[Note
that this document was converted from a .pdf file – as a result the format has
suffered]
Business Meeting Minutes
Meeting
Purpose:
A meeting to
conduct business for the Libertarian Party of Contra Costa County (LPCCC), and
(because of proper previous notice given by Mr. Malagon) discuss and vote on
the proposed Bylaws Amendment.
Date
& Time:
Monday,
February 28, 2022 at 7:00PM.
Location:
Virtual
Meeting via Zoom (Notice Given at the Annual Meeting).
Recording:
Available
here: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/ZIxTkOMemtsucc4voGGtEeQeoCg4-xgpBGKO1rWp3sm8NFABeBwHP0euDZxrjYxs.Lmq2vjC-WS03wXZW.
Passcode: g2=0Jwe%
County
Central Committee Members:
Mr. Adrian F
Malagon (Chair)
Ms.
Alexandria Hatch (Vice-Chair)
Ms. Meredith
Hays (Secretary)
Mr. Roberto
Nuñez (Treasurer)
Ms. Jessica
Porter
Mr.
Maximiliano Jimenez
Ms. Belinda
Ochoa
Mr. George
Chan
Mr. Stephan
Ginochio
Ms. Maria
Lavenant
Ms. Celine
Torrano
Mr. Daniel
McDunn
Mr. Marc
Joffe
Ms. Sandra
Kallander
Ms. Janice
Mackenzie-Fast
Mr. Richard
Fast
Mr. Graham
Brown
Mr. Casey
Johnson
Guests:
Mr. Theodore
Gercken (Alameda County)
Ms.
Elizabeth Stump (Alameda County)
Mr. Loren
Dean (Riverside County)
Ms. Jessica
Tewksbury (Riverside County)
Mr. Anthony
Strauss (Kern County)
Agenda (As Submitted by the Chair)
Call to
Order
Roll
Call/Credentialing Report
Acknowledgement
and Introduction of Guests
Adoption of
the Agenda (5 minutes)
Adoption of
the Annual Meeting Minutes (5 minutes)
Public
Comment (10 minutes)
Reports
of the Party Officers
Chair’s Report (10 minutes)
Vice-Chair’s Report (5 minutes)
Secretary’s Report (5 minutes)
Treasurer’s Report (5 minutes)
Bylaws
Amendment Proposal (10 minutes)
Motion to adopt the proposed Bylaws amendment formally
presented at the Annual Meeting by Mr. Malagon. (Text provided in person, and
via email.)
Local
Issues (15 minutes)
Walnut Creek’s Tax Increase Proposal
Nextdoor Thread:
https://nextdoor.com/login/?next=/news_feed/%3Fpost%3D213166677
[requires login]
Substack https://denisekalm.substack.com/p/local-tax-proposals?utm_source=url
Advocacy
Opportunities (10 minutes)
Scheduling
of a March Social Meet & Greet (5 Minutes)
Adjourn
Call to Order, Roll Call/Credentialing Report, Acknowledgement
& Intro of Guests
Mr. Malagon
called the meeting to order at 7:03PM.
Ms. Hays
called the roll, credentialed present members for later voting, and noted the
guests.
17
credentialed members were discovered to be present (9 votes would constitute a
simple majority, and 12 votes would constitute a two-thirds majority).
Mr. Fast
asked Mr. Malagon if he could be credentialed. Mr. Malagon asked Mr. Fast if he
was in fact the Chair Pro-Tem of San Joaquin County (as a flyer being passed
out at the LPCA Convention only a week before had explicitly stated) and
reminded him that the LPCA Bylaws explicitly prohibit County Central Committee
members from being affiliated with multiple counties simultaneously. Mr. Fast
claimed that the aforementioned flyer contained a “typo.” Mr. Fast’s continued
insistence that he was not the Chair Pro-Tem of San Joaquin County, in addition
to his affiliation in Neon showing as Contra Costa Costa [sic] County, gave Mr.
Malagon cause to allow Ms. Hays to credential him.
18
credentialed members were now present (10 votes would constitute a simple
majority, and 12 votes would constitute a two-thirds majority).
Ms.
