Steering Committee Meeting January 22nd, 2023

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X2pRGBDuW1i5uhRtXxI3pOB1pHqv3VGfnD58v6bok40/edit

Location: EBDSA Office with Zoom Option!

Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82027231334?pwd=VDNxWUJIZzJETXVkaFAySDNHZkxIQT09

Meeting ID: 820 2723 1334

Passcode: 150960

East Bay DSA

Steering Committee Meeting Agenda

January 22nd, 2023

10am-12pm

Settle in
Shane R
Maddy GW
Benny Z
Graham D
Nick R
Yari G
Matthew L
Sebastian
Hasan A
Renee P
Ian B
Max M

Ella T
Lexi
Jonathan M

Approval of Agenda [5 min]
APPROVED via ACCLIMATION

Discussion
OEA Solidarity/OUSD Update (Lexi/Graham)
Feb 8th school board planning meeting
Designing a flyer for a picketing

Staff Discussion 30 minutes [Ella]
Asking for more time
What went well: more money coming in, opening and maintaining the office, teaching organizing; restarted Elected Leaders meeting; one on one development meetings.
On the flip side: 400/mo; No benefits; in the dark of SC affairs, which affects the staff; No staff updates; not enough GM’s; Any holiday’s/jury duty/etc; the tasks of the position keep changing; the anti-staff sentiment has some effects; staffing with volunteers.
Support from National Staffers? Refer to NYC Staff?

NCP is voting on staff to be required to be under union contact. Hopefully with cover the cost of benefits.
We can close upon request
You can send a signature for the contract

SC determines if the contract is renewed
GM determines in the position exists

Maine DSA structures

How We Elect Steering Committee Members
Motivated by Yari G and Matthew L
Westminster System - UK Parliment = SC
Officers are picked by At-large
Types of roles: Seasonal/temporary/alternatives/specialized roles?
People that can take on the responsibility?
Shorter Terms? Increase the number of at-large?
Ops committee roles?

Moving SC Meeting
Movited by Matthew L
Move from Thursdays to Sundays - to Afternoons
Motion to make a doodle poll
How about moving the next thursday meeting to sundays; then doodle poll; maybe table Thursdays meeting vote; Table afternoons votes.

Sign-Up for Feb GM Tasks
RECRUIT! SIGN UP!

CA DSA Alternates
PASSES by ACCLIMATION

New Business
Resolution to Vote for GMs Every Two Months at the Next GM
Motivate by Matthew L
We have an active MeetComms
We got Zoom now! Hybrid can be quorum

Resolution Q&A
Resolution DEBATE
Resolution VOTE: Passes 7 yes 5 no 1 abstain

Motion to extend time by 15 minutes; seconded

Vote: PASSES via ACCLIMATION

Motion to enter executive sessions with staffer; seconded, VOTE 10 yes 1 no, 1 abstain

============================Executive Session===========================

A backlashes on the success on Oakland; in a good position to take off

Mayor on Carol’s side

Attacks on her; Chief Armstrong on Fox News

Former Union organizer on Fox

Seneca Scott - agent provaocator??

Carol’s supporters accused of threatening

Threats increasd since Mom’s 4 Housing

Sabatours of positive race relations

The “Save Embarcadero”, “save etc”, hubs for Nazi

======================================================================

OUT of EXECUTIVE SESSIONS

Resolution to Make Zoom Easier
Motivate by Ella T
RESOLUTION Q&A
Motion to Call to question; seconded 12 yes 1 no
Motion to amended to the 11 zoom package; Passes unanimously with 1 abstain

Mtion to extend by 5 minute, seconded

RESOLUTION DEBATE PASSES 12 yes 1 no
RESOLUTION VOTE

Resolution to Make Shane Ruiz the Staffer Manager
Motivated by Shane
Q&A
Debate
Vote: motion to amedne to state the Yari will return after feb 20th; seconded? FAILS 5 yes 6 no 2 abstain
Resolution: 7 no 2 no 2 abstains

Exectuive Session Carroll Fife

Consent Agenda

Resolution to Make Zoom Easier

Co-sponsored by Ella T and Jennifer A, Jan. 18, 2023

Whereas, East Bay DSA as a chapter currently has access to three Zoom accounts (plus the staff Zoom account), each with one user,

