Author’s Note: Since this piece was initially published, Mike Martin resigned as the FNL Board President and is no longer on the board. Instead of updating the article to reference the “now former” board president, we are maintaining it how it was originally published.
One of the expressed goals of Protect Brig Niagara is to advocate for openness and transparency regarding U.S. Brig Niagara, the organizations that are/were involved in her care, and to call out concerns regardless of which organization is at fault. After all, the Niagara crew motto is Ship, Shipmate, Self (in that order). While efforts have so far been largely focused on recent concerns about the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’sThe Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the state agency that stewards the U.S. Brig Niagara and Erie Maritime Museum. The PHMC is responsible for the collect... (PHMC) plans for Niagara, there have been two parties involved in managing Niagara. This blog is intended to shine a light on any mismanagement that poses a danger to Niagara, and that includes the Flagship Niagara League (FNL).
When the petition demanding a public meeting on Niagara’s future was launched, PHMC had just abruptly terminated their contractual agreement with the Flagship Niagara League (FNL), the nonprofit that cared for and operated the Niagara. Two days after the petition received news coverage and broke the story on the contract termination, PHMC put out a press release claiming they intended to negotiate a new relationship with FNL. PHMC claimed this was a “joint” press release because it was endorsed by FNL Board President Mike Martin. None of the other board members were aware this was happening – they were alerted about the “joint” press release at the same time it was sent out to the media.
Earlier this week the FNL board voted to continue conversations with PHMC about what it would look like to be an associate’s group with the Erie Maritime MuseumThe Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) is a cultural institution located in Erie, Pennsylvania, dedicated to preserving and showcasing the region's maritime heritage. Established in 1997, .... However, today PHMC and FNL released a “joint” press release indicating that “FNL has chosen to move forward with becoming the associate group for the Erie Maritime Museum.” The details of the proposal are concerning and would eliminate all current FNL staff if signed. FNL still has several Niagara crew members on staff who have experience sailing, operating, and maintaining historical vessels. Forcing them to eliminate the current staff members with professional maritime experience is especially concerning since PHMC still does not have anyone on staff with experience operating or maintaining a tall ship, despite being the designated “operators” of Niagara for almost three full months now. There is a difference between investigating what being an associate’s group would look like and actually deciding to become one. From what we have heard, it sounds like the full board did not sign off on the press release and they were not notified in advance.
The Responsibilities of a Board President
When reviewing the results of several Right to KnowA Right to Know (RTK) request is a request for information from a state or local government body in Pennsylvania. You are allowed to request any kind of information, and aside from... (RTK) requests that were submitted to PHMC for records regarding Niagara, one of the first things identified was evidence of a troubling relationship between FNL Board President Mike Martin and Melissa MannMelissa Mann serves as Director of the Bureau of Historic Sites & Museums for PHMC. Starting the role in 2021, she supervises 24 state-owned historic sites and museums along th..., Director of PHMC’s Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums.
One of the key responsibilities of a non-profit board member is to maintain a level of independence and avoid (or at least declare) any potential conflict of interest. Members, the community, and donors need to have faith that those they are trusting with a non-profit’s assets are responsibly representing them. In addition, the board president is meant to represent, oversee, and aid the will of the board in their governance. These communications revealed in the RTK request between Mike Martin and Melissa Mann bring into question his faithfulness to those obligations and the members he is meant to represent.
The information being shared with you now was also provided to several FNL board members on February 26, 2024 with the invitation for those board members to share the documents with the full board. At that time, the decision was made to not share the information more publicly so that the board could be given a chance to address the situation. The FNL board met on March 7 and there has been no meaningful response or information as to whether or not they have considered or addressed these concerns. Given the March 22 press release, it’s obvious that his behavior has not changed and that the FNL board has not taken action based on this information. It’s now time that the general public public and FNL members have a right to this information… this is the taxpayer’s ship, and FNL is our chartered organization to support it.
