PRESENT: Celeste Branham, Luke Shorty, Bill Guindon, Diane Lebson, Pam Proulx-Curry, Tom Meuser, Jenni Tilton-Flood, Maryalice Crofton
Committee members convened at 3:30 pm using virtual meeting platform.
I. Urgent and timely matters from Volunteer Maine staff
A. Office staffing and HR movement: Public Information Officer applications closed December 31. The current person is acting capacity. This search will fill the role permanently. Jennifer Burke from the Board, Melissa Beecher from Dept of Education, and Maryalice will be the interview team. The list of qualified applicants came yesterday and interview scheduling is underway. The Volunteer Services Coordinator search opened just before this meeting. The Climate Corps position is now the Program Officer for Special Initiatives. It is ready to go except the financial order has not been signed. Getting this position filled may take right up to the end of March. Last is the Management Analyst. The reclass is approved but the funds are in the 2026 budget so no movement can happen until State Fiscal Year 2026 begins on July 1 and the move to MOCA. There will be a break because the temp services contract that covers our Financial Assistant ends on June 30. The last bit of news is that the reclass of the Executive Director position popped out as approved yesterday morning. That’s ahead of predictions so the search committee will be happy.
Luke noted that he sent a heartfelt thank you to Commissioner Makin who really pushed the ED reclass through.
II. General updates and planning
A. Transition Task Force meeting update + follow up: Luke reported that this task force would meet one final time on January 17. Kaira Esgate, Exec Director of ASC, has been asked to attend and discuss the national outreach they can do for ED candidates. Luke noted that Maryalice submitted her letter of resignation after the reclass was final and he accepted it on behalf of the board. Her last day will be March 28.
This means the Search Committee can be formed. Luke reported that he asked Dept of Ed whether the opening could be posted for 60 days instead of 30 and Chelsey indicated that was possible. He proposed that the Search Committee be the Executive Committee plus Chelsey Fortin-Trimble from the Dept of Education and Samantha Horn from the Maine Office of Community Affairs. The membership would be a good mix of of current leadership, past leadership, potentially future leadership, people who have an understanding of what our task forces are doing, and both agencies involved as fiscal agent.
Discussion turned to staffing the search and what tasks would be involved. The person needs a Maine government email in order to access some of the HR sites and pull information for the group. There was agreement the tasks would be administrative only. Bill noted the person would need to be aware of state hiring processes so nothing gets off the trail. Maryalice did a quick walk through of the steps and documentation requirements. Exec members decided to ask Michael to be lead and have Kofi assist with communications and other routine tasks.
Conversation then moved to outreach and getting the notice widely posted. The state puts it on their website which does feed into InDeed. Anything else is up to the agency. Again, the posting on the ASC job board and pushing the notice to all the state commissions would be an important step. Note was made of professional sites on which the notice should go. It was suggested that a budget should be set for the outreach and Luke said he would check if there was $1,500 available when the Financial Task Force meets on January 21.
As the intensity and speed of the process became evident, it was agreed that a timeline was necessary. Luke said he’d put together a Gantt chart with all the steps and milestones. It would be ready for the Transition Task Force to discuss and the search committee to review when it first meets. Celeste reminded members that the Transition Task Force had Kaira interview board leadership and staff last year to learn what traits and skills the next Executive Director should have. That work needs to be sent around again.
B. Connecting with new legislature. The orientation for the Commission oversight committee, State and Local Government, is set for January 27. Luke will make the presentation. Public Policy will meet on January 22 and can discuss any points that need to be emphasized. All Commissioners are invited to attend the SLG presentation or listen to it using the legislative streaming service.
C. January board business meeting. The federal issues and state budget will not be out before January 17 so the information needed for discussions won’t be known. Members decided to cancel the January meeting and hold minor items for February 21.
D. Briefing the Foundation on possible funding issues. Discussion covered two issues. The first was letting the Foundation board know the implications of federal funding in whatever budget follows the Continuing Resolution that expires mid-March. The second was how to support their fundraising. Celeste is the Commission liaison to the Foundation. She and Diane will consult and connect with the foundation president.
III. Task Force Updates
—Grant Selection and Performance. Bill shared that the Penobscot Nation Housing grant for an AmeriCorps program was again returned. The leaders did so with regret but they do not have the staff to support the program.
—Service Programs. Tom indicated he’d asked Michael to do a poll and schedule the meetings. The first one will be January 21. Tom has a new email – his UNE one is closed out.
There being no other issues to discuss, the meeting ended at 4:31 pm