Businessenterpriseprogram of Oregon

BUSINESSENTERPRISEPROGRAM OF OREGON

BECCEMERGENCY MEETING

Date: Thursday January 26, 2017

Time: 2:00 p.m.

OREGONCOMMISSIONFOR THE BLIND

535 SE 12thAvenue(Portlandoffice)

Conferenceline:404-443-6397

Participantcode: 943611#

Agenda

* Any of theagenda itemslisted belowmaybecome anaction item.

* Any of these items may be a conflict of interest.

1.Call toOrder

2.PublicComment-allow before, during business, and as well during opencomment

3. Non-Issuance of some 2017 Operating Agreements by OCB’s Administration – including accounting issues provided by OCB administration just last week to some Licensed Blind Managers.

4.OpenDiscussion

5.NextMeeting – Immediately following this meeting, on January 26, 2017, at 3:00 p.m.

6.Adjournment

VERBATIM

[00:00:00]

Hauth: Okay. Well, let’s go ahead and start this meeting, everybody. Wanted to call this meeting to order. And, again, like Commissioner Jeanne-Marie had stated, if you could mute your phone it would be greatly appreciated. I know teleconference meetings are hard, at best, becauseeverybody tries to, you know, un-mute and get their comments in and, you know, so forth and so on. But to do your best would be wonderful. So, we called this meeting into order, so I would like to start by taking roll call of the Board and I’ll work out into the membership and audience. So, Art Stevenson, are you here?

StevensonA: Here.

Hauth: Derrick Stevenson, are you here? [Silence.] Derrick Stevenson, are you here? [Silence.] Okay, Jerry Bird, are you here?

Bird: Here.

Hauth: Okay. Steve Gordon, are you here?

Gordon: Here.

Hauth: Steve Jackson, are you here?

Jackson: I’m right here. Steve Jackson.

Hauth: Okay. And I am here, Randy Hauth. I am here. We do have a quorum. I’ll call on Derrick Stevenson again. Derrick, are you here? [Silence.] Okay. Then we’ll move into the membership. Lin Jaynes, are you present?

Jaynes: Yes. Present.

Hauth: Okay. Cathy Colley-Dominique, are you present? [Silence.] Cathy Colley-Dominique, are you present? [Silence.] Okay. Char Mckinzie-Hawkins, are you present? [Silence.] Okay, Char Mckinzie-Hawkins, are you present? [Silence.] All right. Harold Young, are you present?

Young: Yes, I’m here.

Hauth: Okay. Salvador Barraza, are you present? [Silence.] Salvador Barraza, are you present? [Silence.] Tessa Brown, are you present?

Brown: I am.

Hauth: Thank you. And Carole Kinney, are you present?

Kinney: Yes, I’m here.

Hauth: Okay. And Lewanda Miranda, are you present?

Miranda: Present.

Hauth: Have I left anybody out? [Silence.] Okay. Has anybody from the Board, B.E.C.C. and/or managers joined in that I have not called on? [Silence.] Okay. Audience, is there anybody that would like to announce their presence?

Moore: Well, I’m Jeanne-Marie. I’m here.

Hauth: Jeanne-Marie, welcome.

Moore: By invitation.

Edwards: And James Edwards is on.

Hauth: Hey, James. Welcome. Welcome. Anybody else? [Silence.] Okay. So let’s go ahead and call this… Well, we’ve called the meeting already to order. And thank you everybody for joining us. I know this is going to be a meeting that discusses primarily the issues that recently came up so we called this emergency meeting and then our regularly scheduled meeting will start at 3:00. I’ve projected this meeting to last an hour. It may not go that long. And for those of you on the line, hope to continue on. If we end up hanging up I hope to have you call back in at 3:00. I do want to start this out by saying that November 15th, during a B.E.C.C. meeting, close to the end of the meeting, I had discussions with Eric, Director Eric Morris, about the operating agreement, knowing that the operating agreement was just right around the corner, wanted to make sure we weren’t going to run into the situation that we’ve appeared to run into now. And so I asked Eric at that time if everybody would be sent an operating agreement and that was, I think, verbatim, I said, “So I know Eric is running for the bus, but I’d like to get an answer. So, Eric, will you be sending the operating agreement to all managers?” And in December, like you have each year, Eric Morris said, “Yes.” So, I’m not sure what’s changed between then and now, but I have been contacted by at least four licensed blind vendors, I believe it was five, excuse me, licensed blind vendors sharing concerns about their operating agreement being withheld. And I know it had provided a lot of stress and strain on these people because your operating agreement is closely connected with our livelihoods. And so, you know, I was requested to conduct… call for a special meeting. So, hopefully, we can get the issues resolved that were brought forward and understand why… why the issues are here. I do know that some of the… some of the charges that are being, you know, levied go back to as far as 2011. So the thought would be, you know, if these are for 2011, why now are the licensed blind vendors’ operating agreements being held hostage? So, from 2014, again, the same question. So, Eric, I would welcome you to, if you’d like to at this time, to overview… I know that you mentioned yesterday you had talked to everybody that the agency claims owes past due set-aside and that the agency is withholding operating agreements on. So, can you overview the membership on, you know, what happened from November, when you said everybody would be receiving their operating agreement to now, where some aren’t? And can you, without identifying by name, can you tell us how many operating agreements are not being… are being withheld?

