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AGENDA & MINUTES
GENERAL BUSINESS & STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
OZARK LIBERTY ALLIANCE
6:00PM, NOVEMBER 14, 2002
prepared by: C. Weiss,
editor@gozarks.com
posted unapproved: December 13, 2002
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I. CALL TO ORDER:
Meeting convened at the Western Sizzlin' Steak House, U.S.
Hwy. 65, Clinton, AR, at approximately 6:15pm, Robert Reed, Don
Richardson, Daniel Weiss, Adam Weiss, Christine Weiss, and Alice Chambers
in attendance. Larry Williams sent regrets.
II.
CALL FOR ADDITIONS TO THIS AGENDA: With respect to the
close-knit turn out, the formal agenda was discarded, however for the sake
of keeping a public record, the key points of the collaborative
conversation and all group decisions made by consensus are outlined,
below:
III.
DEBRIEFING (What worked? What could we have done
better?):
-
OLA organizational
meeting, held September 28, 2002, beginning at 12noon and lasting until
approximately 2pm, at the Clinton Community Center.
-
OLA coordinated voter
education “pro/con speakers” assembly, topical to Axe the Tax and Animal
Cruelty ballot initiatives, held October 24, 2002, beginning at 6pm and
lasting until approximately 9:30pm, at the Petit Jean Electric
Cooperative Community Room in Clinton.
-
OLA coordinated voter
education “candidates forum” assembly, held October 28, 2002, beginning
at 7pm and lasting until approximately 9:30pm, at the Woodmen of the World
Meeting Hall in Clinton.
-
Donations/Expenses
(report)
Regarding the
above, there was general agreement that both voter education
meetings had turned out exceedingly well, especially given the "newness"
of the OLA organizational effort. The single major criticism was
that "not enough" citizen/voter types had turned out at either of these
meetings, and it was felt that the cause of this was two-fold:
-
That a general apathy
exists among voters and that this complacency seems to be grounded in a
pervasive sense of "hopelessness"... being that "there is nothing we can
do about it, politics has run amok and cannot be changed."
-
That the systems now
in place seem to dramatically inhibit direct participation of "the
average person" with the "local level" decision making processes that
constitute democratic self-governance.
Also that and in part
because of these two factors there is a pervasive "fear of change," the
gravity of which seems to maintain the inertia of "status quo."
Considering all this,
it was agreed that the need for and importance of a "voter education"
organization such as OLA continues to exist. IV.
DISCUSSION/DECISION: FUTURE ACTIVISM/PROJECTS (including call for additional
ideas from the floor)
- Request that the VBC Quorum
Court buy voting machines.
- Request that the (local)
Quorum Court(s) and/or City Council(s) endorse one or more “voter education”
days annually and (for example) host a “government open house” and/or
promote a “mock trial” of a particularly niggling local issue and/or do
other things that work to promote “the general well being of the public
good.”
- Take on an in-depth
study of the annual budget of one division of (local) government and
make recommendations to that particular governing body about suggested
ways to decrease costs, increase productivity, and in general promote
economic health and community well being.
- Look into the legal
ways and means of ensuring "candidate literacy."
Regarding all the above, only the
"voting machine" topic was discussed and it was decided that "something
should be done" to ensure that if and when the process of casting a ballot
in Van Buren County is to be changed that the elected/appointed folks who
are charged with the making of such decisions would benefit appreciably
from some qualitative public input and the means of effectively
accomplishing this in a pro-active (non-adversarial) manner are to be
researched and explored.
Also, it was noted that Ester Bass, elect/incumbent
VBC Clerk, had extended the invitation to "meet with" Christine Weiss, and
include her in the process of the County investigating acquisition of
improved technology for computerized document storage and networked
access, and that Christine will follow-up on this invitation and, when
such a meeting is held, will make the time and place of the meeting known
to OLA Steering Committee Members so that they, too, may attend.
V. DISCUSSION/DECISION: HOW TO MOVE FORWARD WITH REFINEMENT and ADOPTION of
OLA
CONSTITUTION including ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
Discussion on the
above was passed to the next regular meeting.
VI. CALL FOR ADDITIONAL
BUSINESS
No additional
business was added to the agenda.
VII. APPOINT TIME, DATE, LOCATION FOR NEXT GENERAL BUSINESS and/or
STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING(s), and ADJOURN
The next OLA Steering
Committee Meeting will be held in
preparation for the proposed meeting with Ester Bass, at at time and place
to be announced. The date and time for the next General Business meeting
will be decided at that time, or in accord of the procedure set in the OLA
Constitution.
Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:15pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christine Weiss |
