The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
Minutes of CCAC Public Meeting (Videoconference) Tuesday, June 18, 2024 2:00 pm – 4:05 pm I. Attendance a. Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) Members in Attendance: • • • • • • • • • Dr. Peter van Alfen (Chair) Arthur Bernstein Dr. Christopher Capozzola John Saunders Michael Moran Sam Gelberd Kellen Hoard Jeanne Stevens-Sollman Donald Scarinci Not in attendance • • Annelisa Purdie Dr. Harcourt Fuller b. United States Mint Officers and Staff in Attendance: • • • • • • • • • • April Stafford, Chief, Office of Design Management Megan Sullivan, Senior Design Specialist, Office of Design Management Roger Vasquez, Senior Design Specialist, Office of Design Management Russ Evans, Design Manager, Office of Design Management Boneza Hanchock, Design Manager, Office of Design Management Joseph Menna, Chief Engraver, U.S. Mint Jennifer Warren, Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and Liaison to the CCAC Greg Weinman, Senior Legal Counsel and Counsel to the CCAC Gwen Mattleman, Senior Legal Counsel and Project Counsel for Iran Hostage Congressional Gold Medal Brendan Tate, Senior Government Affairs Specialist, Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs c. Members of the Media in Attendance: • • Maggie Pahl, Editorial Director, Numismatic News Mike Unser, Founder and Editor of Coin News M • Paul Gilkes, Coin World Senior Editor d. Liaisons to the program • • • • • • Ezra Friendlander, liaison for the Iran Hostage Congressional Gold Medal Brock Pierce, Steve Kirtley, Barry Rosen, and Dave Roeder, former Iran Hostages and consulted on the Iran Hostage Congressional Gold Medal. BreeAnn Hollinger, State Department Brand Manager with U.S. Department of States in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs and consulted on the Iran Hostage Congressional Gold Medal. Celia Bussard, Assistant General Counsel of the Oneida Indian Nation. Denise Desiderio, Senior Policy Advisor for Akin on behalf of Oneida Indian Nation. Linn Cornselius, family member and subject-matter expert for the 2026 Native American $1. II. Minutes a. Business Matters: 1. Chairperson van Alfen called the meeting to order at approximately 2:00 pm. Chairperson van Alfen conducted roll call and determined that quorum was met. Attendance of media and Mint staff were recognized. 2. The CCAC minutes and letters to the Secretary of the Treasury from our public meeting on May 20, 2024, were approved via a motion from Arthur Bernstein and second by Kellen Hoard. 3. Chairperson van Alfen requested that Annelisa Purdie’s comments that were shared with the CCAC members be inserted in the record. There was no objection. 4. Before introducing the next order of business, Chairperson van Alfen commented on the Iran Hostage Crisis and the importance of awarding the former hostages a Congressional Gold Medal. He offered a warm welcome to the former hostages attending the meeting. b. Iran Hostage Congressional Gold Medal 1. Chairperson van Alfen then introduced the next order of business, reviewing the candidate designs for the Iran Hostages Congressional Gold Medal, as authorized by Public Law 117320. 2. April Stafford, Chief of the Office of Design Management, provided background information on the Iran Hostage Congressional Gold Medal, and invited the program’s primary liaison, Ezra Friedlander to make some remarks. 3. Mr. Friedlander offered remarks on the heroism of the hostages and thanked Brock Pierce for his efforts to get the enabling legislation for the Medal passed. 4. April Stafford reviewed the candidate designs noting that the liaisons and hostages were all agreed on designs IH-O-01A and IH-O-04 as their preferred deigns for the obverse and reverse of the Medal respectively. 5. Chairperson van Alfen then invited the former hostages attending to the meeting to address the Committee if they would like to do so. 6. Former hostages Berry Rosen and Steven Kirtley both remarked on their experiences during the Crisis, their pleasure at having this Medal awarded, and their reaffirmed their candidate design preferences. 7. Brock Pierce also remarked on how deserving the former hostages were of the Medal. 8. Ezra Friedlander then thanked the US Mint staff for their work on the Medal program. 