April Minutes
Baxter County Democratic Committee
Meeting Minutes
La Torcia Brick Oven Pizza
4/1/23
Chair Derek Huber called the meeting to order at 10:01 a.m.
Approval of Minutes: Called for any changes to minutes, there were none. Called for approval of minutes, Mike Baeten made a motion, Barbara Baeten 2nd, all in favor. Minutes accepted.
Treasury report: Karen Breton gave treasures report: current account balance is $1,347.90 with $37.50 in the Act Blue account that has not hit our bank account yet.
Update: Karen collected $360 in donations at this meeting.
Update on Action Steps and Committees - Derek:
Act Blue live online for fundraising
Next several meetings scheduled
Social Media Plan - there is a structure in place to move forward. May’s meeting will be at the library, we will have 2 hours plus audio/visual so we can go over this in-depth at that meeting.
Field Team for VAN - Austin Ross from the state will come for our August meeting to give us VAN training. Update: Requested access to VAN this date, April 29th.
Committee Reports: Go to the website for detailed reports.
Legislative watch - On the website
*Election Workers - paper ballot issue - notes below
Local Beat - on the website
New Business:
VAN is $100 - Mike Baeten made a motion, Donnie Huffine 2nd, motion passed.
Permission to purchase VAN for $100 is approved.
Ads for Facebook $100 - Mike Baeten made a motion, Donnie Huffine 2nd, motion passed. Permission to purchase Facebook ads for $100 approved.
*Barbara B - Election Worker Committee & Why we do not support Paper Ballots:
We now have vote centers that allow you to vote anywhere.
If we go to paper ballots, there would have to be different ballots from all over.
Senate Bill 250 requires counting within 24 hours.
The cost would be through the roof.
Discussion: Will we have a booth at the county fair?
No, this has always been a “club” thing so we will continue to let the club take ownership of this. We feel like our resources would be better spent elsewhere.
Guest Speakers: Scott Booth & Scott Bryant, both running for school board election coming up. Each was given 10 minutes for speaking and Q&A.
May Meeting Guests: Lisa House from the Mountain Home Public School District to discuss the upcoming millage vote on May 9th.
Steve Grappe from the Arkansas Rural Caucus will be here to discuss CAPES (Citizens for Arkansas Public Education & Students). CAPES is a nonpartisan movement of concerned citizens interested in preserving public education in Arkansas. CAPES is committed to educating and engaging Arkansans about the damages that the LEARNS Act will do to rural economies, public school districts, and state budgets. Their goal is to mobilize citizen volunteers to overturn or veto the LEARNS Act before public school closures and consolidations become the norm.
Meeting Adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
Action Steps:
Print by-laws for the next meeting
Purchase VAN
Prepare a social media presentation at the next meeting
Next Meetings:
May 6th: Baxter County Library 10:00 a.m.
June 3rd: Back Forty 10:00 a.m.
July 1st: Back Forty 10:00 a.m.
August 5th: Baxter County Library 10:00 a.m.