Whereas, this causes problems for committees and campaigns trying to use Zoom and involves a long process for our calendar manager,

Whereas, we currently pay about $97 a month ($1164 a year) for one account, $48 a month ($580 a year) for another account, $16 a month ($192 a year) for the staff Zoom Pro account, and have intermittent access to DSA Line 1 for free (a total of $1936 a year or $161 a month),

Whereas a Zoom Pro account is about $16 per user a month and supports 1-9 users with up to 100 participants, and a Zoom Business account is about $21.5 per user a month and supports 10-99 users with up to 300 participants,

Whereas, paying for two Zoom Pro accounts with a total of 15 users, including one for staff, would cost about $16 per user per month, or $2880 a year, but would not accommodate meetings of over 100 people,

Whereas, we can address this with one Zoom Business account for events like General Meetings for $21.5 a month or $258 a year,

Therefore be it resolved that we will cancel our existing Zoom accounts except the Staff one, and Steering approves $3138 for this yearly Zoom expense,

Therefore be it resolved that the committees who will be users will be Steering, Political Education, Operations, Branches (one per branch), Labor (two because of the various projects), Housing, Climate Action, Electoral, and Racial Solidarity, Membership/Ed/Comms (largely for new member cohort and ongoing member development).

Therefore be it resolved that the Staff Organizer will still be a user,

Therefore be it resolved that, if committees need more than one Zoom at once (e.g. for conflicting sub-committee meetings), they can ask to borrow another line,

Therefore be it resolved that if new standalone committees are approved by Steering, Steering also approves the additional approximate $16 a month for that committee to become a user (we can use the Staff account here),

Therefore be it resolved that committee co-chairs will have the ability to schedule Zoom meetings as their own users without having to rely on a calendar manager,

Therefore be it resolved that there will still be a level of accountability in what kind of events committees host on Zoom, because they will originate from co-chairs, and because the Calendar Manager(s) will still have to approve event requests to go on the chapter calendar and social media.

Cost

Committees with their own line

Advantages and disadvantages

What we pay now

$161/month, $1936/year (see reso above)

None, except staff has one

Unwieldy, requires a lot of calendar manager, lots of hiccups, no one can schedule their own Zoom

9 users (100 person limit) plus 1 account with 300 person limit

$16 per user per month, or $1728 a year, plus $21.5 per month for the big account. Total $165.5/month, $1986/year

Staff, Steering, Political Education, Operations, Branches (one total), Labor (one total despite many projects), Housing, Climate Action, Electoral, and Racial Solidarity, Membership/Ed/Comms (largely for new member cohort and ongoing member development) - this is everything but we’d have to decide two to cut

Spending about the same money we are now. Would have to be missing some committees

11 users (100 person limit) plus 1 account with 300 person limit

$16 per user per month, or $2112 a year, plus $21.5 per month for the big account. Total $197.5/month, $2112/year

In staff’s opinion the best option. Not much more than we’re currently spending, pretty much everyone gets a Zoom although some limitations with multiple labor projects and branches

15 users (100 person limit) plus 1 account with 300 person limit

$16 per user per month, or $2880 a year, plus $21.5 per month for the big account. Total $261.5/month, $3138/year

Staff, Steering, Political Education, Operations, Branches (one per each of 2 branches), Labor (2 because of the various projects), Housing, Climate Action, Electoral, and Racial Solidarity, Membership/Ed/Comms (largely for new member cohort and ongoing member development), Comms, one extra

Everyone gets their own account plus backups, essentially, but expensive

New Business

In Support of More Frequent Regular Membership Meetings

Motivated by: Matthew L, Yari G, Max M, Benny Z, Hasan A.

