWV member), who was recommended by Erin and who works with developers on 40B applications.

PTOs

In June at the new Board orientation, we should assign each board member a school.  The board member will either attend the PTO meeting and/or recruit someone else to go.  PTO meetings are the first full week of the month.

Town Crier

The 2nd Wednesday of the month is when they tape this cable show.  Laura will email her contact to get us sign up for June 11th.

Pegasus with Town Clerk

We should book this in early fall for early November (we want it to be before the December deadline for candidates to pull papers).

Enewsletter

We reviewed Laura’s draft newsletter and agreed to make the following changes:  (1) add to item 5 that you must be a Natick LWV member to vote for the new board or to be a candidate; and, (2) Add to item 7 that everyone should bring a friend to the Annual Meeting.

We will distribute the next issue in June announcing the new Board and the upcoming calendar.

Spelling Bee

Mary will find out if it starts at 6:30 or 7:00 and let the others know.  Mary will send thank you notes to the Balls for the donation.  Alan Avalos is studying hard.  We discussed having team T-shirts made, but decided that it was too late.  We agreed to have a team member wear a red T-shirt, another wear white, and the third wear blue.

Budget Forum

Joan will send thank you notes to the panelists.

Annual Meeting

The speaker will be Nancy Carapezza.  Mary will do the press releases for the Annual Meeting (since Laura will be away on her honeymoon).  Joan will send a letter to Caroline McSherry (essay winner) and Nancy (speaker), asking the latter for a bio sketch and details of her remarks.  Joan will give the information to Mary for the press releases.

The format will be business first, then the speakers.  Caroline will open the meeting.

Susan will email Erin to find out what policies we should be voting on at the Annual Meeting.  She also will distribute to the board what we already enacted, which we can then hand out at the Annual Meeting.

Carol Gloff has agreed to be on the Nominating Committee.

Natick Days

Joan reported back that the Friends of the Morse Institute Library are going to provide a mini-golf course again.  We discussed sharing with another group a moonwalk and doing a LWV table near-by, or doing an obstacle course.  Mary will ask Dan Keefe at Parks & Rec about who shared the obstacle course last year, and about sharing a moonwalk, obstacle course or bungee run this year.  Joan thinks it was Natick Days Committee who shared the obstacle course last year. 

Know Natick Booklet

We discussed the old booklet that the former Natick LWV distributed and the valuable information it contained.  We agreed that we should update this and redistribute it; Laura suggested that we post it on our website instead of distributing it.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be May 21 at 7:30 at Margie’s house, 45 W. Central.  We should use the front door.  Joan will prepare and distribute the agenda.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Susan Geiser, Margie Packer, Laura Senier, 

Joan called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. 

Minutes

We approved the February 19th minutes as is, and approved the March 20th minutes with the following 2 typographical changes:  (1) on the 5th bullet point under Publicity, add an "l" to the word "call"; (2) on the 7th bullet point in the same section, at a "t" to "a" to read ". . . flyers at Bakery . . . ".

Budget Forum Afterthoughts

- Next time we should not include Paul Connolly because his position (Town Moderator) doesn’t fit with the subject-matter, and he conducts his own forum the night before anyway
- Get visual aids from all speakers in advance; Phil’s visual aids were very helpful
- The timing was perfect ? the week before Town Meeting and after elections
- A start time of 7:30 would have been better than the 7:00 start time
- Panelists should define some financial terms, such as "debt-exclusion override" 

Joan sent thank you notes to the panelists.  We should announce in the newsletter that this will be an annual event.

Membership Update

Margie sent out an email identifying the latest new members.  Laura will include the Spelling Bee in the newsletter and will mention the anonymous donation which will match up to $50.00 toward the spelling bee entry fee.

Susan will update the member list.  Margie will receive the email responses from those who want to unsubscribe from the emailings.  We will allow/encourage email recipients to forward our emails to anyone who might be interested.  Margie will email the newsletter and send hard copies to those who have not provided email addresses.

Jay and Ricky Ball have donated $100.00.  Mary will send a thank you note.

Annual Meeting

Joan will contact the Natick essay winner for her personal information and the name of her essay.  Erin hasn’t yet responded as to whether the MLWV president-elect will be the speaker at our annual meeting.

