Meeting on August 13th - IMPORTANT

[BeerBlessings]

It is important that many of us attend the next Trustee meeting to show support for the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. Information will be corrected as it is found.

I will have several replies to this post to segregate information into categories, so it is easier to update. Please check these for the "Edited on" date/time for the most recent versions.


Trumbull Trustee Meeting
Thursday August 13th
8:00PM
Meeting Location: Trumbull Fire Hall, 2443 SR 534


Meetings 8:00, on the second and fourth Thursdays.


Trumbull Township
Settled 1818; 2000 population 1,461
Mailing Address: 2730 Mechanicsville Rd., Rock Creek
Meeting Location: Fire Hall, 2443 SR 534
Telephone Number/Fax: [phone]
Zip Codes: Geneva 44041; Rock Creek 44084
11/06
BOARD OF TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES (Meets 2nd and 4th Monday @ 8:00 p.m.)

The link is: www.co.ashtabula.oh.us/pdf./planning/directory/Communitydirectory09.pdf

Trumbull is page 36

The phone number listed to contact is the same as that for the fiscal clerk, which is "mailbox full"..........




We are confirming that non-residents can attend. We also need to determine if non-residents have speaking priviledges at this meeting.


Earlier today, Bunnie said she had talked to Larry, and obtained permission for those us going to park at Faire, and car-pool to the meeting. As such, we will have a pre-meeting meeting so that all of us will be on the same page.


6:30PM - Arrive at GLMF Site
7:00 - Pre-meeting begins.
7:30 - Pre-meeting ends, and we go to our respective Car-Pool vehicles.
7:45 - Arrive at Fire station.
8:00 - Trustee meeting starts.


PLEASE, be at Faire site by 6:45 if at all possible! We will have important information to give here, and we will not have time to repeat for those coming in late.

[BeerBlessings]

This post is reserved for information regarding the Pre-meeting.. Itinerary/agenda and so-forth.

[BeerBlessings]

This post is reserved for Guidelines regarding "Code of Conduct"... How we act may very well send a larger message than our words..


Dress nicely. No garb. I will be wearing a suit and tie. We are not the weirdos that play dress-up in the woods that they think we are.

Be polite and mind your manners.

Stay calm, cool, and collected. If you speak at the meeting, do NOT let emotion get the better of yourself. If it becomes too empassioned, you can be found out of order, and the meeting ended. The last thing we want is "The meeting had to be ended due to disruption from the Medieval Faire people."


We will have solid information, and want to generate good questions to ask. We want to avoid things that can degenerate into "Why are you guys such big meanies?!?!"

Do not let yourself be provoked.


Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES is anyone to do anything mean to the Trustees or their property. No eggings, toilet-papering, or slashed tires. .. Okay, this point is in half-jest, but the point is we do not want to harm these people the way they are harming us.

[BeerBlessings]

This post is reserved for "groups" of people to talk to, so that they are informed of the meeting and can show their support and give their input. These people include:

Faire workers
Vendors
Patrons
"Secondary economy"

We need to show support from the patrons and "Secondary economy" especially. These are people that do not benefit *directly* from the faire.

By "Secondary Economy", I mean those businesses that earn money off the people in the area for the Faire. Hotels, restaurants, etc.. If you know people that this may apply to, please inform them of the meeting to they may also give their input.


Secondary Economy "targets":
Area hotels
Area campgrounds
Eddie's
Swiss Chalet
hotels/motels in Geneva-on-the-Lake
Geneva-on-the-Lake in general.
Hartsgrove General Store
Hartsgrove BP
Restaurants at 534 and I-90


We may also want to contact media in case they may want to be there as well. We'd probably get a better response from the more local agencies.. (Especially since the News Herald just ran a front-page story on GLMF!).. But the TV station news may even be interested.

[BeerBlessings]

This post is reserved for car-pooling logistics, as we do not want to overflow the parking area for the meeting. Yes, a large show of support is good, but not to the point where it is disruptive.

If you do not determine your car-pooling arrangements otherwise, please try to arrange them ahead of time..

Trevor, if you would prefer, we can split this off into a separate thread. Otherwise, we can do it here if we follow these guidlines:

DRIVERS: Post how many available seats you have in your vehicle.
RIDERS: PM the driver to reserve a spot.
Drivers: When your vehicle fills up, modify your post and/or reply to say it is filled.

Drivers, park in front of the Office.
Riders, park in the field.

It will be easier to caravan out that way.