Morris: Yeah, Randy, I can speak to that. Hang on one second, just trying to take a drink real quick. So, I don’t recall the November 15th meeting, I haven’t went back and looked at that verbatim but I’ll… I’ll take your word on it. Before… right on the… on the… before the last meeting, I think the 10th, on the 12th… on 12/30 I sent a note out to you guys as part of my Director’s Report, saying, “Hey, here’s…” In fact, if you look at that Director’s Report – and I… I’m assuming everybody’s reading it – so, it talks about how – and I’ll go back and answer your question in a second – it talks about how we’re gonna get set-aside taken care of. ‘Cause, you know, over the years since I’ve been here, from the very beginning and all throughout the time I’ve been here, past due set-aside has been a major bone of contention with specific people and… and different Boards that, you know, different Boards that have been in place since I’ve been here. So, we’ve been trying… the agency’s been trying to get our hands wrapped around this so that we can have accurate accounting and accurate transparency to the managers. Because all along I’ve said it’s really important that you get a statement… I mean, ‘cause you guys get invoiced every month, but that doesn’t really tell you, did we get your check, did your check not get here, did… it never gave any of that information. So, in December, accounting was finally able to get the monthly statements ready for prime time. And so, I think that’s probably the difference between the middle of November and December. And so, that’s why I put that in my Director’s Report, that I’d be contacting people as we head into the New Year and as people get their compliance stuff in place, to try and go back through it. And some of the stuff is really old. Now, that’s… it’s super… I’m not happy about that in any way, shape or form, but it is… it is accurate. And that’s what we’re trying to ensure, is that what our records reflect is what the managers’ records reflect. And I know we had originally eight people that I talked to and since then we’ve sent out two operating agreements from those eight people. I think three, four people have requested an itemized breakdown of reports they’ve sent, invoices they’ve been sent, or reports they’ve sent to us, invoices we’ve sent to them and how they were applied to their account. So, accounting is diligently working on compiling that, and that’s a lot of information going back a long ways. But I understand the need to show that to people. Because, you know, if you think you’re in good standing and there’s… all of a sudden you’re owing either small amounts or big amounts, then you want to be able to see that and wrap your head around it. So, accounting’s working on that. They’re… there’s a lot of big piles of documents forming up. They’re going to get sent out as soon as possible. And so, that… that’s kind of where we’re at right this second. I mean, the… the focus on past due set-aside… I know that’s important to a lot of people and the Elected Committee has said over and over and over again that we need to get that fixed and get it taken care of. So, by going through getting these statements in place, where everybody will get a new… a monthly statement each month showing what they’ve sent, what’s been applied to their account, what’s been invoiced to their account. Getting that statement each… every single month is gonna be the… the pathway to getting this straightened out and getting people either to reconcile their accounts or to show us the documentation that reconciles their account or get into a repayment agreement, is what’s gonna move us forward.

Hauth: Well, what I would… Thank you, Eric. What I would share is, on January 10th, when we asked about the status of our operating agreements and I believe Derrick Stevenson actually asked specifically about his operating agreement, I believe at that time you said you didn’t know. And so, again, it’s… it’s concerning… it’s concerning… I think you said you didn’t have an update at that time. So, it’s concerning, like, again, some of these balances the agency is claiming are from 2011. You know, I would… I would hope that the agency reconciled their books quarterly or, you know, at least annually. Some are from 2011, 2014, 2015. And in November you say, yeah, everybody’s receiving their operating agreements and in January when we asked you said you didn’t know, you didn’t have an update. There was no involvement on this matter from the B.E.C.C. that I know of. I feel the communication was really limited to none and so you could probably understand why people may be extremely upset, distraught, concerned about this. And so that’s why we’re here in a meeting and I know we’re going to hear from others on the line. But, wouldn’t it have been better to communicate this? I do know that on December 16th, I believe December 16th, one of the documents that we had seen, where this was rearing… raising its head… wouldn’t it have been better to maybe not… not necessarily withhold operating agreements but to provide the documentation to those managers who are claimed to be past due on set-aside and say, “Hey, lookit, our records are indicating that you owe this.” And also, along with that, the agency lending supporting evidence that shows and supports the claims… ‘Cause what I’ve seen it’s basically like, “Hey, you owe us some money. Send it in or you’re not getting an operating agreement.” And I’m just summarizing that, but wouldn’t it have been better to provide that information and give people a chance to respond and provide their supporting documentation and not wait till the last minute, where people are being, you know… kept their operating agreement from? You know, so that’s… I guess that’s my concern. And, you know, how long was the… how long was the agency aware or working on the new invoice that I think you identified that finally flushed out all this information?