Nominating Committee

Laura will add in the newsletter a blurb about the nominating committee, whose role it is to solicit candidates, discuss candidates and present a slate to members at the Annual Meeting.  Laura will also include in the newsletter the job descriptions and non-partisan requirements (i.e., no elected official other than Tow Meeting Member for high-profile positions, chair and membership director should have extensive community connections), and the meeting schedule (that officers and directors will meet once per month or more frequently as needed and off-board positions will meet as needed).  We discussed the possibility of having no Vice-Chair.  Joan will contact all people interested in directorships. 

 Board Positions:
- Chair:  Mary is willing to be co-chair again.  Jill Caso will probably not be right for co-chair.  Laura is also willing to be co-chair if the duties are adequately delineated.  Alyssa Leonard was mentioned as someone we might want to approach for chair
- Vice-Chair:  Laura is willing to stay on
- Secretary:  Susan is willing to run again for Secretary
- Treasurer:  Margie is willing to run again for Treasurer
- Membership:  Carol Gloff, Harlee Strauss, Chris Weithman
- Director of Public Relations/Marketing:  Laura (if she’s not co-chair or vice-chair)
- Voter Service/Education
- Legislation/Program

Off-Board Positions:
- Director of Communications, eNews and website:  Linda Abrahams. 
- Nominating Committee:  Joan, Carol Gloff
- Environmental Health:  Tessa Forbes

Sunday Social

Ricky Ball has offered to host this intergenerational event at her home, and will provide tea and coffee, we will provide everything else.  Mary will follow up with Ricky.

MLWV Convention

Margie no longer can attend, and will notify Erin.  Mary will still attend.

Yard Sale ? 5/10/03 from 9a.m. ? 3p.m.

Mary will call Joel at the Cole Recreation Center for table rental.  Margie will ask Erin for more brochures.  Joan will prepare a receipt (for tax purposes) to give to donors, which will not estimate the value of the donation but instead will allow the donor to estimate the value.  Drop off of donations will be at Mary’s house from May 1 through May 8.

Natick Days

We need an activity/game to attract people to our table.  Joan will contact Friends of the Library to see if they are going to do the mini-golf again or if we can do it.  Suggested activities included:  ring toss, dunk your favorite politician (but some other group does a dunk).  At the table, we should offer a diagram of the town government structure (from the front of the Natick Annual Report), a questionnaire on what you want to have a forum on, and a quiz on how town government works.

Spelling Bee

The team will be:  Alan Avalos, Margie and Laura

Miscellaneous

We will add to our calendar that we did a membership table at Town Meeting.  Erin will use our calendar to get us formally accepted by MLWV.

We discussed Dick Miller’s suggestion that we have a forum on Jill Stein’s tax proposal, and that we should have others (Democrats and Republican) also on the panel and perhaps not Jill Stein because we would not the event to have even the appearance of a political event in her campaign for governor.

Our next meeting will be on April 29 at 7:30 at Laura’s house, 38 Pitt.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Susan Geiser, Margie Packer, Laura Senier

Interested Persons:  Erin Pastuszenski

Joan called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. 

4/3/Forum

Josh Ostroff is mailing the cards out to Town Meeting Members.  Laura talked with Natick Bulletin and Tab.  Pegasus will tape the Forum.  Laura told Pegasus that Mary will tape a PSA.  We will make sure that some people have questions to start the Q&A session.  We (1) will provide index cards for written questions, and (2) allow people to ask their questions in person.

Spelling Bee

Erin will request a check from MLWV for the spelling bee.  We have a $50 gift plus $5 from Laura, Mary (her husband Alan) and Margie.

Annual Meeting

We will invite the Natick essay winner to be a speaker.  Mary reported that the kiosk on the Town Common is already taken.  Susan suggested that we have someone from MLWV speak about the modern LWV and to get us excited about what we can do.  Erin will check if Madhu Sridhar will be available.

Yard Sale

Mary reported that we have reserved a table.  The drop off location for donations will be at Mary’s house.  We will ask each member to contribute 3 or 5 items.

Town Crier Program

This is a 30 minute program on Pegasus about town government.  Margie and Laura will talk about the LWV.  We should try to get Ricky Ball to join them.

MLWV Events

Mary is going to the 4/6 event featuring Lani Guinier.  Mary might be able to attend the Day on the Hill (4/30).

Monthly Newsletter

This will have a summary up front, which will allow the reader to turn directly to the numbered item that he/she wants to read.  The first issue should have the April and May events, and the Annual Meeting.  We should also mention that we are looking for 2-3 people to serve as a nominating committee.  Erin will send to Joan a standard email on nominating committees.

