Florida Open Records Unity Movement

Florida Open Records Unity Movement

FORUM held it second meeting of the interim Board of Directors at the Leon County Public Library, Tallahassee, FL at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 25, 2000.

In attendance were Herm Chelette Executive Director, Patty Burns, Director of Operations, and Merle Barrett, Secretary/Treasurer. Also in attendance were Sue Boone, a FORUM member from Perry, FL and Marie Beard, the Director of the Tallahassee Adoption Support Group.

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The items discussed were as follows:

Herm relayed the results of research he had done and the first item was that for every petition signature gathered FORUM would have to pay $.10 (ten cents) to the Supervisor of Elections in the county the signor resided. Since FORUM needs 440,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot, the cost to FORUM would be $44,000.00

The second item that Herm shared was that initiatives can go on the ballots only in years of a general election and only in even numbered years. The result is that the earliest FORUM could place an initiative on the ballot would be in 2002 rather than 2001 as previously hoped for.

A decision was made that Patty would amend the resolution on FORUM’s Website to reflect the change of the target date for the referendum from 2001 to 2002 and to also make a notation that the resolution will be changed as FORUM receives information pertaining to any statement on the resolution.

A discussion was held regarding the size of the task that is before us, including discussion regarding possibly trying to work through the legislature rather than the ballot initiative. It was decided that the first order of business was to develop comprehensive committees to begin to researching every aspect of placing an initiative on the ballot.

As a result, the board agreed to adopt the committee list that Merle Barrett has put together. It was also agreed upon that Merle would put the list of committees on the FORUM list in order to recruit members to fill those positions.

Marie Beard has agreed to research whether the AAC (American Adoption Congress) has a legislative department and whether they would be available to advise FORUM at this time. She has also agreed to contact a constitutional law professor at Florida State University Law School in order to gather information.

Marie has also agreed to give to Merle an AAC list of all the adoption support groups in the state of Florida and Merle will be contacting the head of each group in order to recruit the talents necessary to carry out our resolution.

It was discussed and agreed upon that Herm Chelette and Merle Barrett will attend the Tallahassee Adoption Support Group on Tuesday, June 27, 2000 in order to present FORUM and detail our agenda.

Discussed was the necessity of knowing about any bills going before the Florida Legislature with regard to adoption laws. Merle Barrett has agreed to research how to receive that information in a timely manner.

A discussion was held regarding adoptees and or /birthparents that may be in the public eye and their stance as to open records. Sue Boone has agreed to research the political stance of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

The necessity for FORUM contact information was discussed and Patty Burns has agreed to put together a listing.

A discussion regarding REG DAY was held with FORUM agreeing to participate, at least in Tallahassee, and using it as an opportunity to educate the public regarding not only adoption but FORUM. Sue Boone has agreed to chair the committee regarding our participation in REG DAY.

It was agreed to have the next meeting of the interim Board of Directors on Sunday, July 23, 2000 at the Leon County Public Library at 3:00 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned.

Irreverently Submitted, Merle Barrett Interim Sec/Treas. FORUM