Oregon National Guard Association
Board Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Present:
COL (Ret) Roberta Janssen Brig Gen Michael Stencel
COL Kelly Smothers Maj Andrea Smothers
LTC Fritz McReynolds Robin Webb
MAJ Charles Patzner CW5 Terry Swartwout
CW3 Doug Herinckx Maj Gen (Ret) Dan O'Hollaren
Col Paul Fitzgerald CPT Shane Maher
CPT Adam Lulay
1. Welcome by the President – Brig Gen Stencel welcomed members to the meeting.
2. Minute Approval: Meeting was called to order and the April minutes were reviewed and approved as written. A motion to accept the minutes as written was made and a second was given. Motion passed.
3. Financial Update:
a. ORNGA Checking Account: COL (Ret) Janssen indicated the Early Bird check came in at $982.30.
b. ORNGA Scholarship Fund: COL (Ret) Janssen indicated she wrote out a check from the ORNGA Checking Account to the ORNGA Scholarship Fund in the amount of $8,745.00. That included monies from the Conference and Military Ball, $1,800 for Mystery Bag event, $3,345 for the Silent Auction and online donations of $600. United Health Care Corporate Partner was $5,000 of which $2,500 went to the Scholarship Fund and Benefits Inc. put in another $500. She indicated next year we will need to take another look at how we can continue to fund this without taking out a lot of money from the endowment.
c. Budget Report for April: COL (Ret) Janssen stated the budget for April shows a lot of membership money coming in. We received $6,000 in Corporate Sponsors in the month of April along with money for the Conference and Military Ball. We also spent money at both the Ball and Conference and probably lost about $2,500 on the events although we did a lot of good things. In May, she paid NGAUS dues for $4,822 which pretty much was the biggest expense we had. Still looking at somewhere between $25,000 and $28,000 net profit for this year. A motion to accept the budget report as written, at least down to the expenses and pending changes to the next report, was made and a second was given. Motion passed.
4. Committee Reports:
a. Membership: COL (Ret) Janssen indicated CPT Vo gave her a report on membership. Air is at 82 members for this year and the Army is at 414. She states we will probably only hit about 56% to 60%. Brig Gen Stencel indicated we need to come up with some creative way to get the word out there and share the value in participating. If anyone has some ideas please let the committee know. CPT Lulay indicated maybe doing some evening type event in Salem after drill or on a drill weekend. Maj Smothers indicated in Louisiana their Officers Conference is a social event which is why their numbers are so high. The first day they do a social fun function, that evening larger units host a hospitality night. They are themed events. The Officer Conference is in the same weekend and the Military Ball is the night after that. We should increase the visibility of the social aspect and the charity work we do.
b. Resolutions: MAJ Patzner indicated there are three resolutions that we tabled until this meeting.
One was for Danner Boots and the modernization of the safety boot requirement. The Resolution is to basically change the safety boot that is prescribed to both Army & Air. A motion to accept the Joint Resolutions for the Moderation and Standardization of the Safety Toe Boots was made and a second was given. Motion passed.
Another is a Joint Health and Wellness Training Imitative. There was tests done with the 142nd. CSM Lake leads a group with project lead from MEDCOM. This is called BaseFit which is like the band you wear on your wrist sort of like FitBit. It would give the capability to a soldier to monitor/exercise and see calorie intake. The Resolution is more driven toward the funding and program so we can extend program dollars to cover those items that are not currently funded. The 142nd and the 1-186 IN Bn tested the technology and had great success with it. The program would be geared more to those who need help in this area. The Resolution is more about getting the Health and Wellness Program accepted and supported by National Guard. The Board suggested that this be run up the TriCare path instead of getting appropriated funds to cover it. It seems it would be better suited with the Health Care side of the house. The Board suggested to send this back to the committee to see if there is a better way to craft this. A motion to accept the Health and Wellness Training in Support of the Oregon National Guard Readiness and Availability Joint Resolutions was made. One acceptance vote was given and several Nay’s. Motion was not passed. It was requested it be sent back to the committee with recommendations from the Board to see if there is a better way to craft it to go to the National level.
