Minutes for Nov 21, 2021

7:00 pm – Zoom Conference

 

Meeting Attendees

Members: Mike Hugo, Robert Case, Beverly Hugo, Barbara LeDuc, Parwez Wahid, Larry Stoodt, Cesar Stewart-Morales, Adam Steiner, Mel Warshaw, Norma Shulman, Chris Lorant, Rosamond Hooper-Hamersley, Kurt Fusaris, Margareth Shepard, Kathie McCarthy, Tracey Bryant, Jack Patrick Lewis, Christopher Broyles, Jim Stockless, Jeanne Bullock, Mary Kate Feeney, Jim Hansen, Adam Freudberg, Doug Lawrence, Patrick Dunne, Maria Robinson, Thom Mahoney

 

Associate Members: Cheryl Gordon, Mayor Dr. Yvonne Spicer, Priscilla Sousa, Audrey Hall, Tilia Jacobs, James Thrasher, Andrew Machkasov

 

Guests: Sen. Diana DiZoglio, LaNita Ann Dykes, Rep. Danielle Gregoire, James Thrasher

 

  • Welcome, Announcements and Updates – Chair Mike Hugo
    • The chair reviewed the agenda and called the meeting to order at 7:06pm.
  • Meet State Auditor Candidate Sen. Diana DiZoglio
    • The chair introduced Senator DiZoglio.
    • Senator DiZoglio introduced herself and explained why she is running for State Auditor.
  • Meet Rep. Danielle Gregoire, our new State Rep for Pct 1 & part of Pct. 4.
    • The chair introduced Rep. Gregoire.
    • Worked for Rep. Stephen LeDuc as Legislative Aide and attended Suffolk Law School at night.
    • Very active in the Marlborough Medical Reserve Corp.
    • She brings seniority to the Framingham delegation, but she is vulnerable to the many Republicans that live in her district.
    • Lifelong resident of Marlborough, 4th generation resident, and graduate of the public school system.
    • Lost re-election in 2010 and re-won the seat two years later.
    • She has been appointed as the point person for the House to work with the Federal government on ARPA/COVID funding for MA.
    • She is looking forward to representing part of Framingham and hopes residents will reach out with their ideas and concerns.
  • Acceptance of Minutes of October Meeting
    • Motion to accept the minutes by Kathie McCarthy ; seconded by Mel Warshaw .
      • There was no discussion; motion approved unanimously.

 

  • Treasurer’s Report – Larry Stoodt
    • As of October 17th, the starting balance was $4,088.98; received interest of $0.17, giving us a balance of $4,089.15; issued a check for website in amount of $93.48, resulting in a balance of $3,995.67.
    • Motion to accept the report by Kathie McCarthy ; seconded by Robert Case.
      • Motion approved unanimously.
      • Request was made that the Treasurer’s report include a monthly update of how many members and associate members have paid dues and how many have outstanding dues.

 

  • Reports from Municipal Elected Officials (City Council, School Committee, Mayor, Elected Dems)
    • Mayor Dr. Yvonne Spicer:
      • Making the rounds between different clinics held in the city this weekend. Thank you to everyone how has been involved.
      • Congrats to everyone who has won their re-election campaigns.
      • $26.9M Framingham received from AARP funding; $13M has been received by the city so far and the City Council has accepted that money.
      • Keep our elected leaders’ feet to the fire and make sure the issues of hunger and inequality are not swept under the rug.
      • The city’s Tree Lighting Ceremony is returning on Dec 3rd and will be a block party on Union Ave.
      • The Mayor has been working with an ad hoc committee of the women on issues in Framingham and has submitted an ordinance to establish an official Committee of Women and Families.
    • City Council:
      • Robert Case – No report
      • Adam Steiner – Finance Subcommittee meeting on Tuesday
      • Cesar Stewart-Morales – Thank you to everyone who help with his re-election campaign; there is a special emergency council meeting on Tuesday regarding the D3 Council election; the next regular meeting will be the second reading of the Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trail Committee.
      • Tracey Bryant – Thank you to the committee and everyone who helped with her re-election to the City Council.

 

  • School Committee:
    • Adam Freudberg – congratulations to the next administration of our city government. We have been focused on policy issues since the election. We are in the middle of the transition to the new administration and new members from District 3 and 6. We recently passed a policy to double the amount of recess time during the school day. If anyone is interested in applying to the Athletic Gender Equity Committee, please apply to be a member. This is an important committee that will advise the School Committee everything related to gender equity in our athletics program including budget and policy. Thank you to everyone involved with the successful vaccination clinic held yesterday at Harmony Grove Elementary. Congrats to Beverly Hugo for receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Mass Association of School Committees. The name of the Screening Committee for the Assistant Superintendent of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion has been announced and meetings have begun. The Superintendent will appoint the person for the position and the School Committee will vote to confirm the appointment.
    • Beverly Hugo – Although none of the 9 School Committee seats were officially opposed, we will still work to earn your trust and thank you for your votes. With collective bargaining we are In the middle of arbitration and also working on a multi-year curriculum review to ensure our curriculum is rigorous, relevant and include the updated common core standards. Thank you to Adam for all of the shoutouts tonight and she gives a shoutout to Adam Freudberg for his leadership and work as Chair the past two years.
  • Report from our House Delegation, – Rep. Jack P. Lewis, Rep. Maria Robinson, Rep. Carmine Gentile, Sen. Pres. Karen Spilka
    • Jack Patrick Lewis – Our larger delegation is excited to welcome Rep. Gregoire, and we are looking forward to working with her. The new state rep district maps will take some getting used to, but if you have any issues you can come to any of the state reps to help you. Senate passed a mental health bill last night; the House passed a bill to protect local hospitals; also passed a bill to teach the history of genocide to students in MA, what forces lead to genocide, and what students can do to fight against hate speech and genocide; off shore wind is a huge priority of the Speaker of the House and will continue working on that in the future; we also have new Congressional district maps and Framingham continues to be in Katherine Clark’s district. ARPA funding – at the state level they have passed two spending bills totaling around $4 billion and the differences between the House and Senate bills are being worked out. He was excited to take the lead on securing $1M for Mass 211 and $500k for the MA Down Syndrome Congress to support and retrain residents of this community who lost jobs during the pandemic.
    • Maria Robinson – The State House is still very much working in conference committee to work out the difference between the two spending bills and we will get that done soon. Thank to you Adam Freudberg and Dr. Tremblay for working with her to establish funding for a health center to be offered to students in the PIC. There are still lots of question regarding the new district maps and it would behoove the committee to have a discussion around that at another time. She is confident and happy that Framingham will continue to be well-represented.
    • Danielle Gregoire – The House and Senate are both committed to getting the ARPA money out into our communities and will hopefully work out the differences sooner than later so that can happen.

