This month the Board met for the first time online through Zoom. It was an interesting experience for all of us and, with only a few difficulties, went well. Committees that choose to meet this way will have access to the Zoom account. This will be a great way to continue meeting without exposing anyone to unwanted viruses!

• Kudos to the Immigration Committee for a very interesting and informative League Day.
• The Women’s City Club will be available for our meetings through June. At this time, the WCC’s availability for the rest of the year is still unsure.
• The North Unit meeting day has been changed to the third Wednesday; the time and place have not changed, although the use of Zoom is a possibility for any LWV-PA meeting.
• There was a long discussion about COVID-19 virus preparedness and how LWV-PA should respond, especially in light of the age of many of our members. The Board decided that for the immediate foreseeable future LWV-PA will hold no further aggregate face-to-face meetings. We will investigate technological resources to leverage ongoing communication as we continue with our work. This policy will be reviewed every thirty days. Committee Chairs will determine if their committees will continue to meet via Zoom.
• This policy means that our April 2 League Day is canceled.
• It was recommended that the upcoming Natural Resources Committee Climate Change Forum be postponed to a future date.
• The Board voted to send a letter to LWVUS asking them to urge Congress to pass an emergency measure to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 virus within the United States. This directly relates to the LWVUS healthcare policy.
• It was agreed that, based on our discussions concerning the COVID-19 virus, we will not participate in the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women event.
• The Board took a first look at the budget for next year as prepared by the Finance Committee. There will be time for questioning and refining the budget before presenting it to members for a vote at the Annual Meeting.
• The Membership Directory is ready to be emailed out as a PDF file to each member with the reminder that it is for personal use only and that information may not be shared.
• Some updates from committees:
  • Education Committee members are going to local school board meetings and reporting on items of concern.
  • PUSD is debating whether to allow the opening of a new charter school.
  • The Natural Resources Committee had a speaker at their meeting from South Pasadena to discuss that city’s new Green Action Plan.
  • The Events Committee is looking at a variety of venues for future meetings, as well as how to use technology to deal with canceled or postponed League Days.

— Jean Buennagel, Secretary