Minutes of the February 8, 2023 Woburn Democratic City Committee Meeting
Virtual Format via Zoom, 7pm
Call to Order at 7:00pm by Jennifer Baker Jones, WDCC City Committee Chairperson.
Update by the Chair: Jennifer welcomed everyone and noted that the meeting was being recorded and that we would be using the chat box for posting the Agenda, Minutes and Attendance sheet for the meeting. The agenda and minutes were distributed in advance by email.
More recently, we have returned to in-person meetings and events, but Jennifer shared that during this year between the State election and the Presidential Primaries, she wanted to spend some time taking a “deep dive” with our outstanding legislators representing Woburn at the State House. This is a way for us to learn about what goes into passing legislation, but also how we can advocate for legislation important to each of us. Our first guest is State Senator Cindy Friedman.
Jennifer provided a re-cap of some of our activities of the last year:
- We welcomed many new members throughout the year
- Last March 1 we were joined by every state-wide candidate in our Zoom “Meet the Candidates” night which preceded our March 5 caucus.
- We had high participation in the State Convention in Worcester with a hybrid format
- We helped host the 2nd annual Juneteenth Woburn with many community partners – planning for Juneteenth Woburn 2023 has started and we’ll be able to share more details soon – save the date for Saturday, June 17!
- State-wide candidates continued to come out to Woburn to meet Democrats ahead of the primaries.
- We held a first for our committee, a “GOTV/Candidates Night” at the Woburn Country Club with candidates Kim Driscoll for Lt Gov and Diana DiZoglio for Auditor and many others.
- Thank you to members of our committee who make a tremendous difference in our work: participating in meetings, supporting candidates, volunteering for candidates, working the elections or advocating for policy – your work is appreciated.
Jennifer asked Ward 3 member Kelly Curran, a teacher at WMHS to share some thoughts on actions taken by the Woburn Teachers Association during the recent teacher strike. Kelly shared her thoughts. Jeff Dillon, Ward 3 member and City Council member and Andrew Lipsett, Ward 1 chairperson and School Committee member, offered brief responses regarding members of the City Council and School Committee not being allowed to comment on labor negotiations.
Returning to the Agenda, we took a brief pause to complete the online attendance form.
39 present: 28 members; 11 guests. 31% of the membership reporting.
Jennifer: requested motion for the reading and acceptance of the minutes of the 9/24/2022 WDCC meeting. Carol Donovan made a motion to accept the minutes without reading; Phyllis Norwood seconded the motion. Jennifer repeated the motion and asked those all in favor. Unanimous. Opposed, none. The minutes were approved.
Phyllis Norwood read the Treasurer’s report. Recent expenses included the payments to the caterer for the fall GOTV/Candidate Night at the Country Club. Recent income included dues and ticket sales for the October event, as well as recurring dues contributions. Balance as of last meeting: $1,743.27; balance anticipated with February deposits being made this week: $1,822.72. Jennifer asked for a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report as read by Phyllis. Carol Donovan made a motion to accept the report as presented. Jeff Dillon seconded the motion. Jennifer repeated the motion and asked those all in favor. Unanimous. Opposed, none. The treasurer’s report was approved. Chris DiMeo, Ward 7 chairperson, thanked Phyllis for her work on the October event with doing event ticketing and tracking. Jennifer thanked Chris for pointing this out and also thanked Phyllis for her help.
New Business: Carol Donovan asked for the WDCC to continue supporting the Juneteenth Woburn event this year. She shared that the event has grown in size and last year had nearly triple the number of participants as the year before. She reminded the committee that we made a gift of $400 to Social Capital Inc (SCI) of Woburn which is the non-profit organizer of the event. Carol made a motion to grant $400 to SCI for Juneteenth Woburn 2023. There was a 2nd on the motion, speaker not visible on Zoom recording. Jennifer Jones interjected that she is abstaining from this vote as a board member of SCI. Carol asked for a vote of all those in favor: unanimous. Opposed: none. The motion passed. Derrick Genova asked after the vote if we should consider giving more money this year. Discussion: Margaret Valentine thought maybe the $400 is enough with the event now raising more through other avenues. We agreed to transmit the $400 and if more is needed maybe we revisit in the future. Jennifer asked Phyllis to prepare the check of $400 to be sent to SCI for Juneteenth Woburn 2023.
State Committee Reports: Carol Donovan spoke on the details of the Moakley and JFK Scholarships offered by MassDems. The application deadline is March 10th. Following the deadline is the reading of applications and interviews by the State Committee. Carol also shared that the State Committee is meeting this coming Saturday, February 11, and the caucus window and the convention date will be set at this meeting. Jennifer acknowledged the other State Committee members joining us this evening, Pat Deal, Ward 3 member, Eileen Zalisk, Lexington and Christopher Lorant.
Special Guest Presentation: State Senator Cindy Friedman joined us for a presentation on the legislative package An Act Addressing Barriers to Care for Mental Health, Chapter 177 of the Acts of 2022 “Mental Health ABC Act”. Senator Friedman’s slides have been saved for reference.
Senator Friedman remained available for a brief Q&A following her presentation.
Adjournment: Pat Deal made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:22pm. Chris DiMeo seconded the motion. Jennifer repeated the motion and asked for those in agreement: Unanimous. Opposed, none. The meeting was adjourned at 8:22pm.
Attendance:
| First Name: | Last Name: | Which Ward do you live in | WDCC Member or Guest? |
| Derrick | Genova | Ward 1 | Member |
| Gary | Glennon | Ward 1 | Member |
| Andrew | Lipsett | Ward 1 | Member |
| Denise | Mason | Ward 1 | Guest |
| Anna | Straieri | Ward 1 | Guest |
| Margaret | Valentine | Ward 1 | Member |
| Jackie | Hodgdon | Ward 2 | Guest |
| June | Mackenzie | Ward 2 | Member |
| RaiAn | Perrish | Ward 2 | Member |
| Andrew | Regan | Ward 2 | Guest |
| Marcia | Andrews | Ward 3 | Member |
| Laurel | Collins | Ward 3 | Guest |
| Julie | Cotton | Ward 3 | Member |
| Kelly | Curran | Ward 3 | Member |
| Patricia | Deal | Ward 3, State Committee Member | Member |
| Jeff | Dillon | Ward 3 | Member |
| Carol | Donovan | Ward 3, State Committee Member | Member |
| Carolyn (Carol) | Youngclaus | Ward 3 | Member |
| Ramla | Hagi | Ward 4 | Member |
| Jennifer | Jones | Ward 4 | Member |
| Jesse | Jones | Ward 4 | Member |
| Anthony | Langone | Ward 4 | Member |
| Elissa | Milto | Ward 4 | Member |
| Katie | Nee | Ward 4 | Guest |
| Phyllis | Norwood | Ward 4 | Member |
| Brad | Amidon | Ward 5 | Member |
| Sarah | Bergman-McCool | Ward 5 | Member |
| JOHN | Heslin | Ward 5 | Member |
| Vanessa | Keating | Ward 5 | Member |
| Mario | Bertoni | Ward 6 | Member |
| Geraldine | O’Connell | Ward 6 | Member |
| Chris | DiMeo | Ward 7 | Member |
| Lilya | Dreik | Ward 7 | Member |
| Kelley | Hurley | Ward 7 | Member |
| Cindy | Friedman | State Senator | Guest |
| Christopher | Lorant | State Committee Member | Guest |
| Melissa | Talal | Guest | Guest |
| Leslie | White Harvey | State Committee Member | Guest |
| Eileen | Zalisk | State Committee Member | Guest |
39 Present: 28 members; 11 guests. 31% of the membership reporting.
Woburn Democratic City Committee 