Marquette County Veterans Affairs Committee
Tuesday, April 12, 2016, 5:30 P. M.
Room 41, Henry A. Skewis Annex Building, Marquette, MI 49855
MINUTES
1. Call to order by George LaBlonde at 5:30 p.m.
2. Pledge of Allegiance led by George LaBlonde.
3. Roll call of members: George LaBlonde, III, Tracey Tippett, Jim Provost, James Mead, Lyle Warner, Department Service Officer Craig Salo, and Department Benefits Counselor Chelsea Wallner.
4. Approval of Minutes for meeting of Tuesday, March 8, 2016. Motion by Provost, support by Tippett; motion carried.
5. Approval of Agenda. Motion by Provost, support by Lyle; motion carried.
6. Public comment (limit to 3 minutes per person). N/A.
7. Review of financial report-update. Craig Salo thanked everyone for coming out for the sub-committee meeting last Thursday evening. In the future, it will be beneficial, for multiple reasons; budget for FY17, transparency, big ticket items, it is just a win, win situation.
8. Reports/Committees:
a. MCVAC member activities. N/A.
b. Veterans Affairs Service Officer. Craig Salo: I appreciate Chelsea’s efforts, while I took a few days off at the end of March to visit some family down in Florida. I appreciate everybody stepping up and appreciate Chelsea’s efforts in the office. It’s a busy period and of course everyone is aware that we have one whole week remaining this month in the office and then starting on Monday April 25 through the end of the week we will be doing our continuing education training down in Mt. Pleasant. Before we depart, we will have everything synchronized with TV6, because that will be the taping date for the Ryan Report regarding the Vietnam Traveling Wall scheduled taping is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. So I anticipate, Chelsea and I are departing for Mt. Pleasant at noon or somewhere in that ball park. We will be on-site at TV6 at around 5:30 A.M. Busy time period, and we look forward to the training. I forwarded the copy of the training agenda to County Administrator and put George on the cc. Looks like it will be a very robust training session and some quality topics and quality instructors.
c. Finance Committee. 2016 Budget: Report presented by Lyle Warner. Looking at our first quarter review this is only our second year here, so it’s just a budget in process. It’s going well and there is nothing that Craig or the board prior to me has any complaints. It has been set up pretty good. It’s just getting use to moving a few dollars here and there. We are going to meet at least quarterly. We’re probably going to have to meet that month before the fiscal year due date for the County to make sure we are all lined up for the next year. That will be June, because it’s due in July. Those are the kinds of things we are looking at. Everything else is in line. Everything is below, the percentages are where they are supposed to be or a smidge above the budget but there are by no means any concerns. As a committee, we will take any questions you may have. It is a work in process for us. It was an overall good meeting. George LaBlonde: Scott came up with a great budget based on our proposal and other counties input. Appreciate the committee meeting. Craig Salo: We used the FY15 numerics associated with the budgeted copy cost. There is plenty in the overall budget to compensate for an extra $200 for copies. Jim Provost: Judy and I were up there in the office and Craig mentioned the cost of the blinds; Judy stated that the estimate was too much. Judy is working on it.
d. Special Events Committee: Marquette County Veteran of the Year program. George LaBlonde: We have members of I believe every organization. We did that at the Alliance. Craig Salo: On March 18, 2016 the Am Vets – James Mead, American Legion – Gary Ruhinen; DAV – George LaBlonde III; 40 et 8 – Mike Trickey, Marine Corps League – Rod Aho; VFW – Pat Holcomb; VVA – Charlie Hawes; SVA – Mike Rutledge had an initial meeting to start discussing the development of Marquette County Veterans of the Year program. We talked about the program description, restrictions, selection criteria, nomination process, application, presentation, and banquet. I will give a little more information to Jim Provost during the Alliance meeting. It was a good start. We will have one follow-up meeting and then I think we will be able to formally present something to the Alliance and to the committee for approval once we move forward. Great discussion and input for all who volunteered to be there and it’s really encouraging to move forward in the forming of the Veteran of the Year. Jim Provost: To me it is just an excellent idea to do that. There is a lot of guys out there that do a lot of things. They should get some recognition for it. George LaBlonde: Craig thought of that when we were talking about the UP Veteran of the Year program. Thank you Craig for bringing it up. That’s what our job is – to take care of Veterans. Jim Provost brought up the fact of a Veteran who did a lot in the past than may not being doing anything like what he did now. Will that be taken into account? Craig Salo confirmed that yes that is where we are gravitating toward. We do not want to discourage younger veterans either, that have given everything in the last 12 months. We are going to look at some other opportunities to recognize those Veterans as well.