40B Housing Forum

We will ask Ricky Ball to find out where Doug Foy (her suggested 40B expert) stands on 40B, so that we can round out the panel with other points of view.  We could ask Sarki Sarkisian (Natick’s Director of Community Development) recommend someone from the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals.  We should combine this with the quarterly membership meeting.

Meet Your Town Meeting Member

This will be a meet in greet for citizens to meet their Town Meeting Members.  This will be in early October.

Pegasus Program on Voting Process and Pulling Nomination Papers for Election

This program with the Town Clerk will be in November or December, so that it is in people’s minds just before the process starts.

Membership

We should have a table at the 4/3 Budget Forum.  Erin gave us some membership numbers from other Leagues based on towns’ residents:  Lexington has 30,000 residents and 150 LWV members; Wellesley has 27,000 residents and 100 members; Newton has 84,000 residents and 200 members (it’s a strong League).

We agreed that our membership goal will be to double our membership by the end of 2003 (at 26 current members, that’s 52 members by the end of 2003).

We should find a way to share with NHS students the Balls’ materials that they used to teach civic responsibility.

Directors

Erin explained that the Board consists of the officers and directors.  We should aim for a board of 8.  If we need more positions, we can have off-board positions or committees.  We agreed that we want to have board meetings open to all, and continue to have the quarterly meetings be membership meetings.  Once we have elected a new board, we should have a picture of them and accompanying PR piece in the papers.

Environmental Health ? one possibility is Susan’s friend Tessa Forbes, who has expressed a strong interest.  This position can start as off-board and then become a board position if it gets busy.

Voter service education ? Laura will keep this, and public relations.

Local action ? Erin says that we won’t need this for a while because we will be working with existing state or national positions/issues.  We don’t need this position until we want to study an issue.

Membership ? Diane Packer or Moira Munns

Legislation/Programs ? This position is for action alerts (i.e., call your senator on this issue) ? Kristine Van Amsterdam?

Newsletter & Website ? Josh Ostroff or Jeanne Williamson Ostroff

Director of Communications ? this person will write the thank you notes, among other duties.

ListServe

This is an anonymous name and address for sending correspondence to the Natick MAL.  For example, it would read info@natickLWV.org.  Erin reported that this might be approved by MLWV on 4/8.  Laura added that we also want to be able to use ListServe for sending out emails to our members; Erin will check on this.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be 4/14 at 7:30.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Susan Geiser, Margie Packer, Laura Senier
 

Joan started the meeting at 7:35 p.m. 

Candidates Forum w/ NEF

We discussed the success of the forum, which we estimated was attended by 80 people.  Joan reported that she has only heard good feedback.  We all liked the format (including using a timer and having her post 10 second warnings) and having an out-of-town moderator.  Mary drafted a letter to NEF to thank them for letting us co-host and addressing the Boston Globe’s West Weekly’s failure to mention NEF. 

Budget Forum ? 4/3/03

Joan will moderate the Forum.  The panelists’ order for their presentations (under 15 minutes each) will be:  Phil, Jim, Frank, Paul.  Then there will be a question and answer session.  Paul Connolly’s role will be to explain the role of Town Meeting to the whole budget process.

Publicity:
- Laura reported that press releases have gone out. 
- Mary will contact Pegasus to record a PSA. 
- After the election, Joan will mail press releases to all Town Meeting Members.  She will also mail to selectmen, School Committee, FinCom, Planning Board, Zoning Board, Parks and Rec.  Joan will contact Josh Ostroff to find out how he mailed $.14 postcards to Town Meeting Members.  Joan will get labels from Town Clerk.
- We will do school flyers for elementary schools only, and do school newsletters for all other schools (provided they have a weekly newsletter).
- Laura will call the Natick Bulletin & Tab to try to get a story done on this (they already have the press releases).
- Mary will investigate whether we can leave flyers at the Natick Sports Club
- We will post flyers at Bakery on the Common (community bulletin board), Middlesex Savings Bank, Roche Bros., Stop & Shop
- Mary will ask Linda at Parks and Rec about posting a flyer in the kiosk on Town Common
- Mary will email member Moira Munns at the Senior Center to have a flyer posted there
- Margie will investigate whether we can leave flyers at Ladies of America health club
- Mary will copy 1,000 flyers on brightly colored paper
- Margie’s email will say that it is important for members to come to this event because it’s an important event to help get the LWV off and running, and that they should bring a friend and ask questions at the Forum
- Joan will make name cards for the panelists
- Susan will help distribute flyers
- Laura will ask Erin to borrow a hard sign for the front of the podium and banners

Refreshments:  Susan will make cookies, Margie will make brownies, Margie and Mary will provide beverages, Joan will provide water

Separate sessions:  Phil Lemnios is doing a separate session today for town union employees.  Paul Connolly will be doing the primer he wanted to do on the process (not the budget).

