August Minutes
Baxter County Democratic Committee
Meeting Minutes
Donald W. Reynolds Library
8/5/23
Chair Derek Huber called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m.
Donnie Huffine: Pledge of allegiance
Minutes: Called for any changes to July minutes, there were none. Called for approval of minutes, Michael Baeten made a motion, Donnie Huffine 2nd, all in favor. July minutes accepted.
Treasury report: Current account balance: $3,936.82.
The only debit from the account so far was $200 for VAN
UPDATE: Collected $555 in donations at this meeting.
Chair Derek Huber Updates:
Wanted to let everyone know that many of us are attending monthly public city/county/school board meetings and we are being noticed and our voice is being heard for the first time in a long time. So thank you to those who are attending meetings and are reaching out to your city council and jp about issues.
Today we have a blown-up map for both JP and City Council with contact info so everyone please see who your current representatives are and take note of their contact info.
We are working on a list of every position in our area so we know which positions will be up for re-election and when. Anyone interested in running for a position please let us know.
Reports of Officers and Committees:
Legislative: Nothing new at this time for the Legislative Watch Committee.
Local Beats: New Economic Development report has gone out on Social Media, website, and email.
Derek spent $100 of his own money on ad spend through the Facebook page on a non-partisan post. He did this to see how much $100 could get us. The post was seen by 6,000 people and each person saw it roughly 3 times. We will discuss creating a monthly ad spend budget every month at the September meeting.
History: Nothing new at this time.
Election Workers: Nothing new at this time.
Delegate Report: Donnie gave updates from the recent Delegate Committee meeting held in West Memphis.
Balance Sheet for State Office (June 2021 was $200,000 in Red. June 2022 $66,000 in Black. June 2023 $106,000 in Black)
Filing Fees for state and federal offices have gone down
The “Region” that we are now a part of has changed. Our region includes 15 counties.
CAPES Update: Heather Graham sent the following message to be read at the meeting: We were officially short by 972 signatures. While this is disappointing, we have learned a lot from this and we can celebrate how far we have come. Gaining nearly 54,000 signatures in just 2 months. The Attorney General took as much time as possible with the process which took away 30 days that we could have gathered signatures, as well as the fact that we now have to gather signatures from 50 counties rather than 15 counties. We have shown that we can rise to any challenge.
New Business:
Derek mentioned that it would be wise of us to join the Chamber of Commerce as a member for $150 for 1 year. The Republican Committee is a member and the Democratic Club is a member. Elizabeth Vanderstek made a motion for the committee to join the Chamber. Deborah Knox 2nd. All in favor. Motion passed.
JoAnn: A new delegate needs to be appointed as Az Forrest (current delegate) is not able to attend all the meetings and be as active as they would like. JoAnn recommends that Mary O’Sheilds (who is the backup delegate) become our third official delegate, and Az Forrest become the backup delegate. Glenda Huffine made a motion for Mary O’Sheilds to be our third delegate and for Az Forrest to become our backup. Pauline Riley 2nd the motion. All in favor. Motion passes.
Az & Marlo let everyone know that the Human Rights Group will have a booth at the upcoming fair where they will be handing out voter registration cards. They would love any volunteers that are willing to help. They will also have a banner that lists Human Rights group supporters and asked if they could like the committee as a supporter. We said absolutely.
Discussion/Questions: Barbara Baeten mentioned that our meetings are not listed correctly in the Baxter Bulletin. Ashley will make sure all of our upcoming meetings are listed in the Baxter Bulletin.
Guest Speaker: Austin Ross from the DPA. Presentation on VAN.
Vice Chair Derek Huber adjourned the meeting at 11:38 a.m.
Action Steps:
Ashley submit upcoming meetings with Baxter Bulletin. Done
Ashley set up membership at the Chamber of Commerce. Done
Finalize local office report.
Finalize Membership Roster
Create VAN Admin Accounts
Next Meetings:
September 2nd: Baxter County Library 10:15 a.m.
October 7th: The Back Forty 10:00 a.m.
November 4th: Baxter County Library 10:15 a.m.
December 2nd: Baxter County Library 10:15 a.m.