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REDDING REPUBLICAN TOWN COMMITTEE MINUTES Attendance: Gary Guest: John Stripp Minutes - ok Dave Ketcham Ward Mazzucco ("WM") began by asking everyone to sign the get well card that he brought for Dave Ketcham. Everyone was pleased to do so and conveyed their best wishes to Dave. Minutes of February Meeting Frank DeSalvo moved to approve the minutes from February's meeting, seconded by Tom Derderian. Motion passed unanimously. Treasurer's Report Gary Miyashiro presented the Treasurer's Report and noted a balance of $2,468.90 as of March 3, 2008. Frank DeSalvo moved to approved the Treasurer's Report, which was seconded. Motion passed unanimously. WM reminded members that they are encouraged to contribute $100 annually to the RTC and that 19 members had done so to date. New Members John Davey WM introduced new RTC member John Davey. John spoke a little about his background and said he looked forward to working with everyone. Potential FOI Issues WM reminded everyone that a concern has been raised during February's meeting about having too many members of any one commission serving on the RTC because of potential Freedom of Information Act issues. WM advised that as long as we take care to avoid issues that might relate to work being done by relevant members on a commission then there should not be an issue. The example used was the Zoning Commission on which three RTC members currently serve. If Frank Taylor joined the RTC we would have four. WM promised to keep away from discussions of zoning and related issues, or to exclude zoning commission members, as necessary, to avoid any FOI issues. Frank Taylor Tom Derderian then moved to nominate Frank Taylor for membership on the RTC, which was seconded by Frank DeSalvo. The motion was tabled to the next meeting, in accordance with the bylaws. Resignations/Senior Status WM announced that the following five RTC members had taken senior status: Andre Cotton, Linda Koch, Tanya Miller, Christine Polio and Don Stroetzel. As a result, there are four vacancies (assuming Frank Taylor accepts our invitation to join). WM reminded everyone that we need new people to fill the vacancies and asked everyone to try to identify potential new members. John Davey asked if we are looking for "fresh faces" and Frank DeSalvo agreed that new faces would be good. Officer Elections WM announced that new officers needed to be elected. He noted that no additional candidates had come forward and asked if there were any new candidates. None were forthcoming. The meeting then turned to nominations for new officers. Secretary Judge Emerson moved that Michael Thompson be elected Secretary, which was seconded by Tom Derderian. The motion passed unanimously. Treasurer Frank DeSalvo moved that Gary Miyashiro be elected Treasurer, which was seconded by Don Takacs. The motion passed unanimously. Vice-Chairman Tom Derderian moved that Lewis Brey be elected Vice-Chairman, which was seconded by Don Takacs. The motion passed unanimously. Chairman Don Takacs moved that Ward Mazzucco be elected Chairman, which was seconded by Tom Derderian. The motion passed unanimously. WM congratulated the new officers and asked that each sign the required form for State Central administrative purposes. Report from John Stripp WM introduced State Representative John Stripp of the 135th House District to share his thoughts on this legislative session and the upcoming election. Representative Stripp began by noting that he is one of 44 Republicans in the General Assembly compared to 107 Democrats. He said it is an uphill battle but Republicans are working with the Governor to be as effective as possible. Representative Stripp then discussed several issues that would be "on the table" in the current session including ethics, taxpayer funded elections, health care, banking, mortgage and credit related issues. Representative Stripp closed with an announcement that he intended to run again. He then led a brief discussion of some of the issues in the upcoming election and highlighted the fact that the Republican caucus is hoping to pick up four more seats. Local Delegate Conventions WM then turned to a discussion of upcoming delegate conventions. The following are currently scheduled and volunteers will be needed to serve as delegates: Shays - Saturday, May 10 in Norwalk. WM reminded members that we will be selecting delegates at our April meeting, which will be held on April 1 rather than April 7, in order to meet the delegate selection guidelines. Committees Events WM announced that Scott Palmer will be taking over the Events Committee from Christine Polio. WM offered his thanks to Scott for stepping in and to Christine for the wonderful job she has done. Vacancy As to the Vacancy Committee, Gerry Casiello announced two years ago that he would continue until we found someone else to take over. WM announced that he believed he had persuaded Julie Gorman and Laura Hoeing to co-chair