Report

• Call to order – 09:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance
• Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests
• Announcements – Jerry Kyser, Chair; Mike Rivard, Vice Chair
• Mike Rivard is resigning as Vice Chair for health reasons, effective September 15. A summery is in the
  works on the survey project.
• A call will be sent out shortly to members concerning elections and future in-person meetings.
• The MN Vietnam Veterans Charity will sponsor an aviation flyover at 11:15 AM on Saturday 11
  over St. Paul with fixed wing aircraft, bombers, and a 1941 biplane.

Federal Congressional Representatives and Senators

Senator Amy Klobuchar- Kurt Johnson reporting

• Klobuchar has been back for August recess. She was in Montevideo and Bemidji for the opening of the new veteran homes. Thank you to the MN DVA for all their help with coordination.
• Klobuchar spoke at MN Appreciation Day at the State Fair.
• Klobuchar is committed to helping all US allies get out of Afghanistan. The casework team has been working around the clock with the Afghanistan taskforce to help.
  

Senator Tina Smith – Alex Schueller

• Not present

1^st District Representative – Jim Hagedorn – Joe Steck

• Not present.

2^nd District Representative – Angie Craig – Cory Weston

• Not present.
  

3^rd District Representative – Dean Phillips – Rollie Olson reporting

• The focus has been on the Afghanistan issue. Olson has been leading efforts on the casework. We have received 70 different requests concerning family members or interpreters. Approximately a dozen families were evacuated out of Afghanistan. Some of them relocated to the US. A large number are still in Afghanistan.
• The Service Academy nomination process is underway.
  

4^th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland reporting

• The NDAA has been marked up in committee, but it is not clear when it will be taken up in the House.
• One application has already been received for the Service Academies.
• McCollum will be participating in Saturday’s event.
• An appeal written by the chair of the Board of Veterans Appeals asking veterans for help because people have been scheduling hearings and nearly 50% have gone unheard. They are appealing to veterans to set up appeals in the best way possible.
• The VA has two new mortgage relief programs for those impacted by COVID.
• Veterans and service members will receive some student loan relief. This was recently granted by the Department of Education, which will write off the interest for more than 47 veteran and military members who were under fire or danger pay recipients. They worked with Social Security to help identify these people. There is also total forgiveness of student loans for disabled veterans. They will be forgiving student loans worth $5.8 billion to more than 323,000 totally disabled borrowers. The interest waiver is retroactive to 2008.
• The https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/ has more information on this and other issues.
• The president signed the Harlem Hellfighters Commemorative Coin Act.

1. Is the student loan forgiveness law now?
2. At the instruction of the administration, the Department of Education is working with other government agencies to automatically provide these benefits.

5^th District Representative – Ilhan Omar – Akolade Gbadamosi

• Not present.

6^th District Representation – Tom Emmer – Alejandra Henriquez

• Not present.

7^th District Representative – Michelle Fischbach – Craig Bishop

• Not present.

8^th District Representative – Pete Stauber – Jacob Warkentin

• Not present.

Federal Agencies

VISN 23 – Ron Woolery

• Not present.
  

VBA Regional Office – Kim Graves – Diana Chase Reporting

• The regional office remains open for veteran services from 8:00 to 4:30 PM.
• With the changing pandemic landscape, masks are once again required for all visitors to the federal building regardless of vaccination status. Outreach activities have also changed under direction from the agency at large. We have returned to virtual activities. We hope this will not be a long-term situation.
• VBA is in the process of determining toxic exposure claims. On August 2, close to 250,000 outreach letters were sent out notifying veterans of the new regulations to address associated health conditions such as burn pits and other toxic exposure.

1. Was the Burn Pit Registry accessed when the toxic exposure letters went out?
2. I believe so, along with data about service dates and assignments to affected areas.

