WASCOE Convention

The Convention of convened at 8:32 a.m. by Vice President, Deb Esselman-Baird. Opening prayer was given by John Baird. The Pledge of Allegiance was lead by Linda Feldkamp and the National Anthem was lead by Deb Esselman-Baird.

There were 5 out of state guests that were introduced by Deb. 1 from Illinois, 1 from Iowa, 2 from Indiana and 1 from Michigan.

The Secretary report as given by Linda Feldkamp showed the directors up for reelection and their eligibility for reelection. Those up are Area 1, Sally Torgerson, Area 2, John Baird, Area 3, Tom Schneider, Area 4, Bev Osenga and Area 5, Kim Iczkowski. Only Sally and Tom are not eligible for reelection. At this time Linda also thanked everyone from the bottom of her heart for all of the well wishes and prayers offered for her health. People cannot believe just how this means to anyone who needs the support of others at their time of illness.

The Treasurer’s report as given by Mary Behm (which is attached) shows a Balance in the General Fund of $4638.66 and Scholarship Fund of $4967.62. There was $3010.00 collected at the auction the prior night. Good Job!

The Membership report shows the following counties at 50+ years of membership: Monroe County, Taylor County, Clark County, Outagamie County and Juneau County. Congratulations to these counties.

Our membership stands at 240 members and 6 associate members for 82%. The written report is attached. There will be a FSA-444 a new form for requesting payroll deductions. This form will have to be prepared for all in the payroll deduction now so State Office can be informed of the changes.

The winner of the County that reached 100% was Brown County. A check will be sent to them.

The $50 winner of the drawing for the individual that paid their dues by the end of the year was Denise Braukhoff from Rock County.

The Awards report is attached. The $25 drawing for the submission of a “Nice Job” award was held and the office from OFFV was the winner.

Since Teresa Zimmer was also the registration chairperson she held the early bird drawing and Linda Feldkamp was the winner.

Publicity and Website report was given by Deb Esselman-Baird copy attached. It was announced that the present editor of the newsletter, Lynn Clausing has resigned. She was thanked for her work over the past years. Deb also did stress that everything you need to know is on the website. She also stressed that she wants and needs information for the newsletter.

The Scholarship written report is attached. Susan also thanked WASCOE and its members for making the scholarship program a winner. She also thanked the judges. As for the banquet last night she thanked all of the contributors, the Auctioneer and the scholarship winners for making the night a special.

Programs did not have a written report, but changes right now are very hard to come by because of the temporary leadership in WDC right now.

CAPWIZ a written report was submitted by Jon Williams. He still wants everyone to signup for this on their home computers. It shows that it is working because at the last legislative conference many of the offices visited now know who we are.

Legislative and Emblems – written reports submitted and attached.

President’s report – copy attached. Tom also wanted to thank Marsha Kellesvig for all of her help in getting this convention set up and to Teresa Zimmer and Kathy Watson for all of their help with registration.

J M Marketing – Teresa Mace was in attendance and presented a check from JM Marketing to WASCOE. First of all Teresa has us all say our first name, then she had us all say WASCOE. It showed that WASCOE works with many voices compared to individual voices.

The focus this year is on 1/ Long Term Care Insurance 2/ Life Insurance 3/Cancer replacement insurance.

The Long term Care is covered by Mutual of Omaha and will be reviewed this fall.

The Life Insurance is a guaranteed issued and you can add your spouse or children under age 23 and they would be guaranteed a lifetime benefit with no further health questions. The life insurance can be purchased up to age 70 and if a critical illness would be found there is a possibility of claiming accelerated death benefits and receiving up to 50% of face value with Doctor documentation to use prior to death.

The Cancer insurance is reviewed every 11 years and this is a new policy with some better benefits.

WRASCOE report given by President, Elmer Strassburg. It is good to be here and Elmer reported that he has missed only 1 annual meeting during his employment and has attended all since his retirement. He thanked WASCOE for allowing this organization to participate in the annual meeting process. Elmer also reported for NARFE which is the National Active Retired Federal Employees. NARFE has a very strong active part in PAC and they are still working and hoping that they may also be able to use the pretax ruling on Health Insurance deductions. They are also so very happy to hear that someday FERS may have sick leave credited toward their retirement. Elmer also stressed that WRASCOE needs to know when retirements are occurring so that contacts can be made.

At this time Deb Esselman-Baird presented a Tribute to Veterans and Active Duty Soldiers. Her comments included that this is a 6 year war we are into and during the 6 years we have has 4,245 deaths, 31,035 seriously wounded, of which 20% were brain or spinal injuries. Of the 147,000 troops in Iraq 30% of the troops develop mental health issues. It is stressed that we support the troops but don’t have to agree with the war. Following these remarks a short program was presented via a video.

