A Message from NCSSMA President Joe Dirago

New York Region Management Society

MEMBERSHIP INVITATION

A Message from NCSSMA President Joe Dirago

In November 2009, at the 40th Annual National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA) in Tampa, Florida, I was elected President. It is an honor and a privilege to represent 3,400 Social Security management personnel in the ten Regional Management Associations. One of my challenges to the delegates and members was to spread the word about the positive impact NCSSMA has for our agency and its employees. This communication is part of that effort.

I want to personally invite you to come join us, by becoming a member of the New York Region Management Society. We need your participation and support to make our organization truly representative of the viewpoints of all Field Office and Teleservice Center managers and supervisors. At both the regional and national levels, the Management Association is recognized and respected as an organization that improves the management and program administration in the Social Security Administration in a positive and professional manner.

This flyer provides you with information about our organization and some recent significant events we have been involved with. You should also consider that the New York Region Management Society, through the National Council, has assumed an active advocacy role to protect federal employee compensation and benefits. Please take a look at the NCSSMA Website and the NYRMS Home for information about our purpose and goals, how we operate, and our members’ concerns. We also produce a quarterly newsletter – FrontLine that is interesting and informative.

We hope that you will join us and help make a difference! Please see the Membership Application and sign up today so that you may immediately be added to our mailing list and receive our communications.

NCSSMA Capitol Hill Day

Your National Executive Council works with NCSMMA Government Relations Representative, Dr. Rachel Emmons, on Capitol Hill to lobby the House and Senate on behalf of SSA’s budget needs. Experiences from Capitol Hill:

Dwight Moberly, ARMA President - I must admit, I was a bit intimidated before my first trip to Capitol Hill with the NCSSMA Executive Committee. Meeting with members of Congress was pretty far removed from my standard job description as an SSA district manager. However, I was determined to do my best and as I learned during the day, there’s no substitute for good preparation.

NCSSMA officers and Rachel Emmons, our NCSSMA Washington Representative, had prepared handouts including charts and graphs illustrating our talking points, and once I got started I realized that I was talking about a subject that I was very familiar with – SSA services. I recall one of my peers saying, “don’t worry, they can’t eat you!” At times that seemed like small consolation.

As I made my rounds to my appointed meetings with Senators and Representative from my state and others I gained a real appreciation for the enormous amount of activity that takes place on the Hill. Everyone seemed to be hurrying and scurrying about and I tried to do the same while still taking in the sights and sounds. I’m sure I was easily spotted for a rookie and a rank amateur but I kept to my schedule and although I wasn’t able to meet with the Congressmen from my state I did meet with members of their staff. I was amazed at the level of SSA knowledge of the staffers, well – at least most of them.

Later that afternoon we all got back together and discussed the events of the day. We had participated in over 60 meetings with members of Congress and their staff! Wow! I can’t guarantee that our message got through to everyone we spoke with, but I do know that we all worked very hard to present our message that SSA needs sufficient funding in order to deliver the service that the American people have come to expect from us.

Peggy Buchanan, DRMA President - March 17, 2010 is a day I will remember for many years. On that St. Patrick’s Day I joined with the other members of the NCSSMA EC on Capitol Hill to talk to our Congressional representation about Social Security field offices and TSCs. We had planned the date and the trip for months but as fate would have it, our appointments on Capitol Hill were set during the week that the Health Care bill was finally coming up to a vote. The air was electric with expectation. Everyone was in town. The President even made an appearance at the Capitol to have lunch with the Irish ambassador. Several of the EC caught a glimpse of him as he left his limo and sprinted up the Capitol steps. It was a perfect early spring day in Washington DC.

At the end of the day as our group “re-grouped” and compared notes, we all reported positive successful meetings with influential Congressional and committee staffers. A few of us were able to meet directly with our representatives. We all felt like we had made a positive impression and had effectively delivered the message that SSA needed attention in the 2011 and future budgets in order to deliver the service that the citizens deserve.

