February 2014
Meeting Agenda-
- Call to order- 09:30,
- Invocation – Chaplain (MAJ) Philip A. Winn, Jr – Leads prayer
- Pledge of Allegiance – Everyone recites pledge
- Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests
Colonel Smiley: 88th Regional Support Command
Army Reserve Colonel Jeff Beechem
President of Air Force Association Lawrence Sagstetter - Announcements – Ralph Donais, Chairman – Jerry Kyser, Vice Chairman.
Staffer from State Capital - State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations
MN Dept. of Veteran Affairs – Mike Gallucci, Deputy Commissioner
- Retiring on March 21st
- Appreciates support and will continue fighting for Veterans until his last day
- Next meeting for Commissioner’s Health Care Taskforce is on 2/19/14
- Has expanded taskforce to include outer homes and families’ councils to include Veterans from across the state
- 98% certain they will receive partial funding of Phase 3 (15 Million out of 35)
95% pre-design for Phase 3
Demolition on 17 North begins on 3/24/14
Hopefully begin construction late summer of 2014
Completion probably in December of 2015 - Received letter for Building 19, have been recognized and approved by CMS
Will take 6 weeks for finalize paperwork
Effective back to January 6th of this year - Telehealth
Waiting for all signatures to be obtained
Hopefully begin tele-medicine in Mid-March
Very excited for Telehealth and electronic medical records - Currently working with CVSOs, VSOs
Visiting homes to update disability files of all Veterans
Set up on Birth Month Audit system
Will ensure that Veterans and spouses will have opportunity to upgrade services or appeals
Will encourage signing of POAs
MN Military Affairs – COL Sandy Best is doing Congressional visits this week
Director of Military Outreach, Annette Kyper
- Proclaimed new Yellow Ribbon Networks:
Pipestone County and city of Pipestone
Carlton County and city of Cloquet
McCleod Construction
Goal was to have a Yellow Ribbon Network in all 63 of National Guard or Air Base Communities ( Very close to achieving)
Total of : 202 cities, 23 counties, 35 companies that have been proclaimed Yellow Ribbon - This Saturday, 2/8/14: Bringing Yellow Ribbon Networks together to share best practices, share initiatives, and connect with service providers and motivating their work
Yellow Ribbon began during a Deployment cycle, has grown into so much more than that
Last year, challenged YRN to support Veterans of any age
Everyone is invited to these Joining Community Forces events: This Saturday it’s held at Bloomington at Normandale Community College
Mankato, Detroit Lakes, Duluth, and Moorhead will be offering Joining Community Forces MN - Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute
Training for De-escalation Strategies for MN Veterans in Crisis
First one is in Elk River on 2/18/14
Several day long training events for public safety, mental health, professionals, volunteers
$15, includes lunch - Looking at sustainability of Yellow Ribbon Networks
What do they need to sustain efforts?
YRN are led by volunteers ( which have different levels of leadership capabilities)
Looking to help them with leadership
Need to recognize YRN for their efforts
YRN needs to have a purpose for volunteering, so they need to know the needs of Veterans in the communities
Mr. Richie
- Final Year of Civil War Task Force
More information to come
Last big event is taking a bus down to Nashville
This is where MN played a critical role in a battle that ended the South - MAG meetings are up and running
Hope to get money for basic work needed to save buildings at Fort Snelling
Move forward to preserve Fort Snelling forever
Need to have it in the budget for bonding bill - Will receive info on change in election law that may be useful to members
Will be able to vote by mail/absentee without having excuse - Trying to identify more Veteran Owned Businesses
Specific request for Veteran Owned engineering firms
Need more permanent and sophisticated system for tracking Veteran Owned Businesses
Get word out so we can build that list
MN Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) – Regional Director Jimmy Collier
- Standown dates for 2014:
Fergus Falls-April 24th
Metro-August 5th & 6th at Fort Snelling
Virginer-August 21st
Duluth-August 22nd
Bemidji-September 24th
Grand Rapids-September 25th
Marshall-October 14th
Mankato-November 12th - Legal Clinics for month of March
March 4th -Bemidji
March 5th -Hibbing
March 7th -Minneapolis ( In Auditorium)
March 18th -Wilmer
March 19th- Marshall
March 25th -St. Cloud
Department of Labor, Veterans Employment – Dave C.
- Federal Register for Stand downs was published on 1/28/14
$600, 000 = 70 Stand downs
$10, 000 for multiple day event, $7, 000 for one day event
Eligibility info: state and local work force investment boards, Veterans service organizations, local public agencies and tribal governments, non-profit organizations
Organizations registered with the IRS are not eligible
First come first serve
Can apply for more than one grant if services are geographically separated
Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser
- February 11th is next meeting, 300 A or B, whichever the Representative has
Both Senate and House attendees on this one
Trying to get more Veteran Owned Businesses in MN and at the federal level
Need the bill to say that Veterans are as economically disadvantaged as women and minorities
Problem with Federal contracts
State of MN contracts are $20-$30, trying to get more Veteran Owned Businesses there
Representative Detmer had a few bills pertaining to the market value of surviving Veteran spouses
Bill on taxing process
20 states now have a flag honoring deceased members of military, will be brought up again at State level
PTAC assists Veterans, minorities, and women to work with state and federal organizations
Need to be at least 51% owned by Veterans/women/minorities - Trying to make it so military members going to college don’t need to take remedial classes, because they have already learned the material through the armed forces
Certification process working on that. - Representative Howe discussing Veterans preference for hearing costs for job lawsuits
Will also be discussed at Veterans taskforce this afternoon
Day on the Hill: March 17th - Vikings Stadium Meeting on 1/30/14
One contract for $1.5 million for 1 Veteran owned business
MetroSports website has updated contract information and what needs they still have
They are trying to find more Veteran owned businesses to work on the stadium(Idea to advertise so more Veterans know)
Sub-contractors’ training on 2/20/14 (At 1010 South 7th street at 2 p.m.)