Mpls VA HCS – Director Patrick J. Kelly / Brad Doboszenski reporting

• We have started issuing COVID boosters. This is only being administered to people who are immunocompromised. Walk in appointments are available. Eligible individuals will be notified.
• We will begin administering the flu shot soon.
• Outreach efforts continue. We participated in Military Appreciation Day at the State Fair and appeared on Minnesota Military Radio Live.
• There will be ribbon cuttings in Hibbing and Eely on October 8. Representative Stauber will be in attendance. The Eely clinic has undergone an expansion, while the Hibbing site is new.
• We have been running into issues with veterans and staff at the VA around masking. Masks are still required and must be worn properly. Signage will be updated accordingly.
  

St. Cloud VA HCS – Barry Venable reporting

• We are still operating under COVID conditions. No services to veterans have been curtailed, but we tried a two-week trial in August of collapsing the external greeting points. The Delta Variant has prompted a return to external screening. Masks are required. We continue to see veterans every day.
• We are reaching out to eligible veterans for COVID boosters.
• September is Suicide Prevention Month. The VA has launched a new outreach campaign, Reach Out, which has gone well. We have been handing out veterans crisis line yard signs and made good progress. Signs are available upon request at 320-525-1670, extension 679.
• Flu shot distribution begins on September 22. Walk-in and drive through clinics will both be available.
• The expansion of building 111, the mental health outpatient building, is on track and should be open by the end of the year. This will double our mental health outpatient space. Progress continues on the parking garage, with a projected opening in late spring or early summer next year.
• We have begun remodeling a wing on the first floor of building 28, which houses the mental health residential rehabilitation and treatment program residents. The second floor was previously remodeled.
• Last week, we began construction on a new adult day healthcare building. It will be located on the front lawn.
• We have issued new leases for the Alexandria and Montevideo CVOCs. Both clinics will be moving into new, larger buildings next year.

1. Is the additional money for the veteran homes for the Montevideo home?
2. The MN Department of Veteran Affairs is building a new state veterans home in Montevideo. This is a separate undertaking.

1. How much of your construction budget has been increased from previous years?
2. I don’t have the numbers in front of me. We are approved and programmed for projects, with money allocated in the fiscal year the project is awarded. There is approximately $50 million for the projects currently underway.

Ft. Snelling Cemetery – John Knapp/ Bob Roeser

Not present.

State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations

MN Dept of Veteran Affairs – Larry Herke / Ben Johnson reporting

• We look forward to the flyover on October 2 at the capitol complex.
• We have successfully conducted three groundbreaking ceremonies at the new state veterans homes in Bemidji, Preston, and Montevideo. We have received approval on all construction documents and memorandums from the VA’s state home construction grant program for funding. We will return to the legislature for a special session in September concerning the distribution of the available $250 million as Hero Grants, which is currently under debate, to provide funding to frontline workers in response to their service. We will be seeking additional money from the legislature to make up some of the costs that weren’t funded for the three new homes. We are a year behind schedule from when the initial budgets were put together and are a little short of our goals.
• The new state veteran’s cemetery in Redwood County has been fully funded. There will be a groundbreaking on October 13 at 10:00 AM.
• The next regular session will begin at the end of January 2022. The policy enterprise will be kicked off for the executive side. Those with interest in working on policy initiatives for next session will have a supplemental budget component. We will be primarily focused on capital investment for community and state construction projects.

1. Are any of you back at the capitol building or are you all virtual?
2. Those with jobs that require in-person contact are on site. Those who can work remotely have continued to do so. We plan to continue working remotely until the end of the year.

MN Military Affairs – Shawn Manke TAG / LTC Jason Hull / Annette Kuyper

• Not present.

MN Assistance Council for Veterans (MAC-V) – Jon Lovald reporting

• Thank you to Mike Rivard for all your service within the UVLC and for MAC-V specifically.
• We are busy and our team has grown. There has been an uptick of names on the homeless veterans registry. We expect more as the eviction moratorium ends. We still hope to declare a functional zero in central COC this year. St. Louis county will be our next focus for declaring functional zero.
  