the committee. WM congratulated Julie and Laura and thanked them for their willingness to assist in that important role. WM then thanked Gerry for all of his efforts in leading the committee over the years. Publicity WM announced that Tom Derderian agreed to serve as chairman again and thanked Tom for his past and future efforts. Campaign WM announced that Lewis Brey had also agreed to serve again as chairman. WM offered his thanks to Lewis as well. WM said that he would propose members to serve on the committees and circulate a list prior to the April meeting. Week on Washington Program Julie Gorman reported that Urs Furrer is going to get more information from State Central in addition to what Julie Gorman has obtained. Julie asked if anyone was aware of a file or other reference materials available from prior trips that could be used to recreate the itinerary for a program for this summer or, more likely, the summer of 2009. Tom Derderian noted that at the last Shays Quarterly District meeting, one of attendees made an impassioned plea for volunteers, so Tom promised to find out who that was and provide whatever information he could to Julie. Julie noted that there is usually a March announcement of the trip with a May deadline for registering so it seemed a 2008 trip might be difficult to arrange. Both WM and Richard Emerson said that they had children who participated in prior programs with great success and hoped that it would continue. Book Awards Julie Gorman and Tom Derderian reported that things are well in hand and that they are working together to meet all relevant deadlines. Email Program WM congratulated Jerry Sarnelli and Tom Derderian on the great job they have done pulling together email lists of Republican and unaffiliated voters. Jerry announced that the list currently stands at 616 names (approx. 350 Republicans and 250 unaffiliated), a great start. Jerry said that he would be distributing a list of all the Republican email addresses to members to review to see if we can find more contacts through family, friends, etc. Jerry emphasized that he felt that the email list should be used very selectively, through limited, targeted emails. This comment was well received. The email list was already used just prior to the primary in February. WM asked whether it worked. Tom Derderian said that they received no "bouncebacks" (bad addresses) or requests from recipients to "unsubscribe" from the list. Both Jerry and Tom thought that was surprising and anticipated that as the list grew, bouncebacks and requests to be taken off the list would occur. Don Takacs noted that he had not received the mailing and wondered whether his email blocker had kicked in because of the size of the mailing. Tom said that he was aware that bulk emails could be sent in smaller batches to avoid that result and that they had done so in the February mailing. Tom said he would look into the issue in greater depth in order to avoid any blocking problems in the future. Scott Palmer asked if it were possible for recipients to "unsubscribe" from the list. Jerry said that each recipient has the ability to request that they be taken off the list but that, as Tom mentioned, they had received no such requests in the first mailing. Town Budget David Lewson reminded members that a town budget hearing is scheduled for Thursday March 6th at the Read Middle School, and that the budget process would be continuing onwards from there. He asked that if anyone had any questions or input regarding the school budget that he and Lewis Brey would certainly appreciate any comments from members. David reiterated that town officials are trying to make the process as transparent as possible and encouraged RTC members to participate. April Meeting on New Date WM reminded everyone that our next meeting will be held Tuesday April 1, rather than on April 7th, in order to meet the deadlines for selecting convention delegates. Miscellaneous A discussion followed regarding when this year's fundraising letter should be sent. Tom Derderian asked when it typically was mailed. WM said that it normally went out in September just after Labor Day. Gary Miyashiro noted that it is important to separate the fundraising letter from the Pig Roast in order to maximize both efforts. Tom wondered whether it made any sense to do it in the Spring. This led to a discussion of whether it might be prudent to wait until all candidates are known before sending a mailing. One possibility suggested was sending the letter out before Labor Day rather than after. David Lewson concluded the conversation by noting that during a presidential year like this, we might be able to identify major Republican donors and focus some of our fundraising efforts on them. Everyone thought this was a good idea. Adjournment Donald Takacs moved to adjourn, which was seconded by Julie Gorman. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 8:57p.m.
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