Report
Meeting at Building 9, VAMC Campus
Call to order – 9:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance
Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests
Announcements – Ralph Donais, Chairman – Jerry Kyser, Vice Chairman.
1. Federal Congressional Representatives
Senator Amy Klobuchar – Kurt Johnson
*Not present.
Senator Al Franken – Alex Schueller
*Not present.
1st District Representative – Tim Walz – Shawn Schoesser
*Not present.
2nd District Representative – Jason Lewis – Angela Sedlacek Reporting
* Bills for veterans:
HR 918, access to mental health
HR 1133, transplant choice program to include live donor
HR 2601, re veterans needing transplants
HR 4173, veterans crisis line efficiency
*Concerned about proposal to merge Choice and Tricare.
3rd District Representative – Erik Paulsen – Margaret Cavanaugh
*Not present.
4th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland Reporting
*McCollum received her 25-year membership pin at the VFW.
*We interviewed 17 students for Service Academy appointments. One candidate has three years of enlisted service and is an outstanding candidate.
*The grand opening of the new clinic will be the week of December 11th.
*Last month a number of legislators met with Jan Murphy about modernizing the VA.
5th District Representative – Keith Ellison – Mike Siebenaler
*Not present.
6th District Representative – Tom Emmer – Abby Rime
*Not present.
7th District Representative – Collin Peterson – Meg Louwagie Reporting
*We are gravely concerned about the proposed VA-TriCare merger.
*Our Service Academy interviews will be on December 9th. Currently we have 7.
8th District Representative – Rick Nolan – Rick Olseen Reporting
*Leech Lake Reservation is building a new veterans cemetery.
2. State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations
MN Department of Veteran Affairs – Commissioner Larry Shellito – Ben Johnson Reporting
*We had great participation in the State of MN’s Veterans Day event at Inver Grove Heights. Both citizens and the congressional delegation came out in force.
*The Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is on December 7th, honoring the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. The Ft. Snelling Memorial Rifle Squad will be on the premise. It will be hosted at Historic Ft. Snelling in the visitors’ auditorium, beginning at 10 AM. This is the 76th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
*Veterans Day on the Hill will be March 12th. Jerry Kyser will be the MC.
*On November 16th, the MN Supreme Court released their opinion on the lawsuit brought by the legislature against Governor Mark Dayton. The Supreme Court held that his exercise of the line item veto did comply with the language of the constitution. The judiciary is not authorized to order funding for the legislature within appropriations, so they could not circumvent the line item veto. The legislature has the statutory authority to access appropriated funds sufficient to function until they reconvene on February 20th. Because they have enough funds to survive until February 20th, they decided not to offer an opinion about whether or not it was unconstitutionally coercive. There is still broad bipartisan support for initiatives on behalf of veterans and their families. The projected budget deficit, however, is worrying.
*On the federal level, they are likely not going to be moving forward on the conference committee for Tax Cuts and Jobs Act until they get the federal budget sorted out. There is a potential federal government shutdown.
Q. The money that the state of MN has in reserve is around a billion dollars?
A. Yes.
Q. So you should be able to make it to February.
A. Absolutely. The operating money is there to keep the government functioning; this is not a dire prediction. This is a growing economy.
MN Military Affairs – Major Scott Ingalsbe – Annette Kuyper Reporting
*Major Ingalsbe is currently visiting the congressional delegation in DC.
*The MN National Guard is preparing for 120 members of the Monticello based military police company to be home before Christmas. They are returning from Guantanamo Bay.
*Brigadier General John Safstrom has been promoted to oversee the Air Guard. He is now Assistant Adjutant General Air. He previously oversaw the 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth. Taking his place is Col. Chris Blomquist. General Safstrom will be overseeing both the 148th and the 133rd.
*Brigadier General Ben Corell will be our 34th Infantry Division commander starting December 9th.
*General John Jensen has set his leadership priorities. Beyond the Yellow Ribbon will be retained as a leadership priority, with a few changes. Annette Kuyper will continue to oversee the program, though the sustainment of our community aspect will move to our family programs. We have several new contractors who will be partnering with us, including Building Healthy Military Communities. Essentially they are the DOD version of Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program. Their state coordinator is Tiffany Kovalski, who ran the Medal of Honor convention. She began on December 1st. We are working on that transition.
*We have added three contractors for a new program called Citizen-Soldier For Life. They will work heavily with new recruits and veteran support. They will be working on employment, career readiness, and financial literacy. They will be partnering with Annette Kuyper on her new initiative to work on employment for Guard and Reserve with Yellow Ribbon Companies. We will be working with our Yellow Ribbon Companies on two components. First, to educate their leadership about the up-tempo with the Guard and Reserve and how to support them within their employment, as well as the value that the Guard members have to offer. Secondly, to educate companies on the demand of time that is on Guard and Reserve members.
*Our 60th Yellow Ribbon Company, Hormel Foods Corporation, was proclaimed on December 4th.
MN Assistance Council For Veterans (MACV) – David Nguyen Reporting
*MACV has been on WCCO recently, raising funds for our organization. This is part of our strategic plan to diversify our funding base with support from the community. The unrestricted funds from the community allow us to serve veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in various ways and need help with things beyond deposits and rent. Our federal funding does not allow for this.