Sandra Chalmers reported that what she is doing now is very interesting work. Decisions are getting tougher though. Every other week there is a video teleconference held with WDC which gives us a pep talk about trusting herself and her decisions. Following are items she thinks are very important:

1/ Improve communication between STO/DD/Employees and Employee Organizations. She thinks it is working well now and hopes it improves and continues into the future.

2/ Give structure on how STO works. Show that they are ready to take on problems and work with them.

3/ Getting employees tools they need to get their jobs done. When the tools are in place use them to get your jobs done.

What is going on lately? $18 million made in Dairy Payments. These payments are in sorely needed by Dairy Farmers around the State and they appreciate along with Sandy appreciate the work we do to get this money out.

Farm Loan Staffing shows that with out high numbers on loans we are about 30 employees short. Right now detailing of employees to get the money in the hands of those needing it is being done.

We are all trying to learn ACRE, SURE, PI even though the budget is short face-to-face training is needed and will be held and is on going.

40% of the CED’s are eligible to retire in the next 5 years. COT interviews were held this past week hope to have some new COT’s on board by the end of May.

Workplace violence training was good but more is needed especially on suicide prevention concerning our clients. If someone indicates suicidal ideas please call law enforcement since we do not have training to handle this.

Training should also be held for Safety on the Farm.

The revised report on Budget looks better than the first draft notice, but it still doesn’t look good. Only 4% of our budget is discretionatory this includes travel and supplies.

Training is needed and will be held and is on going.

40% of the CED’s are eligible to retire in the next 5 years. COT interviews were held this past week hope to have some new COT’s on board by the end of May.

Training should also be held for Safety on the Farm.

The revised report on Budget looks better than the first draft notice, but it still doesn’t look good. Only 4% of our budget is discretionatory this includes travel and supplies. Our original look at the budget showed $14 million less than expected and now it is at $22 million less. $22 million was put into IT issues and that comes out of the total pot so it involves us. Another problem was the 3.9 pay raise when the President only wanted 2.9 pay raise. Because of the IT funding and the Pay Raise this is a total $42 million turn of events. NAIP costs $24 million and the new farm bill estimated that it would cost $150 million and we are only credited with $50 million.

That’s the whole ugly picture and we must expect it to be worse next year. This will have an impact on resources and people and program delivery.

Right at this moment Sandy is not sure if we will keep some positions open so that purchases of paper and toner can be made. Under the supplemental appropriations bill it is hoped we receive more money. Right now the equipment budget is gone, and there is only a small amount available for supplies. Some hard choices will have to be made.

Two comments from the audience to Sandy are the Award Monies out there and a question on realigning the areas for FLP.

Sandy thanks us all for the hard work we do and that is being done. The more we talk together helps and makes us better. She does support the DD Trainer concept of PT Reclassification.

At this point of the meeting a telephone conference with Mr. Robert Redding the NASCOE Legislative Consultant was held. First of all he said what great timing since Doug Caruso was placed as the Administrator. He thinks all will go well since Doug is from Wisconsin.

The Legislative Conference held recently was the best and most well received conference in his memory.

Where are we now? Hearings are on going for Agriculture food safety, animal ID contracts. Many of the items discussed shows FSA capabilities. His main comment was to make it clear that NRCS falls short of the quality of FSA. The is a hearing planned for the State of the Farm. This would include that the cost effectiveness of RMA is not invincible. The past week senior folks in Congress looked at FSA modernization. There is a commitment to go forward with $250 million. There will be a need for a supplemental appropriation. The key concerns are that we don’t need a turf battle between FSA and NRCS. Let’s try to move things into a different position. In reality NRCS wants FSA to take over some of the programs given to them. We have the support of FSA in WDC.

Lastly, Mr. Redding wanted to stress the importance of PAC and urges all to help support this program. PAC is critical.

Helen Forbeck, a field representative for Congresswoman, Tammy Baldwin reported that the Congresswoman sends her regards and best wishes. She encourages us to contact Congress. They need the feedback they get from us and from the public. It is very valuable to give personal view points. The best way to make contact is via email (remember you must do this on your own computer on your own time not the office computer).

Helen went over some of the bills that we have discussed prior such as FERS Sick Leave, Pre tax eligibility and the Stimulus Bill. Wisconsin is listed to get $8 million for Direct Operator Loans which is near the top in the Nation. A total allocation Nationwide is $173 million. There is also $50 million allocated for aquaculture and $70 million for Disaster Recovery. A good website for this is http://recovery.wisconsin.gov click on PROGRAMS which is continually updated.

