UVLC Minutes November 1, 2006
• Call to order by the Chairman, Jerry Kyser
• Invocation – National Guard Chaplain- Major Joel Severson
• Pledge of Allegiance
• Recognition of visitors and guests and Commander’s of VSO’s
• Reports from:
1. Chairman-
Jerry Kyser-Bidding is commencing for the Richfield Memorial for Chuck Lindberg. They have $450,000 in a fund to begin this project. Please help us update the email, fax and mailing list by signifying on the sign in sheet which way you wish to have the minutes communicated to you.
2. State Agencies
• MN Dept of Veteran Affairs-Mike Pugleise-The Dept is gearing up for the upcoming legislative session. UVLC and the Commanders Task force are uniting their efforts. The WWII Memorial is making great progress. Raising money now for the ceremony. $15,000 is needed for the ceremony. November 11, 2006=State Veterans Day Program
at the Inver Grove Heights Veterans Memorial Community Center. 8055 Barbara Avenue, Inver Grove Heights, MN 55077. 9a.m. Welcome reception and 10:00a.m. Program. Music by the Richfield Symphonic Band. Town hall meetings have been very successful in Minnesota.
• State Legislative Report-Pat Turgeon-MAG meeting minutes will be forwarded to Ralph for members. There are many issues that are listed as priorities:
• Retired Military Income tax Exemption
• Property Tax relief for Vets with disabilities
• Veteran Bonus/Establishing trust fund for home loans and education
• Why Vets are not listed as a protected class?
• TRI care extension benefits extended to families
• Hunting training exemption for returning veterans
• Driving skills retraining/Access to agencies need to be more veteran friendly.
• MN Military Affairs-LtCOL Eric Ahlness-Reported that the military have access to the most current body armor and that the Hum V’s offer the best protection possible. Very involved in the reintegration of the troops. 160 will be deployed to Iraq from Brainerd. There is synergy between the National Guard and other agencies with the reintegration process. 100% of the license plate precedes go to military family foundation. This is any Military Family, not just the National Guard. McCormick and Schmick’s- 800 Nicollet Mall in Mpls is proud to announce that its seafood restaurants nationwide will host its eight annual Veterans Appreciation Event, and will offer all U S. military veteran a free entrée on Sunday, November 5, 2006 in appreciation for their service to our country. All veterans must show proper identification to participate.
• MN Veteran Home-Sandy Larson-Veterans Day Program is at 2:00 in the auditorium at the Vets Home in Mpls. Hastings will also have a program at 2:00 Nov 11. Chip Cox is the official interim director. There is a Nationwide search for a new director.
• MN Assistance Council for Vets-Kathy Vitalis-2006 Holiday Open House will be on Friday December 8, 2006 from 12-4 at Building 47,Mpls VA Medical Center Campus. November 14th is the standdown in Mankato. December 7th there is an event at the River Center focusing on housing issues. Next year there will be a quarterly newsletter, and also a revamped web site. There are 11 veterans from MACV that will be attending McCormick’s appreciation dinner.
3. Federal Agencies
• VA Regional Office-Sue Ihrke- Mr. Algers is attending a leadership conference in Boston this week. Forty employees from 16 States are here for a three-week training session. We are also hosting two training classes of rating veterans service representatives. We participated in the veterans’ standdown in St Cloud last Friday and
will be at the Mankato standdown this month.
• VISN 23-Dr Petzel-Rob McDivitt is now in Fargo, ND. The ’06 fiscal year was a good year. All of the equipment that was needed was purchased. The workload has increased. 10,000 more unique patients have been seen. Our money depends upon our workload. We have the 2nd largest workload growth in the country. We have the best
network in the country. We get good budgets because of the VSOs. Fiscal year ’07 began Oct 1. We are confident about what the budget will look like. They will go to conference committee very shortly. We have the 2nd largest budget in the country. The Bemidji-Fosston community based outpatient clinic will begin staffing and open in
January of ’07. This is just one of the seven clinics to be opened in the network. The goal for 2008 is to have same day appointments and eliminate the waitlist. The Network is operating under a continuing resolution (CR) through Nov 17, 2006. a preliminary budget estimate of $1.6 billion representing an 8.2% increase from FY2006. However, preliminary estimates are subject to change.
• Mpls VA Hospital-Steve Kleinglass- The spinal cord injury center has been awarded to a firm in Chicago. This will begin in March. $19.5 million has been allotted for this project. Official dedication was held for the new housing project on campus. Flu shots have been given to 15,000. November 15th there will be additional vaccinations available. Chris Erickson is filling in for Mike Siebenaler. The Fisher House is always 100% full..
• Jimmie L. Coulthard–Cruse-Miller Garrison-The Open House Ceremony was a great success. There will be an honoring ceremony Nov11, 2 to 5pm at Vets &Comm Housing.
• St Cloud VA Hospital-Rose Blesener-St Cloud ranks 2nd for the most efficient facility out of 158 locations. Dental clinic will be open by December. The expansion remodeling is beginning. The Al Loehr facility received National recognition for housing. They received the Agency Achievement National Award of Merit. The National Guard had
150 attend the State event for reintegration.