Evidence that calls into question Mike Martin’s impartiality
So far, seven emails were found that showcased the concerning relationship between Mike Martin and Melissa Mann. Some of which include Mike Martin leaking confidential information directly with PHMC negotiating partner Melissa Mann.
- Mike Martin passing along information regarding the Executive Committee’s private reactions and discussion to the sailing contract from January 2023. See Document
- Mike Martin passing along an email to Melissa Mann with internal details regarding financial issues with FNL when they were raising the funds to take Niagara to shipyard. Mike called it a “confidential behind the scenes look.” See Document
- Melissa Mann talking to Mike Martin about PHMC’s inability to fund the trip to shipyard and discussing the identity of an anonymous FNL benefactor who helped to front the cost of the transit. The document also includes a timeline for PHMC’s communication with FNL Executive Director William SabatiniFleet Captain William "Billy" Sabatini is the executive director and fleet captain of the Flagship Niagara League. Sabatini grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and .... See Document
- Mike Martin forwarded an email from the executive committee about payment issues to Melissa Mann and asking for information to help challenge FNL’s executive director. “[I am] sending you this information confidentially… I know I am asking for a lot but I want to be able to factually respond to Billy as it relates to the timeline he is providing.” See Document
- Melissa Mann forwarding a conversation about FNL’s eventual escalation about concerns regarding PHMC’s payment delays to the Governor’s Office via rep Pat Harkins. Despite board involvement in the decision, Mike Martin rebuked it, calling it “troubling to say the least.” See Document
- Mike Martin passing along a communication William Sabatini sent to the full board about PHMC’s attempt to hire FNL Captain Sam Dinsmore as a consultant. See Document
- Mike Martin and Melissa Mann complaining about working with the FNL Board. See Document
Please read the full documents. There is much more information there that explains what went down over the last several months with Niagara, especially the conversation with Rep. Harkins’ office (See Document). Much of which has not been made publicly available until now. We will be expanding on this in and other information we received in future updates.
This all leads to significant concerns that Mike Martin failed in his duty to the organization he was selected to lead. These leaks demonstrate that by 2023 his efforts appear to prioritize PHMC more than the organization and charter he is intended to represent and that his actions may have contributed to Niagara’s current state of questionable care.
One now questions if Mike Martin is the leader FNL and Niagara needed or needs. On repeated occasions he withheld information from the other board members that hindered their ability to assess the situation and make adequate decisions. This is also a failure of the board at large for not demanding better from their leader (then and now). He undermined FNL’s negotiating position on numerous occasions (and this is just what we found evidence of). He has also consistently refused to listen to staff and ignored their concerns, which made it harder for them to do their jobs, harder to operate and care for Niagara. Now Niagara is in a situation where no one is currently caring for her and PHMC has refused to share plans for how she will be cared for.
As members of the Flagship Niagara League, we are upset about what appears to be a betrayal of Mike Martin’s duties to the organization he was elected to lead. We imagine other members will feel the same way after reading this post. The FNL By-Laws state that 10% of the members may call a meeting at any time and that FNL must provide that meeting within 30 days of requesting it. Are you interested in calling for a membership meeting so that we can ask for more details about FNL’s future from the Board? There has been no announcement for FNL’s April membership meeting and signs point to its delay this year due to the current situation of FNL.
Don’t Give Up The Ship!
Steven and Ginny
Addendum: Documents in Context
Please note: The emails are presented as received from PHMC, with the exception of a few redactions where we obscured personal cell phone numbers and the name of an anonymous donor to FNL.
Sharing of Private Deliberations
Until 2021, FNL has operated Niagara as an associate’s group of PHMC when that agreement expired. The two operated as if that agreement had continued and negotiations began in early 2023 for a plan to change that relationship to one where FNL would be a contractor that PHMC would hire to sail Niagara. After FNL received the draft agreement on January 29, 2023 the FNL Board’s executive committee was given a chance to comment on the draft and Mike Martin proceeded to forward what appears to be one board member’s internal comments and concerns about the contract to directly to PHMC’s Melissa Mann. If those were, in fact, meant to be internal comments that would be a huge breach of trust and undermined FNL’s ability to negotiate with PHMC. If one side of a negotiation has access to the internal deliberations, goals, and concerns of the other that gives them a massive power advantage in the negotiation. PHMC themselves have claimed the right to obscure internal deliberations in response to elements of our RTK requests.
