October 2, 2017
PRESENT: David Wihry, John Portela, Maryalice Crofton
Members convened by teleconference at 3pm.
Discussion items:
- It was noted that Exec Committee membership is down to two while Celeste is on medical leave. Ron and Barb have both ended their service on the Commission.
- Carol Rancourt will be asked to chair PIE and Melik Khoury will be asked to chair Excellence and Expertise. If they agree, they will also join Exec Committee. [Note: Both agreed to chair the respective committees as of October 4.]
- The Strategic Plan Team has its first meeting on October 4. The final members from the current Commissioners are John Portela, Melik Khoury, Carol Rancourt, Libby Hite, and Diane Dickerson. From stakeholders and partners, the members are Patti Foden, Shirar Patterson, Meredith Eaton, Joel Russ, Chris Wolff, Jo Orlando, and Maryalice Crofton.
- After discussion, it was decided the Maine Commission should join the States for Service Coalition which is the advocacy arm of ASC. There are private funds that could be used for the membership fee of $500.
- Ron’s departure from the Commission means there is room for Maine representation on the ASC public policy committee. David said he would take that on.
- Mark Hews has requested time at the October meeting to brief the Commissioners on a project to promote civil discourse in communities. It was agreed this could be done at the start of the meeting.
- The head of Maine Masons, Thomas Pulkkinen, will attend the October meeting to present the funds to support the Young Maine Volunteer Service Award program.
- Maryalice reported that Ron Holmes will join the Maine Volunteer Foundation. There is a nominee for the last open seat. The board will be full as of the November 6 meeting.
- Open seats on the Commission were discussed. There are three requests for reappointment, two openings due to resignations, and four naturally occurring vacancies. There are recommendations for all but two seats. John is going to approach the process differently and ask the governor’s staff if there are any objections to potential candidates before the people are asked to complete the paperwork.
There being no other discussion items on the list, the session ended at 4:05 pm