Alcona County Republicans

Meeting Minutes

April 24, 2023

Opening:

The Meeting called to order by Carrie Mullins at the Alcona EMS Building on M72 at 7:09pm.

Present:

Carrie Mullins, Chairman

Jeffrey Dobbs, Vice Chairman

Jessica Dobbs, Secretary

Gary Wnuk, Youth Vice Chair

Greg Anderson, Sergeant At Arms

Kris Anderson, Trustee

Judy French, Trustee

Andy Jamieson, Trustee

Danica Jamieson, Junior Trustee

Absent:

Drew Wagener, Treasurer

William Sickner, Trustee

Larry Brozowski, Trustee

Business:

Pledge of Allegiance & Invocation Given

To start the meeting, we stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance, and an Invocation was given by Gary Wnuk.

Invocation

Gary Wnuk lead us in prayer.

Treasurer Needed

Chris Wagener is no longer Deputy Treasurer. Her resignation was immediate. Drew Wagener is still a treasurer for only 1 more month. We desperately need a treasurer.

Speakers

Brandon, a member of Team Bergman visited our meeting. He spoke to some of the things that Jack Bergman is up to. The Farm Bill, Spending Bill and more.

Perry Johnson sent a book to our group, with a letter stating he is willing to come to one of our meetings and/or events to speak to us. Carrie will send him a response inviting him to do so.

Membership Dues

There is a membership form in our packet in case we want to hand that out to someone who wishes to join. Form will be attached to the minutes.

Resolutions to Discuss/Vote On

Each of the resolutions will be attached to these minutes. SB0686 is not attached to these minutes.

Censure of 11 Republicans Who Voted with Dems Regarding “Trans Rights”:

• Gary moves to accept the resolution. Jess seconds. Discussion: none.
• Roll Call Vote:
  • Carrie Mullins – Yes
  • Jeff Dobbs – Yes
  • Jess Dobbs – Yes
  • Kris Anderson – Yes
  • Greg Anderson – Yes
  • Judy French – Yes
  • Danica Jamieson – Yes
  • Gary Wnuk – Yes
  • Andy Jamieson – Yes
• Motion Passes Unanimously.

NPVIC Opposition Resolution:

• 10 States have already passed this bill. Michigan is trying to be next. HB4156. SB0126 are the bill numbers. (House and Senate respectively.) They are stagnant in both election committees of both chambers. (as of the 2nd of March of this year.)
• Gary moves to accept this resolution. Jeff seconds. Discussion: Andy with a question: Is what they’re doing unconstitutional? There is a legal argument on this thing, and if it was passed, there will likely be numerous lawsuits to challenge it. Likely a violation of the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution. Only 5 times that the EC (electoral college) actually goes against the National Popular Vote. This will turn our Constitutional Republic into a Democracy. Mob rule. RNC passed it in 2019. AZ has passed this same resolution too.
• Roll Call Vote:
  • Carrie Mullins – Yes
  • Jeff Dobbs – Yes
  • Jess Dobbs – Yes
  • Kris Anderson – Yes
  • Greg Anderson – Yes
  • Judy French – Yes
  • Danica Jamieson – Yes
  • Gary Wnuk – Yes
  • Andy Jamieson – Yes
• Motion Passes unanimously.

Support of “Revised School Code” HB4284:

• County Commissioners have passed this resolution. Gary is talking with the FEC about this resolution too. He’s trying to get some publicity.
• Core Curriculum is what this resolution is looking at. This is the foundation of the country.
• We’re gonna broadcast this on our respective platforms, to further gain visibility.

2A Call on Commissioners to Instruct Legislators to Oppose Firearms Control:

• Carrie wants to take this resolution to the County Commissioners, along with the resolution they already passed in 2020 as a reminder to them. She wants us to go to the Commissioners Meeting, present them, and ask for a vote. (This and the two resolutions below.) She got this resolution in particular from Marquette.

Call on Commissioners to Denounce Whitmer’s Infringement on Rights:

• Carrie talked about it. See it attached to these minutes.

Property Protection, Ban the Fed, Redress of Grievances:

• Carrie talked about it. See it attached to these minutes.

SB0686:

• (TicTok Restriction Bill that doesn’t even mention TicTok) Eyes must be kept on this bill. This is not attached to the minutes, but it was mentioned, and is important enough to be added to the minutes.

Announcement – June 11^th LRT Dinner

Alcona County Republicans will be hosting their yearly fundraiser on June 11^th, 2023 at the Lost Lake Woods Club. More information to follow as we start to create the brochures, flyers, etc. for the event.

Announcement – Calendar of Events for the Year

See attached handout with these minutes.

