Commission Meeting
September 23, 2015
Conference Call
Approved at the Commission meeting held 10/19/15
Commissioners in attendance:
Jamie Bissonette Lewey (Chair), Joan Nass (State), Steve Holmes (Passamaquoddy Tribe - Sipayik), Bert Polchies (Penobscot), Roy Partridge (State)
Regrets: John Banks, Matt Dana, Dick Gould, Brian Reynolds, Linda Raymond
Others in attendance: Robert Checkoway, Jim Matlack, Diane Oltarzewski, Greg Sample
Minutes recorded by John Dieffenbacher-Krall.
The meeting took place with a quorum as provided under MITSC Bylaw I.F.
Agenda item #8, the Dispute between Maine, EPA over Maine Water Quality Standards, was removed from the agenda.
Joan Nass moved, Bert Polchies seconded to approve the minutes for 8/17/15 as presented. The motion passed unanimously.
John Dieffenbacher-Krall referred Commissioners to the income/expense statement prepared for the meeting. As of 9/11/15, the Commission had received $114,122 and spent $12,472 leaving a balance of $101,650.John Dieffenbacher-Krall also gave a report on fundraising. Grant applications with the Broad Reach Fund and Maine Initiatives are pending. He is currently working on an application to the Betterment Fund. It is due 9/30.
Bert Polchies moved, Joan Nass seconded to approve the MITSC Annual Report 2014-2015 most recently circulated to the Commission on 9/16/15. The motion passed unanimously.
Roy Partridge, who is chairing the MITSC working group for the report with Gail Dana-Sacco, reported that the working group had met via conference call the previous day. He referred Commissioners to the document MITSC Funded Research Project circulated to the Commission prior to the meeting. Roy noted Jamie Bissonette Lewey’s comment that the Commission won’t be interpreting the documents compiled for the report. The research goal is to identify all of the important documents. Whatever form the final scoping document becomes, it will acknowledge the total breadth of research that needs to be done and make recommendations concerning future research needs.
John Dieffenbacher-Krall reported that he had confirmed with Becky Smith at the BIA that the Nashville office had received the Commission’s 8/20/15 letter to Mr. Bruce Maytubby, the new Eastern Regional Office Director. Mr. Maytubby assumed his position 9/10/15. In a follow-up call to Becky Smith placed 9/22/15, she had no news to report on any response from Mr. Maytubby to the MITSC letter.
Jamie Bissonette Lewey and John Dieffenbacher-Krall met with Richard Hollinger, Head of the Special Collections Department, at the UMaine Library Annex where the MITSC records are held on 9/15/15. The UMaine collection of MITSC records comprises 23 standard storage boxes. A project was recently completed to inventory the records. John Dieffenbacher-Krall was asked to make the inventory available to the Commission. Jamie referenced the 2/20/06 letter that the Commission sent to Richard Hollinger. The letter states in part that the Commission wanted the archives open to the public without restriction. Jamie told Commissioners that the archives are not ready for public access. There are documents that contain personal information that should not be accessible to the public. Richard Hollinger will advise the Commission about a process for removal of documents such as the ones with personal information and what to do with them. Jamie asked if any Commissioners want to be involved in the process of preparing the MITSC archives for public access. Bert Polchies volunteered to assist. Jamie quickly reviewed some other issues related to the MITSC archives. She reported that Executive Director John Dieffenbacher-Krall keeps notebooks with notes of many meetings involving the Commission. However, the notebooks contain other information not pertinent to the Commission. There is a question of how to best capture and preserve the MITSC relevant information. John Dieffenbacher-Krall also possesses extensive electronic files. An outstanding question is how to best migrate his MITSC related files to the MITSC archives. A similar question involves his MITSC related email.
John Dieffenbacher-Krall reported that the 207 Technology Group, the company that has provided the phone service for the MITSC land line located in John’s home, will cease providing phone service effective 11/1/15. The Commission needs to decide if it wants to continue having a land line phone. John also has a cell phone paid for by the Commission. Commissioners seemed inclined to not seek another land line phone service as long as the cell phone offers unlimited and free incoming calls. John will investigate this question and report back to the Commission.
Jamie Bissonette Lewey said scheduling would be dealt with at a later date. Joan Nass moved, Bert Polchies seconded a motion to adjourn. It passed unanimously.
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