Carroll County Democratic Central Committee Meeting Minutes
February 12, 2015

ATTENDEES: Zach Hands, Don West, Neil Ridgely, Frank Rammes,
Corynne Courpas, Mitch Edelman, Tom Scanlan, Dorothy Scanlan

GUESTS: Claire Scott

The meeting was held in the small meeting room at the
Westminster Library. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited,
and the meeting was called to order at 7:05pm by the Chair.

Chair's Report
Discussion began with the consideration of Maryland Senate
bill 166, which would empowers senators and delegates by
removing the ability of the central committees to have
appointing power via special election. Don W. mentioned that
the CCRCC meeting on this evening will decide future of
central committee roles by how they handle the delegate
appointment. The future of the central committees is at
stake, as appointments are the only constitutional power
that it has. Subsequently, Don W. noted that the appointment
nominations for the board of elections vacancies were
submitted by the committee to Gov. Hogan for consideration.

Secretary's report
Zach H. submitted the January meeting minutes for approval.
The minutes were approved by unanimous vote.

Treasurer's report
Corynne C. reported that the committee had $59.47 on hand at
the end of the last month. Expenditures for the coming
months were briefly discussed. A motion was made to approve
the financial report by Tom S., 2nd by Frank R., and passed
unanimously.

Club reports
Frank R. reported that state's attorney Brian DeLeonardo
would be speaking to the Carroll County Democrats at their
next regular meeting at Johansson's.  Anita R. was absent
from the meeting, but Don W. confirmed that the South
Carroll Democratic Club is back into its regular meeting
schedule.

The NAACP breakfast in January was a successful one; Corynne
C. and Anita R. were present to represent the central
committee. The NAACP local chapter has always been a
supporter of the committee. It was noted that local
Republicans held a few tables as well.

Neil's Report
It seems the local commissioners don't want to touch the
CCRCC's problems. The board of commissioners is marked by
complete lack of decision, in an absolute fog, and currently
seem to appear to be afraid of Comm. Richard Rothschild.
Neil R. was disappointed to hear they did not clean house of
the current ethics committee. Dennis Frazier's ethics
committee issue is beginning to come up, and Carmen Amedori
has been leading the fight in this direction. (Brian) Mobley
has been appointed ethics administrator. Could have
potential boons to look into his appointment, where was the
vote? Mitch E. says that the lack of transparency should be
a focal point of the current central committee. The master
plan easily could've been voted to approve this week.
However, from what we know Doug Howard had an objection for
Brian DiMaggio for his partial in district two. They are,
essentially, holding up the master plan over the zoning of
one property.

Communications-
The state party will be pressuring the central committee to
expand its social media presences, reports Don W. The
Facebook page has gotten decent traffic. Dorothy and Tom S.
are trying to post once a day. The DNC 2016 will be held in
Philadelphia. Corynne C. brought up looking into what our
plan is for 2016, will we have a headquarters, etc. Updating
webpage is critical, Zach H. suggests linking it to twitter
page/Facebook page. Candidates' info has been taken down
from last election. Don W. says the only problem is there is
no content.

Anita was not present to discuss JJ Dinner, but the ad form
for the event was sent out. Don W. noted that the committee
needs ads bought; hopefully patron ad from central committee
members. No speaker yet, every member should look for ad
buyers. Don W. inquired about the silent auction. Neil R.
said he would not be able to run it. Corynne C. suggested
Paula might be interested. Many members suggested maybe
cutting back the number of items.

Don W. pointed out that we would need gender balance on the
committee; looking for female members will need to be a
future goal.

Mitch E. explained his current process with the committee's
brochure. He found a site to transfer PDF into Microsoft
word, it's passable. He is currently copying, pasting, and
working with it to reformat messaging.

Zach H. noted that the internship application has been
disseminated, and that he is now accepting materials. He
asked if anyone had any other avenues of distribution.
Several members said they would look into it.

The summertime gathering might not happen with fracturing
central committees, especially on the Republican side. The
committee will play it by ear.

Charter government; if it's going to happen it's going to
happen now, it has to appear on the '16 ballot for it to be
in place in '18. Frank R. noted how no Democrat should put
their hands on it, push a Republican to take up the cause.

The two-year strategic plan was put forward by Corynne C.,
and was approved unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:47pm.

The next meeting of the Carroll County Democratic Central
Committee will be held at the Westminster Branch of the CCPL
at 7pm on March 12, 2015.

Respectfully, Zachary Hands Recording Secretary, CCDCC