Commissioners in attendance: Hull, Wehrbein, Johnson, Mitchell, Moulton, Slader, Curran, Stokes, Ruth, Sommer and gaiashkibos. Commissioners Williams and Smith were absent. A quorum was satisfied.
Chairman Hull called the meeting to order at 9:10AM welcoming everyone and introducing Amy Mossett with the National Council. Curran moved that the minutes from January’s meeting be approved, Wehrbein seconded. Minutes were unanimously approved.
Chairman’s report – Hull stated he contacted the Woods Foundation about possible funding and they declined due to their guidelines of only funding projects in Lincoln. The Cooper Foundation is another possibility and Rhian will finish a proposal to them for Hull to deliver to Art Thompson. Hull reported that the Commissioners have been giving many presentations to groups across the state.
Hull reported that the dramatization is moving forward and there was a meeting with the scriptwriter. Moulton stated the writer was very willing to make adjustments and do several drafts.
Hull reported he had attended a marketing meeting with the Lied Center and the Omaha Symphony for the concerto. He stated that Glass is writing in New Mexico right now and will meet March 15th with Paul Barnes. Hull stressed the fact that we still need $200,000 and urged the commissioners to think of anyone we can approach.
Event Coordinator Report – Maddux reported that programming is almost finalized. There was meeting with local law enforcement to plan on getting traffic in and out of Fort Calhoun. Shuttle plans are being formulated. The Army Corps of Engineers did a plat of the parking area and by the end of March we will know how many cars we can park. Wehrbein stated that volunteer sign-up sheets are available and urged the commissioners to take some. Slader asked if there were any hurdles on safety so far. Maddux reported that Washington County law enforcement would be meeting on their own to discuss concerns. Maddux reported she is working with Nextel to try and get free phones for the event. Slader asked for a distinction between uniformed officers and volunteers. Maddux replied that the uniformed will be directing traffic while volunteers will run message for them and bring them water, volunteers will work on parking etc. Ruth asked how contractual obligations are handled. Maddux stated that contracts go to Rhian.
National Council – Amy Mossett – Amy thanked gaiashkibos, Mitchell and Rhian for bringing her in to the meeting. She explained that she met with all the Signature Event Coordinators in St. Louis in her position as Tribal involvement Coordinator. She reported that in 2001 National Council set 5 priorities and tribal involvement is #1 followed by CORPS II, signature Events, trail stewardship and education. COTA set guideline for tribal involvement. COTA has representatives from 39 tribes. Mossett reported that she met with the inner-tribal council of Oklahoma last week. A potential meeting with the Otoe-Missouria tribe in March was discussed. It was recommended that the 4 current tribes in Nebraska be invited to the event and the Iowa tribes, as a point of courtesy, be inclusive but not all-inclusive. Slader asked if we can invite other tribes after we find out how much involvement we would have from the Otoe-Missouria tribe. Mossett said yes as long as the Otoe-Missouria are satisfied with their involvement. Swenson asked about site visits and point of contact. Mossett agreed to visit the Nebraska sites and recommended working with Chairman Grant as the point of contact. Mitchell stated that the Otoe-Missouria should be center stage, not tribes from other states. Gaiashkibos referenced parts of a resolution from August 2002. Mossett stated that the Otoe-Missouria never declined involvement, they want to be involved. She went on to say that progress is being made. Ruth stated that the Commission has MOU’s with the Otoe-Missouria Tribe in conjunction with the Iowa Commission. Rhian will send Mossett a copy of that document.
Executive Director’s Report – Swenson reported that he had a meeting scheduled with the Risk Management division that was cancelled and rescheduled for March 12, 2004 10AM at Fort Atkinson. Swenson stated that a surveyors group wants to dedicate a cap at Fort Atkinson. He reported that three Game and Parks employees attended the Training Academy at Nebraska City. He stated that Game and Parks is working on a web designation for the Lewis and Clark on their site. Swenson reported that he had been getting question on the boating information listed on the Lewis and Clark site and has been working with Pawloski on updating it. He stated that he received at $250 reimbursement check from COSA, which will be deposited in the Friends account. Swenson announced the Arbor Lodge would receive $250,000 form Save America’s Treasures for restoration.
