March Minutes
Baxter County Democratic Committee
Meeting Minutes
Rio Burrito
3/4/23
Chair Derek Huber called the meeting to order at 10:09 a.m.
Passed out minutes. Called for any changes to minutes, there were none. Called for approval of minutes, Mary O’Shields made a motion, Johnny Rickman 2nd, all in favor. Minutes accepted.
Karen went over the treasury report: Current account balance is $790.09. Derek briefly went over the heart of the party, and it is $500 a month to be included in Heart of the Party. Since we are still forming and organizing our committee, we suggested a goal of $500/month to the county committee for now (we can worry about state once we are up and going a little bit). We briefly discussed fundraising goals. The plan is to have an ACT Blue account set up to make donations easier for members, by the next meeting in April.
Ashley Updated Meeting Spaces: Working on getting Brick Oven to host our April meeting, just waiting on confirmation of that. May’s meeting will be at the Library, June will be at the Back 40.
AMENDED : Our April meeting will be at the Brick Oven. We have from 10am until 11am.
Special Committee Updates: We would like to form the following committees:
Legislative Watch: This committee would stay up to date on legislation, across the state, but primarily focus on what are our legislators are doing. Mary O’Shields, Heather Graham, Mary Troestler signed up to be in this committee.
Local Beat: This would be members who would like to commit to attending community meetings, quorum court, city council, school board, etc. Helen Mansfield, Donnie Huffine, Mary Troestler, Toni Olden signed up to be in this committee.
Historicals: Show the good things that democrats have done in history locally: dam, infrastructure, electricity, and maybe form some blog style articles about this. Mike Breton, Derek Huber signed up to be in this committee.
Election Worker Committee: This would be to build some helpers around Bob Bodenhamer when it comes to elections, these individuals would need to be trained. JoAnn Baeten will lead this committee and learn from Bob to take over his position when he no longer serves as Election Commissioner. JoAnn Baeten, Glenda Huffine, Susan Harris, Donnie Huffine, Mary O’Shields, Johnny Rickman, Sandi Baeten, Mike Breton, Cindy Martin, Anna Eitenmiller signed up to be on this committee.
Social Media Committee: Putting this on hold at the moment so Derek can visit with other county chairs about structure.
Unfinished Business: Act Blue account will be set up by the next meeting. Working with Az to get our website up and running, have purchased a URL. Will have it running by the next meeting. Also recognized Delegates: Glenda and Donnie Huffine and Aspyn Forest. Their next state committee meeting is possibly going to be April 15th in Fort Smith, Derek will let them know once that is confirmed. Mary O’Shields will be first proxy if a delegate cannot attend. Derek mentioned a member that is running for school board reached out to come speak to our group. Asked how the group felt about members of the Republican or Patriot party coming to speak to us. The group said we should be welcoming but limit their time so they are not present during our official business. That was motioned for a vote by Johnny Rickman, Mary O’Shields 2nd the motion, everyone is in favor, motion passes.
New Business: Steve Blumreich gave an update on the landfill sale. Landfill is very close to what feeds into the Pigeon Creek and Howards Creek systems with the possibility of toxic materials being released into the water table. Our city and county have hired a good environmental lawyer that recommended the county make it illegal to open up a landfill within our county. This will likely pass at the next quorum court meeting next Tuesday.
AMENDED: This did pass at the quorum court, we now hope the law is written strongly enough to stop the “re-opening”.
Vice Chair JoAnn Baeten adjourned the meeting at 10:54 a.m.
Action Steps:
Set up ACT Blue account
Have website ready by next meeting
Establish communication between committees