 

  • Subcommittee Reports, discussions, actions and votes:
  • Bylaws – Mel Warshaw
    • No report
  • Communications –Jim Hansen
    • Working on a vision/mission statement and it has been passed to the Civics Ed committee to continue working on the vision statement.
  • Civics Education – Beverly Hugo
    • We have been discussing on how to encourage more members from marginalized communities; working on an anti-racism survey; and working on the mission/vision statement now – thank you to Rozzy, Jim Hansen, and the Communication Subcommittee thank you for starting the vision statement; and a resolution.
  • Environmental/Climate Change – Larry Stoodt
    • A protest will be held on Black Friday in front of the new Chase building as they support the largest abusers of fossil fuels.
  • Legislative – Doug Lawrence
    • Met on the 18th – moving our meeting from 3rd Thursday to the 2nd Thursday in December.
    • Discussed the ARPA funding proposals.
    • Kurt Fusaris spoke about the Fair Share Amendment which will be back on the ballot in 2022.
    • Discussed the new redistricting for Framingham and discussed the work we need to begin to encourage great candidates in the new Minority Opportunity District in south Framingham.
  • Outreach – Parwez Wahid
    • There has been criticism that our committee has not been receptive of the minority communities in the city, and we are already working with the Executive Committee and our Outreach Committee to address those issues.
    • Discussed a collaborative joint program between Outreach and Programming to hold two speaker’s events each year at the library.
  • Programming – Rosamond Hooper-Hamersley & Cesar Stewart-Morales
    • We are moving forward in a concrete way to continue the work born out of our anti-racism workshops; working on a survey to discuss ways that we can truly become a diverse committee.
  • Discussion of upcoming Mass Democratic Caucuses and Convention – State Committee Members
    • Convention is in Worcester on June 4th
    • Caucus dates are between Feb 4th – March 12th
      • Caucuses must be either hybrid or virtual, not totally in person.
    • No one will be excluded from the convention and there will be a hybrid set-up, but the focus will be on the in-person convention if we can do it.
    • There is an open seat in the Essex District due to a resignation and we have the opportunity to support a great Democrat and get her elected.
    • Asking everyone to volunteer an hour or two on the phone hub dialer.
    • There is a new sub-subcommittee for Climate Change that the State Party wants to focus on. If anyone is interested in that subcommittee, please contact Parwez.
  • Additional Nominations or Vote for new members
    • There was not a motion to close nominations at the last meeting and the floor is still open.
    • Motion to appoint Mayor Yvonne Spicer as a full member of the FDC by Larry Stoodt; seconded by Rozzy.
      • Mayor Spicer explained why it is important to her to be more involved and join the FDC as a full member.
      • There are currently 1 or 2 seats open and currently in nomination are Audrey Hall, Mayor Spicer, and Priscilla Sousa.
      • Audrey Hall explained she is not looking to have another resume builder but looking to fight for democracy on the national and local levels.
      • Priscilla Sousa explained that being a Democrat has always been in her blood. She continues to work on national campaigns and on the municipal level for several campaigns.
      • Motion to close nominations by Mel Warshaw; seconded by Kathie McCarthy.
        • motion approved unanimously.
      • We will have a zoom meeting on Dec 12th as we cannot have a holiday party as usual due to COVID. We will vote on Dec 12th for the open seat.
    • Discussion of upcoming projects and scheduling
      • If you are supporting a statewide candidate and would like them to speak to the FDC, please send the chair an email.
      • As members of the committee, you have a commitment of 40 hours to volunteer and support campaigns, so please get involved.
    • New Business, member announcements, general announcements for the good of the order
      • Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving and thank you for the work each of you do.
    • Adjourn
      • Motion to adjourn by Kathie McCarthy ; seconded by Larry Stoodt .
        • There was no discussion; motion approved unanimously.

 

 

Special Note: If you or a loved one are experiencing any issues that we can help with during this extraordinary time please contact the Chair or any Officer and we will do all we can to get services or meet any needs that we can for that person. Our Committee has many well-placed members who are always happy to answer the call to action, and we would be honored to render discreet aid to anyone in need, to the best of our abilities.

Next FDC Meeting Date: December 12, 2021, at 7:00 PM