Kallander raised a point of order, and asked if the 30 days notice for the vote
on the Bylaws amendment had been met per the current Bylaws. Mr. Malagon
reminded Ms. Kallander that verbal notice had been given at the Annual Meeting,
which took place exactly 30 days from the time of the current Business Meeting.
He also made mention that several reminders via email had been sent before, and
since then.
Motion—Ms. Kallander moved, and Mr. Fast
seconded that the meeting be recorded. As there was no objection, the Chair
began recording the meeting at 7:13PM.
Mr. Kurt Schulz
[sic] joined the meeting at 7:05PM and was credentialed. Mr. Kevin Moore joined
the meeting at 7:14PM and was credentialed.
20
credentialed members were now present (11 votes would constitute a simple
majority, and 14 votes would constitute a two-thirds majority).
Ms.
Kallander requested that everyone introduce themselves and Mr. Fast concurred.
Mr. Malagon invited anyone who wished to introduce themselves to do so, but
made it clear that he would not force anyone.
Adoption of the Agenda (5 minutes)
Motion—Mr. Malagon moved to adopt the agenda
and asked if there were any objections.
Ms.
Kallander objected because she had not read the agenda prior to the meeting.
Mr. Malagon read the agenda aloud.
The agenda
was adopted unanimously, without objection.
After the
fact, Ms. Kallander, Mr. Fast, and Mr. Schulz [sic] objected to the adoption of
the agenda because they wished to instead have the record reflect that they
expressly abstained from its adoption.
As the
agenda was already adopted unanimously, the objections above were noted only
for the record.
Mr. Spencer
von Glahn joined the meeting at 7:21PM and was credentialed.
21
credentialed members were now present (11 votes would constitute a simple
majority, and 14 votes would constitute a two-thirds majority).
Mr. Malagon
asked Ms. Tewksbury if she would agree to be the timekeeper for the remainder
of the meeting. She accepted and Mr. Malagon appointed her as timekeeper.
Adoption of the Annual Meeting Minutes (5 minutes)
Motion—Mr. Malagon moved to adopt the
minutes of the Annual Meeting, held on January 30, 2022 and asked if there were
any objections.
Ms.
Mackenzie-Fast objected, noting that her name was misspelled throughout the
minutes. Mr Malagon ruled that the minutes could be adopted, with her requested
corrections.
Mr. Schulz [sic] then objected on the grounds that he
believed that Business Meetings could not be conducted via Zoom. Mr. Malagon ruled that his objection
had no merit for any number of reasons, and that continued discussion on the
subject was dilatory. Mr. Fast joined in Mr. Schultz’s [sic] objection.
Mr. Schultz,
Mr. Fast, Ms. Mackenzie-Fast, and Ms. Kallander objected to the meeting minutes
being adopted.
The minutes
from the Annual Meeting were adopted, with expressed abstentions from the four
objecting members noted above.
Mr. Michael
Lema and Mr. Robert Cesar Bovero-Spina joined the meeting as guests at 7:31PM.
Public Comment (10 minutes)
Mr. Joffe, Mr.
Johnson, Mr. Lema, Mr. Fast, Mr. Jimenez, and Ms. Kallander all made public
comments.
Ms. Victoria
Lapacek joined the meeting as a guest at 7:42PM.
Reports of the Party Officers
Chair’s
Report:
Mr. Malagon
was elected as Northern Area Coordinator at the 2022 LPCA Convention and as
such, he retains a position on the LPCA Executive Committee. He spoke about his
vision for the LPCCC and the rest of the North. He intends to have all of the
Northern affiliates work together, especially neighboring ones, to share
resources and learn from each other’s successes and failures. Mr. Malagon also
intends on encouraging affiliates in the North to follow the LPCCC proposed
model of separating business (and hosting it in a virtual capacity), socials
(in-person) and advocacy (hybrid participation) not only for productivity’s
sake, but to allow members to get as involved with what they so choose, as they
so choose, in an effort to increase membership and overall engagement. He also
has a meeting scheduled with Mayor of Concord on Monday, March 7th, and is
working on scheduling a meeting with former Senate Majority Leader of CA State
Assembly.
