Orleans Northern Essex Community Partnership

Regional Advisory Group

December 11, 2007

Meeting minutes

 

Welcome

  1. Welcome –

The meeting was called to order at 11:10am.  The members present: Rever Kennedy, Tin Barton-Caplin, John Watson, Bill Crenshaw, Diane Donovan, Ghislaine (Josh) Girouard, Sharon Henault, Julie Mulroy-Evans, Harold Nadeau, Tom Pristow, Jack Rogers, Kenn Stransky (by phone), and Michelle Tarryk.

 

  1. ONECP Budget report: Michelle Tarryk, NEKLS – The budgets are on target.  The Partnership has expended about 45%, there are two more payrolls for 2007 and Michelle has no concerns.  Michelle asked if any Youth Council grants had been returned.  John said the applications will be mailed to the Newport Learning Center, but that none of them have been received.  Diane asked what the Youth Council funds.  John said in the past, the Youth Council funded youth programs, book programs, interviewing WWII veterans, teen centers, community events among others.  Typically the funds may not be used for durable goods.  A small percentage may be used for durable goods in support of a project, but the Youth Council will not fund a grant requesting 100% durable goods.  Tom asked about accruals to be paid to John (prorated).  John said he has used his vacation time.  There may be a vacancy savings, if so, this could be used to help the new position.

 

Minutes

Josh moved to accept the November 2007 minutes as written.  Tin seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Coordinator Report: John Watson

  1. Resignation of Coordinator –  John stated he will be resigning on January 11, 2008.  He is proud of the teen centers and all of the work that has been accomplished.  The phone line and email will be transferred to NEKLS until a replacement is found.

 

  1. Updates

 

Homelessness – Tin reported that the Point In Time is going to be January 31st.  Forms will be filled out to get an estimate of homelessness.  Vermont has the highest homelessness in New England.  People will fill out one sheet per family.  On December 20th, there will be a Homelessness Awareness Event starting at 3pm.  Tin is working on an editorial for the papers.  There was a brief discussion on how the emergency shelter works.  There is a time limit, but it may be extended if the individual is working on his/her action plan and making progress. 

 

BBF – Bill reported that $200,000 will be moved to NEKLS for the purposes of STARS sign on bonuses, fundraising as well as hiring a Development Director.  Bill said BBF is going well. 

CHAMPS – There will be a meeting on Friday to vote on the mission statement, organizational structure, roles/responsibilities and goal setting.  There was a brief report given at the state level where the progress of CHAMPS was reported. 

Incarcerated Women – Volunteers meet with women who are coming out of prison for support and community connections.  Guidelines will be coming out for consistency.  There have been two successful women who have been out of prison for several months now. 

 

Community High School – There is hope for a Community High School site in Newport.  The Community High School is for those individuals that exit prison before completion of his/her diploma.  There is a need and there is support from the community, but the cost analysis has yet to be completed.  The project is still waiting for approval.

 

Youth Council – On December 17th at 5pm there will be a meeting including Barton, Newport, St. Johnsbury and Canaan utilizing NEKLS distance learning equipment.  There was a brief discussion on how the system works.  Bill said NEKLS did a demonstration at Senate Ed with the equipment, UVM has used our distance learning for college courses, the hospital has used our equipment to interview a candidate from California and we are currently working with Lyndon State to get college courses offered at our centers.  Rever and Tom were excited about the possibilities of using the equipment for their organizations instead of wasting time on travel and wanted to know if they could use it.  Bill said anytime, just give him a call.  Bill said NEKLS also has interactive Smart Boards.  When the teacher/student writes on one of them, it shows up on all of them.  This is an excellent tool for teaching.  Bill said we have made our share of mistakes and failures, but we are getting better.

 

Calendar of Events Update – On January 7th, there will be a Partnership meeting for strategic planning.  Tin will talk about the Point In Time event coming up on January 31st.  There was a brief discussion of upcoming topics for future months including Dixie Burns of 2-1-1 and leadership planning.  John will work with Rever and Tin on this.  

 

New ONECP Coordinator – Bill said NEKLS is the employer-of-record and therefore there could be an appearance issue if Kenn participates.  Disclosure should be considered.  Julie should be able to participate without an issue.  There will be an interim (probation) period of six months.  If after six months, the evaluation is positive, employment status will change from interim to regular.  If the evaluation is not satisfactory, the job will be advertised again.  There will be an exit evaluation for John and Rever and Tin will complete it.

 

Next Generation – This money is for workplace training.  If interested, please get applications to Jane Fortin as soon as possible because it is unclear if there will be a second round of proposals accepted.

 

United Way – Rever stated the possibility of working with United Way as the fiscal agent.  With United Way, the Coordinator position would be full time and there would be administrative support.  A strength of United Way would be the shared resources in addition to the part time support to make the Coordinator position full time (35 hours).  Tom suggested we invite United Way up for a discussion and look at their mission statement.  Tom doesn’t know if the Coordinator position needs to be full time.  Rever said it was something she wanted to put out there for discussion but there wouldn’t be a change in the near future.

 

Strategic planning – There was a brief discussion on when a strategic planning meeting should take place.  It was suggested to replace a Partnership meeting with it and extend it to 9-2.  Josh will check the Economic Service conference room and John will send out an email.  Tom suggested sending out the materials before the meeting so everyone would be prepared.  He also thought a facilitator would be beneficial.  Bill mentioned Winton Goodrich for a facilitator.  Bob Consintino was also mentioned.  Tin, Rever and John will meet to finalize this.

 

Adjourn – Tin moved to adjourn.  Tom seconded and the motion passed unanimously.  The meeting adjourned at 12:25pm.