2010-09-10 Committee on the Status of Women Minutes

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A. Mejia moved to accept the treasurerÓs report. C. Kitaoka seconded the motion. The motion was passed. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC S. Bracken and P. Kelii-Vredenburg are attending todayÓs meeting because they would like to advocate announcing the inductees prior to the event. S. Bracken said she would like to know the rationale for not announcing the events. When she was inducted two years ago, the nominees were informed in advance that they were going to be in the hall of fame and she was able to invite friends, relatives, A. Mejia explained that there were four recipients during S. BrackenÓs time. The committee wanted a lot of attendees to attend so they decided to make it similar to the emmy awards. All the nominees were honored together and family a come and join the event. K. Peters stated that the previous committeeÓs attorney from Corporation Counsel had some concerns about the county spending public money on an event to honor only six women. S. Bracken said she looked at different hall of fame organizations and the process for all of them is a similar process. People submit nominations, the committee selects the inductees, inductees are announced, inductees are invited to the event, and the inductees are honored. She asked CSW to consider changing the process back to the way it was before because it would enable the inductee to invite many more guests to the event, if known in advance, including people from off island. S. Bracken said if she knew that her nominee was inducted into the hall of fame, her intent is to invite the nomineeÓs off island family and some of the state representatives with whom she has worked in the past. She feels that providing adequate notice and adequate publicity will increase attendance. In addition, she would like to see the event as a joyous celebration, not of competition where you have winners and losers. If she was nominated and she didnÓt know she was going to win, she definitely would not be inviting people to come. She wouldnÓt want to ask friends to spend $35 for lunch and asking them to make a long drive. If you announce people in advance, you can certainly get a lot of additional publicity if increasing attendance is one of the committeeÓs objectives. S. Bracken indicated that she donÓt like to particularly see high accomplishing women be put in any kind of embarrassing situation. This is not what she sees as the womenÓs hall of fame is being all about. P. Vredenburg said that if she was a nominee and she invited friends and family and she wasnÓt selected, it would be a point of embarrassment and hurt for her. As an event coordinator and catering director, she understands the need to find an avenue to increase attendance. Just the chance of hurting somebody or emba is not worth it for her. She suggested that one way to ask ÐkokuaÑ or at a nominal fee is 2