My name is Vallie Needham Huisman, and I was elected as your President to serve a two-year term. I have been a member of the League since 2022 and have served on the Board since 2023. My husband, James, is an active League member and we have three cats named Sartorius, Soleus, and Maximus (bonus points if you can guess my naming scheme).
LWVTC’s fiscal year begins on June 1, and with a new year comes a new Board of Directors. This year, I scheduled our Board Retreat for June instead of August. The Board meets in person at the annual Retreat to discuss goals for the year and vote on annual business as required by our bylaws and policies. Scheduled for four hours, this is the longest Board meeting of the year. This may be daunting for some, but since I enjoy discussing topics like bylaws and policies, I appreciated our productive discussions and was running off the high of our success for days afterward.
Many decisions came out of the Retreat, but I’d like to highlight the approval of three goals the League will concentrate on in the next twelve months: continuing to strengthen the internal governance of the League, reactivating our Observer Corp, and hosting at least two community educational forums. These goals are in addition to the Programs of Work approved by the Membership in May.
Last year, it was brought to my attention that although the League has strong policies, we don’t have a lot in terms of procedures. This has made internal communication difficult and ineffective in many areas. In the next year, the Board will be guiding the process of creating an LWVTC Procedures document, which will be separated from our current LWVTC Policies & Procedures (this document will simply become LWVTC Policies). All these procedures will be drafted by the appropriate committees or active contributors before a final version is approved by the Board.
Our second goal is to rebuild our Observer Corps. This is a key activity for many Leagues across the country, and the Thurston County League once had a very active Corps, which is where trained volunteers attend local public meetings—such as city councils, county commissions, and school boards—to monitor proceedings, promote governmental transparency, and report back to their local league on community policy issues. The process will take time as we identify members who are interested in leading and participating in the project, form a committee, help the committee draft policies and procedures, and organize thorough training for the Observers.
Our third goal is to host at least two educational forums in the next year. One is already scheduled for September 16 in coalition with LWV Jefferson County: Fix Democracy First, a Washington State organization, and American Promise, a national organization, will be discussing money in politics. Keep an eye out for more details on that event.
In closing, I want to remind our members that the League is an organization built on Democracy, and the Board encourages all members to attend our meetings which take place on Zoom on the fourth Wednesdays of the month at 5pm. All members will receive the Agenda Packet and Zoom link in an email prior to the meeting.
Thank you for electing me as your President, and I look forward to working with all of you in the upcoming years!