Mr. Schulz
[sic] left the meeting at 7:49PM.
20
credentialed members were now present (11 votes would constitute a simple majority,
and 14 votes would constitute a two-thirds majority).
Vice-Chair’s
Report:
Ms. Hatch is
working on updating the LPCCC logo for social media presence and the new
soon-to come website. She reached out to Daniel (AKA TopLobsta) who agreed to
make the artwork for free. After doing a fair amount of research on a P.O. Box
for the Party, the best option is a private one, which is cheaper and offers
more services. Postal Annex offered the Party a 25% discount for a year’s
subscription. Annual prices are: $240.00 for a small box, $312.00 for a medium
box, and $360.00 for a large box (before the aforementioned discount).
Secretary’s
Report:
Ms. Hays
still lacks access to Neon. She also recently had a podcast appearance with the
Libertarian Institute. The episode can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_KXllFXzDE
.
Treasurer’s
Report:
Mr. Nuñez appears to have been locked out of the Party
bank account, and will need to investigate the issue. He noted that no expenses
have been approved and no withdrawals or payments made, meaning that the
account balance should be the same it was at the time of his last report (just
shy of $2,000). Mr. Nuñez expects checks to
come in from the LPCA for him to deposit, once the post box is purchased and
set up.
Bylaws Amendment Proposal (10 minutes)
Motion—Mr. Malagon moved and Ms. Hatch
seconded that:
The
proposed Bylaws amendment formally presented at the Annual Meeting 30 days
earlier (text provided in person, and via email) be adopted.
Mr. Malagon
spoke in favor of the motion. Ms. Kallander spoke against the motion.
Ms.
Mackenzie-Fast and Mr. Fast left the meeting at 8:03pm.
18
credentialed members were now present (10 votes would constitute a simple
majority, and 12 votes would constitute a two-thirds majority).
The motion
passed on a 16-1-1-0 vote (Aye - Nay - Expressed Abstention - Not Voting).
- Aye: Ms. Hatch, Ms. Hays, Mr. Nunez, Ms.
Porter, Mr. Jimenez, Ms. Ochoa, Mr. Chan, Mr. Ginochio, Mr. von Glahn, Ms.
Lavenant, Ms. Torrano, Mr. Brown, Mr. Johnson, Mr. McDunn, Mr. Joffe, Mr.
Malagon
- Nay: Ms. Kallander
- Expressed Abstention: Mr. Moore
- Not Voting: None.
Ms. Porter
left the meeting at 8:05pm.
Local Issues (15 minutes)
Mr. Joffe
spoke about the specifics concerning the Walnut Creek sales tax hike, in
addition to the importance of using Nextdoor as a tool for reaching out to
local residents on these important issues. He also encouraged participation and
public comment in Walnut Creek City Council meetings from residents and those
from neighbouring [sic] cities, citing examples where that has appeared to make
a difference. Mr. Joffe provided the CDTFA website link where
the rates can be found and ended by informing the Party that he’s a board
member of the Contra Costa County Tax Payer’s Association.
Mr. Malagon made
mention about other towns and cities in the Bay Area facing a similar fate, and
the importance of banding together to build awareness and opposition.
Advocacy Opportunities (10 minutes)
Mr. McDunn spoke
about mandate lawsuits taking place in local Bay Area schools. He offered to
set up a time for Mr. Malagon to meet with the person spearheading a particular
lawsuit against a local school board.
The Chair
mentioned the Michael Lema for Hayward Fundraiser taking place in Hayward after
the LPCA Executive Committee Meeting taking place on March 19, 2022.
Information about the event can be found here: [as of 3/28/2023, the link is
broken].
Mr. Lema
said “Ukaine” as opposed to “Ukraine” in a failed attempt at humor while
speaking to his event, and was mocked by Mr. Malagon.
Scheduling of a March Social Meet & Greet (5 minutes)
Mr. Ginochio
agreed to speak with Mr. Malagon offline to discuss a good date to host an
event at a gun club he has access to.
Adjourn
The Chair
adjourned the Business Meeting at 8:31 PM PST without objection.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Ms.
