Coordinating Group: Meetings & Calls

Coordinating Group Meeting Minutes
June 16, 1999, Seattle, WA

Present: Bill Auberle, Barry Aarons, Amy Zimpfer, Ursula Trueman, Al Zemsky, Jan Miller, Shawn Kendall, John Leary.

Absent: Kevin Golden, Dan Johnson, Lewis McLeod, Jerry Pardilla, Bill Grantham.

There was extended discussion of how to find money for future years. The estimate of what will be needed for federal FY 2000 is around $3 million at this point. There were good ideas as to how to reach the appropriate members of Congress on this issue.

There was discussion of how to smooth Coordinating Group decision-making, with special focus on a regular monthly phone call and special calls as needed, and the possibility of rotating co-chairs to serve for 3 months at a time. In addition, there is a need for a Federal Land Manager and an environmental representative on the Coordinating Group. Bill Auberle has been talking to environmental representatives who were active in the Commission, and those discussions may be fruitful soon.

Finally, there is a need for better balance on the IOC and the TOC. Those groups were chosen to be balanced but not all approved members are active participants.

The Group approved Jeannine Coward and Cyra Cain as interim appointments to the Communication Committee. Cyra replaces Bob Richards, who has left the State of Montana; Jeannine is an assistant to Kathy Augustine and has a background as an elected official and in the public relations field. There were some misgivings about having two people in a supervisor-employee relationship on the same committee, but the Group accepted this an an interim appointment.

The Comunication Plan was referred back to the Comunication Committee for finalization.