Sharing of Confidential Financials
In October of 2023, Niagara needed to go to shipyard in order to complete a required hull inspection to maintain its Certificate of Inspection (COI)The Certificate of Inspection(COI) is a legal document issued by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) confirming that a vessel meets specified safety and operational standards. It ... with the Coast Guard, which is what allows it to sail as a sailing school vessel
"Subchapter R" refers to the legal and operating requirements of Sailing School Vessels within the Code of Federal Regulations(CFRs). The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a... and to operate public deck tours at the Erie Maritime Museum. Despite previously instructing FNL that they are specifically not allowed to raise money regarding maintenance earlier that year, PHMC was unable to front the funds and asked FNL to also cover the cost of shipyard. At this point, Mike Martin passed along internal deliberations as part of a “confidential behind the scenes look” to PHMC detailing how FNL would need to lay off staff & crew due to cash flow issues.
Fall Shipyard Funding
This conversation outlines some additional difficulty the League faced in getting Niagara to shipyard in October 2023. After FNL secured the support needed to front the cost of getting Niagara to shipyard until they could be reimbursed by PHMC, PHMC declared that they would delay the inspection until the spring (thus irreversibly invalidating Niagara’s COI and suspending all operations until the difficult and lengthy process could be restarted and completed).
Challenging Executive Director on Payment Timeline
In December, and FNL was waiting on payment from PHMC and FNL’s Executive Director Billy Sabatini passed on information to FNL’s Executive Committee regarding the status of several payments from the state. Mike Martin “confidentially” passed these details along to Melissa Mann stating that “I know I am asking for a lot but I want to be able to factually respond to Billy as it relates to the timeline he is providing.” This is probably the most damning of all communications we received. Here FNL’s Board President is sharing confidential information to PHMC so that he could confront the League’s Executive Director during board meetings.
Questioning Efforts to Secure Payments Owed
In December, William Sabatini escalated delayed payments to PA State Representative Pat Harkins. Instead of Mike passing along information to Melissa, it appears to have gone in the opposite direction here and the escalation path is pretty telling. Billy Sabatini initially reached out to Rep. Harkins, who reached out to the Governor’s Office, who reached out to PHMC for a reply. PHMC’s reaction was to reach out to Mike Martin who called the communication from Billy to the state officials “troubling to say the least.” If FNL’s financial situation was so dire that they were looking to lay off staff, shouldn’t FNL’s Board President have been fighting tooth and nail to get the money that the League was owed instead of calling efforts to do so “troubling?”
Undermining Interim Contract Discussions
After PHMC declined to renew the sailing contract with FNL, Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) Site Administrator Jim HallJames E. Hall is the Site Administrator for the Erie Maritime Museum and a PHMC staff member. He replaced Walter Rybka in December of 2020. His background includes 13 years with th... indicated that he hoped to hire former Niagara Chief Mate, and current Lettie G. HowardThe Lettie G. Howard is a historic schooner currently operated by the Flagship Niagara League(FNL) in Erie and owned by the South Street Seaport Museum(SSSM) in New York City. Buil... Captain Sam Dinsmore as an interim contractor until PHMC could hire a new Captain and crew. In this instance, the information shared not only impacted the active organizational negotiations, but potentially undermined Captain Dinsmore’s discussions with PHMC regarding her employment.
Disparaging FNL Board
We debated whether we should include this communication as relevant or not, but we decided to include it since it potentially provides insight into Mike Martin’s feeling about working with FNL. In it he confided with Melissa Mann that he is pushing himself through the remainder of his term as FNL’s Board President by remembering “I only have until the end of next April. that’s what I keep telling myself.”
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