Secretary's Report

Officers

Tom Oasen, President

Present

Deb Esselman Baird, V President

Present

Linda Feldkamp, Secretary

Present

Mary Behm, Treasurer

Present

Directors

Area 1

Robert Forrest

Present

Sally Torgerson

Absent

Mark Brixon

Present

Area 2

Marion Koca

Present

John Baird

Absent

Jim Sullivan

Present

Area 3

Peter Peters

Present

Tom Schneider

Present

Randy Kunsman

Present

Area 4

Jake Bourget

Absent

Bev Osenga

Present

Dave Heideman

Present

Area 5

Teresa Zimmer

Present

Kim Iczkowski

Absent

Kathy Morton

Present

Chairperson

Teresa Zimmer, Awards

Present

Diana Pernsteiner, Benefits

Absent

Deb Esselman Baird, Legislative, Web, Emblems

Present

Kathy Morton, Membership

Present

Lynn Ann Clausing, Newsletter

Absent

Susan Blachowiak, Scholarship

Present

Brenda Kluesner, Programs

Absent

Jon Williams, CAPWIZ

Present

Minutes of the last meeting were written and printed in prior WASCOE Newsletter. Being no corrections Teresa Zimmer moved to accept the minutes as printed and Kathy Morton seconded the motion. Motion carried.

During the Secretary report Linda went over the terms of office and those up for reelection in 2008:

Area 1 the Jared Singer term which Bob Forrest completed is up for reelection for a 3 year term

Area 2 Marion Koca term is up

Area 3 Pete Peters term is up

Area 4 Jake Bourget term is up

Area 5 Teresa Zimmer term is up and she is not eligible for reelection because of 2 terms served

The treasurer’s report was given by Mary Behm. Scholarship Account has balance of $3745.61 and Checking has a balance of $5960.97 as of 2/10/08. A detailed report will be printed in WASCOE News.

Kathy Morton moved to accept the treasurer’s report as given and Pete Peters seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Mary reported that we are at about 81% membership.

The following is a summary of the President’s report given. A full report is on the Web Page.

First of all, Tom, wanted to thank us all for taking time out of our busy scheduled for this meeting.

It has become apparent to many that there are many new faces in FSA and because of the shortage of large statewide meetings each district has to take the lead to introduce yourselves and WASCOE. We should take the time and ask them to become a member of WASCOE and stress to them that we are their VOICE. We cannot continue to lose membership.

On this same vein of thought Mary is getting direct deposits and checks from new members and she doesn’t know where they belong. Please make the effort to let Mary know of any new members and where they are from.

The PT reclassification is in the “talk again” mode. Hopefully we can continue to keep PT’s at the pay level we need

Tom also at this time wanted to publicly thank Deb Esselman-Baird for all of the GREAT work she did on the office closure issues with the congressmen, and printed material. Hours and hours of her own time were spent on this project. Again thank you Deb.

Committee Reports –

Membership

Kathy Morton reported letters have been sent out and some of them will be revamped and resent. She is working on a listing received from state office. She plans on including a letter, pamphlet and form for payroll deduction to the information being sent to non members. Jon Williams asked her if she had WASCOE envelopes and she said no, so he said he would get her some.

Scholarship

Susan Blachowiak reported that the deadline is coming up. There was a great response this year. There were 4-5 WASCOE applications received and 2-3 NASCOE Applications received. Susan is looking for 2 judges yet.

Susan wanted us all to remember that Our Children are our Treasures.

The Scholarship Program added a new scholarship this year which is sponsored by JM Marketing. The Scholarship is for FSA employees who want to continue their education. There were no applications from Wisconsin but rumor is that there were 5 nationwide.

Awards

Teresa Zimmer reported that there were 2 nominations received and they were in different categories. Since there was no competition in a category there will be no judging. Thanks for those who had volunteered to judge.

The “Nice Job Award” nominations can still be accepted up to the week before the convention. Let’s recognize those who are out there that help make our world a better place. There are 24 entries so far.

