Committee's conference call July 31, 2007

After a false start with Skype, we succeeded in having an old-fashioned conference call with all on except Nick, who couldn't make it. After getting to know one-another, Jordan synthesized our call of over an hour down into five points:

• We'll met in Concord next week, as understanding where we're all coming from on this process is important.


• It’s too soon to think about formal interviews. There’s a mountain of information in the documents that Amy sent along and in the binder. We’re best of digesting that and making our work plan face-to-face.


• Confidentiality. We recognize people’s concerns with this as regards giving us information. Our intention would be to honor requests for confidentiality. We see no constructive role for anonymity in this process. We are aware that there are issues regarding information given to us and the Board of Directors. Regarding committee deliberations, source documents, and draft documents, we’ll covenant confidentiality with each other.


• There is a sense of urgency in the community about this. It affects fund-raising and trust in our governance.


• The committee was comfortable with Jordan going to the Island staff meeting this week primarily to help them understand what this committee is about – understanding the time-line and the issues that got us to this place. Informal conversations around this will probably be a good thing, but again, we’re no where near an “interview” process.

Electronic versions of files

Amy e-mailed along 19 additional documents for the committee's review. Jordan passed them along to the committee.

Jordan, Brad Greeley, Amy Lockwood meet

In order to get the committee started, Brad Greeley and Amy Lockwood met with Jordan. Amy passed along about two inches of documents that she had found and believed were relevant to the committee. We also talked about issues of confidentiality and practical issues.

A Little Background on the Committee Members

People have asked for a little background on the committee members, beyond what would fit in the press release. Here's a little "Star Island" and "real world" bio of each of us:

Martha Copithorne

• has attended various conferences since around 1946, inlcding LRY, Pel reunion
  
• most recently involved in LOAS I and LOAS II where she was co-chair in 1985
  
• has been on corporation nominating committee
  
• has been on corporation committee on appointments
  
• retired family court judge
  
• retired attorney
  
• two son were Pelicans

Nick Dembsey

• has attended International Affairs since around 2002
  
• Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Doug Hatfield

• has attended UCC I since around 1980.
  
• was on the Corporation board in the early 1990's.
  
• is now on the board of directors of the "permanent trust" (endowment).
  
• attorney.
  
• retired district court judge.

Dick Howe

• has attended International affairs since around 1979.
  
• was on the Corporaiton board 1990 - 1999.
  
• Corporation President, 1995 - 1999.
  
• former property manager, Trustees of Reservations
  
• former town manager

Jack Lightfoot

• has attended various conferences since around 1953
  
• most recently involved in Natural History conference (where he is treasurer)
  
• Corporation board in the early 1990's
  
• currently on the Isle of Shoals UU board
  
• attorney
  
• legislative advocate for children and family services

Jordan Young (chair)

• has attended All Star II since 1969, chair in 1989, currently secretary
  
• member, Board's "Financial Accessibility Task Force" 2001-2002
  
• database analyst at the Salzburg Global Seminar
  
• prior to that, business process consultant
  
• co-author, several ...for Dummies books

Russ Peterson - Board liaison

• has attended Natural History since around 1992
  
• two children were Pelicans
  
• Board member since April 2007
  
• investment manager
  
• prior to that, career in healthcare financial management

Kristi Vazifdar - Staff liaison

• Since 2000, Star Island Corporation Financial Manager
  
• Completing her MBA studies at Southern New Hampshire University
  
• Proud mother of a 2022 season Pelican

The Star Island Corporation News Release Announcing the Committee

The following press release was issued by the Star Island Corporation on Friday, July 20th, announcing the Island Opened Late committee:

---QUOTE---

THIS MESSAGE SENT ON BEHALF OF BRAD GREELEY, PRESIDENT, AND JORDAN YOUNG, IOL COMMITTEE CHAIR. PLEASE DIRECT REPLIES TO StarIslandOpenedLate at gmail.com

As we prepare for the opening of Star Island and our focus now turns to hotel operations so we may ensure our facilities are ready for the arrival of our conferees and other visitors, we also wish to keep you informed of our dedication to enhancing our process.

Star Island is committed to making changes to its internal operations to ensure future life safety improvements are built into its strategic plan, executed in a timely manner and facilities are well maintained to meet or exceed applicable codes.

The Star Island Corporation Board of Directors has established a committee to review the elements which lead to the delayed opening of the 2007 season and recommend any changes to board policy and process or the staff and its process. It expects the committee's report and recommendations may take several months to complete and anticipates a progress report to the board at its August meeting.

The Board approved the newly appointed members of the committee at its latest meeting. The Board chose to revise the membership of the committee so that it will be comprised of people who have been independent from the corporation leadership for at least five years. While the Board had every confidence in the independence and impartiality of the original committee, it recognized that the new members would more easily avoid any preconceived notions as to the committee's ultimate recommendations.

The committee is now made up of seven people with a broad knowledge of the island. Six committee volunteers are corporation members; one volunteer is a safety inspection engineer and conferee. Board and staff liaisons are also participating volunteers.

Jordan Young, an All Star II conferee for 40 years and recently a business process consultant for the State of Vermont, will chair the committee. The other members of the committee are Martha Copithorne, Jack Lightfoot, Doug Hatfield, Dick Howe, and Nick Dembsey. Russ Peterson will be liaison to the Board and Kristi Vazifdar will be liaison to Staff.

The committee will meet this week to develop its work plan and timeline.

We kindly ask for your patience and understanding as we work diligently to not only ensure life safety remains paramount and history is preserved, but also to ensure thoughtful consideration is given to this internal process.

If you have questions or comments, please submit your comments directly to Jordan Young, the IOL committee chair, via email at StarIslandOpenedLate at gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Brad Greeley, President, SIC Board of Directors

---- UNQUOTE ----

About the "Star Island Opened Late Committee" Blog

Welcome to the blog of the Star Island Opened Late (IOL) Committee.

This blog will document the work of the Star Island Opened Late Committee, a committee appointed by the Board of Directors of the Star Island Corporation ...

to review the elements which lead to the delayed opening of the 2007 season and recommend any changes to board policy and process or the staff and its process.

This blog will report on the activities of the IOL committee and report on our progress as we move towards our two immediate goals:

• Prepare a preliminary report for the Star Island Board of Directors' August 28 meeting
  
• Prepare a draft report for the Star Island Corporation to be presented in some form in the fall of 2007; the exact venue and time as yet to be determined.

This blog will not discuss the substance of the work-in-progress of the committee. It will discuss things like when we met, generally what we're looking at, generally who we've talked to, etc.

The goal of this blog is to make the process of the committee as transparent as possible.

In the realm of full disclosure, this blog was created on August 19, 2007; entries prior to that date were back-dated to when they occurred, so that the chronological order of the entries would make sense. Hopefully, subsequent entries will happen in a more timely manner.

We welcome your input. You can contact the committee at StarIslandOpenedLate (at) gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

Jordan Young for the Star Island Opened Late Committee