February Minutes
Baxter County Democratic Committee
Meeting Minutes
Rio Burrito
3/4/23
Chair Derek Huber called the meeting to order at 10:09 a.m.
Passed out minutes. Called for any changes to minutes, there were none. Called for approval of minutes, Mary O’Shields made a motion, Johnny Rickman 2nd, all in favor. Minutes accepted.
Karen went over the treasury report: Current account balance is $790.09. Derek briefly went over the heart of the party, and it is $500 a month to be included in Heart of the Party. Since we are still forming and organizing our committee, we suggested a goal of $500/month to the county committee for now (we can worry about state once we are up and going a little bit). We briefly discussed fundraising goals. The plan is to have an ACT Blue account set up to make donations easier for members, by the next meeting in April.
Updated Meeting Spaces: Working on getting Brick Oven to host our April meeting, just waiting on confirmation of that. May’s meeting will be at the Library, and June will be at the Back 40.
AMENDED : Our April meeting will be at the Brick Oven. We have from 10 am until 11 am.
Special Committee Updates: We would like to form the following committees:
Legislative Watch: This committee would stay up to date on legislation, across the state, but primarily focus on what are our legislators are doing.
Local Beat: This would be members who would like to commit to attending community meetings, quorum court, city council, school board, etc.
Historicals: Show the good things that democrats have done in history locally: dam, infrastructure, electricity, and maybe form some blog-style articles about this.
Election Worker Committee: This would be to build some helpers around Bob Bodenhamer when it comes to elections, these individuals would need to be trained. JoAnn Baeten will lead this committee and learn from Bob to take over his position when he no longer serves as Election Commissioner.
Social Media Committee: Putting this on hold at the moment so Derek can visit with other county chairs about structure.
Unfinished Business: Act Blue account will be set up by the next meeting. Also recognized Delegates: Glenda and Donnie Huffine and Aspyn Forest. Their next state committee meeting is possibly going to be April 15th in Fort Smith, Derek will let them know once that is confirmed. Mary O’Shields will be first proxy if a delegate cannot attend. Derek mentioned a member that is running for school board reached out to come speak to our group. Asked how the group felt about members of the Republican or Patriot party coming to speak to us. The group said we should be welcoming but limit their time so they are not present during our official business. That was motioned for a vote by Johnny Rickman, Mary O’Shields 2nd the motion, everyone is in favor, motion passes.
New Business: Steve Blumreich from Friends of the River, gave an update on the landfill sale. The landfill is very close to what feeds into the Pigeon Creek and Howards Creek systems with the possibility of toxic materials being released into the water table. Our city and county have hired a good environmental lawyer that recommended the county make it illegal to open up a landfill within our county. This will likely pass at the next quorum court meeting next Tuesday.
AMENDED: This did pass at the quorum court, we now hope the law is written strongly enough to stop the “re-opening”.
Vice Chair JoAnn Baeten adjourned the meeting at 10:54 a.m.
Action Steps:
Set up ACT Blue account (online fundraising)
Have the website ready by the next meeting
Establish communication between committees (SLACK training(