Body Armor for the NGRF was added as it was previously approved through the Board at the March meeting. The only Air Resolution Col Fitzgerald is following is the reordering of the Standard Resolution of the F15 Modernization so he will watch that one and show support for it.
c. Corporate Partners: COL (Ret) Janssen indicated we are up to $35,250 that we have received in funds this year. We also had some in-kind situations that gave us about $2,500 more. The total hit $37,750. We budgeted $37,000. Brig Gen Stencel thanked everyone who worked on getting those corporate sponsors.
5. State Conference 2015 AAR: COL (Ret) Janssen sent out an AAR to everyone. There were 50 Corporate Partners, 252 members in attendance. General, Retired, Ronald Fogelman who is the former Air Force Chief of Staff was our keynote speaker. CW3 Doug Herinckx was elected as the Board’s Warrant Officer Rep and 1Lt Scott Gelhardt was elected as the Air CG Rep. We also welcomed Col Paul Fitzgerald who will handle the Air Resolutions. We had 382 attendees for the Military Ball, and 12 bottles left from the Mystery Bag event so there was no free Military Ball tickets for 2016 given.
6. NGAUS Conference - Nashville:
a. Budget: COL (Ret) Janssen indicated we received the letter from NGB allowing Professional Development. For Oregon it will be $4,500 for NGAUS, the amount is based on authorized strength with a minimum of two per state or maximum of seven at round trip airfare and one person per room. She was not sure if this includes Per Diem or not, sounds like only travel and room. She will check with USPFO to see what all this means.
b. Attendees: COL (Ret) Janssen states so far we have 30 members, three spouses and two guests attending. There are 37 rooms (28 taken). Have not heard from the Company Grade Rep yet on who is going. She will follow up with CPT Ortega as there are 11 Company Grade Officers that have expressed interest in going.
c. Update on pins: Still working.
d. Throw items: LTC McReynolds placed order.
e. Hospitality: Issuing check out to them when I receive where to send it.
f. Oregon – speech for opening ceremony: COL Englet asked to write up the opening ceremonial speech and Brig Gen Stencel approved.
g. First Memo out to Board & Interested Parties: COL (Ret) Janssen stated she sent out the first memo to everyone on the conference list. There is no easy way to get from here to Nashville. Plane tickets are running between $350 and $450.
h. Memo from NGB on CGO participation in NGAUS ($4500): COL Smothers states General Grass’ letter to the States says $5,075 for “Oregon National Guard Travel”. I’m going out on a limb here but that is Travel and Allowances, not pay. COL (Ret) Janssen will follow up with USPFO.
7. New Business:
a. Request for Funds from Battery A, 2-218 FA – 2016 is the 150th Anniversary: COL (Ret) Janssen stated in 2016 it is the 150th anniversary for Battery A and they would like to have the Military Ball to honor them with banners and brochures, etc. Another words, they are looking for special recognition at the Military Ball. Also, Bobby Jones from the Enlisted Association has asked if we can make the Military Ball a Mascaraed Costume Ball. It was discussed in the past when we had the 150th Military Ball event with everyone in costume, security was brought up. If people come in masks, it may be hard to identify who it really is. Maj Smothers stated this may be the right time for that social event we talked about earlier. Have a Battalion or Unit sponsor a room and each room have their own theme. Brig Gen Stencel stated he could see this as a separate event but would disassociate it with formal Military aspect. COL Smothers suggested taking this to the Military Ball subcommittee for further discussion. Volunteers are welcome.
b. Request for Partnership funds: LTC (Ret) Janssen indicated Manuel Robledo requested funds for taking the Vietnamese Delegation that are meeting in Hawaii to dinner. He has asked for $250. The President has agreed to do that so this is just a formality.
8. Next Meeting: Next meeting will be Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at the ARC in Salem at 5:30 PM. Pizza will be served. Meeting was adjourned at 6:50 PM.