DMC – Jill Anderson reporting

• The Dept Management Center and the VA will resume mailing notification letters to veterans for any benefit overpayments placed in suspension due to COVID, as well as any new overpayments. Veterans have been receiving informational letters about the existence of their debt during the suspension period but were not required to act. Over 50% of the veterans receiving letters have taken action by either paying their debt or requesting a waiver or compromise. During this time, we partnered with CVSOs to launch actions to ease burdens on veterans such as implanting a 36-month automatic repayment plan. Debt notifications will resume on October 1.
• We will provide timelines for action in the letters as well as any contact information for veterans who request additional help. The VA recognizes that veterans and beneficiaries may still be experiencing financial impacts from COVID and will continue to offer enhanced relief options.
• The VHA will also be resuming copayments for medical care and pharmacy services on October 1.
• Treasury referral for the VA will commence later in 2022.

1. Is there an uptake in the number of veterans who are having difficult times with their VA loans?
2. The debt management center does not manage loans. That is separate from the DMC.
   

Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser reporting

• The next MAG meeting will be held on October 13 at 9:30 AM.
  

Disabled American Veterans –Trent Dilks

• Not present.
  

St. Paul Veterans Center – Scott Branden reporting

• We are still open and seeing clients in-person. Masks are mandatory.
• The mobile vet center is available for events so long as we receive pre-approval from Washington.
• All services are still provided.
• However, congress changed the laws concerning vet centers in October. We can now see anyone who is employed, on state active duty, for natural disasters, or civil unrest. For example, all Guard members who were present for the civil unrest last summer are now eligible for services from the vet centers. This also extends to Coast Guard members.

1. How is the new St. Paul location working?
2. Downtown St. Paul has come back to life. It was very quiet for a long time during the pandemic. It’s working out.

1. When did the veteran center programs start?
2. The program started in 1979. St. Paul was one of the first.

MN CVSO – Greg Peterson/ Martin Howes reporting

• CVSOs around MN will be gathering on September 18 through 22 for the annual training and business conference. Martin Howes will be elected president.
• At least five CVSOs have received a development letter from the VA stating they had changed their power of attorney to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, noting the MOP was no longer recognized as an accredited agency. We have reported this to the VA. The DAV noted a number of these letters were sent out centrally and are looking into the issue.
• Commemorative coins are available to post 9/11 veterans coins who sign up with CVSOs.
• Meeker County is advertising for new CVSOs.
• September 10 is a half-mast flag day.
• We attended the Commander’s Taskforce meeting on September 7. Todd Kemery has been succeeded as president by Ron Haugen.
  

Vets for Peace – Arlys Herem / Jeff Roy

• Not present.

MN Humanities Center – Blake Rondeau

• Not present.
  

Paralyzed Veterans of America – Todd Kemery

• Not present.

Project Got Your Back / MNME – Galon Miller / Paul Davis reporting

• The Navigator program underwent a successful pilot in June. Currently, there are over thirty navigators and clients combined providing help and referrals. Most efforts are currently centered around employment.
• The next fundraising event will be held on the Luce Line Brewery on September 20. This will be the end of the 100-mile ruck.
  

MN Military Museum – Randal Dietrich reporting

• We are in the process of setting up an exhibit at the Cedar Street Armory for September 10 and 11 from 11:00 to 5:00 PM. The exhibit is a traveling one recognizing the stories of 9/11 veterans and will eventually become a permanent exhibit in the museum in 2024.   
  

MN Historical Society – Chris Belland reporting

• Construction of the new visitor’s center and landscaping is complete, though work continues on programing and furnishing for the building and exhibits.
• We are wrapping up the season on the stone fort and are only open every other Saturday, beginning on September 10. We will then be closed in October until the big reopening on Memorial Day 2022.
• The WWII roundtable will start up again on September 14 with a series of programs throughout the winter and ending in May or early June at the MN History Center.

UVLC Business Meeting