MINUTES -- Sixth Meeting
Friday -- April 14, 2000
Commonwealth North U.R. US Study Group
Economic Survival and Development Subcommittee
Vicki Otte and Jon Kumin, co-chairs
4th Floor, CIRI Building, 7 am

Purpose:These minutes are intended to reflect highlights of the meeting. They are
not a comprehensive record. The intent is to inform people who were unable to attend
as to the essential elements of the meeting. Should any participant have corrections or
clarifications, please forward them to Jon Kumin (Vicki Otte is out of town the week of
April 17). The agenda is in standard print -- minutes have been added in italics.

Goals for this meeting:

Continue debating the various issues raised to date.

Guests:

None (at this time it appears the consensus of the group is
to finalize identifying issues and continue the discussions)

Introductions/sign-in:The following people were present:
Vicki OtteJon Kumin Steve Lindbeck
Bob PoeJeff StaserEric Britten
Milton ByrdNancy KingJay Page
Grant HunterKatelyn Markley (by teleconference)

Discussion Points:Continue discussions, using Vicki's record of the "mapping"
from the April 7 session as a framework.

It will be helpful to develop a specific work plan on how to proceed from this point &
what are the next steps as we work toward a final report.

As a reminder -- the "Four Questions" posed in the original charge are:
a) What are the issues?
b) What will happen if we do nothing?
c) What would a positive resolution look like?
d) What might this resolution mean to Alaska?
We have proposed a fifth (between c and d) - How can this positive resolution be
reached? (This has now been accepted -- along with the question of how CWN can
help.)

The outline Vicki forwarded to people based on last weeks meeting was used as a basis
for discussion. Again, a free-flowing, frank discussion ensued. Highlights included:
*"Scale" is a key issue -- is there a minimum critical threshold size for a
community to be economically viable?