A motion was made by Marion Koca to include a $25.00 gift card for the NASCOE store along with the plaque for the 2 nominees. The motion was seconded by Dave Heideman. Motion carried.

Benefits

Diana was not in attendance but Tom stressed that we read all the information she has been mailing out. The NASCOE Travel service seems to be very user friendly and cost effective.

Legislative/Website/Emblems

NASCOE is keeping close watch on the Farm Bill arguments and compromises.

Deb will have some emblems available at the convention but she will need someone to work the table because she has many other duties to do. Many are starting to use the emblem items as thank you to employees, departing COC members, etc.

Pertaining to the website, if we want anything else posted to the website let Deb know. The WASCOE newsletter is on the website available in PDF format for reprinting.

Many directors thanked Deb for the updates on the Farm Bill Legislation she has been sending out.

Publicity

Lynn was not in attendance, but Tom noted that we push our website so more and more people become knowledgeable about he site.

Programs

Brenda was not available because of the weather. There were 2 items submitted and reviewed.

1/ why was COC required to take Computer Security Course

2/ why were the Personnel Folders handled as they were?

Tom commented on a letter received from Susan Austin thanking the employees used to help with this project and wanted to point out that state office had originally thought this could take up to two weeks to complete this job and those who were brought in completed the work in 4 days. Tom said that he was very proud of the entire group.

CAPWIZ

Wisconsin has 111 people subscribed. Records show that the Senators Feingold and Kohl received the largest amount of mail and many of our Representatives received very little mail. We must include Representative Kagen and Representative Obey because they are both on very important committees.

Another option that would be nice to use is the “Tell a Friend” option. While in CAPWIZ you can include someone you know is not participating and maybe this could get them involved.

If an email address or name changes please contact Jon and he will contact Tammy to make the changes.

Remember this service is not free, we are paying a very large fee to have this work for us, so let’s utilize it all we can.

A motion was made by Kathy Morton to accept all reports given. The motion was seconded by Teresa Zimmer. Motion carried.

Old Business

Jon Williams questioned where we were standing on the issue of GS employees and eligibility for WASCOE. Since Linda did not have any of the prior minutes with her this will be check into and brought up at our next meeting and/or the bylaws amended for vote at our next meeting.

New Business

It was discussed that the by-laws should be reviewed by the Vice President and committee prior to the State Convention. Deb made the note to do so.

The 2008 Convention is set for May 2 & 3 at the Plaza Hotel in Wausau. There will be a Buffet Dinner on Friday night. A room has been reserved for RASCOE for their meeting on Friday. There are no specific entertainment plans as of yet, but discussions will be made with the hotel if they have entertainment in their pub area.

The following is the invited list to date:

1/ JM Marketing 2/ NARFE 3/ WRASCOE 4/ SED 5/ STC

Tom asked for our input of the following to invite for further information

Bob M from Nebraska who has worked with the issues on the time accounting system which

is planned to be used for workload or Linda Treese who covers personnel issues. It was a consensus to invite Bob M.

Deb Esselman-Baird also noted that we should invite someone from Obey’s office.

The raffle will be the same as prior years. They are $20 each. Tom also discussed a wreath that was auctioned off at Ohio’s convention made of scratch off lottery tickets. Was this something we wanted to do? Linda F offered to make a smaller version for the auction to see how it goes at this years convention. She will probably ask some of the neighboring counties to aid in this endeavor.

Speaking of the auction – a reminder goes out to all counties to remember their donations for the auction. This money goes directly into our Scholarship Account.

Word is out to invite any employee or employee’s child to sing the National Anthem at the opening ceremonies. Last year Gail Tonn and Jim Lucas’s daughter sang a very beautiful rendition of the anthem, so please if anyone is out there give us a call.

The registration and agenda for the convention are still in the works. April 4^th is the final date for hotel reservations for the block of rooms set aside.

NASCOE had a meeting to brainstorm on decision that may be coming down the pike soon with the new farm bill. It was noted that the language discussing FSA office closures and reorganization is in both bills.