Two questions posed to Helen were:

1/ Why does it take so long to get a bill passed and

2/ What are carbon credits

Jon Williams reported as MWA Executive –

First of all he wanted to let all know that he appreciates everything we do for him. This is a learning process and has enjoyed being the MWA Executive.

The last 2 months he has been busy with the Legislative Conference, the Indiana/Illinois Conference, the MWA Rally, the Negotiation session and the Michigan Conference.

Things going on with the budget are that it was a very effective time to have the fly in and to get our story out to the members of Congress.

The National Convention last year in Omaha showed a greater emphasis on legislative concerns and approval of the dues increase. Jon thinks the money we spend on Mr. Redding is very cost effective.

The Negotiation Session and pre session reviews and assignments to different Executives was very effective to get the background for each item and this enabled us to write up the items to the best of our ability to present to WDC. NASCOE is encouraging employees to present their items for negotiation year around now instead of the one time as assigned prior. The numbers of items for negotiation this year were down because of the chaos in WDC, but it makes us appreciate of what we already have.

Concerning the performance plans things are not going as expected. Unfortunately WDC has supplied the training but things are not being done correctly. We need reviews to be made and oversight. Someone needs to be accountable.

Concerning the PT Reclassification Jon is happy to hear that Sandy supports the DD Trainer. A taskforce will be established to let us know where and how we can get to this point. The result of the negotiation session will be posted on the NASCOE website when the responses are received. It must be noted that in order for the Reclassification to happen each State must make the decision and that will be the final say.

GIS is now considered a workload item.

IT issues show that there is a whole new emphasis to get things updated. It is unfortunate that there is hardly any IT support for system 36.

New payroll will hopefully start in pp 10. Timekeeper will load timesheets until the start of 2010 when the employees will be entering their own timesheets. Since there is no workload count at the moment, this will be a great tool to get workload count starting in 2011. Under this new system CO and GS coding doesn’t match up – the vendor doesn’t know the difference. Still working on problems.

Concerning how we change the forms for the Community Property States which Wisconsin is one of seems to be illegal. It is being pushed that the form be changed by adding a statement on the form that changes the form to cover Community Property rules, if needed.

Jon also reported that we have only a 3% discretionary budget not 4% as stated by Sandy. Unfortunately 2011 will be worse.

2009 funding is more than 2008 and Congress understands this. We are funded to our ceiling. Right now there is no talk of buyouts, furloughs or RIF’s.

The 2009 Convention is being held in Gatlinburg TN during the first week in August.

The problem with multiple envelopes being sent from Kansas City to producers when payments are made has been corrected.

WASCOE Business –

There was discussion on removing the term limit on the Treasurer position. Because it is listed in our bylaws and a 30 day notice was not posted to the membership Jon Williams moved that according to Roberts Rules a vote is to be made to suspend the 30 day rule for changing our by laws requirement. Seconded by Kim Iczkowski and Teresa Zimmer. Motion carried. Kim Iczkowski moved to make the Treasurer’s position a non term limit. The motion was seconded by several. Motion passed.

John Baird moved to nominate Mary Behm as treasurer for the ballot because of her 6 years as treasurer and a job well done. Being no further nominations Mary’s name will appear on the ballot.

Teresa Zimmer moved to nominate Katheryn Watson as secretary. Being no further nominations Kathryn’s name will appear on the ballot.

Nominations for delegates to the 50^th Annual NASCOE Convention were opened.

Jon Williams nominated Randy Kunsman

John Baird nominated Mary Behm

Mary Behm nominated Deb Esselman-Baird

Being no further nominations paper ballots were distributed to members in attendance. The final vote showed Mary Behm with the highest number of votes (17), Deb Esselman-Baird with the next highest (12) and Randy Kunsman with (9). Therefore Mary and Deb will be the delegates.

Linda Feldkamp reported that the audit of the treasurer’s book showed our accounts are all in good standing and moved to accept the audit report. Kim Iczkowski seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Tom reminded Area 1 that they are the hosts for next year’s convention.

A final comment by Ben Bosshart was that the telephone conference held was very good and hopes we keep this in mind for the future.

Tom thanked us all for spending our Saturday together.

Kim Iczkowski moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:25 and to accept all actions acted on. The motion was seconded by Kathy Morton. Motion passed.

Respectfully Submitted

Linda Feldkamp, Secretary