Annual Member Meeting Minutes

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RECYCLING ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL MEMBER MEETING AND JANUARY BOARD MINUTES

Thursday, January 21, 2016
StopWaste Offices, 1537 Webster St. Oakland, CA
Presiding Officer is NCRA President Laura McKaughan,
Submitted by Tomer Shapira

6:00pm Food and Group Sharing
6:30pm Call to Order & Welcome to Members (McKaughan)

NCRA Board Member Attendees: President Laura Mckaughan, Jessica Connolly, Jessica Robinson, Doug Brooms, John Moore, Steven Chiv, Arthur Boone, Tim Dewey-Mattia, Alexandra Hoffman, David Krueger, and Tomer Shapira

NCRA Staff: Juliana Gerber, Admin Coordinator and Portia Sinnott, Editor/Registrar
NCRA Members: 24 plus one non-Member in attendance for the Annual Members’ Mtg (see attached list)

6:32pm Annual Members meeting called to order. Attendees asked to state their name, profession, NCRA member status and who is their mentor.

7:00pm Election Committee shared results of recent board election. Lori Marra and Mary Lou Van Deventer made up the elections committee. Nearly 40% of membership participated in voting and there were no irregularities. The following candidates were elected to the 2016 NCRA Board of Directors: Tim Dewey-Mattia, David Krueger, Alex Hoffman, Jessica Connolly and John Moore. There was discussion about allowing write-in candidates and it was recommended by the membership that the Board allow write-in candidates. This will be voted on by the board in an upcoming NCRA Board meeting.

7:10pm State of NCRA Address. McKaughan shared a ppt about NCRa accomplishments of 2015 and what lies ahead in 2016. Ppt available upon request.

7:30pm- 8:30pm Membership Activity: Mentor/mentee speed dating. Membership committee led an activity where members became either a mentor or a mentee in a networking speed dating exercise. Afterwards, attendees gave feedback how the membership might build on this experience to develop the program in the future.

BOARD MEETING CALLED TO ORDER – 8:30PM
MINUTES
November minutes were approved and submitted in a motion made by Boone and seconded by Jessica C. 11-0-0.
AGENDA
Motion was made by Boone to approve the meeting agenda with 2 agenda additions, seconded by Jessica R. All members voted aye to approve with no abstentions, 11-0-0.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Robinson will send report out to Board Of Directors for review via listserv
Discussion tabled for February retreat.
ACTIONS REQUIRING DISCUSSION/POLICY DECISIONS
Proposal for 1 day ITR during ZWW
Discussion on timing, desired demographic, format/delivery
Recommended not to pursue this for 2016 and if so in the future, to do so in coordination with ZW Youth USA, Also recommended to have it on a Sunday instead of a weekday for students

Text in the back of the RU program booklet? Get this from the speakers perhaps?

ZWW AND RECYCLING UPDATE TASKS
TOURS
Tours needed for Monday – no one volunteered to coordinate
Suggestions: SAFE (south bay), Marin Sanitary Food Service to Energy (north bay), Food Waste Recovery Tour (east bay), Imperfect produce in Emeryville, Ask Jordan to take lead?
NCRA volunteer event – food bank

ACTION ITEM: McKaughan to follow up with Board members who offered suggests to develop ideas further and she will get the tours listed on the web site.

FOOD (ROBINSON)
Quote needed for lunch
Quote needed for breakfast
Food donations list and outreach
Morning and afternoon breaks
Hoffman offered to assist with the food committee

VOLUNTEERS (SHAPIRA)
Registration is live.
Shapira put out call to board of directors for priority individuals as space will fill fast
ACTION ITEM: Shapira will assist McKaughan with scholarships

SPEAKERS/PROGRAM (MCKAUGHAN)
ACTION ITEM: McKaughan will send preview list to group
ACTION ITEM: Chiv and Connolly will launch next step in Mentorship program

REGISTRATION (SINNOTT/GERBER)
Website is live! All Board Members registered as volunteers plus Jenny Cutter.
Looking for folks to help beta test

SPONSORSHIPS (MCKAUGHAN)
Board agrees not to pursue sponsorship from any entity that owns a landfill
Krueger to assist w sponsorships.

BOARD RETREAT – FEBRUARY
Location – Moore’s house
Date – Connolly will put together doodle poll and send to the group

ALTAMONT COMMUNITY MONITORING MEETING – APRIL
Krueger to step in for Tam; includes stipend.
Motion made by Boone, with Hoffman seconding – all members vote aye, no abstentions 11-0-0.

AMERICA RECYCLES DAY (ARD) SUPPORT – MARCH AND NOVEMBER
Sinnott submitted a proposal that NCRA encourage, recruit and support Nor Cal ARD events and potentially have a RU booth. Connolly motions, Hoffman seconds – motion passes 11-0-0.

Meeting adjourned – 9:05pm

NCRA Has A New Face!

Welcome to the new face of the Northern California Recycling Association!

We have spent many hours developing a logo that represents the identity of our membership and movement. On the road to Zero Waste, we are focused on the benefits and unique challenges of resource management in the Bay Area and beyond.

NCRA has been a leader for 38 years, with deep roots in the environmental movement and a vibrant spirit, and our new look represents that! We invite you to utilize our web site as a top resource to find articles, information, and opportunities promoting the big “R” of recycling which includes reducing, re-using, refurbishing, repurposing and re-imagining!

Bright, well-connected, relevant, modern, and motivated, we are NCRA!

HUGE thanks to: Iberia Zafira for her inspired and dedicated work on several iterations of the new logo; Chris Sparnicht for his skilled finessing and fine-tuning, and design of the beautiful new theme for website; Portia Sinnott for her many years of technical assistance and passionate design vision; and Juliana Gerber for bringing the 2-year logo revision process to finalization.

2016 Election Results

Congratulations, Jessica Connoly, Alexandra Hoffman, David Krueger and John Moore for being reelected to the NCRA Board and welcome Tim Dewey-Mattia!!!

The NCRA Board of Directors had five seats open and five candidates.  The Elections Committee (Mary Lou Van Deventer and Lori Marra, with assistance from Juliana Gerber) began the process in November by identifying the due dates and deadlines per the bylaws.

All bylaws deadlines were met and the protocols were followed.  All candidates submitted statements timely, and the election was conducted electronically using the SimplyVoting website.  The cost was $200.

Members had ten days to vote.  All members in good standing as of the record date, midnight January 10, received electronic ballots on January 11. “Good standing” meant that dues were fully paid and in NCRA’s hands, not just in the mail.  Members who hadn’t yet voted received up to four reminders before the election ended at midnight January 20.

There were 178 eligible voters, and 79 voted, for a turnout of 44.4%. That was down from 63.4% in 2015.  In 2015 there were more candidates than openings, and the competition may have motivated more voters to cast ballots.  The results were certified by SimplyVoting.

New Directors were announced at the January 21 members’ meeting. Their two-year terms officially begin in February.

Thank you, Directors, for stepping up to lead NCRA in 2016.  This should be a banner year for the Zero Waste movement of which NCRA is part.