9. Informational items/correspondence
a. Office donation: Display cases. George LaBlonde: Stated there are four cabinets that are sitting at Jacobetti and have been untouched for quite some time. George went ahead and e-mailed Brad Slagle, Administrator of Jacobetti and asked if he could have them. Brad said yes, Suzie Belfry, Buyer at Jacobetti, disposed of them and there will be an arrangement for pick up. They may need to be sanded and/or fixed up a little bit. But, at least we will be able to display some memorabilia. We will start working on that. I would like to thank Craig for the idea. There is stuff like this all over the place. We are looking for a bulletin board and if someone is getting rid of one, we will take it.
b. Letter submitted to County Administrator reference the Committee recommending approval by the County Commissioners for the Marquette County Department of Veterans Affairs Soldiers and Sailors Relief Fund. County Board approved the proposal on March 9, 2016. Craig Salo: We are up and running. It’s a nice augmentation to the Michigan Veterans Trust and any other Faith based programs and non-profit programs. Chelsea, today, dropped off the new voucher forms to the print shop. We will have 300 invoices vouchers printed up and ready to go. I think it is going to be a nice summer while we get our feet wet with that. We’ll probably start to see the use of the Soldiers Sailors’ Relief Act late fall/early winter. It’s moving in the right direction.
c. Status of HB 5169, the revoking of property tax exemption for 100% veterans. George LaBlonde: even though it did not come out of committee, it is not dead.
10. Action items:
a. Meeting Dates/Time/Location: Currently second Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Topic will be discussed by the Committee under 11. a., Chairman needs to depart by 6:00 p.m.
b. Consolidated calendar. George LaBlonde: Chelsea has been working with Jordan Fox and myself in regards to a shareable Google calendar. I think we will talk about it a little more at the Alliance. I think it is working very well. How it’s going to work is people will report their events to Chelsea and everything will be on there. There will be some limitations on there. Who, what, where, when and point of contact. The more we put on there the better for veterans. But, we need to decide. Craig: I think it will be something that will grow and develop over-time. It is going to take a little time before it will become routine and a habit for the alliance members and the Veterans organizations. It can be of value. It drives discussion and it drives collaboration.
c. Draft Letter to County Administrators asking the County Board of Commissioners to leave the Veterans Affairs Committee as is if the Michigan Senate approves HB 4970, which would allow Counties to expand Veteran’s Boards. Letter is written and will get with Chairman Corkin on the issue.
d. Open House date. Craig Salo: This continues to evolve, the last discussion I had with Scott, I identified to him that it would be prudent if we didn’t wait for some of the snowbirds to come home. We had snowbirds who were instrumental in getting this department up and running. Scott agreed. We will get that figured out. My sense is that everybody will pretty much be back by Memorial Day and early June which would be a good opportunity to hold the event.
11. Late additions:
a. Meeting dates and times. It was agreed by the Committee for the 2nd Thursday at the Ishpeming Office 5:30, to start in July. Motion my Jim Provost, support by Jim Meade; motion carried. Put the information out at the next meeting.
12. Public comment (limit to 3 minute per person). N/A.
13. Round table discussion. Committee members. Jim Provost brought up the Travelling Wall--everything is in good shape so far, monies are coming in... this will be a "big deal" for the area...media coverage, getting more info out on what is going to be going on etc...
14. Announcements: Next meeting: Tuesday, May 10, 2015 at 5:30 p.m. in Marquette.
15. Motion to adjourn. Motion by Mead, support by Lyle; motion carried. Adjourned at 6:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
George T. LaBlonde, III
Chairman