Tuesday, September 5th, 2023

7:00 PM EST

 

1. Call to order & Pledge of Allegiance

   • Called to order by Evan Robbins 7:13 pm 

 

1. Roll Call 

   • Officers 

     • President - Evan - Present

     • 1st VP - LaDonna Freeman - Present

     • 2nd VP - Julie Coy - Absent 

     • Treasurer - George Farley - Present

     • Recording Secretary - Caitlin Young - Present

     • Corresponding Secretary - Nathaniel Massey - Present

     • Legal Advisor - Vacant 

   • Board Members 

     • Beth Brandon - Present

     • Dyna Martinez - Absent 

     • Charlie Elliott - Present

 

• Treasurer’s Report: George Farley
  4 months of reports (May, June, July, August) due to being out for Summer Break

  • Rosie Houff, Member: asks if the club had no meetings since April, why did the bills go up? 

    • Evan, President:  We kept the AC set to 80, and there was a rate increase with Citizens Energy. We had two board meetings, so people were in the building twice over summer break. 

    • Rosie, Member: Questions George, Treasurer about why he donated, commends him, and disagrees that a board member should donate that much. 

  • Rosie asks why there are no listings for membership dues coming in?

    • Evan, President: There are itemized listings for membership dues on the finance report, and it comes to us through ActBlue. 

  • Evan asks for a Motion to Approve

  • Nathaniel Motions

    • 2nd - Charlie Elliott 

    • All in favor - ayes have it 

 

1. Elected Officials/Candidates

   • Isaac - speaking for Mayor Joe 

     • He brought signs and sign up forms for volunteering 

     • They have canvas opportunities on Saturdays at 10 am and 2pm 

     • Phone banking is Tues/ Thurs at 4:30pm

   • Spencer Valentine - speaking for Marc Carmichael

     • Elected back in the 90’s , and beat the sitting Republican Speaker of the House. Now he’s running for IN Senate.

     • Contact info for Marc Carmichael: 317-709-2495 , markforindiana.com

 

1. Club Updates/Discussion  

   • Future of building (see letter provided at meeting, also sent to members via email)

     • Spencer - it would be sad to see the institution cease to exist, he used to live in Garfield Park, and would be sad to see the club leave the neighborhood

       1. Evan - please see letter, we are not talking about dissolving the club, just selling the building. It is very expensive to keep up, and this is high value property. We want to keep the club going on in perpetuity by selling the club. 

       2. We don’t have the attendance and dues coming in to sustain this building. This is a trend we are seeing across many township clubs. If one emergency hits us, then we could lose the club. We do not want that to happen, and are trying to be proactive about it and plan for the future.

       3. The board will gladly step aside if someone wants to come in and take it over. 

     • Rosie - When do officer terms end? 

       1. George, Treasurer: Nominations are in  Jan 2024, Elections in Feb 2024, and swearing in happens at the March meeting. 

     • Rosie asks Secretary to read Section 8 of the bylaws out loud 

     • Rosie asks to confirm that we have no debt.

       1. George and Evan - confirm the club has no debt

     • Beth, Board Member - The fact that we have no debt is true for now, but one leak in our roof or building expense could put us in debt. 

     • Rosie - what is the status of the CD? 

       1. Goorge and Evan confirm that the CD was moved to a savings account back in 2021 in order to earn a higher interest rate.

     • Rosie: This club has too much history to let this decision be made by 11 people 

       1. George - encourages Rosie to invite friends and encourages members of her Washington Township club to be members of the Southside Democrat Club as well. 

     • Evan - Reminds everyone that this is a discussion, and we do not have a quorum to vote at this meeting 

     • Rosie - has anyone approached us about buying the building? 

       1. Officers and Board confirm, No, there has been no offer

     • Rosie: How would someone contact the club? 

       1. Caitlin, Secretary: We have an email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the website that all act as methods to contact the club. 

     • Club Member - where would the membership be held after the building is sold? 

       1. Evan: We don’t yet know, and please remember that it would likely be over a year before a sale was finalized and we lost access to the building.

     • Rosie - These bylaws need to be out there for everyone to read 

     • Beth - what’s the best way to share that? 

     • Rosie -  The Club website 

       1. Caitlin, Recording secretary, reminds everyone that our bylaws are posted and available on the club website.

     • Beth - notes that no one has given any feedback about the bylaws, or asked for copies. 

     • Rosie - Asks why we can’t print and deliver the bylaws to all members and the county party. 

     • Charlie, Board Member - thanks Evan for all this hard work, he appreciates Evan for bringing this hard conversation to the club meeting. 

     • Rosie - Asks LaDonna if she has any questions? 

       1. LaDonna - No questions at this time

     • Rosie - do other townships have this problem? 

     • Nathaniel - yes! Decatur Dems is totally gone, Perry is slow, SouthEast Side club is gone, Washington Club even is slowing 

     • Evan: This is a bigger conversation than the scope of what we are discussing right now since the scope of townships clubs has shifted since the County Party has stopped holding a Pre-Primary Convention. 

       1. Rosie - suggested that all Marion County sits down and have a conversation about how to re-energize the clubs 

       2. Rosie notes this club has been vital to this township, it functioned highly when no other clubs were 

       3. Rosie also notes that we know how it use to be - and we should try to get back to that point

     • Charlie, notes that the conversation has grown past the scope of selling the club building 

     • Club Member: Says she was hoping to hear from candidates, kind of tired, and by herself, and it took a lot of effort to get here. The building takes a lot of money and effort, and she agrees that we don’t need to keep it anymore. Trying to find people to do the work and show up is really hard. The building is in poor shape, and being a single female, she doesn’t want to come to downtown Fountain Square. 

     • Rosie: Comments that she doesn’t think notices went out 

       1. Evan has Mailchimp receipts for club meetings and dues notices

     • Club Member: Comments that this isn’t just a problem that the SSDC is facing, she used to be a Rotarian, and all of them have declined. People are online, and we don’t need to come to a physical space anymore. 

     • George notes that we have a never ending battle with the Graffiti, and the buildings around us do too. 

     • Erik, Club Member: What value does having the physical location give us? 

       1. The building is not why they came here - the people were the reason

     • Rosie -Disagrees, because this was a physical place for people to show up 

     • Charlie: Agrees with Erik’s point that this physical building existed because there was a large membership base, it was the people, not actually the building 

     • Caitlin: Selling the building would allow us to continue to support causes and candidates in a way that we currently can’t. Larry was so special in that he was able to be here at the club everyday. The fact that we cannot find someone to commit to this club in the way that he was able, further proves how important Larry was to this community.

     • Rosie: Notes that the club was only for social gathering, and the club was never to support actual candidates.

     • Evan: Notes that we are over our meeting time, and this was just a discussion. We do not have a quorum present to vote on anything today. Asks for a motion to adjourn the meeting. 

       1. Charlie, motion to adjourn

       2. George, Second the motion, 

       3. All in favor - the ayes have it 

 

1. Adjourn