Delegate Meeting Minutes
Feb 27, 2008, United Methodist Church, North Andover

Peggy Stevens, Vice Chair of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts called the meeting to order.

1. Governance Structure and Timing of Delegate Elections: Peggy Stevens commented about how the governance structure was developed. It was decided by the Council Realignment Committee (CRC) that the Board of Directors and Nominating & Development Committee should not comprise more than 1/4 of the voting membership. A new regional delegate job description was approved by the CRC, and 4 new governance regions were developed based on geography, girl membership and the overlapping of the boundaries of legacy councils. Also, she noted that these four regions are for governance purposes only and do not have anything to do with operations.

Peggy stated that there was a time constraint to get the regional delegates elected. According to our bylaws, we must have them elected no later than 90 days prior to the Annual Meeting. Because of the time constraint, it was decided that staff use the new job description and develop a slate of delegates for each region based on applications, nominations and inquiries. The slate is based on diversity of geography and a variety of perspectives from the entire eastern Massachusetts Girl Scout jurisdiction.

2. Election: The slate of candidates was reviewed aloud by Joanne Johnson, Chair of the Board, including a short biography for each nominee. Peggy called for nominations from the floor – there were none.

Linda Hakesley motioned and Betsy Griffen seconded to approve the slate of delegates for Region 2 West as presented. This was unanimously approved by all members present.

3. Joanne Johnson, Chair of the Board of Directors announced that Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA will be speaking at this year’s Annual Meeting on May 15, 2008. The location will be at the Sheraton Needham and to look for more information. There was a question about attendees of the Annual Meeting – it is open to all registered Girl Scouts 14 and older.

4. Suellen Robinson announced that they are still looking for some adult applications to be a National Delegate. The committee wants to make sure that there is a diverse pool of applicants to best represent GSEM at the convention. Interested people were asked to see Leah McLean after the meeting to have an application emailed to you.

5. Ruth N. Bramson, CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts addressed the meeting and welcomed the group in attendance. She spoke about her background and experience, and her great excitement for the new Council. She also spoke briefly about her experience at the new CEO training by GSUSA and how she is looking forward to the “journeys” that GSUSA will be rolling out. Ruth stated that she is available for volunteers and if they have any questions or concerns should be happy to address them. Her email is rbramson@girlscoutseasternmass.org.

The meeting was adjourned.

Alternates
Sue Stuart, Acton
Karen Wall, Stow
Julia Whiteneck, Bedford
Nancy Spicer, Chelmsford
Stephanie Owen, Billerica
Pauline Owen, Lowell
Jeanne Buck, Wilmington
Cynthia Zorokong, Lowell
Roberta Jones, Danvers

Nominee Sketches