March 6, 2018
PRESENT: Carol Rancourt, John Portela, David Wihry, Maryalice Crofton, Celeste Branham
The session convened by teleconference at 3pm. It was noted that Melik Khoury sent regrets. He is not able to attend the meeting today.
Discussion items –
Policy on Exec Committee action on behalf of the board. There is a bill under consideration which deals with the very issue of members participating using technology. It has been reported out of Judiciary. The sense of this group is to consider the Commission policy at the April meetings so any requirements can be handled all at once.
Carol Rancourt shared that she received a letter from Boards and Commissions saying it was decided not to process her request for reappointment. She will serve as her own replacement for now. There was discussion about the fact this seat is for specific representatives of National Service programs and there are only nine people who meet the qualifications.
John noted he received the same type of letter and his seat is for a representative of a local labor organization. He also will continue to serve until a replacement is named. On a related note, he did send an email asking about the status of the two candidates for appointment to the Commission. There has been no response.
Commissioners’ participation in the April 6 Vision Conference. Only five Commission members have registered and all received the invitation in early February. It is very important that members participate especially given the very high interest. Registration is near 70 representatives of stakeholders. The planning team meets on March 2 to finish the agenda and preparations. Colby College’s Alumni House is the venue and is no cost thanks to the student volunteer director.
April recognition of National Service program staff. This practice was revived last year and gave Commissioners a way to connect with all the programs in the state, not just grantees. John proposes to continue the recognition and lunch at the April 20 meeting. He will remind Commissioners at the March meeting and Maryalice will organize the invitations.
Actions impacting grantees/office. In Washington, Maryalice got an update on the current OIG audit process. Unfortunately, every state audited in the past two years reports the process is difficult because the audit firms have no background on the requirements of these federal programs. Once the audit starts, the process lasts a minimum of 18 months although some states have experienced longer time frames.
The state facilities management division notified Maryalice the Commission will be moved from its current location before August 1. This will be the eighth move. Destination is unknown at this point.
New Commissioner orientation on March 16. The officers have learned that Mr. Chadbourne may be making new recommendations for appointments. Rather than doing two small groups, it was decided to wait and just provide the current new Commissioners with the grant-making orientation. Maryalice was asked to communicate the change to Jamie and Dan.
The session ended at 3:56 pm.