WHEREAS, in June, the chapter voted to reduce the frequency of regular membership meetings to a quarterly basis; and

WHEREAS, the primary reasons cited in support of doing so were:

Repeatedly not meeting quorum, and
Meeting Committee becoming defunct (resulting in Steering Committee members needing to do most of the work); and

WHEREAS, as soon as (and only after) the chapter resumed letting members participate in membership meetings through a Zoom option, we became able to reach quorum at every subsequent regular and special membership meeting with relatively little difficulty; and

WHEREAS, the authors of the June resolution did not foresee that we would continue allowing people to participate in membership meetings via Zoom; and

WHEREAS, the Meetings Committee has since been established and significantly helped with putting on membership meetings; and

WHEREAS, the contributions of the Meetings Committee can be increased by appointing or electing a chair to coordinate its work; and

WHEREAS, since then, we have also hired a staffer. The staffer can provide additional support to the meetings committee if needed; and

WHEREAS, there are clearly downsides to quarterly membership meetings. For example, many members feel that opportunities for chapter-wide member engagement and democracy have been reduced; and

WHEREAS, although the Steering Committee can still call special membership meetings, special meetings are not a good substitute for an appropriate frequency of regular membership meetings. For example, unlike regular membership meetings, special membership meetings:

Are limited to those agenda items which were listed in the original notice. The inability of the membership to add time-sensitive matters that may have become apparent only after the agenda was sent out, when we are already coming together for a meeting, can hamper our ability to function,
Cannot include a “second reading” of a bylaws amendment, and
Do not offer the same predictability as a schedule of regular membership meetings; and

WHEREAS, an increase in meeting frequency will hopefully show that members are supportive of holding more frequent regular membership meetings by members building relationships with each other across the chapter, quorum being reached,and important political matters being discussed and voted on; and

WHEREAS, authorizing holding regular membership meetings more frequently than quarterly would require a vote of the membership;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the below resolution shall be submitted to the chapter membership for adoption at the February 12 regular membership meeting; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Steering Committee will appoint a Meetings Committee Chair within two weeks of passing this resolution

Appendix

More Frequent Regular Membership Meetings

Motivated By: The Chapter Steering Committee

Authors: Matthew L, Benny Z, Yari G

WHEREAS, in June, the chapter voted to reduce the frequency of regular membership meetings to a quarterly basis; and

WHEREAS, the primary reasons cited in support of doing so were:

Repeatedly not meeting quorum, and
Meeting Committee becoming defunct (resulting in Steering Committee members needing to do most of the work); and

WHEREAS, the authors of the June resolution did not foresee that we would continue allowing people to participate in membership meetings via Zoom; and

WHEREAS, the Meetings Committee has since been established and significantly helped with putting on membership meetings; and

WHEREAS, the Steering Committee intends to increase the contributions of the Meetings Committee by appointing a chair to coordinate its work; and

WHEREAS, since then, we have also hired a staffer. The staffer can provide additional support to the meetings committee if needed; and

WHEREAS, there are clearly downsides to quarterly membership meetings. For example, many members feel that opportunities for chapter-wide member engagement and democracy have been reduced; and

Are limited to those agenda items which were listed in the original notice. The inability of the membership to add time-sensitive matters that may have become apparent only after the agenda was sent out, when we are already coming together for a meeting, can hamper our ability to function,
Cannot include a “second reading” of a bylaws amendment, and
Do not offer the same predictability as a schedule of regular membership meetings; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that East Bay DSA shall hold regular membership meetings at least once every two calendar months. The Steering Committee is authorized to change the frequency of regular membership meetings, provided that they are not less often than once every two calendar months; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the schedule of regular membership meetings should follow a consistent schedule; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Steering Committee shall promptly provide notice to the Chapter of the new schedule of membership meetings; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that nothing in this resolution shall be deemed as affecting matters related to special meetings; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that it is the intention of the Chapter to review the frequency of regular membership meetings by the end of the year.

Resolution to Return Shane as Manager Through the End of the Term

Submitted by Shane Ruiz

Whereas, the SC appointed Yari Greeney as manager while Shane Ruiz took a break,

Whereas, the Resolution intended to return Shane Ruiz as Manager on Jan. 1st but Yari and Shane informally agreed to continue the replacement,

Whereas, Yari’s getting married January 28th!!!

Whereas, the chapter staffer needs daily guidance, approval of certain tasks, and coaching,

Therefore be it resolved, Shane Ruiz will return as the staff manager through the remainder of this,

Therefore be it resolved, the replacement manager will do their best to meet with the staffer for at least 30 minutes every weekday that the staffer is working.