A motion was made, seconded and carried to approve the minutes of the 10-28-01 meeting, with the change.

The Treasurer, Sandy Dockendorff has contacted banks to open an account but they will first require a federal ID number. Once that is obtained an account will be established.

A motion was made seconded and carried that the new constitution be adopted as reported.

Alan instructed the Secretary (Sharon) to send a copy of the new constitution by mail to all of the members that receive their meeting notification by mail and probably do not have email nor internet access.

Daryn Hamilton presented information about the Fairfield middle school in Fairfield. (It has since been found to be not available.)

Kendra Wyse presented information about Mount Pleasant High School. Kendra said that she will meet with the superintendent of schools about availability of the High School tomorrow. There is a commons area which seats 300 people or more. It is connected with the cafeteria. The gym would be the next area but they are particular about the floor and therefore might cover them with canvas which is sometimes a problem for handicapped individuals. There is a microphone, stage and sound system available in the facility. There are other rooms available for caucuses and conferences. There is plenty of parking. Local county Democrats or a school group would probably provide lunch. There are many fast food places and a few restaurants in the community and several hotels. There would be janitorial fees. She was not certain about the costs.

Sandy Dockendorff said that the Des Moines county chair told her that they had an interest in hosting the convention but additional communication has not been received.

Maureen Donnelly asked if private homes might be available for fundraisers after the convention in the communities. It was stated that there most probably are such homes available.

A motion was made, seconded and carried that this committee strongly recommends to the county conventions that delegates prepay at the county conventions.

Sandy Dockendorff suggested that we provide each county convention with a pre-addressed envelope. The secretary of the county convention then only needs to seal the envelope and put postage on it.

A motion was made, seconded and carried that we approve the Jefferson county site for the district convention location.

The subcommittee areas are rules and nominations, credentials, arrangements, and platform. We also need a person who is interested in putting together a convention call, which will involve coordination of all of those things. Alan wants to be involved in the convention call but would appreciate somebody to help him with that. Sandy recommends that the Chairs of the various committees work together to set deadlines for getting information from their various groups.

Bob Thomas mentioned that he has had some concerns with conventions. One area that has been problematic to him has been the switch from temporary chair to chair, then when they got to the platform, that person chaired the meeting. He said that the change in the middle has caused problems for people and that it has not seemed appropriate that the platform person chair the meeting. It was suggested by Maureen Donnelly that there be male and female co-chairs. That provides that somebody will always be in the chair position but that people can take breaks as needed. Bob Thomas also said that he thought that people who chair those committees should be available the night before to make certain that the bugs have been worked out of the process. If somebody volunteers to be temporary chair of the committee they need to understand that they are making a commitment to be available.

Alan asked that the subcommittee groups talk about experience, willingness, availability and time and come up with somebody from the group who could be temporary chair. Alan will then appoint that person. He said that everybody who is at the meeting today needs to go to his/her caucus and county convention so that he/she will be a delegate and can be on that committee and process through the system and can become the chair of that committee at convention time.

Maureen Donnelly discussed the auctions that she has organized at the conventions for the old first district. During lunch and the down times of the convention, the auction occurs. You need to have an auctioneer, auction items, and people to help the auctioneer. They usually made about $1,000 or more at the auctions. She wrote to Senators and Governors to donate items and to county parties. At the last convention she had the counties make baskets of various items including county products. It is both a good fundraiser and is fun. Maureen will volunteer to organize one for the next convention.

Faith Wilmot said that people complained about the voting procedure at the last convention she attended. She said it would be worthwhile if something could be done about the prolonged voting procedure. Alan said that the number of delegates at the convention will be less and that might speed things up a bit this time and there will not be delegates to the national convention nor preference groups. He felt that there is not sufficient time to make changes to the state constitution at this time and that there is not the will, and that we need to proceed with the rules that we now have. Alan suggested that technology be introduced to the voting procedure. Marlyn Schepers said that it would help if the vote were announced. It would cause people to stop backing a candidate that is not succeeding. It was suggested that the auditors be contacted for assistance with vote counting technology. Sandy suggested that scanning machines might be useful in this process. Alan suggested that we have people throughout the district that would have the technological savvy and that it is a good time to start thinking about this and organizing this. Maureen said that the rules and nominations committee might be charged to do research on this. She feels it is one of the highest priorities that we have.

Sandy Dockendorff said that the rules are set up in the State party by-laws but how we carry them out is up to the district.

The function of the platform committee is the development of issues and the writing of a platform. Credentials is the management of seating of delegates, certification and accreditation. Arrangements is the arranging of the facilities and equipment for the conducting of the convention. Rules and nominations include drafting the rules and regulations so that business can be conducted. It includes but is not limited to the adoption of the platform. They are responsible for the counting of the delegates.

The meeting adjourned into individual committees at 3:50 p.m. and reconvened at 4:10 p.m.

The temporary chairs that were selected by the committees are as follows: Rules and Nominations is Sandy Dockendorff; Platform is Marlyn Schepers; Credentials selected Carol Porch as communicator with Betty McMahon and DJ Arnold as assistants; Arrangements is Daryn Hamilton.

Alan said that he will ask Jean Pardee what happened to the old first district convention placards.

Alan said that we now have two staff people working with us in the district. Kirsten Running works with Johnson, Linn and Cedar and Travis Lowe will handle the rest of the district.

Travis Lowe said that he has was born in the district and has resided in the district most of his life. He said that IDP has caucus training coming up in the next few weeks. The first is January 20^th at Scott County Democratic Headquarters in Davenport (232 West 15^th St.) at 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Training will occur Burlington at Big River Technology (421 N.4^th St.) 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 26^th. The next will be Ottumwa from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on January 26^th at the UAW Hall (205 North James), followed by a training at Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City on January 26^th in the Northwestern room from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. These are training sessions for county chairs or vice chairs so that they can learn to train their county committees.

Travis said that Sarah Norris at IDP needs to know convention and caucus sites as well as county sizes.

Julie Thomas re-introduced herself and said that she is a pediatrician from Cedar Rapids. She is running against Leach and is hoping to use her skills and medical expertise in Washington. She also made a few brief comments. Holly Armstrong has been selected as her campaign manager. She has established a campaign office in Cedar Rapids. Her phone number is 319-363-4988 and her fax number is 319-364-3175. Her web address is www.thomasforcongress.com (Her website link and contact information is on our district website.)

Sally Peck presented information about the re-organization of the Court system. She expressed particular concern about the removing of the county clerks of court from the rural areas and the resulting impact on justice. Sally urges us to pay special attention to these issues.

L. D. Wedewer who is an Iowa Autism Ambassador, addressed the meeting. She reported on the autism legislation that she would like to see supported in the future.

Mary Gaskill is a candidate for office in District 93 in Ottumwa. It includes all of the city of Ottumwa and a few of the townships around Ottumwa. She made a few brief comments.

Faith Wilmot reported that the credentials committee recommended that the time for the seating of alternates at the convention be shortened to 30 minutes. It was thought that the time frame was a state party role but it was agreed that this matter could be looked into to ascertain if it is permissible to implement such a change.

Bob Thomas reported that Jeannie Murray suggested that a conference call be set up to select the new state central committee member from the old 3^rd.

A motion was made seconded and carried to hold the next meeting Sunday, February 17^th, 2002 at 2:00 p.m. at this location (the International Room of Iowa Wesleyan College Library).

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.