If there are people that do not have rides there, we will try to match you up with a driver when you get there. This is another reason we have arrival starting at 5:45..

Also, is there anyone that will come to the Pre-meeting early that could be our "Car-pool co-ordinator"? .. Mostly, when people arrive, ask them: Are you a driver or rider? If Driver, is your vehicle full yet? If Rider, do you have arrangements yet? ... then try to condense vehicles going as people arrive.

[Lady Catharine]

BB,
I contacted Ch 3 this am, I wasn't the only one who contacted them.
I emailed Ch 19, after leaving messages this morning,
I called Carl Monday , Ch 19 bus/ cell number, plus sent an email and gave info about Thursday nite meeting.

When I spoke to Ch 3 news this morning, they possibly will be attending the meeting.
She was non committal.

[Sir Trevor]

Thanks for this thread Dave.
You mentioned a lot of things I was thinking about posting all day today at work.
The no garb.
Show them we are normal people.
Show them that we are upstanding citizens who like to come to faire and have a little fun.

Remember. IF the media does show up, they will be looking for any odd-balls. Any way to spin the story and make it more "interesting". Don't give them any reason to make the story about the people supporting the faire. We want the story to be about why are the trustees doing this? Where is the money coming from? And who it is hurting.

[mamawench]

I will be there but won't be there untill 6:30. I have to work till 5:30 and it is an hour drive to get there. Hopefully I will find a parking place. See you all there.

[Dillasandra]

Backing Dave a thousand percent here, particularly on how to act at that meeting. This is a 'been there, done that' thing for me, more than a few times. Emotion is BAD. Logic is good. Sane, calm, sensible. They don't CARE how much we love the place and each other. TOTALLY moot point. We need to fight with hard, cold fact that we can back up until the cows come home, keep our tempers in check no matter what, and generally look, sound and act like the most boring, upstanding, sensible conservative bunch of citizens you've ever seen!

Little tip to remember, too. A union rep told me this the day I was elected union steward, and it served me well in all my years in the position. Simply, the first one to yell loses..................

[BeerBlessings]

Pssst... In the pre-meeting, I will cover a few things to do and not to do... During the meeting, I plan on not asking any questions, but being a "quiet cop". if I hear our group start to grumble, I will flash some "quiet sign" meaning we all have to STFU. If *I* can hear you, then the rest of the folks will too. We will not let ourselves be the reason this meeting ends.

Also, and this may be foreign to a number of us.. One thing I learned from my fraternity days. the best show of applause while remaining very controlled is snapping fingers. It has a unique sound, and the person running the meeting does not have to speak up much to be heard. So if any good points are made, do not clap, but SNAP. And it leaves one helluva impression afterwards, too.

Quiet, controlled, calm. Repeat after me.. Quiet.. Controlled.... Calm......

[Fairemom rita]

Just one thing you all should know. on the citations we recieved this weekend the court date is also on the 13th but at 9 am so by the time you have your meeting things will have already been in the courts! I feel it is VERY important that as many people as possible still attend this meeting as it is extremly important. for most of us GLMF is a home away from home. I would hate for it to be ruined but some short-sited, small-minded, irritant with a napolean complex!

[Allyn]

Just kind of repeating what some others have already said....
Most of these meetings are run by I believe they are called
Roberts rules of order. They have rules they follow.
Calm, cool, and collected, will have better impact. I've been at a few meetings where one or two from our side of the issue jumped up, flipped off our trustees told them to ...well you know...
and went storming out of the meeting. THIS MAKES EVERYONE LEFT SITTING THERE FEEL LIKE A DORK! It makes those left sitting there uncomfortable, and those who are going to speak, it can throw off your train of thought. Allyn

[The Highwayman]

I'm the chief executive of a body-politic larger than Trumbull Township and know all the ins and outs of Robert's Rules, so if anyone needs advice there, I can be of use.
The technical issues they are pressing aside, I've also had a lot of practice in persuasive speaking (that is, not argument on facts but more emotions; if used in conjunction with argument on facts from others, very useful), so if we can confirm that non-residents are allowed to speak, I will offer my words if you all would like. Beyond some skill with words, I'm otherwise a useless individual but will be there to increase our numbers, heh.

[Capt. Morgan]

And when Ren McCormack stands up and starts talking about having the dance, don't all start hootin' and hollerin......

.....oh crap....

....different situation....

(Sorry, I was just getting a "Footloose" flashback...)

[Griffins Wife]

Has anyone noticed that today the trumbull township websites states that the next meeting is not until November 25th. Can anyone confirm?