NASCOE is being very proactive to be sure that FSA becomes the lead agency for all administrative functions; becoming the lead agency in the Animal Identification and Payment Limitation. We must be the lead agency to be sure that money is paid to the proper individual, partnership, or corporation.

April 8, 2008 is the date set to meet with the STC and SED. It was discussed that Jon Williams as past president was included last year, should be include again this year? It was decided to include if State Office will allow him to attend.

As we all know the STO Administrative Section is currently short staffed and struggling to stay on top of Administrative items on a timely basis. Tom has been in contact with Sandy and Susan and WASCOE has offered any help available. Unfortunately this is a nationwide problem not just in Wisconsin. If any county has had any problems getting data in to make payroll payments, setoffs for dental or eyewear insurance, retirement problems, etc be sure to let Tom know this so he can try and get the issues resolved.

Regarding our meeting with the SED/STC, please get any comments or questions you would like asked or requested to Tom Oasen as soon as possible so that a list can be made up and research can be completed.

RASCOE President, Elmer Strassburg, reported that he was glad to be included in the meeting here today and also very happy that we could work things out so that they will meet at the same time WASCOE does in Wausau. RASCOE dues will be increasing by $10.next year because the National Organization is hiring a Washington DC Representative. There are 2 major bills they are working on and they are: 1/ Repeal of the offset or windfall elimination act and 2/ pre tax dollars for health insurance. They are looking for co sponsors on both bills. Elmer did request that the organization be allowed to have a 50/50 raffle at the annual meeting. Linda Feldkamp moved to allow RASCOE to hold the 50/50 raffle. The motion was seconded by Tom Schneider. Motion passed.

RASCOE and NAFEC associate dues are listed on our web page. We are encouraged to join these associations also. RASCOE dues year starts July 1.

The Midwest Area Rally (April 17 – 20) was discussed. Barbara Boyd from Washington DC reporting on Reclassification is scheduled to attend. It was moved by Teresa Zimmer to have Ben Bosshart and Deb Esselman/Baird as the delegates along with Tom Oasen as alternate. The motion was seconded by Kathy Morton. Motion passed. Tom will contact Ben about being a delegate.

Other upcoming State Conventions are: Illinois March 14-15 in Springfield; and Iowa March 28-29.

$100 has been approved by the officers for an employee in Rock County who had suffered an almost complete loss of registered sheep and their barn. A motion was made by Teresa Zimmer and Seconded by Peter Peters to ratify the action taken by the officers. Motion carried. It was reported by Kathy Morton that a gift card in the amount of $100 was purchased from Farm and Fleet and was presented to the employee along with a card “thinking of you” from her WASCOE friends.

Deb reported that Sue from Farmers Union worked very hard with the FSA office during the office closure debates and seemed to fit the rules as a true coalition partner. A motion was made by Teresa Zimmer and seconded by Kathy Morton to invite Sue to the convention banquet, purchase the banquet ticket for her and a companion and present her with a plaque showing our appreciation for all she did during the process. The motion was carried.

Jon Williams also mentioned that NASCOE is looking for good coalition partners. WASCOE should write up Sue and get her name to the NASCOE Legislative Group as our nominee from Wisconsin.

Keep our eyes open for coalition partners in all areas including vegetable growers, the Soybean Association, Corn Growers, etc.

Jon also commented that the MIDAS project which had originally been announced at the Baltimore Convention is being revived. There is a new lead person and progress is being made. Hopefully more information will be available when he meets in Washington DC the end of April.

Further information is that NASCOE is going to the hill on the Farm Bill, Reorganization and PII issues.

Jon also reminded us that he is working on the National Data Base for NASCOE and would appreciate the information he had requested prior from each employee, ie: name, email address, etc.

Being no further business, Tom thanked us all for being involved in this meeting. A motion was made by Kathy Morton to adjourn the meeting at 10:00 a.m. The motion was seconded by Marion Koca. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted:

Linda Feldkamp, Secretary