Coordinator’s Report – Rhian reported that a grant application has been turned in to the Nebraska Humanities Council requesting $10,000 and one to the Nebraska Arts Council requesting $5,000. She will finalize the Cooper Foundation application for Hull to deliver. Rhian reported that we are still waiting to hear on the National Park Service grant and the National Council grant. She stated that Hull would be contacting Duane Acklie for support as well. Rhian stated that we met our match for last year’s Challenge Cost share grant and she is submitting paperwork to draw down those funds. Rhian referred the Commissioner’s to their packets for the monthly budget report and stated that keeping costs down has been forward in everyone’s mind. Rhian stated that even though prior approval had been granted to take the booth to all signature events preceding Nebraska’s she brought the brochure for the St. Charles event. Seeing as they are charging $600 just to have a booth, we will be attending Wood River several days before their event and if we attend both it will mean 2 weeks of travel expenses she wanted to double check that we really need to attend both events. The Commissioners agreed it would be an unnecessary expense and stated that attending Wood River would be enough.
Commissioner Round Table
Sommer reported that the historical documents would arrive in Omaha in March and the Historical Society will arrange a time for the Commissioners to view them.
Mitchell reported that he would be speaking at Walt Hill School tomorrow.
Wehrbein stated that raffle tickets for the quilt displayed today benefiting the Shallow River Festival are available from her.
Swenson reported that Difendahl has a book on geology available. He also asked if anyone had contacted the Fort Calhoun quarry regarding blasting during the event. It was determined that Rhian would draft a letter to Rinker and Ron would send it out requesting they delay blasting until after the event.
gaiashkibos handed out bios of her speakers. She reported that she has commitments from Dr. Della Warrior and Dr. Clyde Ellis
Slader announced that he would be speaking to the Omaha Westerners and the DAR.
Moulton stated concern that we had passed over some concerns of gaiaishkibos and we should look at ways to fix this. He encouraged her to work with the executive committee towards fulfilling these areas of concern. The Otoe-Missouria circle still shows as empty because we are still negotiating with them. Please keep reminding us of our obligations. Mossett stated that she met with the Otoe-Missouria last week and they have ideas for tribal involvement including two panel discussions and a color guard.
Moulton thanked Randy Yates for the beautiful Boy Scout patch. Yates spoke about the patch and stated that they are still looking for input. Gaiashkibos stated that watercolor artist John Thein might be able to help.
Pawloski reported that he has been working with Mindy on the marketing aspects of the website and encouraged everyone to keep on submitting events.
Wehrbein reported that the Chamber website would like to get a link to our website. Hull will send a letter to ensure this occurs.
Advisor Roundtable
Diane Jensen reported that Fort Calhoun will host events Saturday and Sunday including the rededication of the 100 year monument for the DAR, a powder shoot, BBQ cook off, pancake breakfast, street dance at Blair. She stated that phase four of the monument is continuing, Milt Heinrich form Blair has done a brushed steel compass with peace pipe and feather crossed at the base of the Bluff, 9’ in diameter.
Bat Shunatona showed his T-shirt design and expressed interest in producing shirts for the Commission. It was decided the executive committee would discuss this.
Meeting adjourned at 10:55AM
List of Attendees
Commissioners
Leroy Stokes
Gary Moulton
Larry Sommer
Dan Curran
Jeanene Wehrbein
Ron Hull
Larry Ruth
Dr. Rudi Mitchell
Judi gaiashkibos
John Slader
Judy Johnson
Staff
Jim Swenson
Paula Rhian
David Hendee – Omaha World Herald
Randy Yates – Mid-America Council Boy Scouts of America
Brent Kalemkearian – Fun Tours
Art Nicolai – Fun Tours
Diane Jensen – Washington County
Stacy Maddux – VGA
Bob Pawloski – Kiewit Institute/Mouth of the Platte
Bat Shunatona – Otoe-Missouria Tribe
Sue Settell – Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs