OREGON COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND535 SE 12th Ave. (Portland office)

ELECTED COMMITTEE (regular meeting)Thursday, February 27, 2014 3:30 PM

Conference call: (712) 432-1500Participant code: 312353#

AGENDA1. CALLED TO ORDER- Chairman Young

a. Roll call- Lewanda Mirandab. Disposition of minutes (Feb. 6, 2014)- Chairman Young

2. FINANCIAL REPORT- Director Morris3. TRAINING & EDUCATION

a. Sagebrush update- Tessa Brown/Director Morrisb. BEI training for elected committee- Ken Gerlitzc. Spring In-service- Ken Gerlitzd. Future plans for training- Ken Gerlitze. Committee reports- Art Stevenson/Lewanda Miranda

4. NEW BUSINESSa. Governors food drive- Chairman Youngb. Partial relocations of buildings- Chairman Youngc. Other

5. OLD BUSINESSa. White City updateb. Edith Green Bldg. updatec. Top 3 pending issues- Director Morrisd. Other

6. OPEN DISCUSSION7. DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS8. NEXT MEETING9. ADJOURNMENT

VERBATIM:

[started 7-15]

Young: I’ll go ahead and call the meeting to order. Lewanda, would you like…

Miranda: At 3:33pm.

Young: Thank you, Lewanda. Would you like to take roll call?

Miranda: Sure. Okay, we’ll start with the Board. Chairman Hauth?

Stevenson, Art: Ooop! You did it again!

Miranda: Oh, Chairman Young!

Young: I’m here.

Miranda: Art Stevenson.

Stevenson, Art: I’m here, Lewanda.

Miranda: Tessa Brown? No Tessa yet. Cathy Dominique?

Colley-Dominique: I’m here.

Miranda: Ms. Char Mckinzie?

Mckinzie: Here.

Miranda: Lewanda Miranda’s here. Or halfway, not all the mind. Okay, membership. Jerry Bird? Derrick Stevenson? I know that he’s going to be here, but he’s not here yet. Gordon Smith?

Smith: Yes.

Miranda: Ken Gerlitz?

Gerlitz: Here.

Miranda: Lin Jaynes? Steve Gordon?

Jaynes: Present.

Smith: Hi Lin, this is Gordo.

Jaynes: Hey!

Colley-Dominique: Hey, Lin.

Miranda: Steve Gordon? Randy Hauth?

Hauth: Present and accounted for.

Smith: Hi Randy. Gordo.

Miranda: Sal Barraza? Steve Gordon? Ann Wright?

Wright: Here.

Colley-Dominique: Hi Ann!Miranda: Hi Ann.

Smith: Hi Ann, Gordo.

Wright: Hey.

Miranda: And from the Agency staff?

Morris: It’s just Eric today.

Miranda: Just Eric. Any visitors? Okay, Chairman Young. We’ll need minutes for February 6 meeting.

Young: Okay. I would like to make a motion that we adopt the meetings as recorded for February 6, 2014. Do I have a second?

Stevenson, Art: Seconded.

Young: Art Stevenson seconds it. Is there any changes that need to be made to those minutes?

Miranda: No.

Young: All right. Everybody in favor signify by saying Aye.

Voices: Aye.

Young: Any opposed? All right, the minutes are passed. All righty, Lewanda, what else do we have on that agenda?

Miranda: Financial report, Director Morris.

Morris: That’s me, I’m up!

Miranda: You’re up!

Colley-Dominique: [inaudible]

Morris: I’m just trying to get it pulled up. I should have had it pulled up before I started talking, because I made it sound like I was ready to go, but… Um, okay, so I sent out a sum—basically a spreadsheet to the committee members last night about this. I’ll go over it kind of high level, and if there’s questions, you can definitely let me know. This report is for the fourth quarter of 2013, which encompasses October, November, and December. And I can see on the report that I didn’t label that right. I put October through November, but it is October through December. Total sales for that period were $681,000. $681,141. That’s all locations reporting. We’ve had a, you know, some hiccups in the past where, you know, we had some reports that didn’t include, weren’t inclusive because of late reporting, but that is a total for all locations. That’s a net total of $94,000. About a 14% average profitability percentage. Then there’s, I gave the bill, how much we billed out in set-aside, how much we spent in maintenance, how much is in unassigned income. Then trailing year to date, December 12, December of 2012 through

December of 2013, that’s kind of a look-back similar to the RSA 15 report, which is kind of our report card each year, is done October through September, which is the federal fiscal year. So what I wanted to do is give you something to keep track of how we’re looking as we approach that figure. And the only way I could think to do it that made sense to me was to give you, as I do these reports, like the next report will be January, February, March, it’ll be March of ’13 through March of ’14. You’ll be able to see how much the total sales were, which is what’s included here, the net income, the average profitability percentage, which is just a calculation of those two, and then the average income. Now, in this one it’s based on 16 managers because in December, we have 16 managers. Now, the RSA, RSA 15 report is based on, when they figure the average is based on a number of what they call vendor, vendor years. I think that’s what it’s called. And it’s based on the number of months worked divided by 12. So, next year when we do the RSA 15, we’ll have 16 managers plus one extra month for, accounting for Joe in October of last year. So, the average right now is 32-7 [$32,700]. If you break it down into minute detail with a complex series of equations, it’s about 30 grand [$30,000], but based on 16 managers, it’s 32-7, $32,000, $32,756 average. And as we get closer to October, that’ll be a truer, closer, super accurate figure based on what would be reported out to RSA. And then I also listed in there the managers above the average, which based on this report, is five managers were above the average. And then, throughout this report there’s a budget to actuals report, which is a break out of what DAS is sending us for financials, which as I talked to a couple of the committee members, is not exactly the most easy, warm and friendly document to work with. Because I was trying to work with it when I was building it yesterday. You know, we don’t have a current financial person here at the Agency that was kind of recreating some of those documents in an easier format to look at. But the information’s there. It’s just, it’s just not a good warm and fuzzy format. We are over budget through the end of the year, about 18-19%, about 140 some odd thousand dollars [$140,000], so… Set-aside, currently as of the end of December we had about $83,000 in set-aside, which is included in this report. Past due balance for set-aside, I didn’t get a chance to get that updated, so I’ll have that updated soon and have that figure out to you guys. Then there’s a whole list of profitability for each facility broken down by that time period of October through November listed in one of those tabs. And then I also included all the maintenance we spent during that time period. So that’s, that’s the, that’s the report. It, you know, we are trending in an upward trend for sales, and I didn’t look at the, the trend for net. But I know that average is creeping up slowly but surely. So, I’d, I’d entertain, entertain questions, if anybody has any.

Gerlitz: I didn’t hear that report, could you do it again, please?

[laughter]

Morris: Ohh, yeah, okay. Let me take a deep breath. It’ll, it’ll probably sound vaguely similar the second time around.

Gerlitz: Right.

Morris: But it…

Stevenson, Art: Mr. Chairman?

Young: Yes, Art.

Stevenson, Art: First I’d like to say, yeah, thanks for sending that, Eric. And then, I would like to make a recommendation. I don’t think it would be any harder to do, and that’s why I want to make this

recommendation. I would recommend that Eric go ahead and send out this report to all the blind licensed managers so that, that way if they have any questions they can get a hold of us before the meeting and we can, you know… If they’re not able to attend, etc., etc.

Young: I think that’s a good request. Do you have any problem with that, Eric, just shooting an email to everybody with that information?

Morris: No, I just need to update my little cheat sheet of how I, how I build the report to remind myself to do that. Because I’m building it, like, once every three months, so yeah… No, that’s not a big deal.

Young: Then, then also, I was kind of curious. I know in that email you sent out that we were 100% current with the managers now, as far as reporting?

Morris: Yeah. As, as of the end of December.

Stevenson, Art: Eric, this is Art.

Morris: Yeah.

Stevenson, Art: You said we were $18,000 over budget?

Morris: 18, 19%.

Colley-Dominique: $140,000…

Stevenson, Art: 19%. And, you know, I’ll get used to this thing, and, but maybe you can answer the question. Is there any particular area that most of that, or is it kind of distributed over all the areas.

Morris: Well, and I haven’t done an in-depth analysis of that. I was responding to some questions about that on email today. I believe it’s probably a combination of the Confluence Center and AG fees, because AG fees are drastically under budgeted in our, in our program’s budget component. And Confluence dollars, the, I know there was, as I was reading through emails, there’s questions about how that was being paid. And so, I need to go in and take a look at that and see what that’s coming out of and see where it’s coming from.

Hauth: Mr. Chairman.

Young: Yes, Randy.

Hauth: Yeah, hey, Eric. Hello everybody. You know, Linda and I, Linda Haseman and I looked over that budget to actual in that report. And I agree with Art. Those should go out to all the membership. I, I appreciate that, Mr. Stevenson. That’s a nice gesture. And as far as the overtures, expenditures, I believe looking through that there was $40,000 spent in October, September/October, I believe that was on the Agency and the arbitration related to Chemeketa Community College. There was $10,000 spent in August. I’m not sure what that was, related to the AG’s costs. Maybe you could help share that with us. And also on the Confluence Center, I believe I recall that Ms. Johnson indicated that money would not be coming out of our budget. And it would come out of Agency VR funds. So, do you have any update on that, Eric?

Morris: Not in the last hour and a half. But as I recall that conversation, the question was: was it coming out of set-aside? That’s how I recalled that question.

Hauth: Nah, that’s not how I recall it. But if you could, if you could check that out, I’d appreciate it. And the $10,000 that was spent on, in August on, through the AG, do you know what that was?

Morris: Hang on a second, let me look. In August of, looks like it was arbitration for Chemeketa.

Hauth: Okay, so like $50,000 approximately have been spent by the Agency on Chemeketa Community College arbitration I guess. Just going some quick math there. One other thing, and then I’ll, I’ll move on. You know, it’s nice to see the income raising, but it looks a little bit skewed, because it looks like you’re calculating 17 managers’ income over the previous year, but only attributing it to 16 managers. And I know Joe didn’t pass away ‘til October. And I understand what you’re saying related to the RSA. And I agree that the income’s starting to creep up. But it looks like that, those numbers aren’t necessarily accurate because you’re taking the income of 17 managers and dispersing it over 16.

Gerlitz: Eric?

Morris: Yeah.

Gerlitz: This is Ken. I have a question and you’ve mentioned this before. You say that the AG’s budget is always low, projected low.

Morris: Uh-huh.

Gerlitz: If that’s the case, why don’t they raise that projection?

Morris: That, that, that’s a great question. And I’ll tell you the answer, kind of the answer, not verbatim what I got was that, you know, we’d like it to be low. We’d like it to be less, you know, the Agency would. But I think, and don’t hold me to it, but I think the budget’s actually like $30,000 for the biennium. Which, if we’re doing things right, in about 15, in about 16% of what we spent so far year to date has been for what I would consider advocacy efforts. Which is, you know, going out and chasing down stuff, for the program not, you know, internal debates within the program. So, you know, the budget process, and that’s one thing is I get to be actively involved in setting the budgets this time around, is something that I will push for to have a more accurate trend of what we would realistically spend. Now, the next time we do it, you know, I, I don’t think $30,000’s right. I think it’s way too low, if we had no disputes or arbitrations or anything like that. But we do need to have some serious horsepower in the budget to be able to, you know, do the VA White City’s, do GSA arbitrations, and stuff like that. So by the time, by the time budget rolls around, like, next month or the month after where we’re really talking about it, my spreadsheet that I’ve been tracking so far, I’ll be able to have a much better idea of what we do need in a budget. Now, whether I can get that or not’s another thing. But I’ll be able to speak to it much better.

Gerlitz: How does it compare percentage wise with the VR budget for AG [inaudible]?

Morris: To be honest, I haven’t compared the two, Ken. That’s a good point. I, I haven’t looked at that. I think it’s probably minute, I mean, VR I don’t know if they, yeah, I’m not really plugged into their AG

stuff. But I would just anticipate that it’s marginal, even compared, you know, compared to ours. Because, yeah…

Bird: Jerry Bird’s here, just [inaudible] here for the record.

Young: Thanks, Jerry. Anybody else [inaudible]?

Colley-Dominique: Hi Jerry.

Stevenson, Derrick: This is Derrick, yeah.

Young: Hey, Derrick. Go ahead, Derrick.

Stevenson, Derrick: I was wondering if, if you had, had a way of, of telling us what the average income is of those who are below the average, and what the average income is of those that are above that if you’ve got those numbers?

Morris: Umm, trying to think of how I would do that. I mean, I, I have the hard, the hard actual numbers. I’m just trying to think of how, how you would do that. I’m not a math whiz.

Gerlitz: How about just, how about just reading them off without associating those numbers to a particular manager?

Morris: Ummm, I don’t know, Ken. I mean, I, I could. I just know that in some of the discussions I’ve had, like I was having today about confidentiality and stuff. I know that’s a sensitive topic.

Smith: I, that’s what I would think you’d run into.

Colley-Dominique: That’s what I was thinking, too.

Morris: Yeah, and I, I, you know, I want to be fair to everybody, so…

Stevenson, Derrick: I mean, if you’re just basing the average on, on, on five, the five top then you’re just giving us the average income of that versus the average income of the ones who are below. I don’t see how that would be giving out personal information.

Gerlitz: Wouldn’t be any different.

Smith: No, no, that’s right.

Morris: Let, let me see what I, let me see what I can come up with as a formula. Like I said, I’m, I’m not a math whiz, but if I put my mind to it, I can usually come up with something.

Stevenson, Derrick: All right, appreciate it.

Morris: Yeah. Bird: Jerry Bird.

Young: Hey, go ahead, Jerry.

Bird: Yeah, I just wondered, I know I got a little late here, but I, I believe that, I know I’ve said this before, our units, what our units make is not private information because it’s [inaudible] who’s your, when you leave your property or die or whatever they, they’ve got to give that information out. So it’s a, it’s the facility information. I don’t think that’s your personal information that should be held back from anybody because it’s our program. I’d just like to say that.

Young: Thanks, Jerry. Any more questions for Eric on the budget?

Gerlitz: Mr. Chairman, I think years ago they used to indicate what each manager was making, at least on a monthly basis. So I don’t know what happened to change it.

Bird: Well, it’s something which I don’t think should be hidden, I mean, it’s, it’s, we need to know because we need to help people that aren’t doing it right, if that’s the case. I mean, it’s not a hidden thing. Now, you know, maybe there’s other stuff on your taxes might be, but as far as what your unit makes, it’s not public information—I mean, is public information! So, we need to know…

Smith: Yeah, that’s a great point. I, I didn’t stop to think about that, Jerry. This is Gordon.

Stevenson, Art: Mr. Chairman?

Young: Yes, Art.

Stevenson, Art: Might I say that we can put this to the Compliance Committee and they can check into it and report back to, to everybody what it, what the issues are, and all those kind of things and get clarification?

Young: Okay. Yeah, we’ll do that. We’ll set it aside ‘til the next meeting when we’ll have a report from the Compliance Committee on that information.

Bird: So, so, Art, Art, what you’re going to ask is, is, is our financial information of our unit, is that public information or does that, can that be hidden? As far as our program…

Stevenson, Art: Yeah, I’m going to check into, you know, all the different nuances of that. What, what information, as far as the unit go, is, is private information and which isn’t and why.

Gerlitz: Well, I think the…

Bird: I don’t know how you going to, who you going to check with, but you know, it’s pretty clear that that information comes out on our monthly report. We get our…

Stevenson, Art: No, I, I understand exactly what you’re saying. So, I’ll get…

Bird: All we want to do is try and find out if that’s privileged, private information that anyone in our program shouldn’t know. And it’s…

Gerlitz: I agree with it, Jerry, because the salary of state employees at all different levels is public information.

Bird: Well, it’s not hidden stuff, because it’s our program, like I say. Our units are our units. You can leave that unit and they, there’s just going to, they’ll need to know what your unit made for when it goes out for bid. You know, so it, it’s not something that we hide. We need to bring it out so that we know what’s going on and it’s just, I think, nonsense that we want to hide that information, so… It seems like Art wants to check on it and see if it’s private, that’s what we need to do, is it private or is it not? If it goes into RSA, and it’s on the thing, and it goes out to us in quarterly things, it’s not private. Because our units aren’t ours. They’re, they’re our, our programs. Now if it’s your own business, that’d be a little different.

Voices: Yeah. Yep.

Bird: So, anyway, thanks.

Young: Okay. You bet. All right, Lewanda, let’s, let’s move on to the next agenda item.

Miranda: Training and Education. That’s you again, Eric, and Tessa, if she’s with us. It’s a Sagebrush update.

Morris: I was waiting to hear if Tessa… Going…

Colley-Dominique: She said she was going to phone in. She was, “I’m taking the Max, and I think the Max are delayed.” So…

Morris: Oh, yeah, yeah. I did get that update on…

Colley-Dominique: I don’t know.

Gerlitz: We can bring her up later.

Young: Yep.

Morris: Randy, did you want to talk about Sagebrush?

Hauth: No, thanks, Eric.

Morris: Okay. I guess, I guess I’m left holding the bag! So, I, I have my Sagebrush stack of information sitting on my desk which I promptly planted there when I got back and haven’t, haven’t done anything with it yet. My whopping second year at Sagebrush. There’s, what, a couple hundred people there? 250 people. There’s a lot of people. The thing that I did forget about is that ACB Radio broadcast that whole thing every year, it sounds like. So, next year that’ll be something good to remember to, if you want to tune in you can definitely listen. I was a little disappointed that, I thought the Commissioner was going to be there! And she phoned in from Washington, so we got to listen to her commentary via the, the public address system, so that was… She had some interesting comments which were very similar to the comments that I’ve heard in a conference call the prior month with a lot of the VR agencies that were tuned in with her. The one interesting comment that I did take from her conversation was the, how soon

they were going to be hiring somebody for Dan Frye’s former position. And when I’d heard communication about that before it was like, “Well, we’re, we’ve finally got permission to hire for it. Now we need to do the interviews…” And when she was talking about it, this would have been the second week of February, so a couple weeks ago now, it sounded like they were going to have that position filled, I believe, the first week of March? I think that’s what, what she said, because I was… Yeah, new RSA representative on board in March. So, that was much quicker than I thought it was going to happen. So, that, that was good. Looking through my notes real quick to see what else. We had a couple, you know, the Sagebrush is set up a little different than some of the conferences I’ve been to where most of your, your session stuff is one big group type of a session. So, they covered a lot of different topics from the Randolph Sheppard buying group, the RSA buying group. They talked about that quite a bit, and there was a quite a, quite a bit of talk about joining that, and the, the, the philosophy and the reason to join that, to get the credits and stuff from the manufacturers. And I, I was really trying to figure out what the catch was. And when I asked the guy that at the trade show he said there was no catch. So, that’s one of those things that if you’re interested, and there’s lots of information out there about it. And I could always push you some, because I’m sure I’ve got a ton of it on my computer somewhere. Let’s see, a lot of different reps came up and talked about their different, you know, concept. We had a guy come in talk about taxes and prepping for tax season, and you know, avoiding audits. And that conversation went from pretty darn interesting to, we were talking about how to capture gambling sales and gambling losses, which kind of took a little sideline there at the end. So, which, I guess it was relevant if you were gambling big. Apparently some people there were doing some big gambling. I, I was pretty pleased, I was going to say, I was, I was pleased that I left Las Vegas ahead because I did not gamble, so… I did well on that front. There were a couple, there were a couple of break-out sessions in the after—in the late afternoons on Tuesday and Wednesday. The first one that I went to for agency personnel dealt with Business Enterprise Program Training, and I was pretty excited to go attend that, and there was probably 25 almost 30 people in the room, from a, a variety of states. And the only, the only thing that I, I was a little concerned about was the fact that the topic really steered more towards, and that conversation was almost an hour long meeting, about how to train agency staff to deal with people who have blindness, you know, people who are blind. And I just sat there thinking the whole time that I, I, I, in fact I commented to the person afterwards that I, I don’t really look at it that way. I said, you know, people in my program are business people, who happen to be blind. And she kind of got the, the line of question—or line of thought process I was giving her later. But the other thing I picked up on is a lot of programs like our own are, are working to revamp their training program, and really looking for options and things they can do to try to, try to retool and get their training program going. So, we were not alone in that, in that aspect. Let’s see, the second day, trying to remember the big thing from the second day. The break-out session for the SLAs the second day was kind of a joke, because we didn’t have a, they had a big tradeshow, but then when we went to have the break-out meeting there wasn’t a room scheduled for us. So, we kind of had a, a micromarket meeting in a nice big hallway. So, they got some interesting perspectives from some of the down South, Georgia, that neck of the woods agencies. So, yeah, met a few people, had some good conversations. I was trying to think of my big takeaway thing for the, for the training, and I couldn’t, I can’t really think of a one big item I took away from it. I thought it was interesting that they are pressing ahead to get that SLA, the, not the SLA, but the RSA position filled pretty quickly. And I know Terry had commented to me, Terry Smith, that he knew the people who were kind of in the loop for that, and was pretty confident they’d hire somebody with some good credibility, so that made me feel good, because I, I really don’t know anybody on the national front or anybody that’d be in the running for that. But, if Terry’s confident, that I, you know, he seems to know his people pretty well. And it was a super smooth flight down. One of the smoothest flights I’ve ever been on an airplane, and it was NOT on the way back. So, that’s, that’s my takeaway from, from Sagebrush this year.

Young: Thanks, Eric. Did, are, Tessa are you on the line yet? Tessa? Don’t hear Tessa. Okay, Lewanda. What’s the next agenda item?

Morris: BEI training for elected committee, Ken Gerlitz.

Young: Hey, Ken.

Gerlitz: Well, there’s a couple of things I wanted to talk about. We’re talking about probably not having the Spring In-Service. I don’t think it’s been decided yet, but the idea is that if managers, if we didn’t have that training, given the money that we would save, transportation, lodging and all of that, could be applied to the BLAST training and people who weren’t able to make it to the Las Vegas training could have the opportunity to go to BLAST training and have the department offset the expense. Did you ever crunch those numbers, Eric? You were going to try to get an idea.

Morris: I, I, I did, Ken, and then I promptly, you know, it’s been, it’s probably been a month ago since I did it. I talked to the boss the other day and said, hey, this is the, this is the thought process of what, you know, what we’ve been talking about. And she was not opposed to that. And she just wanted to make sure that, you know, we weren’t required to have two meetings a year. And I went back and double checked, which I didn’t think we were, you know. We just need to have that one in the Fall for sure. But I know on the agenda topics here, too, is, you know, some training for the Elected Committee. So, some kind of a training set up between you know, now and then for the Elected Committee members through the NFBEI is also something that, you know, we could do, too.

Stevenson, Art: Mr. Chairman?

Young: Just a second, Art. What were you going to say, Ken?

Stevenson, Art: Oh, okay.

Gerlitz: I…

Young: Go ahead, Ken.

Gerlitz: I guess I’ve got a couple of different topics I was going to talk about. Is this… I have a proposal I’d like managers to think about, too, how this would be if we don’t have a Spring In-Service. This would be for the Fall In-Service. I’ve looked at different state programs and I don’t have the numbers on this. I could get them. But it looks like we really have a high ratio of BE Members versus our licensed blind managers. 16 to 6 is extremely high ratio, and my idea is something I’d like people to think about and get back to me on is I would suggest maybe we change that around so we’d have like three Board members, BEC members, or members at large. We could have assigned to Northern Oregon, Central, and Southern Oregon. And then have the Chairperson. Because we can set up, or the Board can set up committees anyway. So if we had a need for more people at a given time they could be assigned as a committee, have somebody in charge of that committee, but it just seems like we have an awful lot of people trying to make decisions. It’s difficult, as people know, the more people you get, the harder it is to come up with a conclusion. So, we don’t need to, to talk about it now, but think about it. And if you have any ideas that you like better, by all means send me those ideas. We’ll bring them up next meeting or couple meetings down the road.

Young: Thanks, Ken.

Stevenson, Art: Mr. Chairman?

Young: Yes, Art.

Stevenson, Art: I’d like to make a motion that we do not have a Spring In-Service and that that money be distributed equally to all blind licensed managers in Oregon to attend the BLAST conference.

Young: Well, I’m not… You’d have to ask, you know, I’m not too sure about that. What do you think about that, Eric? Would that be something that we could do, distribute it evenly amongst all the managers, would it have to be just the managers that are interested in going?

Gerlitz: Yeah.

Stevenson, Art: Well, no, it’s the ones that do go. That’s what I mean, Harold. I’ll, I’ll clarify my motion. That it be distributed equally to all the blind managers in Oregon that do go to Sagebrush.

Colley-Dominique: To BLAST.

Miranda: BLAST.

Gerlitz: Why, why are you limiting it?

Stevenson, Art: BLAST.

Young: BLAST.

Stevenson, Art: What was, what was that question?

Gerlitz: I said why are you limiting it to just, just whatever that figure is to, you know, spend it evenly? I would just say you have the Agency offset the cost.

Stevenson, Art: To offer what, Ken?

Gerlitz: My suggestion would be to have the Agency offset the cost for those who are interested and can attend BLAST, because training is required by law.

Stevenson, Art: Well, no, that’s why, that’s what, that’s why I said evenly distributed to everybody. Now, yeah, we’re, we’re supposed to have the In-Service training, and so I believe everybody should go. However, you know, the amount of money that, that the Agency is willing… Now, hopefully the Agency would be willing to offset, you know, offset the expense, the total expense for each blind licensed manager, but if they won’t, then it, it, to be fair and equitable it needs to be distributed to everybody, Ken. And then everybody would have the responsibility to make up the difference if we didn’t have enough money to cover the total cost. So that’s, that’s why I made the motion in that way. Of course if the Agency decides that they will sponsor, you know, up to our, our limit for, you know, meal expenses, etcetera, etcetera, that everybody would get it.

Gerlitz: Well, here’s a problem with that, the way I seen it, see it, is that we said that five managers exceed the average of the state in terms of income. And there’s some that don’t. And there’s some that don’t come close to it. And so to ask them to come up with the difference, I think, is unfair. That’s why I think either the Agency should be responsible for providing training, or not! Because even if a person has to come up four, five hundred dollars, there’s people in our program that can’t afford that. And [inaudible]…

Smith: Well, Kenny, this is, this is Gordon. I think if there’s going to be money divvied up it should go to everybody, whether they go to BLAST or not.

Stevenson, Art: Oh.

Young: I don’t know… See… You probably can’t… Which, which way is the best way to do it, Eric? You’re, you’re the money man. Which way…

Morris: Well, what I, what I was thinking, and Cathy has to go. The Lift’s here for her so she’s got to step out. Cathy, you want me to throw this away? Your cup? I’ll toss it. I, my initial reaction is A) I don’t know how much it’s going to cost to send everybody, so I could do some, some preliminary checking on that to see. I just figured it was probably going to be about a grand apiece to send an individual, so let me do a little math on it and then let you guys know.

Young: Okay, why don’t we, Art, right now put that on hold until we can crunch some numbers better, get a better idea of what it’s going to, get somewhat of an idea for airfare, lodging, that sort of thing per person. And then come back and say well, you know, we need $1000 per person that’s going to go to the BLAST. And [inaudible] that way.

Morris: Yeah, because, because, because normally what we do is we figure out how much airfare is. Per diem is a set amount depending on what city you’re in. And, you know, so is the hotel. So, that, that’s fairly easy to project. I just haven’t done it yet.

Young: And then also isn’t the BLAST this year’s in November?

Morris: Yeah.

Young: So, and even if, even if we get all that information by the next meeting that should be plenty of time to get everything figured out.

Wright: Mr. Chairman?

Young: Yes?

Wright: This is Ann.

Young: Hey, Ann. Thanks.

Wright: I just wanted to make sure. If one cannot attend BLAST, we’re not going to be penalized in any way, are we?

Young: No. Well, unless…

Wright: Okay. Because, even…

Young: Hang on a second, Ann. Maybe if they make it, if it’s going to be like, taking the place of an In-Service, then it is more or less mandatory.

Wright: Well, that’s… Having it out of state, number one, I know, even if they offset my costs, I would not be able to afford to go. And it’s not just the cost of going for those of us running cafeterias. It’s the cost of hiring extra help to cover while we’re gone. There’s just a lot of expenses, and with the help of my family, there, there’s just no possible way.

Smith: Thank you, Ann.

Young: Well, [inaudible] in certain, certain medical cases, too, you can be excused. So, that, that would probably be a good excuse.

Wright: And if they’re holding BLAST in November, does that count as our Fall Service, In-Service?

Young: Well, that’s something we’re going to have to figure out, too.

Miranda: Well, Chairman, I think this is getting out of control.

Young: Okay, Lewanda.

Smith: Yep. I do, too.

Miranda: No one, no one has to go.

Young: No, they, they don’t, but...

Miranda: They can choose to go or not. I think, I think we should send something out, see who’s interested in going, let them respond back to, to Director Morris. Then he has an idea of who’s interested in going.

Young: Yeah.

Brown: Chairman?

Smith: Well, this is Gordon. I still like our, our Fall In-Service meeting. I think that’s important for…

Young: Well, yeah, everybody to get together?

Gerlitz: We have to [inaudible]. Miranda: Fall In-Service has to, has to take place because of elections.

Morris: I’ll send, yeah, I’ll send a note out tomorrow.

Young: Okay.

Brown: Mr. Chairman?

Young: Yes, Tessa.

Miranda: Tessa!

Brown: Yes, sorry everybody, I was late. My phone died on my bus ride home. So, that’s, I’m here! Just wanted to let you guys know.

Gerlitz: [inaudible] You could talk about the [inaudible].

Young: Okay, so, Tessa, could you give a little update on what you brought back from Sagebrush?

Brown: Yeah, I don’t have my notes in front of me right now. I apologize for that. It was, it was a fun meeting. Lot of people, a big turnout. I went to a couple of the break-out sessions. And like I said, I don’t have my notes, so I’m not really prepared. But there was a lot of talk about… Sorry, guys, totally having a brain freeze here. Can you give me a, like, a few minutes? Could I do it at the end of the meeting?

Young: Sure, okay, sure. Okay, you bet.

Brown: Sorry [inaudible].

Young: Okay, Lewanda, what’s the next agenda item?

Miranda: Okay, next is Committee Reports, Stevenson and myself. So I’m going to go ahead and go first, Art, if you don’t mind.

Stevenson, Art: That’s fine.

Miranda: Mine is the Unassigned Vending and we have not had a meeting. We’re scheduled to have one tomorrow. So, sorry about that. Derrick is going to give the Budget Committee report. So, Derrick, would you like to do that?

Stevenson, Derrick: Sure.

Miranda: Before Art gives his, too? Is that okay, Art?

Stevenson, Art: Sure.

Miranda: Okay, thanks.

Stevenson, Derrick: Yeah, we had a nice long meeting with Eric and, and Dacia. And they kind of just sort of covered the process. Right now, we’re in kind of like an off year, so not too much is being done. It was interesting, and they supplied us with quite a bit of information. You know, how, how things work. And I

think things are going to work out well. Dacia seemed happy to have us involved, and I think it’s going to be a positive for everybody.

Miranda: Thanks, Derrick.

Stevenson, Derrick: Yep.

Miranda: Mr. Stevenson. Art, you’re up.

Stevenson, Art: Could I, okay, yeah. Am I off mute?

Miranda: Yes.

Young: Yep, yep.

Stevenson, Art: Okay. I might add on the budget thing that Dacia did say that she believed the State of Oregon was not putting up the kind of money that they should be putting up. That she felt that the State of Oregon should at least be putting in as much money as the managers are in set-aside, and so I really feel that the new leadership at the Commission is, is going to be going to bat for us on the budget. And that’s a really good thing. Talked about different ways of getting money for the program, including maybe writing grants, etc., etc. So I think the establishment of the Budget Committee is a great thing and that it’s going to lead to great things for our program. So, I, I did want to interject that, too. I attended the meeting and I was very, very pleased to see the beginnings of what I think is going to be a great budgeting relationship between the Commission and the Elected Committee and blind licensed managers. Now, on to my report about the Compliance and By-Laws Committee. Ken, I, I, I heard you talking about, you know, the, the number of people and too many people on the Elected Committee and of course that would be a by-laws thing. As you all, all know that right now our by-laws state, you know, the number of reps and all those kind of things. And so, those are the kinds of things that the By-Laws Committee is going to be working on. This was an organizational meeting and we were kind of talking about different things that we were going to do. We decided that it, one meeting we were going to focus on by-laws and then the next meeting we would talk about compliance stuff. And so, at the next meeting we have designated for by-laws and we’ll be going through three pages of by-laws per meeting. And so, any blind licensed manager who wants to submit some recs, recommendations or thoughts or attend the meeting, they’re welcome to do that. We definitely do want to create a document that’s a little more clear and concise and a little more workable, a little more descriptive on rights and responsibilities of the managers and the duties of the Committees and of the members of the Elected Committee like the Chairman and the Vice Chairman. There seems to be some confusion out there that about that kind of relationship, the Chairman and the Vice Chairman. Well, of course, the Vice Chair is supposed to assist the Chairman in doing his job and when he or she is not able to do some, something then the Vice Chair is supposed to assist the Chairman in his duties. And so I’m, I’m really excited about getting more clarification in by-laws, and, and making some things workable. So I’m encouraging anybody who has any ideas or thoughts like Ken had a little earlier about the make-up of the Elected Committee that you either attend the meetings or get a hold of the individual on the Committee. I’m the Chairperson, Lewanda Miranda, Jerry Bird, Ken Gerlitz, and buh-buh-buh, Char Mckinzie on that Committee. So… Please definitely do that. And let me see, was there anything else? Some of the compliance issues, we’re working with the Agency on, you know, different issues. I don’t know if anybody’s aware of this, but at the last Commission meeting, the Commission Board voted to file for arbitration for the Edith Green Building. And, and we, the Elected Committee and the blind, I believe the

blind licensed manager, managers want to work with the Commission in making sure that, you know, not only the Agency’s in complying with the laws, and rules, and regulations, but the blind licensed manager are also. So, with that I conclude my report, Mr. Chairman.

Young: Thanks, Art. All right, Lewanda, what’s next on the agenda?

Miranda: New Business, Governor’s Food Drive, and that would be Chairman Young.

Young: Oh man, that’d be me, huh?

Miranda: Yeah, you’re up.

Young: Well, as most of us know that are in cafeterias or delis or espresso machines in state buildings, this month is Governor’s Food Drive. And I know it happens every year. Every year in February, all February the building does Governor’s Food Drive. And employees of the state bring in food that they donate, and they turn around and, you know, sell it for the money that they donate to the Governor’s. Anyhow, I’ve got to say that this month has been a pretty nasty one for me. Probably nastier than it’s been in a, here, almost thirty years I’ve been in the program. And so I know that probably Ann has dealt with this, and Salvador, and some of the others. I’m just kind of wondering… I don’t have a onsite building manager that I work with, so I mean it’s… Some of the other managers have some ideas on how we might be able to approach this issue and… Because when they bring that stuff in here, nobody’s buying it but the person that donates it. So it’s kind of hard for me to say, hey, you know, when you have your soup sale next Thursday, why don’t you buy your soup from me? Well, they’re not going to want to do that because they’re getting the stuff for free. So, if somebody could come up with some good ideas, you know, I would greatly appreciate it. And I’m sure some of the others that have to deal with that, too. And then also, February’s not the only month, because the Governor does his toy drive in October. So it, it’s in October, too. And then also, of course, everybody’s that’s been in these buildings knows that Thanksgiving and Christmas time they have all their potlucks and parties. And anyway, so it’s more than just one month hit. So, you know, I’ve, I’ve, in all these years I’ve never been so disappointed and discouraged as I am this year. Because, one thing they did to me this year was every Wednesday I’d do my Mexican food items, which is my big item for the week, which I make good money on Wednesdays. Well, this year, for some weird reason, they put all their big items on Wednesdays. Baked potatoes, they had a Kahlua pork dinner, they had chili yesterday. I mean, they’ve done all these things on Wednesdays, and I’ve been here for almost 13 years, and they know dang good and well that I do those on Wednesdays. But anyway, I’m pretty discouraged, and disappointed, and disgusted in the Governor’s Food Drive. So, if anybody has any good ideas how to approach this issue down the road, you know, please let me know. Thank you.

Miranda: Harold.

Smith: Harold, this is… Harold, this is Gordo.

Young: Hi Gordo.

Smith: My God, I’ve been dealing… I’ve been dealing with that ever since I’ve been in this program, and I don’t think there is anything that you can do about it but deal with it.

Young: Well, that’s true, but I mean, you would think maybe talking to somebody… Which I have a group of people here in the Governor, from the Governor’s Office that works here in the building. But anyway, you mention it to them and they kind of smile and laugh and walk off. But, you know, really discouraging when you work 10 to 11 hours a day in your deli, in your business, and then you… Anyway… I’m just venting.

Smith: Yeah, it, it hurts!

Stevenson, Art: Mr. Chairman! Mr. Chairman.

Young: Yes, Art, let’s make it brief.

Stevenson, Art: Yeah, oh, it will be. Might I, might I suggest that, Duke Shepard, of course is our liaison to the Governor. Might I suggest that we set up a meeting and talk to him about our concerns and stuff? And I do know when I was at Revenue, I’d, I, I had that problem and I developed a really good relationship with the building managers and stuff. And we sponsored events that raised money for the Governor’s Food Drive, but also, you know, helped eliminate some of the impact in the cafeteria. I know it can be done. And, you know, it’s about time that I think the Governor got involved. And you know, we worked out some real solutions, or at least maybe a letter coming out. Please involve the blind licensed managers because they, they support the Food Drive, but they also have families to support. So, I hope that was short enough.

Young: Okay. Let’s, let’s work on that. That’s a good idea.

Wright: This…

Young: Who, who was that?

Wright: Harold, this is Ann.

Young: Hey, Ann.

Wright: Hey, I, I was hit pretty hard with it, too, this year. The one thing I do have on my side is I do have an excellent relationship with the facilities managers, and a lot of the managers who head up the different, every unit does their own deal. They come ahead and give me a calendar at the beginning of the month letting me know which days they’re going to be running their special sales, so I won’t run specials that day. So at least I’m not losing money that way. As far as the other month, I agree with you. This year was the first year that, you know, they always have their toy drive, but this year they did fundraisers to buy toys. So I got hit really hard in December for the first time. It’s always bad enough, but extremely hard the first two weeks.

Young: Oh I know. Yeah, well, well, thank you, Ann. Thank you. All righty, Lewanda, that was enough crying for one agenda item. Let’s go to the next one.

Miranda: Partial relocation of buildings, and that would be you, also, Chairman.

Young: That’s me, too! All righty, well, I know this brought up some interesting questions and I had a conversation with Eric a while back and he brought this issue up to me. And the only building he really

set as an example was the Fish and Wildlife building that was out off of Cherry and Salem Parkway here in Salem, that, O—the Fish and Wildlife moved out of that building and some people moved back in. Well, I guess the, I don’t know if it was the majority of people or part of the people that moved in were from Salvador’s building. And I know that I’ve dealt with people moving in and out of this building the whole time I’ve been here, and I don’t know where they moved to. And the same thing with L & I. They’re moving people in and out of that building all the time, but I don’t know where they go, or you know, where they’re putting them. But one of the things is, you know, we need to work on some type of a policy that says, well, you know, I have 300 people moving out of my building into a building where there, which holds 300 people. Well, am I entitled to that vending or whatever’s going to be in that building. Well, that’s something we’re going to have to work out. You know, because you can’t just say, “Well, yeah, that’s mine, because those are my people.” And I know Eric brought up, well, kind of needs to be a whole agency. Well, the building I’m in right here, Public Service Building, about half of them are Department of Ed. There’s a whole floor that’s the State Police. Other two floors are Secretary of State. So, I mean, what do you define as the Agency? You know, is it State Police? The Department of Ed? Secretary of State? So there’s a lot of issues there that need to be, you know, addressed in the future, so we don’t have people saying, “well, that’s mine, or that’s mine, or that’s mine,” because people moved in there. Probably need to have somewhat of a, you know, like, 51% of the building population is my people that moved in there, or Lewanda’s, or Jerry’s, or whoever it might be, you know? That maybe might send the precedence for who gets it.

Gerlitz: Mr. Chairman.

Young: Yes, Ken.

Gerlitz: Wouldn’t, wouldn’t it, wouldn’t the total number of people in the building be the important factor? I mean by that is, let’s say you have 300 people in your building, and there’s movement that takes place, but the actual total of employees in the building really doesn’t change much because somebody’s moving in to replace the people that are moving out, so…

Young: Yeah. Well, that’s, that’s usually what happens in all these on the Mall. They don’t leave those spaces empty very long. So generally they’re always full, but what about the people that moved out, you know? Can I say, well, 400 people moved out of L & I building into another building. Well, hey, you know, those are my people. Shall I get that building?

Gerlitz: No, because [inaudible]…

Young: Even, even, even, yeah, even though they’re moving other people out, that’s, you know, that could be an issue though.

Mckinzie: Mr. Chairman? This is Char.

Young: Yes, yes, Char.

Mckinzie: Actually talking about Fish and Wildlife, that was my building and it went out south. And, and I got the vending when the new building opened up. Now I know there are people that moved in there, because I know one of, a group of people that did. So that, whoever’s getting the vending now from the Fish and Wildlife building, what was, isn’t me. So, so where is that vending money going now? To whom? Because it isn’t, it isn’t connected to me anymore, because my people went somewhere else. So,

you know what I’m saying? There’s vending there, but I don’t know where it, whose building, if there’s Sal’s people, then maybe there’s not a problem, you know?

Young: Right, yeah. Yeah. So…

Wright: Char, have you tried asking Canteen?

Mckinzie: So, I guess… Huh?

Young: Go ahead, Ann.

Mckinzie: And I wanted to say…

Young: Was that you, Ann?

Mckinzie: Go ahead, Ann.

Young: Yeah, go ahead.

Wright: It was. I was wondering, Char, if you had talked to Canteen about, because I’m sure it’s still their vending machines in the old Wildlife building. Because they contacted me first of all to let me know that they were going to be moving around and I had them get a hold of you. Because I had knew that you had the building, but Canteen should know if anybody is keeping that money and who it’s going to.

Mckinzie: Yeah, I, I haven’t, they haven’t contacted me about that. So I don’t know.

Young: Hey, Eric, do you have any, sorry, Char. Do you have any information on that, Eric, as far as, you know, is the majority of people in that building now from Salvador’s building, or what’s…

Morris: Well, it, it’s, as I remember, that Cherry Street building is divided up among several agencies now, but the, the issue with the people that transferred out of Sal’s building is, if I remember correctly, he wasn’t getting the vending for that, that floor of his building for some reason. It was going to another vendor. So, it’s been this chasing of population, and I think a lot of it comes from the vending companies, because if DHS moves 100 people out and DHS calls them and says, “Hey, we were over at this building, now we’re here,” Canteen cited [?] machines and start paying the, who they were paying before. So, as I interpret the, the federal regulations on this and stuff, it’s not, it’s not based on the population, as in those people belonging to you. It’s, that’s your building. That’s your facility. So that’s, it just hasn’t, I think it’s kind of just happened by happenstance in the past, and that’s why, we talked about this briefly at the In-Service in the Fall, and that’s why I wanted to bring it back up again.

Young: Okay. Does anybody else have any questions or issues with this?

Stevenson, Art: Mr. Chairman.

Young: Yes, Art.

Stevenson, Art: In the new Handbook there is a discussion about, you know, state vending machine income and stuff, and supposably, you know, some policies are supposed to be made and stuff like that.

And so maybe that should be referred to compliance and some thoughts and ideas be put together on a policy and stuff, because Eric’s on that committee also as the Agency representative, and then we can, you know, get something adopted and put into place.

Young: Yeah. Sounds good. Anybody else? All righty, Lewanda, what’s the next agenda item?

Miranda: Old Busin—“other” actually.

Young: Other?

Miranda: “Other” under New Business.

Young: Okay. [inaudible]

Hauth: Hi, Mr. Chairman?

Young: Yes, Randy?

Hauth: Yeah, hi. Hey, I wanted to bring up a couple of things of concern. I listened to… Well, first of all, I was wondering if anybody can tell me if the access codes to the five previous meetings have been unlocked? I noticed that they had been locked recently.

Miranda: They, they were locked after the, after they were adopted.

Hauth: Well, I believe they’re supposed to be accessible as public meetings for anybody to access. So, did you lock those, Lewanda?

Miranda: Yes.

Hauth: Can you unlock those?

Miranda: Do you need them… Sure, I will.

Hauth: Thank you. The other thing is, on February 19th, I listened to the Compliance Meeting By-Law meeting, I believe, and a couple of things that I wanted to share. And I’ll be as kind as I can about this. But I noticed, Art, that you had mentioned a couple of things that brought concern to me. One was that you had indicated that I had made a crazy public records request, and I was wondering what you based that term crazy on?

Stevenson, Art: Randy, you’re muffled, did you say something to me?

Hauth: Yes. Can you…

Gerlitz: You’re cutting out a little bit, Randy.

Stevenson, Art: Yeah.

Hauth: Can you hear me now?

Young: Yep.

Hauth: Hey, Eric, can you hear me?

Miranda: Yes.

Morris: Yeah.

Hauth: Okay, Art, can you hear me?

Stevenson, Art: Yeah.

Hauth: Okay. During the meeting you had stated that I made a crazy public records request, and I was wondering what you based that on?

Stevenson, Art: Was that my, was that my word, crazy? Or outrageous? Or… I don’t have it right in front of me, so, you know.

Hauth: Right. Crazy.

Stevenson, Art: I, in my opinion, thought it was a tremendous amount of information requested without any reason given which, in my opinion, is going to cause, cost a lot of time for the Agency. And quite frankly, I read your public records request, Mr. Hauth, and there was no purpose on why you wanted the information or anything, and so in my opinion, yes, it was a, a real lot of information asked for without any purposes given or anything, and in my opinion, it’s taking a lot of time away from the program, from Eric, and, and the Agency. So, that is my thinking on that matter. Especially since I believe it’s dealing with a situation that has already been addressed by the Elected Committee. And we’d be, we need to be do be doing more constructive things in the program, in my opinion. So, you wanted an answer, you got it.

Hauth: Okay, thank you. And the other thing that brought concern to me was that you were discussing a matter related to the Port of Portland. You had indicated that you had documentation that you were sending out. Can you tell me what that was?

Smith: Randy, you’re breaking up.

Stevenson, Art: Yeah, well, exactly. I had received the administrative review from the Port of Portland complaint, and there were some interesting aspects brought up in that administrative review concerning federal law versus state law, and the purpose, why the quote unquote “state entity”, when it went ahead and did things different, and so the Compliance Committee, me, myself, and I, was very interested in that particular administrative review. And we want to do a little more research so that as we’re conducting the business here in the state of Oregon, we, we are making sure that we dot our i’s and cross our t’s. So, if you think that is wrong thinking, well, that’s a matter of your opinion. But most definitely doing research on compliance issues, which we all want to make sure that the Agency and the vendors and everybody is complying. And any way that we can work with anyone, Mr. Hauth, in making sure that gets accomplished, it does get accomplished. So if it concerns you, it shouldn’t concern you, because it’s dealing with making the program better, understanding the laws and rules and regulations.

And as a matter of fact, that administrative rule talked about federal communication laws, which are federal laws, which they are obligated to, obligated to, federal law sets precedent over state law. And if you remember correctly, in that particular administrative review, that was a point that was brought out. So, we want a better understanding of laws and rules and regulations, so that we can work more efficiently and effectively with the Port of Portland and make sure that if we can create jobs for blind people, Mr., Mr. Hauth, that we do that.

Hauth: Can you tell me, Art, I just want to finish up here because these things were concerning. You know that this is still an ongoing and an open administrative hearings, and so your discussion related to it concerned me greatly. But can you please tell me who you received that document from and who you’ve sent that out to, please? That’s my last question.

Stevenson, Art: Um, what was, what was that question? Who, who, who I got that document from? Mr. Hauth, as you know…

Hauth: Who did you [inaudible].

Gerlitz: Is this the time and place for this? This doesn’t seem like…

Stevenson, Art: Well, no, it doesn’t, but you know, Randy wants to make accusations and try to make a mountain out of a molehill, which he is really good at.

Young: Point of order.

Stevenson, Art: You know, he wants to try to discredit people, as a matter of…

Young: Point of order. Point of order.

Hauth: You need to stop, Art, you need to stop, you need to stop that, please! You need to just please answer the question. That’s the last question. Who did you receive that from and who did you send that out to, please?

Miranda: Sounds like a court room.

Stevenson, Art: Yeah, doesn’t it?

Stevenson, Derrick: [inaudible] talk later.

Stevenson, Art: Um, yeah, if you want to meet with me, Mr. Hauth, you are very welcome to do. If you want to make accusations or whatever, you can, but this meeting’s not the place for you and I to have this tête-à-tête.

Hauth: Well, you, you seem to speak about it freely when I was not on the line, so I wanted to do some clarification. Again, it concerns me greatly that you’re discussing these topics and it’s an open, ongoing administrative hearing. I’m uncomfortable meeting with you. I’m asking you: please provide me who you received that from.

Smith: Chairman, can we go on?

Stevenson, Art: Yeah, let’s, let’s move on.

Young: Okay, Lewanda, what’s the next agenda item?

Miranda: Old Business, and A) is White City. Eric, do you have an update on that?

Morris: I do. I wish it was, like, a really good update, that things were progressing and, you know, really moving forward, but they haven’t. We haven’t got the letter out from the AG’s office. Not, not from me lack of asking for it. But they have been buried and, you know, like, some of the things we talked about tonight…

Gerlitz: Oh, Eric, that’s, that’s BS now. The AG’s office is buried like anybody’s buried. I mean, this has gone on for three years. So how buried can they be? They’re just putting us off because they have better things they think they have to do. But I think we should have a position in line, and the AG should give us the respect that we deserve, and the time, which they get paid for, to take care of business. And I’m just so sick and tired of hearing, “Well, they’ve been real busy, and there’s things that they have, want to…” That, [inaudible]…

Stevenson, Art: Hey, hey, Ken.

Gerlitz: Yeah.

Stevenson, Art: Mr. Chairman, I, I understand your frustration, Ken.

Gerlitz: No you don’t, no you don’t. Because I’ve been working on this for 15 years. 15 years I’ve been going down there and trying to get something going, and you know, the arbitration decision was three years ago, but we started long before that arbitration decision. So I don’t really think you understand my frustration. I don’t [inaudible]…

Stevenson, Art: Well, Ken, Ken, I, you know, I worked with the Agency and the stuff on, on the post office.

Gerlitz: That started after this. That started after this and you got settlement on that, too, didn’t you?

Stevenson, Art: Yeah. Well, no, what I mean… No, not, not me personally, but I mean obtaining the post office for, for, you know, blind licensed managers and doing that. I mean, that was, understand I was a part of that. And I know how frustration, frustrating it is. We do need to work at, at getting this done and accomplished, and I agree with you wholeheartedly that they seem to be working very, very slow in this situation. And, and let’s… You know, Eric, I, I love you, man, but these people honestly need to start giving us, you know, a timeline and it getting accomplished, because it’s that… It’s, it’s their job to do that. And I’m, I’m on board with you, Ken, on that, and, and the fact that we do need some timelines and, and quite frankly, other issues that they’re having to be bogged with should be put on hold. And, and some of these major issues like Ken, which has been going on for a long time need [inaudible]…

Miranda: Well, Eric was asked a question. Can he finish commenting?

Stevenson, Art: Yeah.

Young: Go ahead, Eric.

Morris: I’m, I’m not sure what else you want to hear.

Young: I know you’re frustrated, too, Eric.

Gerlitz: [inaudible] Eric, you know, I mean when I say, you know, they’re dragging their feet, it’s, it’s worse than that. And I think the Agency wants us, you know, to get along and to work together, which we have. I think we, we did everything that they wanted us to do to try to work together, but now we need support from the Agency. And, and it’s not there. It’s just not there. When it gets difficult, with, which the AG’s office has always been difficult, where they at? Where’s Dacia meeting with the AG’s office and pushing this, this program. I mean, this means three facilities that would be good money making facilities. You know, I’ve exhausted this area pretty much. I, and, and this would be something that would finally bring my income up to where it’d be respectable, and I don’t think it is now. And, and I don’t see anybody sticking their neck out to try to get this done, try to bring it to resolution. I mean, we’ve had people from the National Federation that wants us to do it. It’s people from the American Council. So, where are they? I mean, it’s just a job. I’ve worked at the AG’s office before in other states and they, you know, they… You get in line. You get in line. And, and they should have it as part of their goals and objectives to get this thing wrapped up. And I think it’s ridiculous. I don’t think it’ll ever be wrapped up, to be honest with you. And if that’s the case, say so!

Morris: Well, Ken, if I thought that was true, I’d tell you. But this, this case, the White City domiciliary case, everybody wants to go fight it, and I agree, we should. And we are going to, but it’s much easier to say, go fight that fight and do all those things, and sit back and say, yeah, you should be doing it. That’s not you, that’s these other people telling us to do that, versus actually going and doing it. Because until I got here, there wasn’t anything happening after the arbitration, if you guys recall. There, everybody was just kind of camped out waiting for something to happen, I guess.

Stevenson, Art: No. You’re absolutely right there.

Morris: So, if, if I had an AG attorney on my staff, which I do not. It’s a shared client services, so she’s not our only client, and the $98,000 I’ve spent year-to-date on AG fees, that… You know, I… Trust me, I underst—I don’t understand your frustration because I’m not in your position. But it is very frustrating for me because I, you guys give me a hard time about it, and I’m expected to perform at a certain standard. So, you know, I, I... I can’t, I can only tell you what I know and what the situation is.

Gerlitz: And I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about higher up. I remember when this arbitration came about. I mean, it’s been over three years for the arbitration [inaudible] decision.

Morris: I know.

Gerlitz: And, and, and you know what the, you know what the Agency was saying? And it was, oh what’s her name, she’s not there anymore. I’m blanking on it.

Stevenson, Art: Lorena.

Gerlitz: No, no, no, it’s the one that was helping…

Miranda: McDonald. Karen.

Gerlitz: Yeah. McDonald. And her response when that arbitration… I called her right away. I said now this is the time we need to jump on it. It’s fresh, we’ve got a positive decision. She said, “Oh, let’s just let it fade in the glory of this decision for a while.” And it’s like… You know, that’s just… It’s not, it’s not…

Smith: Here we go again, huh, Ken?

Young: Yup. We [inaudible], we all agree with you, Ken. And, you know, it’s not just you, Eric, we know it’s beyond that, but we would, I know you’re getting things done, but maybe somehow we could poke and prod higher powers a little bit more to maybe see what can maybe get done faster.

Morris: I’ll hammer them tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.

Young: Okay, thank you. What’s the next item there, Lewanda?

Miranda: Edith Green Building update.

Young: All right, Eric.

Morris: Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about that. With the, the, Art’s right. The Commission gave us the go-ahead to file for arbitration for that, and we need to do that. It hasn’t been done yet. But we, that’s one more thing I need to get with the AG to do that paperwork and do it correctly to get that filed.

Miranda: Next is “top three pending issues”. Director Morris, that’s your, your, pick your poison.

Morris: Okay, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll try to, I’ll try to be brief because we’re cruising towards 5:00 and I don’t want to miss my bus. Bonneville Dam is on there, and I talked with Jerry earlier this week. We continue to try to get some good communications with their counsel. You know, I’m not quite sure why he’s not being responsive, because they were willing to work with us. So we’re trying to get them pressured to get that permit finalized. The BPA Cafeteria, we did find out that, we talked to BPA, Bonneville Power Administration and their cafeteria operation, we talked with them, oh God, I believe it was last week. And they did come back after we poked and prodded them and agreed that the Randolph-Sheppard priority would apply in this case. They don’t do direct negotiations with anybody for anything, so that wasn’t a, an option. But the priority will apply. So, that was good news. And they expect to issue their RFP process in the next month or so. And then the last thing on my list of top priorities is the training program. And that’s the next big thing I’m going to try to tackle here in the next, as we move into March, is really sit down and try to sketch out what the training program is going to look like, how we’re going to facilitate it, and get that piece moving.

Stevenson, Art: Hey, Mr., Eric?

Morris: Yeah?

Stevenson, Art: You know, we’re talking about doing something with the School for the Blind up in Washington, and Dean Stenehjem and I have a really good relationship, and so any time you’re ready to

maybe take a trip over there or talk to Dean, see what kind of set-up they got, discuss different things that they may be able to provide with us, I would be glad to get that.

Gerlitz: I thought I was the training and education…

Stevenson, Art: No, you are the training and education guy!

Gerlitz: Well, [inaudible]…

Stevenson, Art: Ken, and all I’m saying is that Stenehjem, Stenehjem is, is a guy, and there’s been discussion about doing something with the School for the Blind. And so I was, quote unquote, trying to set up a meeting so he could go see, you know, what they might have to offer us, Ken.

Gerlitz: [inaudible]

Miranda: Well, Ken would need to be invited to that meeting.

Stevenson, Art: No, most definitely! And, and I didn’t mean that you wouldn’t be invited, Ken.

Gerlitz: No, I was chuckling because Carla, if you remember that one meeting they…

Stevenson, Art: Oh, I know, I, I, I know exactly what you’re talking about and, and you know, if we’re going to get a meeting with Stenehjem and stuff and move along on that, you know, I would be your better bet.

Gerlitz: Okay.

Stevenson, Art: But we’ll, we can work together on that, Ken. I just, it, it, Dean Stenehjem and I are really good friends and stuff, and I know that was one of the things we had discussed. And so, hey, I would never leave Kenny out of that meeting.

Miranda: [inaudible]

Stevenson, Art: We would, we would set it up even so you wouldn’t have to come up. You could do it on the telephone so you wouldn’t have to, have to do all that traveling and stuff.

Gerlitz: Well, I…

Miranda: Okay, Chairman, we need to move on.

Young: Yep, okay. I did want to get back to Tessa. Are you still on the line? I must have lost her.

Brown: Yeah, I’m here. I just had to get off of mute. Sorry.

Young: Okay, can you real, can you real briefly go over some of the stuff that you brought back with you, a couple of good items?

Brown: There was a whole bunch of… We did the, the walkthrough of the new vending machines and stuff like that, and it looks like a whole lot of really cool stuff coming out. And it was, it was kind of overwhelming, really. And as I mentioned, we did the breakout sessions, but the person in charge of leading the breakout session wasn’t given a topic, so it was kind of, all of the states were venting about problems they were having and what they’ve done to troubleshoot. And it really sounds like a lot of the states are having the same issues and problems as we are. And it seems like a lot of the states are, one of their big, top priorities right now is the training and further education for the managers. And then there was a lot of talk about NAMA, which is, somebody help me out here. National Merchandising Automated…

Stevenson, Art: That’s good enough.

Brown: Okay. And anyway, it was good. It wasn’t, for me anyway, it wasn’t as informational as the first time I went. I’m excited to compare it to BLAST. And, and I was told by several people that BLAST is more businesslike. And this kind of seemed like more of a social gathering. But it was nice. It was nice to touch bases with a bunch of the other states.

Young: All righty. Okay, thank you. Okay, Lewanda…

Brown: Harold, I, I have something that may be… Never mind, I’ll wait ‘til comments at the end.

Young: Okay. All right.

Miranda: Yeah, right now we’re at Old Business and we have “Other”.

Young: Is there any other business out there?

Hauth: Mr. Chairman?

Young: Yes, Randy.

Hauth: Yeah, hi. Eric, I don’t know if you can give us a quick update on what’s going on with Mount Hood Community College? SWOCC? O, I think, University of Oregon? Has there been any change in that?

Morris: Yes. I, I provided an update to the committee yesterday outlining those, like a top ten list. SWOCC and Mount Hood, we’re in discussions with them right now. University of Oregon, we’ve heard nothing from those guys, so, that’s short and simple.

Hauth: Okay. And Columbia Gorge Community College? Did you guys receive notice of vending opportunity and/or did you respond to that, do you know?

Morris: Yep.

Hauth: And?

Morris: And what?

Stevenson, Art: He said he replied.

Hauth: Well, how did that, how did that go? I mean, if you could just update, update me on what happened with that please.

Morris: Yeah, I believe we have a, I believe we have an IGA with them now.

Hauth: With the Columbia Gorge Community College?

Morris: Yes.

Hauth: Huh. Okay. Yeah, if you wouldn’t mind pushing that stuff out to the rest of the membership, that would be great, as well, Eric. Thank you.

Young: All right, any other business?

Stevenson, Art: I move we adjourn.

Young: All right, so the next meeting will be...

Miranda: Oh, Director’s Comments, do you have anything, Eric?

Morris: I have nothing.

Miranda: Okay.

Young: So the next meeting will be probably the last Thursday of April?

Miranda: Yes.

Young: Okay. Sounds good to me. Make a motion that we…

Smith: Good to hear Randy and Lin. Good to hear you guys again. This is Gordo.

Hauth: Thanks, Gordo, talk to you soon, buddy.

Smith: Yep, see you guys later.

Young: All righty.

Brown: Bye, everybody.

Miranda: Bye, Tess.

Brown: Harold and Lewanda?

Miranda: Yes.

Young: Yes.

Brown: I have an idea for promoting our Oregon’s BE Program. And it’s, it’s kind of, just kind of off the wall. But the big thing right now is Facebook. And it would be kind of cool if the BE could get together and create a Facebook page, kind of update the community on what’s going on, and where some of our locations are, and how they can get involved and help support us, and stuff like that. What do you guys think?

Miranda: I think it sounds good.

Young: I think it does, too, yeah.

Brown: Yeah?

Young: I would be up for that. Yep.

Brown: Okay, I just found out how to make my, my own business a Facebook page. So, maybe we could meet, or talk later this week, or next week. I guess this week’s pretty much over. And maybe talk with the other BECC and Eric and Dacia and see what their opinions are.

Miranda: Sounds good, Tess.

Young: Sounds good, yes it does.

Brown: All right, awesome! All right, have a great weekend, guys.

Gerlitz: Tessa? Tessa? Ken.

Brown: Yes, Ken?

Gerlitz: Did, did you win anything?

[recording ends]