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Meeting Minutes - 2006-12-13 00:00:00.0

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE December 13, 2006 Augusta, Maine (Maine Bar Assn. Conference Room)

Present: Toby Hollander, President; Abbie Teachout, Treasurer; Terry Hayes (by phone); Heidi P. Jordan, Gordon Miller, and Beth Maddeus. Absent: Joe Saunders, Susan Wiggins, Maureen Dillane

1. Parent Coordinator Legislation: Terry reported that she had reserved an LD for an Act to Define, Authorize and Regulate the practice of Parent Coordinators in Maine. Cloture (the last day for requesting legislation) is on December 15th. We voted 6-0 to continue our work to get a bill passed to authorize and immunize the work of Parent Coordinators. Toby will reach out to others interested in helping draft the legislation, although Terry advises that this is the job of the Revisor’s Office in the Legislature.

2. We discussed putting an ad in the Maine Bar Journal advertising our existence and in particular the “Find A Gal” feature of our website. Toby will find out the expense and will poll the executive committee.

3. We discussed Megali’s participation on the Court Services Committee responding to the OPEGA Report on GALs in Title 22 cases. (We have 8 members on the committee: Terry Hayes, Toby Hollander, Liz Stout, Tobi Schneider, and Meg Johnson; plus, ex officio, Kirsten Skorpen, Nonny Soifer, and Susan Snyder). Terry inquired as to what Megali’s position would be on our non-lawyer members being appointed in Title 22 cases. We decided that would be a good subject for a poll through our Yahoo Group. We discussed the need to find solutions that do not cost money and to think about what sorts of things we as an organization could do to remedy some of the shortcomings found by OPEGA.

4. Treasurer’s Report: We have $5,000.00 in the bank. 84 people have paid dues this year. We made about $150 on the annual dinner in May. Our bills are minimal, small amounts for bookkeeping ($15) and maintaining our Domain Name and Web Site (about $45). We discussed the idea of having a day-long training for our next annual meeting with a luncheon meeting that would serve as our “business meeting.” Abbie will begin investigating the cost of such a project.