Cohasset Democratic Town Committee

Meeting, March 5, 2011

 

Members Present: Ned Tebbetts, Chartis Tebbetts, Judith Chute, Agnes McCann, Kevin McCarthy, Gail Collins, Virginia Najmi, Peter Pescatore, Tom Callahan, Mary Lou Clark, Margy Charles

 

Scholarship Yard Sale:  Ginny and Donna will co-chair the yard sale and Ginny will gather the appropriate information and get that to Kevin who will send out the information to his list.  The date for the yard sale is May 14th at  Donna’s home, 23 Hill St.

 

Democrat of the Year:  The Democrat of the Year dinner, sponsored by the South Shore Democratic Town Caucus, will be held at the Elks Hall in Weymouth on October 28. Nominations for CDTC’s Democrat of the Year were discussed and Ed Lappen was considered, nominated and unanimously voted to be this year’s Democrat of the Year at the SSDC dinner. 

 

Roosevelt Dinner:  Sending a Committee member to the Roosevelt Dinner at the Park Plaza in Boston was discussed.  Peter Pescatore was nominated and seconded to attend the dinner.  The $250.00 ticket for the dinner, which is a yearly event, will be paid for by the CDT Committee’s funds. 

 

Voter Outreach Sub-Committee:  Discussion of the “Points to Consider in Developing a Strategic Plan”  put together by Ginny Najmi and involving goals and objectives for civic and voter engagement, were examined and some small changes were made while other objectives were made clearer.  The amended “Points” will be made available to Committee members.

Chartis made two suggestions regarding the “Points to Consider,” one that someone on the Committee should be in charge of helping generate new membership up to our full capacity of 35 and the other  that there be a person designated to be responsible for fund-raising. 

Conversation also included discussion of the individual responsibilities of Committee members which are stated in the CDTC by-laws.  Kevin will look into the Committee by-laws.

Gail outlined a proposed time-line of civic events for the next ten months.  One proposal was to hold a drive for the food pantry on a regular basis throughout the year, perhaps every 3 to 4 months.  Jane Cory indicated that a fund drive by the CDTC members would be greatly appreciated and needed as she has seen no reduction in the needs of local folks who utilize the food pantry.

A food pantry drive was proposed for late April-Gail will look into that 

Some other possible civic events were proposed such as:

   *Having a table at the SSArt Festival-Peter will pursue information on  

     that.      

   *Having a social for seniors at 60 Elm-Ginny will pursue that possibility.

   *Exploring a forum on veteran’s issues in the fall-Gail will pursue that

     possibility.

 

The voter outreach sub-committee (Agnes, Gail, Peter and Ginny) will meet again before the next regular Committee meeting on Sat., April. 2.

Electoral organizing for voter identification will be an on-going project.   

 

State Action Agenda Committee:  Representatives to the Action Agenda Committee are having a phone conference twice a month.  Kevin is a member of that Committee and asked that Committee members who wished to be part of the phone conferences let Kevin know. 

The Action Agenda Committee is asking local democratic committees to pursue efforts going forward in the areas of election organizing, issue-based organizing and civic engagement.

 

Education Forums:  Three forum proposals have been suggested by Betsy Connolly and Helene Leib.  The first is scheduled for March 24th and will be a presentation by Betsy on the state- mandated anti-bullying program.  She will be accompanied by the student liason to the school committee with assistance by Helene Leib, Chair of the Cohasset School Committee. 

For the second informational session on education in Cohasset folks will be encouraged to attend Garrett Bradley’s presentation on April 6 to the School Committee on the status of education funding in the state.

The third forum will be in May and will focus on how the state funding will impact Cohasset schools and will include as a panel the school system’s business manager, David DeGennaro, as well as Betsy and Helene.

Important Dates: 

The next regular CDTC meeting will be Sat, April 2 at 9:00A in the meeting room of the Paul Pratt Library.

 Education forum, March 24 at 7:00P also in the meeting room of the library: subject—the state- mandated anti-bullying program.

Movie Night:  March 18th at 7:00P—Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps