Minutes
Minutes
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LitvakSIG, June 10, 2007
The meeting was called to order by President Howard Margol at 8:10 p.m. EDT. All board members were present: Judy Baston, Ada Green, David Hoffman, Michael Posnick, Aaron Roetenberg, Olga Zabludoff.
1. Treasurer’s report (circulated via email prior to the meeting):
Assets
Total:
76,889.90
Total membership: 332
2. Secretary’s report: Minutes of May meeting sent out and corrected. April minutes will be sent out shortly.
3. Luncheon at Salt Lake City conference: Judy Baston reported that she had sent a questionnaire to all registrants for the LitvakSIG luncheon, and had summarized the responses in an Excel file with the names of attendees and their towns of interest and had circulated this via email prior to the meeting. About 50% responded to the questionnaire. Some are beginners, so she may seat them together. Otherwise, people will be seated according to towns/districts of interest. Board members who have wireless laptops were asked to bring them so that data can be looked up during lunch. Board members who will be at the tables as “experts” were asked to review the questions, particularly “brick walls” of the attendees, prior to the luncheon.
4. Nominating Committee report: David Hoffman thanked the board for their assistance. The nominees approved by the committee are: Eugene Alpert, Judy Baston, Rose Lerer Cohen, David Hoffman, Eden Joachim, Howard Margol, Michael Posnick, Aaron Roetenberg, and Olga Zabludoff.
The board voted unanimously to accept the slate recommended by the Nominating Committee. The nominees will be listed on the ballot in alphabetical order.
David has contacted certain members to serve on the election committee, and is awaiting confirmation from them. David, representing the Nominating Committee, will serve as an additional member of this committee.
The ballot will have instructions to vote for “up to nine” candidates for the nine positions.
There was a discussion about write-in votes. Judy Baston moved, and David Hoffman seconded, that an extra line for write-in candidates will be added to the ballot. The motion was passed. All approved except Mike Posnick, who objected to having only one line provided.
5. Bylaws Committee report: Amendments to the by-laws, previously agreed upon by the Board, were discussed. It was agreed that the amendments will be sent out to the members for approval via email vote and for voting at the July 17th SIG meeting in SLC, but in a separate message from the ballot listing the candidates for the Director positions.
Some of the amendments will not take effect until after the 2007 election, so an “effective” date will be indicated in the description sent out to the members. The amendments concerning eliminating nominations from the floor and eliminating the use of proxies in votes for Board members will not take effect until after the 2007 election. The amendments regarding staggered terms and electronic (e-mail) voting will take effect for this election if a majority of members who vote approves them.
6. The Board meeting at the SLC conference will be held on Sunday, July 15th from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. The candidates who have been recommended by the Nominating Committee, but are not serving as Board members by that date (because the election will not be complete until the July 17th LitvakSIG meeting) will be invited to attend, but they will not vote. A second meeting of the Board is planned to be held on Wednesday, July 18th, after the election and meeting, but the time will be arranged after consultation with board members.
7. Membership of the LitvakSIG in IAJGS was discussed. It was agreed that the SIG will not join IAGJS at this time.
8. Aaron suggested that lists of surnames on vital record databases be listed on a members-only page of the SIG website as a benefit of Membership and to encourage contributions. After further discussion it was suggested that if they were limited only to dues-paying members, then researchers doing random Google searchers for their surnames would not be able to “stumble” across them. A final decision was not reached about which way this will be done.
9. The Board thanked Ada Green for her service as a Director this year, as she will not be running for re-election.
10. A brief discussion was held about plans for the 2008 annual conference in Chicago, including extending invitations to archivists from Lithuania and possible co-sponsorship for their participation with the Lithuanian community and Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago.
11. The next board meeting is scheduled for July 8th.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m EDT.
Respectfully Submitted,
David B. Hoffman
Secretary, LitvakSIG
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