MINUTES – GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING, February 27, 2013
GREEN PARTY OF PHILADELPHIA (GPOP, www.gpop.org)
This meeting convened at 7:00 p.m. at the Chestnut Hill Meetinghouse, 100 East Mermaid Lane in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. .
Facilitated by Glenn Davis, GPOP City Committee At Large.
Welcome to Northwest Philadelphia by Chris Robinson, GPOP City Committee At-Large.
Minutes by Chris Robinson, chrisrecon@netzero.net.
GPOP Members in attendance: Vivek Ananthan, Ester Croft and Brandon Slattery (Ward 5); Tara Colon (Ward 18); Bernadette Cronin-Geller (Ward 21); Burt Dallas and Josh Mitteldorf (Ward 9); James Manuel (Ward 31); Glenn Davis (Ward 4); Alex Gillett (Ward 46); John Gonzalez (Ward 19); Eric Hamell and Chris Robinson (Ward 59); Ernest Schulte (Ward 12); Charles Sherrouse (Ward 54) and Christina Valente and Erin Worrell (Ward 8). Others in attendance: Kristin Combs, Lawrence Geller, Richard Kanegis, Bob Smith, Galen Tyler and two of Brandon’s friends who did not sign in.
ANNOUNCEMENTS (endorsed by GPOP)
War Tax Resistance Forum, March 23, 2:00 pm, Tabernacle Church in Philadelphia, 3700 Chestnut Street, University City, Philadelphia. More information from Brandywine Peace Community, (610) 544-1818 or brandywine@juno.com.
GPOP General Membership Meeting, March 27, Liberty Choice Market, 2nd Floor, 1934 North Front Street (at Norris) in Kensington, 19122. Easily accessible via SEPTA’s Market Street line (Berks Station). This meeting place is not handicap accessible. More information from 215-243-7103 and gpop@gpop.org.
Anti-Fracking Earth Day Protest, 3:00 pm, April 22, Regional DEP office in Norristown, PA. More information from 215-243-7103 and gpop@gpop.org.
Other Events
Green Happy Hour, 5:00 every Tuesday, Tony’s Way, 1900 North Front Street (at Berks Street). For more information please contact (267) 344-6318 and cherihonkalappehrc@gmail.com.
Other Announcements may be sent to chrisrecon@netzero.net, and they will be added to the final copy of the meeting minutes.
Motion to Amend GPOP By-Laws
The January 23, GPOP General Membership Meeting voted to amend the GPOP By-Laws III. General Meeting, Section F to read, “The quorum necessary to conduct business shall be seven (7) members.”
This amendment was approved and the GPOP By-Laws will be changed.
DURING THE ELECTION OF OFFICERS, THE MEETING WAS CHAIRED BY JAMES MANUEL
Nominations for Green Party City Committee
There are seven members on the Green Party City Committee. There are four officers: Chair, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, and Membership Secretary. There are also three At-Large Members of the City Committee.
Any GPOP member may nominate a person for the City Committee, and any GPOP member may be nominated for an officer position, an at-large position, or both an officer position and an at-large position. Nominations remained open when the meeting began. There being no new nominations or self-nominations, the nominations were closed and the meeting moved on to electing a new GPOP City Committee. Bernadette Cronin-Geller and Christina Valente did an admirable job of collecting and counting the ballots.
Two Provisional Ballots.
There were two people present who were not on the City Commissioners’ List of Registered Greens dated February 14, 2013.After a discussion, the membership decided to allow these two people to vote using provisional ballots. Their ballots will not be counted until each of them sends in a copy of their Voter Registration Card demonstrating that they were, in fact, registered Green before February 27, 2013.
Election of 4 GPOP Officers
Each candidate spoke for three minutes to present their reason for running. This was followed by questions from the membership. GPOP members then vote on a secret ballot for no more than one candidate for each office. Members were also allowed to vote “No Candidate.” The winner of any office must receive the vote of at least half (50 percent) of the members present.
The following people were elected:
Chair: Alex Gillett;
Treasurer: John Gonzalez;
Membership Secretary: Erin Worrell; and
Recording Secretary: Carol McLean.
[James Manuel says, “I think it would be helpful to include the names of the candidates who were not elected for the respective Committee positions. I realize they are on the previous meetings' minutes, but they did address the meeting.”
Glenn Davis was not elected Chair of GPOP, and Belinda Davis was not elected treasurer of GPOP.]
Election of 3 At-Large Members
Each candidate spoke for three minutes to present their reason for running. This was followed by questions from the membership. GPOP members then voted on a secret ballot for no more than three candidates in ranked order. Members were also allowed to vote “No Candidate.” The first choice on each ballot will be multiplied by 3; Second choice on each ballot will be multiplied by 2, and Third choice on each ballot will be multiplied by 1. Then the vote totals will be tallied.
The following people, who received the top three vote totals, were elected to the City Committee At-Large: Chris Robinson, Tara Colon, and Glenn Davis.
[James Manuel says, “Also, given the situation with the provisional ballots, I think the complete results (with tallies) for the at-large positions would be good for transparency.” Here are the tallies for At-Large City Committee, voting in ranked order: Chris Robinson (28), Tara Colon (20), Glenn Davis (15) and Belinda Davis (13). The top three won seats, while Vivek Ananthan and Galen Tyler had lesser tallies.]
Election of 12 Delegates to the PA State Green Party (GPPA)
The GPOP is permitted to elect 12 delegates and three alternate delegates to the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA, www.gpofpa.org). GPPA meets quarterly in various parts of PA. Their next meeting will be in Wilkes-Barre, PA, on Saturday, April 13. Self-nominations for delegate status were made by a show of hands. The following GPOP members were elected to be delegates to GPPA: Esther Croft, Bernadette Cronin-Geller, Burt Dallas, Belinda Davis, John Gonzalez, Chris Robinson, Charles Sherrouse, Galen Tyler, Christine Valente and Erin Worrell.
The next GPOP General Membership Meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 27, 7:00 p.m. At this meeting GPOP members will decide whether or not Skype attendance and/or Skype voting should be permitted at GPOP Meetings. The GPOP Membership will also create membership working groups and neighborhood working groups for the greater involvement of GPOP members.
The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
_________________________