November 6, 2017
The meeting convened by teleconference at 3 pm.
PRESENT: John Portela, Celeste Branham, Maryalice Crofton
David Wihry was unable to attend. There was a warm welcome back for Celeste who shared that she returned to work part-time this week.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
-- Leadership for task forces. At the November meeting, John will officially announce that Melik Khoury has agreed to chair the Excellence and Expertise Task Force; Carol Rancourt agreed to lead Public Information and Education. Executive Committee needs to poll members to find a date when all can attend. Melik has a long-standing commitment that conflicts with this time.
-- Candidates for Commission service update. In addition to the seats opened by Ron and Barb who retired from the Commission and two seats opened by folks not reapplying, there are five seats open due to resignations or withdrawal of application. Some candidates would be completing the remaining terms: 1 year each through 2018 for Liscord and Gardner; 2 years each through 2019 for Dickerson, Cunningham, and Liu.
John followed up on several leads but the individuals have declined due to other commitments. Candidate applications for Daniel Hinman (new VP of United Way of Eastern Maine – new Maine resident from Ohio) and Jennifer Peters (Sunrise Economic Development Council, Machias) were forwarded to Boards and Commissions. An application from Jamie Logan (communications director for Serra Public Affairs and former communications director for the Senate Majority Office) went directly to Boards and Commissions. Two individuals who indicated they would apply to serve have not yet submitted the forms: Jennifer Tilton-Flood of Clinton is a leader in a northern New England dairy cooperative; Anita Stewart McCafferty is Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership at University of Southern Maine.
-- Strategic plan team update. The 14-member team is making progress. There have been productive meetings. The members will be conducting about 32 interviews of identified stakeholders before the December meeting and completing a survey of both National Service host sites and the nonprofit community.
-- Foundation meeting update. Ron Holmes was elected to the Maine Volunteer Foundation board. MVF is ready to start meeting with potential donors and Service Enterprise support is the first project on the list.
-- Agenda for Nov 17. Both October guests are scheduled to attend in November. A review of items confirmed the rest are routine business.
-- Commission budget application for operating funds due. The budget plan for Jan-Dec 2018 is due to CNCS on 11/9. The budget document reviewed showed all the funds that contribute to Commission operations. This Commission Support grant covers 2.5 FTEs of the 4 FTE staff: 100% of Executive Director and Grant Officer plus 50% of the Planning Research Associate. The Training/Program Development Officer and half the Planning Research Associate are covered on the training funds and Volunteer Generation Grant.
As a small state, Maine’s allocation is always the minimum statutory amount of $250,000 and requires $250,000 in local share which is largely from pro bono services. The items were reviewed and it was noted that there are very minor changes from the current year. Staff were authorized to submit the funding application.
There being no other business, the meeting ended at 4:06 pm.