There may be a special election for Alcona County this year, if the ACCOA decides to ask for a second millage. It seems the previous ACCOA Board didn’t renew the second millage in 2022, and now the ACCOA is severely under budget. We will inform you if this special election occurs.

Announcement – Elected Leadership for the MIGOP and 1^st Congressional District

See attached handout with these minutes.

Announcement – Gotion Protest

It’s a Chinese Battery Plant that is to be built on our taxpayer dime, on 500 acres of land, north of Big Rapids, in a township called Green Township. State of Michigan, is giving them 715 MILLION incentive, tax breaks for 30 years, 175 MILLION in Grants to build the plant.

Lots of push back from the community, but their township board and planning commission is NOT pushing back. They’re (seemingly) looking at the tax revenue that they’re getting from the state, instead of what the people want.

The Bylaws of the company state they must do activities that support the CCP.

Announcement – Adopt a Highway

M65 McCollum Lake Road and Bugg Road is our 2 mile stretch for Adopt-a-Highway.

April cleanup will be taken care of by Greg and his friends.

Other cleanup dates are as follow: 15-23 July, 23 September to the 1st of October.

Reports: Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer’s Report is attached to these minutes.

Reports: Minutes

Carrie went over the minutes briefly for everyone in attendance. Jeff motioned to approve the minutes. Greg seconded. All approved and motion passes.

New Business: LRT Dinner Planning

We still need to select the menu, and Greg, Kris, Jeff, and Jess will all go with Carrie to go over the contract and menu items for the event.

Silent Auction donations are needed.

New Business: Website

Jess gave an update on the website. The current website was moved from VistaPrint to Wix, by VistaPrint. However, when that transition happened, it rendered the website uneditable. If we try to edit anything, the entire content of the website disappears.

As such, Jess has donated her time and talent to creating a brand new website on the WordPress platform. She is currently moving the data from the current site to the new website platform, and hopes to have the entire new site up and running before the current site is set to expire in June. (This job would normally cost about $1500 or more.)

She has also purchased a new domain name for our website, because we’re unsure if we’re going to be able to keep the current domain name. The new domain name will be www.alconagop.com. This will be $40 every two years, and Jess has donated the first 2 years to our group already.

New Business: 1^st District Dues

It’s now $30 per voting delegate for our dues to the 1^st Congressional District. That means we owe $120 this year.

Jess moves to pay the dues. Andy seconds.

Roll Call Vote:

• Carrie Mullins – Yes
• Jeff Dobbs – Yes
• Jess Dobbs – Yes
• Kris Anderson – Yes
• Greg Anderson – Yes
• Judy French – Yes
• Gary Wnuk – Yes
• Andy Jamieson – Yes

Motion Passes unanimously.

Good of the Order (Public Comment)

Carrie:

• Larry Hull sent her a text. TacticalCivics.com 11 minute video on that site. It piqued her interest. It’s a way to engage people and get them involved with County, Township, Prosecutor, Sheriff, Board of Commissioners, etc. Carrie will send out a reminder email

Andy:

• 3 things to mention. Officially and publicly thank the ACR for paying for the delegate fees. They had a wonderful time and really enjoyed it. They connected with Ralph Rebrandt and his wife. Also with Carrie, Jeff, and William. Next two things not as popular.
• How long have our dues been set at the level they’ve been set. Who sets them?
• Can we change them?
• He is interested in raising the dues so we can get more money.
• Carrie said the dues were lowered to help people get involved. We do have sponsorship levels. Jaynee put these current prices into place in 2019.
• His son loves the Nissan convertible. And he wants to show that off. LRT & Car SHOW!!! Interesting idea. Maybe have him come to the parades so he can drive us around. Do a Car Show Fundraiser. Maybe on a Sunday afternoon even. Like, for $15 entry fee.
• 3rd one: If Trump is the nominee… Might want to do LR dinner instead of LRT dinner.
• Andy moves to remove Trump for now while he’s a candidate with others in the running, Gary seconds. Discussion: none. Ayes have it.

Gary:

• Thank you for not voting on his resolution as a party. He’s trying to stay unpolitical as possible. Because of the school board. He wants the School Boards to unite. He’s been talking with KK. Any way we can help promote that resolution would be great. Would like every Chair of every county to start getting information on the school board members and what they’re doing and/or not doing.

Tentative Agenda for the Next Meeting:

• We NEED a Treasurer

• Resolutions (2A, Censure)

• LR Dinner Updates

• Website Updates

• Other Agenda Items to be Added as Needed

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn, called by Jeff, seconded by Jess at 8:49pm. Next open meeting to be held on May 22, 2023 at 7pm at the Alcona County EMS Building on M72. (2600 E. M-72, Harrisville, MI 48740.)

Minutes submitted by: Jessica Dobbs