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nationwide search. Mr. Dillman will bring to the Institution extensive experience in planning, design and construction management for major new construction as well as the repair and renovation of existing facilities.

Marc Pachter has been selected as Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs. He has been Assistant Director for Museum Programs at the National Portrait Gallery since 1983.

After a long and thorough search, Marilyn S. Marton has been selected for the position of Director of Human Resources to head our total personnel management function. Most recently serving as director of acquisition and grant management for the Department of Transportation, Ms. Marton was deputy director of personnel for that agency. While her specialty is labor relations as a lawyer and member of the D.C. Bar, she has a wide range of personnel responsibilities and brings to the Institution strong management and operational skills.

[[underlined]] NATIONAL POSTAL MUSEUM [[/underlined]]

All of the remaining points of disagreement between the United States Postal Service and the Smithsonian appear now to have been resolved with respect to a proposed agreement establishing the National Postal Museum. No issues of substance remain. Copies of the proposed agreement are being circulated at the Smithsonian for final review. Following the Regents' stipulation, the agreement and budgets assume no increased cost to the Institution in providing for its philatelic and postal history collections than would have occurred in present quarters. Under the new arrangement, there would be substantial short- and long-term benefits to collections and constituencies through expanded space, programming, and collections accessibility.

The Postal Service will present its funding package to its Capital Investment Committee on September 25. That Committee will consider budgets for the National Postal Museum's construction, start-up, and annual operations. The Committee's approval, which is anticipated, is likely to enable an award to be made to begin some initial architectural and engineering work on the National Postal Museum complex.

Favorable action by the Capital Investment Committee would ease the way for final approval by the Postal Service's Board of Governors, which could take Place on November 5 or 6.

Should the Postal Service's Board of Governors approval the overall project in November, and should the Secretary sign the agreement for the Smithsonian, the Institution will need to be prepared to issue a joint announcement with the Postal Service concerning the establishment of the National Postal Museum. Timing of such a public announcement could be influenced by debates over the postal rate increase and the federal budget deficit. Plans to coordinate publicity will proceed during the Fall.