[00:13:32]

Morris: Yeah, Randy, I don’t know a specific time frame on the invoice itself. The… the… as you know, we’ve had some changes in our accounting department over the last couple of years and our new CFO has been in place for… I think she’s been here about a year and a half now. And they went through last year and basically reconstructed, from the ground up, all of the B.E. set-aside records. So, that was a long process unto itself. The actual development of the statement, that’s been in place for actually a couple months, two, three months at least. So, you know, I… I think it’s easy to go back and Monday morning quarterback it and say, you know, “You should’ve done this, you should’ve done that.” The Elected Committee’s been saying, “Collect this money” for years. So, at some point, you have to tear the Band Aid off and say, “Here’s where we’re at. Here’s what we’re gonna do.” And, when I talked to each of these people, I… I’m sure they’re going to talk about it when we talk today, I didn’t call anybody up and say, “Hey, I’m pulling your operating agreement unless you pay this money right away.” I’m like, “Hey, I’m gonna send you a statement that’s showing our records. Compare it to yours and then let’s talk about it.” And so, that’s… that’s where we’re at. I didn’t threaten anybody in that sense. So.

Bird: Randy?

[Woman’s voice]: May I say something?

Hauth: Yeah. Hold on, hold on. Hold on just a second. I do want to say, you know, Eric, I don’t, you know… Why wasn’t the Committee involved in the development of the new financial report or the monthly reporting? I think…

Morris: Well, Randy…

Hauth: …that’s one concern. That’s what I would like to hear. And then the second thing is, you know, you keep… I think four or five times this meeting you’ve said,“The Elected Committee wants past due set-aside paid. The Elected Committee has always said this.” Well, that’s true. We do. The Elected Committee says a lot of things and we want a lot for this program. So, for the agency to focus on that and not other issues and concerns we bring forward is concerning. But, again, it falls back on the agency being responsible. The agency should never let anybody get so far behind on set-aside and they should never have let past dues from 2011 or 2014 exist. So, that’s my concern. But going back to… and then we’ll move forward with the meeting and… and public comments. But, going back here, why wasn’t the Elected Committee involved in the development of the form would be helpful for everybody to hear.

Morris: Well, Randy, I sent you guys a copy of that in December. And then when I asked you guys to weigh in on it last meeting, you guys voted it down. So, I’m not sure what kind of process you want to do around development of it or modifying it but that’s… I’m gonna kick it right back to you.

Hauth: Well, it was already developed when we received it, so…

Morris: Yeah, but it’s an Excel spreadsheet. You can change it in about three seconds. And you guys said, “Nah, we’re gonna vote that down.” So, I… I’m a little confused by the process, I guess.

Hauth: Well, I think the communication, just from my – and you can hear from others – it’s just that, where I come from, during a meeting, during a previous meeting the communication should be a little bit more interactive and you as Director should say, “Hey, lookit, there’s some issues here.” We’ve all… we all know they exist and let’s work together to find a way to resolve these. Here’s an idea: let’s develop some new monthly reporting spreadsheets because the other ones, apparently, aren’t doing their jobs. So, I think that’s how you start it out. I don’t believe that you just create a form, you know, send it to somebody and then that’s active participation. But we’re going to go ahead – and thank you, Eric, for answering – we’re going to go ahead and ask for any public comment. And then we’ll move forward with the meeting. Is there any public comment> Anybody like to make a comment?

Moore: I’d like to make a comment.

Hauth: Yes, Jeanne-Marie.

Moore: Okay. Well, Randy, I have to say, and it’s a very uncomfortable position for me to be in, but I have sat through meetings where you yourself have been very, very disappointed in Eric for not, you know, not being on top of collecting set-aside and, you know, four other people that… I could name them ‘cause I took notes… and, you know, his style of communication may… may not be exactly what you had in mind but he sent you a form and you… you, on one level, were asked to participate because he sent it to you as opposed to just sending it to you saying, “We decided this.” And I understand you guys aren’t getting the exact active participation you want. But it seems like there are steps being made, a little bit here, a little bit there. And, you know, there isn’t anything that I can think of where I’ve heard you guys tell Eric… and I’m not, you know, necessarily in agreement with what Eric does all the time, by any means. But I’ve never heard this Committee say yes to anything he’s presented you. And I think that’s a tough position to be in. I’ll just say that. And this set-aside thing has been an issue from before I was even a Commissioner, you guys were talking about it. So, there’s got to be some way to get everybody’s attention and get everybody on the same page. And, apparently, things weren’t done the way they needed to be done and now they’re starting to get done and they’re… they’re not doing it right, now, either. And I just don’t know how productive this is gonna be.