*Our MACV Metro office will not be hosting a holiday party this year at Building 47. This year we are doing a Home For The Holidays veterans meal on December 14th at Target Field. We wanted to gear our events more towards homeless veterans that we are serving. There will be two meals, one at 11 AM for veterans and the other at 1:30 PM. You are welcome to attend either.
*The next legal clinic will be on December 12th at the Minneapolis VA hospital. We hold legal clinics on the second Tuesday of every month.
*MACV is now producing an email newsletter. Please contact us if you are interested in receiving it.
Q. On this funding program, which goes beyond the federal limitations, what are your numbers? How many people do you see who need this?
A. I don’t have exact numbers, but speaking as a case manager, I have seen this situation fairly often. I will have to get back to you on the specific numbers. Of the 80 veterans we served this time last year, I would estimate that 50 had needs outside of the scope of our funding.
Q. Do you have any idea how many veterans are homeless?
A. I don’t have the most recent numbers, but according to the Homeless Registry around 189 veterans were on the list. The average amount of time for veterans on the registry is around 60 to 90 days. That length of time is decreasing as our networks tighten.
Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser Reporting
*The next MAG meeting will be January 8th, 2018, at the state office building at 10 AM.
*Concerning Veterans Day on the Hill, the UVLC is taking point. We have a responsibility to come up with a mantra or scenario of all the organizations to work together. We want to have one piece of paper and present a united front.
*We need to put together our legislative initiatives with the Commander’s Task Force and CVOs.
*We are going to support the VFW and the American Legions and the DAVs. Unfortunately, the tax situation with their gambling is destroying these organizations. They are being unreasonably taxed. We are going to work on changing that this year.
Project Got Your Back – Allison Alstrin Reporting
*I want to update you on an initiative that Randy Kasberg and Tom Haugo put forward. We want to get service providers together to start having conversations about how to best meet the needs of the veteran community to discuss service issues. We want to present a united voice and tighten the network. Wounded Warrior Project invited people to a similar meeting in November. Our meeting was on December 5th at the Uptown VFW. There will be another meeting on February 13th from 10 AM to 12 PM for service providers. Participants were pleased at the networking opportunity and to hear what other groups were doing. Issues they identified were: outreach, working collaboratively, finding the proper resources for the proper problems, network sustainability, to remove “turf wars”, and share fundraising strength. We want you to encourage your service providers to engage in this.
MN Paralyzed Veterans Of America – Todd Kemery Reporting
*PVA has been involved with legislature, but we also work with advocacy. We will be attending our 5th stadium committee meeting with the new major league soccer stadium architects later this month. We have been involved in all major discussions concerning the stadium when it comes to ADA (access and disability advocacy). More details will be forthcoming.
*On the legislative side, we are working with the DNR concerning a turkey hunt at Camp Ripley similar to the disabled deer hunt. If a veteran participates in the hunt and does not get a turkey, we want them to be able to use that stamp for somewhere else after the fact. There is precedence on this.
*Not present.
State CVSOs – Robby Robinson Reporting
*We have several CVSOs heading down to meet with troops so we can start our preliminary benefits when they have returned.
*We have been working with Congressman Walz’s office concerning the Veterans Community Care Act. We are attempting to get Mayo back in the picture, as they do not currently participate in the Choice program. Another meeting is scheduled for January.
*We toured the Mayo prosthetics lab and will be working to spread information about a potential study that veterans may want to participate in.
3. Federal Agencies
Brooklyn Park Veterans Center – Lina Knox
*Not present.
VA Regional Office – Kim Graves
*Not present.
VISN 23 – Director – Janet Murphy – Jason Petti Reporting
* Vets not in the VA medical system and who are not retired can get a VA identification card. To obtain the identification card go to the VA website and look for VA Connect.
* We are the number 1 network in the country.
* We are looking at a 5 % cost reduction in prosthesis that includes eye glasses. VAHCS Minneapolis – Director Patrick J. Kelly – Ralph Heussner Reporting
* Announcing that we have a new Center of Integrated Health and Healing, located at 3rd floor 3P. The center’s offerings include acupuncture and essential oils. You do need a referral from your primary for the services.
*About town hall meetings: We provide a town hall meeting every 90 days.
*Our Ely clinic is expanding to three days. It serves 460 veterans.
St. Cloud VA HCS – Director Stephen D. Black – James Kampsen Reporting
* Our senior leadership is set.
*Our facility received a five star rating. We were noted for our Can Do attitude.
*We have a suicide prevention push, “Be There”.
*We served 39,000 veterans last year.
*We have 580 active volunteers who provided 75,000 hours of service, which has a value of $2.2 million in benefits. The volunteers also donated $191 thousand in cash.
Ft. Snelling Cemetery – Bob Razor – John Knapp
* Not present.
Vets Employment and Training Services [VETS] – David Seay
*Not present.
4. Announcements
UVLC had an award ceremony for outgoing Chairman Ralph Donais, recognizing his twelve years of splendid service. He was presented with three awards. Ralph’s wife Judy attended the ceremony.
UVLC elected Jerry Kyser as the Chairman, Mike Rivard as Vice Chairman, and Todd Kemery as Second Vice Chairman.
Next meeting January 3, 2018.
Treasurer’s Report as of 1 December 2017
Balance as of 1 November 2017 $3,371.45
Deposits for November 2017 $0.00
Expenses for November 2017
Transcription Expense $120.00
UVLC literature printing $386.93
($506.93) Balance as of 1 December, 2017 $2,624.52
Submitted by Donald Rask, Treasurer UVLC