League of Women Voters of Butte County Board Meeting Minutes August 11, 2020   5:30 pm, via Zoom

Members Present: Mahalley Allen, Debra Barger, Roxanne Ferry, Sandra Flake, Lori Fuentes, Claire Greene, Patty Haley, Maureen Kirk, Toni Reid, and Satsie Veith

 1.     Call to Order

Meeting called to order at 5:38 pm. Debra announced that Kim Shaffer resigned from the board for personal reasons.

2. Approve July Meeting Minutes

The July 16th meeting minutes were approved.

 3. Treasurer’s Report FY 2019-2020 Final

Board members reviewed the Treasurer’s report for FY 2019-2020. LWVBC transferred $3,009.02 out of reserves to balance its budget for FY 2019-2020. Butte County still owes LWVBC $1,500 according to their contract. With the recent decision to increase membership dues, we are in sound financial shape. 

 Motion:

Toni moved and Claire seconded a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report. Motion passed unanimously.

 4. North Valley Community Foundation Agreement Update

Debra and Sandra just today received the draft agreement from the North Valley Community Foundation regarding the LWVBC’s endowment account. The board will review and discuss the draft agreement at the next board meeting.

 5. Census Update

Maureen updated board members about the U.S. Census activity. Census counting will end on September 30th. Megan Smith, chair of the Butte County Complete Count Committee, will share phone banking lists with Debra and Maureen within the next week. Megan informed Debra and Maureen about an opportunity to apply for funding to cover some office costs, such as face coverings, HVAC air filters, utility costs, etc., to support census phone banking work.  Instead of making census calls from the LWVBC office, another option is to use a smart phone with an application to make calls. Board members talked about plans for recruiting LWVBC members, including members who speak Spanish, to make census calls.

 6. September Newsletter

The September newsletter will be printed and mailed so it can include membership renewal envelopes. Sandra is making updated envelope labels with the new amounts for dues. The article submission deadline for the newsletter is August 27th. Board members discussed some possible article ideas.

 Motion:

Sandra moved and Maureen seconded a motion to temporarily accept membership renewals with the old dues amounts from members who use outdated envelopes. Motion passed unanimously.

7. Voter Outreach Update

Patty shared that there is a voter registration training in Oroville on Friday, August 14th at 9:30 am. Attendees at the training can take an oath and be deputized as deputy registrars. There is also a Zoom option for the training.

Patty has been in contact with Chico State and Butte College to coordinate voter outreach efforts. She is contacting local school districts to encourage their employees to be registered to vote. Patty is trying to coordinate with local activists who are planning events for a national day of protest on August 28th to determine a way to get out voter registration information.

On July 26th, the LWVUS kicked off a 100-day countdown to the election by sharing “100 Days and 100 Ways to Get Ready for Election Day.”

National Voter Registration Day is September 22, 2020. Possible events for this day are still unclear because of the pandemic.

Patty updated board members about AB 963 related to postsecondary education. This student voter empowerment bill requires campuses within the California Community College system, the California State University system, and the University of California system to provide voter registration information to college students. 

8. Candidate Forum Update

Claire updated board members about candidate forum plans. The plan is to use pre-recorded candidate forums with questions submitted ahead of time. BCAC tv, public access television, is happy to broadcast the pre-recorded candidate forums. North State Public Radio, NSPR, is also interested in broadcasting general area candidate forums, particularly the U.S. congressional district 1 race. Claire emailed the president of the Redding league to see if they are interested in co-hosting a congressional district candidate forum. Debra is in contact with the president of the Western Nevada County League to discuss a possible partnership for the congressional district candidate forum. The Western Nevada County League has a relationship with YubaNet, which has a Zoom webinar license and could potentially host a candidate forum. LWVBC might need to purchase a Zoom webinar license for hosting its own webinars and forums.

Claire is meeting with a reporter from the Chico Enterprise-Record on August 12th to give an update about the LWVBC’s plans for candidate forums. Claire and Debra have a Zoom call with the Paradise Chamber of Commerce on August 12th about plans for the Paradise Town Council candidate forum. Board members discussed candidate forums for other races, including the Chico and Oroville city council elections.  

For the candidate forums, we need volunteers for moderating, assisting with technology, and sorting questions ahead of time.

Debra discussed possibly having college interns to research and create a database of information about all the government entities/agencies in this area that appear on ballots. Example: We need updated research on agencies like the South Feather Water and Power District – what does the district do, what is its budget, what are the terms of office and compensation for elected officials, etc.

Board members briefly discussed possible plans for a virtual candidate speed dating event. 

9. Fall Membership Virtual Coffee, September 12

Board members discussed possible ideas for the fall membership coffee. One idea is to show a recorded speech by Deborah Turner, president of LWVUS, or Virginia Kase, CEO of LWVUS, and to have a discussion after viewing the speech. Another idea is to have a panel discussion about the significant challenges and opportunities facing the league with break-out chat rooms for more in-depth discussions. Board members decided to go forward with a panel discussion for the fall coffee.

10. Board Volunteers for Nomination Committee Appointment

Tabled to next meeting.

11. Fundraising Planning

Tabled to next meeting

12. Other Business/Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 7:32 pm.