Little did I know when I signed up to be a member of DRMA in 1986 that I would end up on Capitol Hill discussing the President’s 2011 budget. I didn’t realize then what membership in an SSA management association meant. I have learned that being a management association member opens many doors of opportunity and that for every hour that I spent reviewing IRD’s and drafts of position papers I have also spent many hours offering my opinion and making suggestions that have resulted in a positive change. The voice of the management associations gets heard. I cannot begin to explain the how valuable my experience has been as a management association member.

Rick Lenoir, CSSMA President - Our first meeting of the day was with the Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security. This was a pretty amazing experience and a great way to kick off the day, especially for us rookies! I was so impressed with how knowledgeable the Subcommittee’s staff was on the issues we face, not just the big political budgetary issues, but the day to day operational workload issues as well. After a couple of group sessions we all had breakout schedules of meetings to attend with Congressional or Senatorial staff from our own districts and states. Our goal was simple - we were looking for support for the President’s 2011 budget for SSA. I have to say, I really did not know what to expect. The “veteran’s” on the visit made it seem oh so easy, you will introduce yourself, share our story, some factoids about SSA and the 2011 budget, answer a couple of questions and then breeze out to the next meeting – no problem, right? Needless to say I was a little nervous as I headed out to my first solo meeting.

I had four individual meetings with legislative staff and in one instance the representative stopped in and I was again impressed with the concern and interest they showed for SSA and the issues NCSSMA presented. The participants in my meetings were very engaged in SSA issues, which made my task a little easier. There was so much activity going on in Washington that week as they prepared for a vote on health care reform, it was a really amazing week to be in town.

I have been blessed with many incredible opportunities in my career with SSA and my association with CSSMA. This visit to Washington was right at the top of the list. CSSMA has been the conduit for me to grow my leadership and managerial ability and to expand my agency wide perspective. What I am most grateful for is the opportunity to be a part of the solution – to participate in the dialogue as our agency navigates the changes that come before us. CSSMA and NCSSMA have allowed me the opportunity to add to the discussion, my thoughts and the thoughts of my colleagues on how to help move SSA forward. I would strongly urge you to consider getting involved; contact your regional management association for more information on how to get connected!

Testimony at Social Security Subcommittee Hearing

On April 15, 2010, NCSSMA President Joe Dirago and Secretary Billie Armenta had the opportunity to testify at the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee hearing on SSA field office service delivery. The Chairman of the Subcommittee, Congressman Earl Pomeroy convened the hearing to explore how SSA is planning to meet agency goals in light of the level of resources received and the surges in workloads due to the recession and the aging of the baby boomers.

Ranking Member Sam Johnson stated that SSA is a vital safety net for retirees and the disabled. He indicated there are many different ways of doing business, but many still like to visit a field office. He stated, “The good folks at local field offices are not just the face of Social Security but they are literally on the front lines.”

Joe Dirago testified that NCSSMA represents 3,400 managers and supervisors and for over forty years, our top priority has been a strong and stable Social Security Administration that delivers quality community based service. He indicated that despite agency strategic planning, expansion of online services, productivity gains, and the best efforts of management and employees, field offices are faced with tremendous challenges. Information compiled from our 2010 NCSSMA Survey was used to illustrate these issues and several suggestions to address the challenges were outlined.

Billie Armenta provided testimony that illustrated how field offices are faced with a multitude of service delivery challenges, whether urban, suburban, border, or rural. Regardless of location, the SSA field office is one of the bedrocks of the community and employees are highly dedicated, but we need the necessary support to meet our challenges. This hearing is just one in a number of steps that will assist NCSSMA with achieving the goals it has set forth regarding field office and teleservice center resources. We encourage you to go to our website for more information.

