Attendance: Kevin Owens, Gail Ardery, Holly Hart

I. Report on Iowa City Community School District Board Meeting past week:

They voted to purchase the land near the Camp Cardinal Road. Two members (Aletia Morgan and Lauren Reece) voted No: Morgan claimed there were problems with the plan and school district funding developers; Reece issued a written statement noting problems with the evasion of carefully developed procedures, and the lack of "scattered site" (i.e., limited-income and affordable housing) in the development plan, contrary to the board's directives. Other members stated they agreed the process was flawed and felt there were flaws with the proposal but voted Yes, anyway.

The agreed-upon Wind Turbine at Van Allen School is still not installed. Members will try to attend the next School Board meeting and raise the question: will they release the study? If a response is not forthcoming, will send letters to editors.

II. Election reform:

Some good news; the Iowa Senate passed (48-0) a bill that
would require all voting equipment used in Iowa to include VVPAT (Voter Verified Auditable Paper Trail). It's now stalled in the House by a few Republicans. Many county auditors oppose the bill, because of the expense involved. In fact, upgrades are needed anyway to ensure HAVA compliance. The Secretary of State has approved 4 vendors whose equipment may be purchased, and counties will be permitted to choose. Some lobbying has been going on around the state.

Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett announced that the companies would be presenting demonstrations on May 2nd and 3rd at the Johnson County County fairgrounds. Of the equipment shown, VoteTrustUSA recommended the ES & S Marksense. The Johnson County Board of Supervisors
and Auditor chose what ES & S presented here, Automark opti-scan, similar to what Johnson County uses now. This appears to be similar to the MarkSense, ensures accessibility for (mobility-impaired and blind voters, and includes substantial paper ballots; central tabulation for absentee ballots and recount; and an option for hand recounts is available.

Good news: Tom Slockett announced on Tuesday, May 3, that the Governor said he would veto any elections reform bill that did not include VVPAT.

III. Surveys of traits of party members sent out by a Briar Cliff College student.

All have been distributed around the state. The student has already received some returns and was impressed with our membership - apparently, we don't meet the stereotype!

IV. Candidate forums. As city council race moves forward, members discussed inviting candidates to a meeting, and possible endorsement. We also discussed the possibility of organizing a candidate forum, possibly focusing around issues especially relevant to Greens. We plan to do some study of various topics and prepare questions.

V. SEIU is organizing P & S staff at the UI. The question was raised of whether the Johnson County Green Party
supports labor unions. The answer is yes; and we have some memebrs also in the Labor Party, and were part of the Community Coalition supporting the successful SIEU drive
at the University of Iowa Hospitals a few years ago. There was overall agreement that SEIU is a good move for the
UI P & S staff.

Next meeting: June 7th, 2005
Location: Uptown Bill's Small Mall

Signed, Holly Hart

Secretary, Johnson County Green Party

August 5th, 2005