Commission for Women

MICHIGAN CITY COMMISSION FOR WOMAN MINUTES Thursday, November 10, 2016 City Hall-West Conference Room 100 E. Michigan Blvd., Michigan City, IN 46360 I. President, Deb Chubb called the meeting to order at 5:40 II. Attendance Present: a. Present: Commissioners: Deb Chubb, Kathy Dennis, Jo Ann Engquist, Martha Maust and Bonnie Schaaf A quorum was established. b. Absent: Commissioners: Albertine Allen, Lyn Isbell and Faye Moore III. Approval of minutes, as corrected, of the prior meeting Motion by Commissioner Dennis; second by Commissioner Maust. Consent was unanimous. IV. Treasure’s Report Commissioner Dennis gave the October Finance report and noted that we are continuing to dispute with the City Comptroller’s office regarding the credit card amount for the Celebrating Women and the Arts Fundraiser on Friday, October 7, 2016. There were no additional comments and no questions regarding the items of the October Report. Commissioner Schaaf moved to accept the report and Commissioner Maust gave support. Approval was unanimous. V. Guests Speaker: Kristen Garvey, Executive Director of Indiana Commission for Women and Councilwoman Pat Boy and Councilwoman Sharon Carnes Executive Director Garvey explained that at one time all states had commissions for women. Many were absorbed into other commissions, such as Human Rights or other departments. At this time there are approximately 200 Commissions for Women at local, county or state level. Indiana’s oldest Women’s Commission was established in Bloomington in the 1970’s while Fort Wayne’s has been in existence for about 40 years. The general consensus of our group was that it could be very informative to visit Bloomington’s March event or Fort Wayne’s Women’s Bureau. Kristen asked us to find out if Gary’s Commission was still functioning, especially since they are responsible for the Domestic Violence Shelter in that city. The next national meeting of Commissions for Women will be held in Buffalo, NY in July near Seneca Falls. The Indiana Commission continues to monitor how many women are in elected offices in the state. 80% are treasurers, clerks, auditors, 6 are mayors, and 49% of the executive branch is women mainly in positions  that help others. Kristen also spoke of the HerStory Scrapbook and famous women of Indiana: Madame CJ Walker, Carole Lombard (Fort Wayne) and Anne Baxter (Michigan City). Kristen has a board of 14 people who meet every other month. 6, including the chair, are appointed by the governor and serve for 4 years, 4 board members are appointed by the speaker and serve 3 years and 4 appointed by the President Pro Tem, who also serve 3 years. VI. Old Business a. Commissioner Engquist reported that two grant applications have been received thus far. One was a Community Grant and the other a Women in Business Grant. She also reported that she explained what types of grant applications we were distributing at a local NAACP Meeting and emailed forms to their president as well as some individuals in the community who expressed an interest in applying. b. Commissioner Maust and her husband attended the Stepping Stone event held on 10/15/16 at Blue Chip Casino, but they had difficulty filling the other seats at our table considering the short notice that was given to them. Commissioner Maust said the event was fun and was disappointed that it was not better attended. c. Commissioner Dennis and her husband as well as Commissioner Maust and her husband attended the Breast Cancer Awareness Ball on 10/21/16. Commissioner Engquist gave her two tickets to Michael Rivera and his date. It was reported to be an enjoyable event with the men wearing pink modeling their attire. d. Commissioner Engquist explained that our commission could not get a mailbox at The Clerk’s Office at City Hall due to insufficient room, but the Clerk and her staff have been very cooperative. They contact Commissioner Engquist whenever mail has arrived for our commission so that she can pick it up. VII. New Business a. A general discussion regarding marketing our next round of grants brought out suggestions of advertising in The Beacher and each of us announcing at meetings we attend. b. MCAS may set up a Coding Class if they can raise the funds. c. Our next round of grants will be for professional development. At this time we are considering the maximum amount of award for such a grant to be $500. We will wait to discover what we learn from the distribution of the first two grants.  VIII. Council Liaison Comments Councilwoman Silvas was absent, but Councilwoman Carnes suggested that we encourage women to apply to serve on various city committees and commissions. IX. Board Members Comments None were given. X. Public Comments No one from the public was present XI. Next Meeting Date December 8, 2016 City Hall in the West Conference Room XII. Adjournment 7:35p.m. Respectfully submitted: Jo Ann Engquist, Secretary Pro Tem