March 20, 2002
Before the meeting began Ike Kelley, Interior GLOBE's representative to the Departmental Diversity Council, stated for the record that while there had been no official notice "it appears" that the Departmental Diversity Council will be eliminated and/or replaced with another council.
Status Update - New Officers in Place
The officers elected at the February 20, 2002 meeting began their terms with this March Meeting. As a reminder to all members the new officers of Interior GLOBE are:
Jerry Bock, President
David Quick, Vice President
Jim Gasser, Secretary
John Haugh, Treasurer
Jay Douglas, FedGLOBE Representative
Jerry and Maria had already met and transferred files and information on the office of President. John Haugh will meet with Daphne to transfer the funds in the Treasurer's account. There was a discussion about the need to communicate with the members during the continued lack of Internet access to all offices and bureaus. Home e-mail addresses will be used when ever possible, however, they will be bcc'ed on all e-mails as the membership felt that home e-mail addresses are not to be provided on any mass distribution. Both Maria and Bob provided their home e-mails for use during this time.
Outreach Efforts
Jerry asked that Ike Kelley continue to monitor any developments on the Departmental Diversity Council. There was a discussion of how Interior GLOBE could work with other recognized employee organizations to express concern over this possible change in the Diversity Council structure. No decision was stated.
Maria volunteered to draft a memo to Melodee Stith, Director of EEO, introducing the new Interior GLOBE officers and requesting a meeting either this Friday of next week. It was agreed that the new officers would ask Melodee to set up other meetings for the new officers with new Departmental officials.
As a primary outreach item, the Newsletter was passed around. The members present thanked Tami Heilemann, Maria Wiseman, and Bob Veltkamp for their work in creating the newsletter and putting it on the website. Articles for the next newsletter are needed in the month ahead so members are encouraged to contribute to this valuable tool.
June Pride Planning
Jerry asked what needed to be done about the June Pride events. Jim stated that Melodee had already identified her office as the lead for the Departmental June Pride events. Jerry suggested that Interior GLOBE work with GLOBE groups from other agencies with month long Pride activities. A date was discussed for the Interior Departmental event and it was decided that June 26 was the best date. Jay Douglas will be asked to coordinate our event with other FedGLOBE organizations. Bob will contact DOI/NBC to secure the South Interior Auditorium for the 26th of June between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. It was further agreed that the Not What You Think Ensemble of the Washington Gay and Lesbian Chorus would be invited this year to provide musical entertainment.
Jerry asked for suggestions for speakers. The following were suggested:
White House AIDS Policy Director
U.S. Ambassador to Romania
A representative from PFLAG
The Metropolitan Washington Chief of Police
The Gay & Lesbian Liaison from the Metropolitan Washington Police Department
Rosie O'Donnell
Other suggestions from the members are invited; please send them to Jerry Bock.
Maria volunteered to manage the Film Festival and will work with John to get funding to rent the movies. They will be shown during lunch hours in June.
Jerry further suggested that during the next meeting we determine a calendar of events for the month and also find out when the major city events for Pride Month are this year.
Other Business (Open Forum)
John in USGS has asked that the telephone hookup with the USGS Reston Offices be re-established. Bob agreed to support the provision of the speakerphone for that purpose.
Meetings for the rest of the year will be held in the John Muir Room (formerly the small buffet room) on the B-level, with the exception of the May 8th meeting, which has been moved to 7000B. The monthly meetings will be held as follows: April I0; May 8; June 12; July 10; August 14; September 11; October 9; November 13; and December 11. John Haugh asked that the noise levels in the John Muir room be checked as he found the room difficult due to noise levels of the air handlers.
Nominations for the John Berry award will be discussed during the April 10, 2002 Interior GLOBE meeting. Please send them to Jerry Bock no later than April 9.
Jerry asked to review the ideas the members had for other non-meeting events for Interior GLOBE. Maria reviewed the Happy Hour gatherings and stated that over all they were "not overwhelmingly successful." It was discussed that monthly happy hours might have been too many. Jerry suggested a potluck luncheon and Maria suggested that might be useful as a June Pride event. It was suggested that Jerry ask Jay to discuss this with FedGLOBE at the next meeting. It was hoped that FedGLOBE would host a large event often enough to bring non-participating members to them.
Jerry asked and David encouraged Interior GLOBE members' participation in a volunteer's event. In the past, Interior GLOBE Members had participated in providing support monthly to Food & Friends. Jerry suggested that he would look into the reestablishing participation on Thursday nights instead of the night of monthly Interior GLOBE meetings.
Revised: 06/09/02
Robert_J_Veltkamp@nbc.gov