Sept 12 Meeting Agenda and Registration

Greetings Cumberland County Democrats! The September membership meeting is a 5 days from today, September 12, from 3-5. It will be remote, by zoom video. And here is the link to register!

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Sep 12, 2021 03:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pdu6vqzguHNXx9uCnlsV37WFMM1TpOA89

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Please note that this is not the link to connect, it is a link to register. We ask you to register in advance, that gives us an idea of how many voters we are likely to have. We have had a problem with people trying to register at the last minute or trying to join after the meeting has started, and then getting upset when they don’t get in or don’t get ballots. The Executive Committee has therefore set as requirements if you want to be sure of participating you must register no later than 15 minutes before the start of the meeting (that is 2:45 Sunday September 12), and trying to connect no later than the start of the meeting (3:00). If you do these things after these deadlines you may or may not get in.

This is not a normal meeting, it is a meeting called to do three particular pieces of business. Some things that we normally do at a meeting we will not be planning on doing on September 12. Which is why we are planning on meeting again on October 17 at 3:00 to discuss upcoming elections and other Party business. Reminders and links for the October session will be sent out in October.

Here is the Agenda for September:

1. Approve the Agenda.

2. Approve minutes of last meeting. See them here.  https://mcusercontent.com/ea06e9f1866940d907cd15bd6/files/aabcea75-daec-45b0-3d91-a799710284e9/Minutes_CDCC_General_Meeting_June_2021.pdf

3. Treasurer’s report.

4. Elect a non-male member to the Democratic State Committee. Depending on the results of that election we might also be electing someone of any gender to be Alternate to the State Committee. If you have an interest in serving feel free give me a short biography no later than September 10 and I will circulate it to membership so they know who you are. You do not need to give me a biography or decide in advance, nominations will be taken from the floor.

5. We will review a Facebook policy proposed by the Cumberland County Democratic Committee Executive Committee. We will discuss it. It can be discussed as a whole or in parts. We will vote on policies that will accomplish what CCDC needs to have Facebook presence that is fair, member-chosen, and will let us be effective.

The CCDC Executive Committee opens the discussion of CCDC social media policy by proposing the following:

  1. The CCDC Facebook Group (“the Group”) settings will remain Private. Membership will be limited to current CCDC voting members (“the CCDC Membership”) only. Posts are viewable only to members of the Group.
  2. All members of the Group can post to the Group and comment on the posts of others.
  3. The Group will be used for internal discussion of CCDC business matters and as a place where members of the CCDC Membership can discuss issues of interest to the Party.
  4. The new CCDC Maine Facebook page (“the Page”) at https://www.facebook.com/ccdcmaine will be used to communicate official CCDC business such as meeting and event information and to promote other Party activities. Anyone with access to the internet will be able to see what is posted to the Page.
  5. The Page will be maintained by a person elected by the Membership under the direction of the CCDC Executive Committee.
  6. Current members of the Group who are not voting members will be contacted via Facebook and given the following options:
    1. Attend the 17 October 2021 CCDC meeting and become a voting member to remain in the Group.
    2. Continue to follow the activities of the CCDC by Liking the Page.
  7. Members of the Group who are not part of the CCDC Membership after the October meeting will be removed from the Group on 18 October 2021.

Again, this is not the policy, it is a proposal. The policy/policies will be what members choose.

6. We will discuss the Cumberland County Fair. We are registered to have a booth at the Fair, as we have been every year when there has been a Fair. Unfortunately, continuing Covid means this is not a normal year. The Fair starts September 26. We need to decide if we want to be there – that is, if it is safe or good policy to be in this public gathering.

Here is the Fair’s Covid policy for 2021:

By entering the 2021 Cumberland County Fair, you agree to comply with all State, Federal, Local or Organization mandated guidelines for COVID-19 Safety and/or other mandates which may be in place at the time of the event, including wearing of face coverings and social distancing. Participants acknowledge that the Fair brings some risk and do hereby assume responsibility for their own well-being as well as that of any person whom they are guardian of/responsible for. Participants understand, agree, and hereby consent that failure or disregard to follow all protocols in effect is sufficient grounds to be excluded from participation in the Fair by Cumberland Farmers Club (CFC) or any Fair personnel or authority, and by entering provide implied consent in advance to leave and exit the event, without protest or refund, upon request by CFC or any Fair personnel or authority. Entrance provides implied consent to accept the risk of being exposed to, contracting, and/or spreading COVID-19, and agree to hold harmless and release Cumberland Farmer’s Club (CFC) or any other sponsoring organization(s) and all their subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, licensees, representatives and successors (Released Parties) from any and all losses, causes of action, liabilities, expenses and claims for damages.

It is OK for us to decide that we should not be there. Other County Democratic Committees have chosen to not be a part of their normal local fairs. We can make that decision too, but we can decide that we will do the Fair. If we decide to do the Fair we should also decide what we want to do there – have a fun presentation, have a political presentation, or just do a Covid presentation.

If we decide to do the Fair I expect many of you to volunteer to take a shift at our booth at the Fair. It is not fair (sorry, no pun intended) for us to vote to do the Fair but not share in the responsibility or risks. So if you support us doing the Fair please come to the meeting knowing when you can take a shift, or several shifts.

These agenda items involve voting. Only people who are currently members of the Cumberland County Democratic Committee will be allowed to vote. If you are unsure if you are eligible to vote you can contact me BEFORE the meeting. If you are not presently a CCDC member and want to be, the last item on the agenda for September 12 will be

7. Electing new members to the CCDC. If you are elected in September this will make you eligible to vote the next time the CCDC convenes.

Normally I can estimate how long a meeting will take. I do not know how long discussion of Facebook policy will take. If it takes a while I hope we can finish our meeting by 5:00. If it is quick and we finish our business in one our or less we can end early, knowing that we will have two hours of more normal business on October 17.

Please send me your suggestions, corrections or problems. If you want to contact me please use my email address, which I check many times a day, rather than the CCDC email address which I forget exists. See you September 12 at 3:00. And please remember to register so we have some idea who is coming.

Yours for a Bluer Cumberland County,

Seth Berner

CCDC Chair

sberner@gwi.net

775-2452