League of Women Voters of Butte County Board Meeting Minutes May 10, 2022   5:30 pm  Via ZOOM

Members Present: Mahalley Allen, Lori Fuentes, Claire Greene, Patty Haley, Janet Rechtman, Toni Reid, and Satsie Veith

1. 1.     Call to Order

Meeting called to order at 5:33 pm.

2. Approve Meeting Minutes

The minutes for the April board meeting were approved.

3. Financial Report

There has been some limited response on the fundraiser. Four people sent in essays, and a few other people made donations without sending essays.

4. Draft Office Sublease and Altacal Proposal

The draft sublease is that Altacal pays half the rent and utilities plus $100 per month. Altacal’s counter proposal is that they pay half the rent and utilities and only pay $100 in the six months of October-March when they heavily use the office. Board members discussed Altacal’s counter proposal.

Motion:

Toni moved and Patty seconded a motion to approve Altacal’s counter proposal. Motion passed unanimously.

5. Update on County Contract

Satsie met with county officials (Candace Grubbs and her assistant, Madison) and discussed high school education week. The county wants to get high school education week going next year in September and April. Madison is going to contact five high schools in Chico, Oroville, Biggs, Gridley, and Paradise to see if they are interested in receiving relevant materials. If high schools are interested, the LWBVC’s role would be to deliver flyers and Secretary of State materials to the schools. There was some discussion by the county about future League/County presentations at the schools, but right now the proposal is only for LWVBC to deliver materials. Satsie will meet with Madison again on Friday morning. Board members reached a consensus to move forward to see what develops with a country contract.

6. Update on Candidate Forums and Voter Registration

Claire updated board members about this candidate forum season, which went well. There were a lot of uncontested races in the county this year. LWVBC will have more forums to host in the general election season, and the goal is probably to hold those forums in person. Claire will ask for volunteers at the annual meeting. Jane Wanderer requested a forum de-brief meeting.

Patty updated board members about the Chocolate Festival this past weekend, where two people got registered to vote. It has been challenging finding volunteers to cover the Chico Thursday night market.

7. Committee Reports

Social Policy Committee:

Janet updated board members that the first program on housing/homelessness will be June 15th from 5-6:30 pm in the OLLI classroom. The program will be a hybrid in person/virtual event. The public will be limited to Zoom. It would great to have coverage of the program from the Chico Enterprise-Record. Janet also updated board members about the second and third programs.

Natural Resources Committee:

Toni updated board members that the second water program is confirmed for June 30th on Zoom at 7 pm. Four of the five speakers have confirmed for the event. The program will focus on the Vina Groundwater Sustainability Plan, the Paradise option study, and Table A water.

8. Annual Meeting

Satsie sent the materials to the annual meeting to the membership. LWV will provide plates, utensils, and water/drinks for the potluck. 

9. June Board Meeting

We will move forward with the idea of the new and old boards meeting together in June, maybe at the League office.

10. Ballot Gatherers

We need volunteers to sign up to be ballot gatherers, which is part of our contract with the county. Satsie, Patty, and Toni volunteered to help. 

11. Land Acknowledgement Statement

Board members discussed using a land acknowledgement, perhaps similar to the Chico State land acknowledgement, and discussed that we would need to work with the county’s tribes on a statement.

12. Adjourn

Meeting adjourned at 6:30 pm.