Meredith Hays
Secretary, Libertarian Party of Contra Costa
County
Editorial
Notes:
1)
The first two Editorial Notes from the Minutes of the ExCom
Meeting of Feb. 10, 2022 are reproduced here, since they apply to this meeting
as well.
“1) At the date and time of this meeting, Adrian still did
not have (according to Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised) the authority to
propose changes to the CCCLP’s Constitution and Bylaws. When he claimed that power, he was exceeding
his authority. The matter was still
being actively handled by the duly-appointed Bylaws Committee; as a result, the
permission for any CCCLP Member to propose amendments to the Constitution and
Bylaws was superseded by, and subordinate to, the authority of the Bylaws
Committee. When I officially notified
Adrian that his actions were in violation of RONR, he justified his actions
with claims that turned out to be false.
As a result, Adrian’s claims that the County Central Committee had a new
set of Bylaws was a fraud that he perpetrated against not only the
County Central Committee, but because they were reported to the California
State LP as being the “official” bylaws, he perpetrated fraud against the state
LP as well. This is a clear violation of
the Non-Agression Principle, and grounds for expulsion from the Party.
2)
As
a result of his failure to appropriately implement amendments to the
Constitution and Bylaws, his implementation of virtual meetings for the purpose
of conducting Business fails to comply with the guidelines set in RONR. Adrian was present, as Vice-Chair, of the
meeting on January 30, 2022, when the Parliamentarian informed the Chair of
this restriction under RONR, so Adrian acted this way willfully, and not by
accident.”
This
means that this meeting was not an official Business Meeting.
The
seventh Editorial Note from the Minutes of the ExCom Meeting of Feb. 10, 2022
is also reproduced here, since it applies to this meeting as well.
“7) RONR is quite clear that a Member or
Officer of an organization can get into trouble if they refer to others in the
organization by name (instead of by title), while addressing the
body. The Secretary repeatedly refers to
“Mr. Malagon” when she is supposed to be referring to “the Chair”; there were
other violations of this same principal as well. These actions are sufficient cause for the
Secretary to be removed from a meeting.”
In this case, how
people voted is not supposed to be reported, only what the total votes were in
each category.
2) Under
“Meeting Purpose”, the statement “proper previous notice given by Mr. Malagon”
is a misstatement of fact; Mr. Malagon had no authority to present the previous
notice, so the presentation was, in fact, improper.
3) It
is interesting to note that during the introductions, Mr. Stephan Ginochio
claimed that he was a member of the Contra Costa County LP in 1990 or
1991. The organization did not exist
then. It makes me wonder why he made
such an odd claim.
4) “Motion to adopt the proposed Bylaws amendment
formally presented at the Annual Meeting by Mr. Malagon. (Text provided in
person, and via email.)”
This statement is misleading: while it may have been “formally
presented”, it was presented without sufficient authority to be valid. Also, the proposed text of the Amendment was
not fully distributed to all of the Members of the CCC, which means that some
of the Members were asked to vote on something that they hadn’t seen.
5) “Mr. Malagon reminded Ms. Kallander
that verbal notice had been given at the Annual Meeting…” As per the California State LP bylaws, verbal
notice is insufficient.
6) “As the agenda was already adopted
unanimously…” This was not the case; instead of being adopted
“unanimously”, it was adopted by the majority, with several abstentions.
7) “Mr. Schulz [sic] then objected on the
grounds that he believed that Business Meetings could not be conducted via
Zoom. Mr. Malagon ruled that his objection had no merit for any number of
reasons, and that continued discussion on the subject was dilatory.” This is a violation of the guidelines
published in RONR. The previous business
meeting was conducted as a part-in-person and a part-zoom hybrid because the
Chair specifically acted (via an RONR-approved action) to allow for it; for
this meeting, the new Chair ignored the “in-person” requirement completely,
even though he had heard the Parliamentarian express the restriction at the
previous Business Meeting on January 30, 2022.
Calling it an objection without merit is fraud. Considering that the objection was sincere, calling
it “dilatory” is also a fraud – according to RONR, the matter should have been
discussed by the Members that were concerned.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kurt
Schultz
Chairman of
the CCCLP Bylaws Committee