• Ft Snelling Cemetery-Art Smith- The bid process has started for renovation. This is a 20 million dollar project. This will include 150 acres for burial, redo the roads, and renovate historical structures and the maintenance area. Columbarium will be open in December. The Narcotics dept from the airport commission along with the Ft Snelling
staff have had to work to eradicate the marijuana that was planted by the cemetery grounds. 150,000 headstones are to be raised and aligned. This project is one half complete. Sacramento and Detroit have used Cemetery staff to aide and train their employees. Due to the expertise of the Fort Snelling staff, these cities staff were able to set headstones in half of the time that it had taken them to do the job in the past. Oct statistics Total interments 383, Caskets-172, Cremations-211. Current YTD total 172,364, Caskets 142,573,Cremations-29, 811. Female Veterans-total=1,219.
• 88th Regional Readiness Command USAR-Reserve has mobilized thousands. Currently Nation wide-31,843. 707 are from Minnesota. Add UVLC to the release list. Two days before the units come back there is a notification. The 451t Army Reserve Band is going to be playing at Bethel College on November 11th at 7p.m. There will be a military expo on May 19,20 2007. Expo at the MOA on January 27, 28, 2007. 88PAO@usar.army.mil
• Other Organizations-Howard from the Merchant Marines Legion Post 438. On June 14th, 2006 a flag was placed on the Veteran Home ground to honor the Merchant Marines. The seal was received on October 14th. There will be a ceremony some time in November to commemorate. On November 12, 10a.m. at the Chapel at Fort Snelling there will be a ceremony. Merchant Marines are included. They had the first prisoner of war in WWII.
4. Federal Congressional Reps
• Senator Coleman-John Halverson and Greg Gorham-There will be academy interviews later this month. In the past there have been joint interview sessions. Senator is continuing his travels to all counties. Pleased with feedback about military armor, and continuing health care funding. He will give the St Thomas Academy speech on Nov
11. Continuing resolution on next yrs budget-brain injury funding. There was a question about the amount of funding going from 14 million to 7 million. The final bill passed at 19 million. Minneapolis is leading the work on brain injury. There is a spike in new casework for atomic veterans. There is a 53% backlog due to the kind of cancer that needs to be tested. There is work being done to expedite the claim process.
• Senator Dayton-Nate Arch -Thank you for the past six years. $3,000,000 for the yellow ribbon program. Academy interviews were very disappointing this year. The grades were down, as well as the achievements. Go out and encourage candidates to apply. We’re upset about lawyers trying to get into the VSO process. The CVSO program in
MN is one of the best in the Nation. Mark will be at the Vets Home on Nov 11. Defense Bill- Insurrection Act is now the Reinforcement Act. This is a big change that no one has talked about. 7th District Collin Peterson-Al Loehr- Extend our best to Senator Dayton in his retirement. There is a report card from Afghan Veterans listing Ratings for Congress.You need to be making contact with your Washington Office, to see what was going on. It is a great obligation on November 7th to get out to vote.
2nd District – John Kline-Larry Johnson-Academy board will meet on December 9 to review 26 applications.
3rd District – Jim Ramstad-Margart Cavanaugh – No one ever responded to the e-mails concerning attending the Breezy Point, Legion meetings. Is there a way to avoid the postage when sending packages overseas to the troops? (Send book rate, Operation Military Nice)
4th District – Betty McCollum-Josh Straka- Congresswoman attended the housing opening. The cost of war is worn by our troops. 40% of troops returning are in need of mental health. 33%are diagnosed with mental illness. This is a major contributor to PTSD. There will be greater needs. Academy interviews will be on November 18,2006. Vet Centers around the country need our support for more staff .They are very busy.
5. Announcements —
Encourage all those who can VOTE to do their civic duty and VOTE. Thank a Veteran and the Troops for their Service. Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving. Next UVLC Meeting Will be December 6,2006 09:30 Building 9 – Mpls VA Campus.
6. Meeting in Recess for 6 minutes
7. Jerry Kyser
apologized for sending out an editorial supporting the Governor’s initiatives. Even though he is passionate about veteran’s issues, he needs to be nonpartisan about his support when it comes to the UVLC. He was expressing his personal opinion, not that of the UVLC.
8. Financial report
was handed out-The current balance is $4,460.13
9. New Business-
It was approved that the VFW auxiliaries’ dues would be waived due to the printing that they do for the UVLC. It was approved to develop a budget. Jerry Kyser and Ralph Donais will work on this project. Next meeting a certificate of appreciation will be given to Senator Dayton, Rob McDivitt, and Governor Pawlenty. Jerry Nalipinski was asked to head up the nominating committee for UVCL. The will be a legislative action committee who will come up with a list of those items that need to be brought forth. Those previously on this committee were Al Loehr, Tom Shaw, Ralph Donais, Jerry Nalipinski, and Red. Jim Baker has volunteered to be our legal counsel. The next meeting will be on December 6, 2006 at 9:30 in building 9 on VA Medial Campus.
10. Adjournment – 12:00 PM
Respectfully submitted by Jana Kyser