PRESENT: Jenifer Tilton-Flood, Luke Shorty, Ed Barrett, Celeste Branham, Pam Proulx-Curry, Maryalice Crofton
The members convened at 3pm using the virtual meeting technology.
Final review of attendance policy. The draft attendance policy has been reviewed by the AAG Sarah Forster. Her comments were actually questions about whether Commissioners were aware of the implications. In particular, whether every meeting would have a virtual option for public attendance. That is the intent. After some discussion of process and minor revisions, the draft was finalized. It will be circulated to Commissioners for comment. Any feedback will be incorporated into the final draft. The final proposed policy will be posted with the meeting agenda and a hearing on the policy will be held immediately before the Commission meeting.
Vaccination/masking for in person meeting(s). With the re-emergence of COVID spread and cases, members are concerned about in-person meetings. The board is in a tough spot because it must meet in person to adopt the policy regarding hybrid meetings. Some members cannot participate in-person for health reasons. Regardless, the meeting room can accommodate a quorum but, since it is open to the public, it will not be possible to predict overall attendance. After a wide-ranging discussion it was decided to require masks for any person in the meeting room: board members, staff, members of the public. The members unanimously rejected the idea of polling the board about vaccination status. The September in-person meeting will have a very limited agenda with the primary business being adoption of the remote participation policy. Following adjournment, Commissioners can use remote technology to attend the retreat.
Executive committee members agreed the following would be the policy for masking at meetings and that Exec would review this policy regularly to determine whether it is still necessary:
- Until further notice, out of an abundance of care, concern, and respect for the people and communities we serve, work with, and represent, masks will be required to be worn by the commissioners, staff, and public in attendance at Volunteer Maine meetings and offices, in accordance with science based guidance from the CDC and Maine CDC.
Report from Celeste about DEI consultant interviews. The interviews were completed. One person is available for the retreat kick off workshop. Margaret Brownlee is both a private consultant and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at the Maine College of Art. In the conversation with her, she agreed to discuss a longer involvement after the workshop but was not in a position to consider it now. Her presentation will be on Thursday, day one, of the retreat. Maryalice will take care of the logistics for her participation.
Progress on recruiting for nominees to open seats. Three people have not given their final decision. The deadline is now. Members will follow up with the people assigned to them for outreach.
Other. There was a brief discussion of the challenges with AmeriCorps ARPA funding. Information about ARPA for commission funds and VGF have been withheld by the federal agency.
There being no other discussion items, the members dispersed at 3:55 pm.