NCSSMA Leadership Meets with Social Security Advisory Board, COSS, NADE and Key Congressional Staff

From April 21 -23, 2010, NCSSMA Leadership held important meetings in Washington D.C., with the Social Security Advisory Board Staff, the SSA Commissioner, the National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), and key members of Congressional Authorization and Appropriations Committee staff. Representing NCSSMA were President Joe Dirago, Vice President Steve Clifton, Secretary Billie Armenta and Washington Representative Rachel Emmons.

The primary purpose of the meetings was to continue the dialogue about the challenges faced in SSA field offices and to advance our issues. We reviewed our testimony to the Social Security Subcommittee at the April 15 Hearing and our Statement for the Record for the April 14 Hearing on the FY 2011 Budget. We provided front-line feedback on a multitude of topics including our rising workloads, phone service, quality concerns and the impact of internet claims.

Testimonials from Notable Management Association Members

Joe Walsh, Jr. ARMA Past President, Retired - As a member of field office management, one of the most rewarding aspects of my career with Social Security was my involvement in the Atlanta Region Management Association (ARMA). ARMA is first and foremost comprised of highly dedicated fellow members of field office and teleservice management. ARMA's primary mission is to work with regional and, in turn, agency leadership to improve the delivery of the valuable services SSA provides the American public, while continuing to promote community based service. In doing so, ARMA always has the best interest of the public and our employees in mind. Being a member of ARMA will not only keep you informed on all the cutting edge issues that affect your job on a daily basis, but will also broaden your total perspective on the agency, our programs, and your own career. Be a member of ARMA. Join today. You will be glad you did.

Ron Buffaloe, District Manager (Ret.) Salisbury, NC, NCSSMA Past President - As you are considering whether to join ARMA I would like to share some of the reasons I chose to belong to our management association and the opportunities it gave me to make a difference. After starting in the field, then spending seven years in the regional office, I came back to the field as an Assistant District Manager. My district manager immediately started sharing the ARMA newsletter and ARMA emails with me and we discussed the issues of the day highlighted in those documents. When he asked me to join ARMA I saw it was a great way to stay informed about what was happening outside of my office. While I was already getting agency information about decisions being made, I saw that ARMA shared information about what was happening behind the scenes. That was also the first time I saw an organization asking the questions and raising the issues that the agency wasn’t addressing—questions and issues that were important to field management but that only ARMA was raising.

It wasn’t too long before I felt comfortable asking my own questions and raising my own issues through the ARMA Area Vice President for my area. Some questions and some issues were addressed satisfactorily by regional leadership and others weren’t, but at least I could get the questions asked and the issues raised that I didn’t feel comfortable, as a junior member of management, asking myself. When I was asked to run for a vacant Area Vice President position I said yes because I felt it was important for any member of field management to do whatever was necessary to help his or her fellow members of management. My first run for office was unsuccessful but the next time I was asked I said yes again. That led to almost 25 years of increasingly important elected leadership roles in both ARMA and the national management association. I spent almost 25 years as a member of ARMA because I believed in what it stood for, how it professionally represented every member of field management in its dealing with higher agency leadership, what it did to protect and defend the rights of field management and for the opportunity of friendship and camaraderie provided by membership in an organization of peers. I believe if you join ARMA you will find all that and more.

Don Singewald, Acting Deputy Associate Commissioner, Office of Quality Improvement, NESSMA Past President - Being a member of NESSMA and the NCSSMA is one of the most positive steps you can take as a member of management to help SSA retain its focus on delivering quality service to the public. In addition, the peer support from the contacts you make as a member will be invaluable to you throughout your career. With your membership, NESSMA and NCSSMA can help your voice get heard. You won’t regret the choice to join.

Steve Korn, San Francisco Regional Office, Center Director for Automation, NCSSMA Past President - I joined the San Francisco Region Management Association (SFRMA) as an Operations Supervisor after realizing it was a perfect vehicle to bring my ideas about management and service delivery directly to the attention of our top executives. The opportunities presented to me both as an officer with SFRMA and later NCSSMA, as well as the enduring friendships I forged along the way, made this by far the most astute decision of my 34 year SSA career.

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