League of Women Voters of Melrose:
Annual Meeting was held on June 13, 2023 at the conference room of Eastern Bank, Main Street, Melrose.
6 pm
Meeting with Mayor: We spent the first 45 minutes of Annual Meeting talking with the Mayor about the state of the City and his thoughts on the challenges for the next mayor. It was an interesting and informative discussion, and it’s too bad that it did not occur as originally scheduled for our April brunch. The Mayor was unable to attend that meeting, so this short meeting with him was the re-scheduled discussion.
7 pm
Business Meeting–Call to Order
Review and Adopt Nonpartisan policy: (annual requirement) Read and approved the Nonpartisan policy. Unanimously adopted
Report of the Year’s Activities (Steering Committee):
See Report of the Steering Committee June 2023 posted separately. It was noted that the following should be added to that Report: Susan Baron created a QR code that takes users to the Massachusetts web page where they can register. It was used for the high school registration in March and can be used in the future.
Report of the Treasurer:
Proposed Budget discussion.
Sponsorship – We have 2 at this time and hope to add three more by the end of the year. Susan will contact the national league and confirm that Heather Doyle is listed as treasurer for billing purposes. Move to accept budget – Unanimously adopted.
Steering Committee Election
Nominated and elected to 2-year terms:
- Susan Baron
- Maureen Elias
- Heather Doyle – Treasurer
- Louise Mason
- Mary Landergan
Goals for the Coming Year — Directions to Steering Committee
Membership discussion: We need to work on strategies to increase membership.
Susan and Jane will come up with talking points for why to become member that can be used in discussions with prospective members. Susan will contact Jane about membership and send a membership application form to her. It was noted that they are available on the website too.
Voter registration:
Maureen and Susan briefly met a group called the Mary Livermore Group (Little Pink Schoolhouse) at the Farmers Market at Cedar Park last summer. They were registering voters. Susan will contact Florence Leeds and find out more about this group and possibilities of partnering with them on actions like voter registration.
Sponsorships:
We currently have two sponsorships and need three more for this year. Will send around sponsorship form to membership. Susan will pursue a sponsorship from Eastern Bank
Joan Moore Subcommittee:
Susan and Anne will do postings to advertise next year’s applications with newspapers and on bulletin boards. It is suggested that people also try to spread information about this with friends by word-of-mouth. The League should establish a Facebook page and use it for announcements and publicity, including the scholarship. Anne will look into this.
Candidate’s Night:
If we sponsor a candidate’s night, we would need four main volunteers to run this, and several additional volunteers to work with them.Anne will send out email to ask membership if they are interested in participating. We have not had many volunteers for this activity lately and might explore partnering with another organization for this.
Susan will find out from Sustainable Melrose if they have plans to do a Candidate’s Night in order to explore such a partnership. We need to find out if they endorse a candidate. (Something our non-partisan policy will not allow.) We also need to know if they are planning a forum for the Preliminary Election in September (which is for the mayoral candidates), or the General Election in November (which includes all city candidates), or both. If the Sustainable Melrose forum is only for the Preliminary Election, then we would have to decide whether or not to hold a Candidate’s Forum for the General Election.
Wednesday July 12th is next Steering Committee meeting. It will probably be a virtual meeting or a hybrid. Notice to follow to all members.
Adjournment