9. After the presentation of the candidate designs, the CCAC, the Mint staff, and liaisons were asked if there were any legal, technical, or other considerations. A brief discussion question from John Saunders on the presence of edge lettering was answered by the Mint staff. 10. With this background, each CCAC member provided comments regarding the obverse and reverse candidate designs, with further CCAC questions and answers by the liaisons. 11. Following the discussion, Donald Scarinci made a motion, seconded by Arthur Bernstein, to recommend the liaisons and hostages preferred candidate designs, IH-O-01A and IH-O04. The motion passed unanimously. 12. Kellen Hoard then made a motion, seconded by John Saunders, to leave, remove, or modify the inscription “Act of Congress 2022” to the discretion of the liaisons and hostages, and to that the two dates, “November 4, 1979” and “January 20th, 1981” be standardized with either the addition of “-th” on the obverse, or the deletion of “-th” on the reverse. The motion passed unanimously. 13. Christopher Capozzola then made a motion, seconded by Arthur Bernstein, to recommend that the inscription “American Embassy” on the obverse be replaced with “United States Embassy” as it appears in the enabling legislation. The motion passed unanimously. 14. The CCAC then scored the obverse and reverse candidate designs with obverse design IH-O-01A and reverse design IH-O-04 receiving the highest scores (27/27 and 23/27 respectively). 15. Chairperson van Alfen then thanked the liaisons and the former hostages for their insightful and useful comments, concluding the business on the portfolio. c. 2026 Native American $1 Coin-Oneidas at Valley Forge 1. Chairperson van Alfen then introduced the next order of business, reviewing the design candidates for the 2026 Native American $1 coin, inviting April Stafford to present the portfolio. 2. Ms. Stafford presented a brief overview of the theme for 2026 and then introduced the three liaisons: Linn Cornelius representing the Oneida Nation; Celia Belmonte, Assistant General Counsel of the Oneida Indian Nation; and Denise Desiderio, Senior Policy Advisor for Akin, representing the Oneida Indian Nation. 3. Ms. Stafford then presented the candidate designs, noting that the designs in the portfolio had been reworked or adjusted based on comments from the CCAC in the initial presentation of the portfolio at the April 16, 2024, public meeting of the CCAC. Ms. Stafford noted that design 26NA-03 is the only design in the portfolio that is a preference of the legislated liaisons and both the Oneida Nation and the Oneida Indian Nation. 4. Chairperson van Alfen then invited the three liaisons to comment on the portfolio in turn, with all three reiterating a preference for 26NA-03. 6. The CCAC, the Mint staff, and liaisons were then asked if there were any legal, technical, or other considerations. A brief discussion occurred between CCAC members and the liaisons regarding aspects of Oneida history. 7. With this background, each CCAC member provided comments regarding the reverse candidate designs. 8.This was followed by further comments by April Stafford on the importance of the input received from the liaisons and other stakeholders following the April 16, 2024 meeting in reworking and adjusting the designs, as well as further comments from CCAC members and the liaisons. 9. Kellen Hoard then made a motion, seconded by John Saunders, to recommend 26NA-03. The motion did not pass as most CCAC members felt voting on the designs first was appropriate. 10. The CCAC then scored the reverse candidate designs with 26NA-03 receiving the highest score (18/27). 11. John Saunders then made a motion, seconded by Michael Moran, to recommend candidate design 26NA-03, but with the addition of the name “Polly Cooper” and to relocate “$1” to another part of the design. 12. Following further discussion between CCAC members and Mint staff, the motion passed unanimously. 13. Chairperson van Alfen then thanked the liaisons for their useful and insightful comments. 14. Chairperson van Alfen mentioned there will be a public meeting in July and it will be announced in the Federal Register. With unanimous approval, the meeting concluded at 4:05 pm on June 18, 2024.