Membership

We will call the following people:  Mary will call those initially involved in the LWV, Margie will call Susan Stern, Joan will call Marjory Gove and Ginny Chew, Mary will call Linda Abrahams.  Susan will send out to the leadership team the updated membership list.

Laura will try to get an article in the Natick Bulletin & Tab and Metro West Daily News on the need for more people to join LWV to get it off the ground 

Margie will include in her email a request for any (self-sponsoring) team members for the May 1st spelling bee.

On May 10th, we will get a table for the yard sale on Town Common (and to distribute LWV info)

In the Spring (May 18th possibly) we will have a "Sunday Social", which will be a coffee for older and new members to mingle.  Mary will find out if we can get the Cole Center.  We should also investigate using the history room at the Library.

We will get a table at Natick Days (September 13th).  Mary will get the application form.  Mary or Margie will attend the Natick Days meeting on April 14th at 7pm in the Library.

In October, we will have 2 people (1 leadership and 1 member who’s also a member of that PTO) attend each PTO’s meeting.  We will need to ask in June to be put on the agendas for October.

In the Fall, we can have a 40B (affordable housing) forum with several panelists (pro and con).  Ricky Ball offered to try to get Doug Foy as a panelist.

Sell buttons, cups, give away water bottles, etc.

Annual Meeting

Joan will check the Library’s schedule for June 5th (preferred) or June 12th.

We will need to approve minutes from the last membership meeting, approve the policies page distributed by Erin, elect officers for the next year, and would like to have some type of recognition ceremony for the LWV state-wide essay winner (who is from Natick).

Other business

Joan will distribute a calendar

Mary and Margie will go to the LWVM annual convention

We adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Erica Ball, Jay Ball, Joan Craig, Susan Geiser, Moira Munns, Laura Senier, 

Interested Persons:  Rita Blum (Framingham LWV), Ginny Chew, Betty Courtemanche, Janet Ducharme, Dona Kemp (LWVMA), Alissa Leonard, Bill McGinlay, Janet Nolan, Erin Pastuszenski, Jan Phlegar, Anne Pratt (Framingham LWV), Beverly Rich, Sherry Sandoval, Maria Waller

Joan called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.  This meeting was postponed from March 6, 2003 due to snow.  Immediately following the meeting at 7:30 is Candidates Night, which the Natick MAL Unit is co-hosting with Natick Education Foundation.

Introduction of Leadership Board

Joan Craig introduced the board, who was elected at the January meeting:  Co-Chairs (Joan, Mary Avalos), Vice-Chair (Laura Senier), Secretary (Susan Geiser), Treasurer (Margie Packer).

Upcoming Events

Joan reminded the audience about the Candidates’ Forum immediately following tonight’s meeting.  Dona Kemp, Chair of LWVMA, will moderate.

Joan announced the Budget Forum (April 3rd at 7 p.m.), which is for Town Meeting Members and any other interested persons.  This forum will feature the Town Administrator, the Superintendent of Schools, the Chair of the Finance Committee, and the Town Moderator, and will present an overview of the town’s budget process and provide opportunity for questions and answers.

The Annual Meeting will be in May or June, at which time we will elect a board for the next 12 months.  Members were encouraged to contact Joan if interested in being on the Board.  After a count of hands, Joan determined that the meeting will be at 7:30 rather than 7:00.

LWVMA events:  Joan announced the April 6th event from 2-4 at Faneuil Hall with Lani Guinier.  This event will include award-winning essay winner (a Montrose student from Natick).  April 30th is the Day on the Hill.  Coffee and mingling with legislative aides is from 9-10 a.m. in the Nurses’ Hall, and the program runs from 10 a.m. -12 p.m. in Gardner Hall.  May 16th and 17th will be the Biennial Convention.

Membership Update

Laura provided information on becoming a member.  Laura also sought ideas for membership drives.

Officers/Board of Directors

Joan discussed the duties of the Officers.  We also discussed various Director and Off-Board Positions that we might want to consider having.  The positions discussed are listed on the Newton LWV’s website, and include for Director: public relations, local action, voter service, education, membership, legislation/program, unit meetings, land use/transportation; and include for Off-Board Positions: newsletter, nominating committee, health care, recycling, human rights, open meeting law.  Joan encouraged people to consider running for one of the positions.

Minutes

The minutes from the January 27, 2003 Organizational Meeting were approved, with a change on page 2 to correct the spelling of Linda Abrahams’ name.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Geiser, Secretary
LWVMA, Natick MAL Unit
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Joan Craig, Susan Geiser, Margie Packer, Laura Senier
Interested Persons:  Erin Pastuszenski (Natick MAL’s advisor and liaison to LWVM)

Joan started the meeting at 7:35.

Candidates Forum March 13, 2003 in Library Meeting Hall

Natick MAL will co-host this event with Natick Education Foundation (the Parent Coordinating Council will not be co-hosting this event as was previously thought).  This will be a forum for candidates from each contested race to present themselves and answer questions from the audience.  Candidates from uncontested races can be in the audience and mingle after the forum.   LWVM will provide a moderator (Dona Kemp).

Erin advised that the event should begin by 7:30 with introductions, and by 7:40 start with the Board of Selectmen candidates.  The candidates should be allowed a 2 minute wrap up if time permits, and by 8:15 we should break for 5 minutes.  Then the school board candidates should have until 9:30, at which time we should have an informal mingle until 10:00.

We should have a timer in the front row, one person at a membership table, one runner, and 2 people to bring a plate of cookies.  Margie will drop off some brownies as she will not be able to attend.

Laura drafted press releases.  A candidate already mentioned in print that the LWV will be co-hosting this event.  Joan called all candidates and will also send letters.  Mary will investigate whether we can send an announcement home with school kids.  Laura will check again with Pegasus for a camera operator since we will not have time to follow up on Pegasus’s suggestion that we learn how to operate the camera ourselves.  Laura will draft an announcement for the community bulletin board, and Mary will shoot a public service announcement for Pegasus.  Margie will send out an email about the March 6th membership meeting and the March 13th Candidates Forum.

Primer for New Town Meeting Members April 3, 2003 7p.m. in Library

Mary and Joan met with the Town Administrator regarding his idea to hold a primer for residents and new town meeting members on local government, how it works, how the budget process is implemented, an explanation of the pending articles and the process for town meeting (which starts on April 8).  This will be a panel discussion consisting of the Superintendent of Schools, the Town Moderator, someone from Finance Committee, and the Town Administrator.

Mary and Joan had different recollections of their meeting with the Town Administrator as to whether there would be a separate primer on municipal finance or whether that subject would be included in the town meeting primer.  Joan and Mary will follow up.

Membership Meeting March 6, 2003 in Library

Erin suggested having a speaker from LWVM to help draw people to the meeting.  After brainstorming some ideas, the group agreed the speaker topic should be 40B (low-income housing).  Erin will contact the appropriate person.

We should have flyers at the meeting about the March 13th LWVM Beacon Hill meeting.

General Media Issues

Joan will contact Alison Murray of the Boston Globe Metro West Section, and contact other papers.  Laura will handle media, but Linda Abrahams will be available to help if necessary.

Policies and Procedures

Erin advised that we should have monthly meetings for the Board, and quarterly meetings for the members.

Erin advised that we should not distribute the member list to members until we adopt a policy on how that list may be used.  The member list is usually published in the annual meeting publication.  We revised a sample usage policy, and we will review the changes at the March 6th meeting.

The minutes from the January meeting must be approved at the annual meeting because the board by itself cannot approve minutes from a member-wide meeting.

Erin distributed a final copy of the non-partisanship policy that we approved at the January meeting.

Susan will maintain the membership list and will receive the LWVM’s President’s Mail publication.

The next leadership team meeting will be March 27, 2003 at 7:30 p.m. at the library.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary
 

Attendees:

Members:  Mary Avalos, Erica Ball, Jill Caso, Joan Craig, Ken Del Papa, Terri Evans, Susan Geiser, Carol Gloff, Marshall Lebowitz, Moira Munns, Diane Packer, Margie Packer, Laura Senier, Leslie Vienneau;

Interested Persons:  Marjorie Gove, Erin Pastuszenski (Membership Director, LWV of Massachusetts)

Introductions

Erin Pastuszenski, Membership Director of the LWV of Massachusetts, started the meeting at 7:45 p.m.  After opening remarks, attendees introduced themselves.  Erin explained that members can gain access to the "Members Only" section of the LWV of Massachusetts’s website (containing the state League’s position papers, among other things) by clicking on the logo at the bottom left of the web page. Ricci Ball asked that a list of member names, addresses and emails be sent to all members (Erin will send the list to Laura Senier).

Starting a MAL Unit

Erin explained that we have joined the state LWV, and that on February 11, 2003 our Natick MAL ("Member-At-Large") unit will be approved as the "Natick MAL Unit of the state League."  Tonight, we need to:  1) select leaders (Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary/Treasurer); 2) approve a non-partisan policy; and, 3) agree on a calendar of events for the next few months.

Our support team will consist of members of Framingham LWV and Wellesley LWV, the Citizen Education Committee, and Field Service Rep Debbie Wang.  Erin will continue as advisor and our liaison to the state LWV.

By Spring 2004, it is likely that we will have an annual meeting at which we will elect officers, approve by-laws and our program for the following year.  At that point, if we also meet other applicable requirements, Natick MAL Unit could obtain state and national LWV recognition as the League of Women Voters of Natick.

Elected Officers

After review of descriptions of the various positions and opportunities for questions, members unanimously elected Joan Craig and Mary Avalos as Co-Chairs, Laura Senier as Vice-Chair, Margie Packer as Treasurer, and Susan Geiser as Secretary.  Laura will focus especially on membership at the beginning, and Joan will head up voter service activities leading up to the March election.

Erin added that other positions can be created without formal election, such as voter service, membership, fundraising, etc.  Linda Abrahams was mentioned as being interested in media relations.

Approved Non-Partisan Policy

Members approved Option 2 of the template distributed by Erin, titled "Nonpartisanship Policies for Consideration at Natick MAL Unit Organizational Meeting", with the following three changes:  3rd paragraph, 4th line, delete "s" from "offices" and delete "and Charter Commission Member"; 5th paragraph, 2nd line, add "or opposing" after "as supporting".

Calendar

2/19/03 Board Meeting (just officers, but all are welcome) at 7:30 p.m. in the library (Joan Craig will check to see if the police conference room is available and will notify us if so)

3/6/03 General meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the library

3/20/03 Joan will make calls to the Natick Education Foundation and the Parent Coordinating Council to offer to co-sponsor the pre-election debate.  The election is March 25th, and the debate is possibly set on March 20th.  This is a well-attended event that is broadcast on the local cable station, and we could offer a professional moderator.

3/__/03 Both before and after the election we could hold voter registration drives (including high school students), and have a booth at Natick Days (and also register voters there).

Spring 03 Erin advised that we hold a fundraiser in Spring 2003.  Suggestions included resurrecting the Natick LWV’s past-practice of having an international potluck at Natick High School on United Nations Day (in October); selling cookbooks, T-shirts; having yard/barn sales.  Erin has lists of other ideas.

May/June Erin said that the Natick MAL Unit should have an annual meeting in May/June 2003 even though we won’t yet be ready to be recognized as a local League (as opposed to a unit of the state League), and at that time formally elect officers for a full year.

Other ideas for activities include:
(1) Josh Ostroff is willing to start a Website.  Linda (our media volunteer) can contact him and give him the template provided by the state;
(2) Phil Lamnois (the Town Administrator) wants to hear what issues are causing concern in town, and to educate citizens about those issues.  Mary Avalos will talk with Phil;
(3) Pegasus (local cable stations 9 and 10) is willing to broadcast LWV public service announcements.  Laura Senier will contact Pegasus;
(4) Host a debate on whether to build, renovate or leave alone NHS.  We could work with the school superintendent and the Building Committee;
(5) Provide education on an override:  distinguish different types of overrides, debt exclusion, etc., what it means, how it effects the tax payer;
(6) Hold an intergenerational meeting where former and new members are invited to meet each other.

A motion to adjourn was made at 9:05 p.m., seconded and passed unanimously.

Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Geiser, Secretary