Alan Duff will be working with Veteran Owned Businesses
Trouble finding qualifications that they need to hire (need to verify qualifications)
None of the hiring at the stadium is based on people, it’s based on work hours
Will send out info and contact info as he gets it
Federal Agencies
VA Regional Office – Antoine Waller, Director
- Backlog of claims is being worked on. ( Goal of having no claim older than 125 days)
In St. Paul, still contributing to getting back log under control
Nationally, a little under 700, 000 claims pending
About 400,000 of those are considering backlogged ( older than 125 days)
Sharing workload across the nation
Since April, taken the initiative to work the oldest claims first
Still prioritizing and expediting based on needs such as being homeless
Can submit claims online
Creating national workload model; share work across all regional offices for higher efficiency - Folks in regional office have reconstituted mandatory overtime
- Cost of living adjustment (increase of 1.5%) took place 1/1/14 on benefits
- Incident with online claims submission; breach in data/security
Quickly identified, system was shutdown
All Veterans affected were contacted and offered free credit monitoring by VA
System back up, hopefully won’t have any more issues - Veterans that have service related TBI who also have incidence of Parkinson’s, Dementia, Depression, or Seizures can also have those related issues calculated into their benefits
- New forms for submitting new claims ( 93% of claims are currently paperless)
- Final phase of construction at Whipple Building
By December of 2014, project should be completed
Lot of amenities to improve user experience - Issues surrounding data stored on Veteran Identification cards
- Questions regarding processing of claims: Yes, every claim they process they do get credit that it was processed in the state of MN
VISN 23- Christopher A. Stomberg, Acting Deputy Network Director
- Ms. Murphy sends regards; she is still detailed to Washington
- Dr. Julius is also in Washington for a meeting
- Brought Newsletter for February
Black History Month, National Salute to Veteran Patients, Looking for Submissions for 2014 Veteran’s Day Poster, Friday is National Wear Red day (call attention to heart disease for women), Get your Flu Shot! - VISN 23 leads all VISNs in how many members of staff that received flu shots
Health care focus is on healthy lifestyles/proactive health - Mayors of St. Paul and Minneapolis declared a campaign to end Veteran homelessness by 2015
Active on outreach, prevention, treatment, housing support
VISN 23 sponsored more Stand down events last month than any other VISN in the country
Also will be operating 8 Community Outreach and Resource Center
Screen upwards of 230, 000 patients ( over 1% of them screened positive for homelessness or risk)
Treated 4, 399 Veterans that were homeless
1, 241 Veterans currently leased with vouchers from HUD/VA - Budget: Got more money in medical facilities appropriation(NRM program used to do maintenance and upgrades to facilities)
VAHCS Mpls- Director Patrick J. Kelly
- Construction company cleaned up Lot 1 next to parking ramp (picked up 100 parking spots)
- Still a few weeks for ramp to open
- Veteran ID cards: won’t have SS # on it
If scanned with smart phone, will pick up that information
Can prevent by buying a protective anti-scan case for your cards( or use tin foil) - First Impressions Project in lobby of Flag Atrium
Having Air flow issues
Created massive wind tunnel - Albert Lee CBOC is underway.
Valor is the contractor
Manage 22 VA clinics
Open in April - Starting to add in-house mammograms, plastic surgery, and counseling for female Veterans
- Will be hiring a Veterans Experience Officer ( to handle non-medical needs of patients)
Patient advocates will fall under them - Can fill form out for medication copay exemption test
- Resources for child care at Veterans’ Center?
Not at the time, will bring it up at office
VAHCS St. Cloud VA Medical Center – Barry Bahl
- Have hired new physicians over past year ( takes 3-4 months to onboard)
One of those is a PA to do home care in Wilmer - Ribbon Cutting on past Monday for recently expanded audiology clinic
Now have 7 booths serving Veterans of the St. Cloud VA - Kitchen groundbreaking is April 2nd
- Pharmacy construction is in Phase 3
- Dental Clinic and Building 49 expansion continues
- Tremendous progress has been made on Mental Health building ( roof is on now)
- Building 28-will expand residential rehab areas
- Designing for new imaging center, second floor for building 111, and community living center cottages
- Will position budget to be tighter for next year
Spending about $28/day for fuel oil
Geo thermal will be coming this spring
Wind turbine does not work ( in the hands of contracting officials and lawyers) - National Salute is February 12-19th
- Creative Arts Competition February 12-13th in Auditorium
- Open House on February 14th
Ft. Snelling Cemetery – Kurt Parson, Assistant Director
- During January 2013, had 333 internments ( 4 of which were female)
- Total 1,592 internments to date for year
- Had 147 Rifle Squad Honors
Theresa Winters is head of Rifle Squad - Total internments: 207, 632
- Anticipating room until 2050
From Congressmen Kline’s office- Chaz Johnson
- Continue to monitor NEA, looking for feedback
- TriCare Prime Act: provision that expanded radius to 100 miles( doesn’t help Veterans in Minneapolis)
Looking to introduce legislation in the future on this - On Monday there was HR357:GI Tuition Fairness Act
Extension of work study program, vocal rehab, training assistance, rounding out of COLA, homeless Vets reintegration training program
Majority of students they nominated to service academy are great - Urge YRN and others who work with civilian volunteers to educate them on acronyms and resources that are available
Congressmen Paulson’s Office-John Paul Yates
- Congressmen is meeting with Attendant General in Washington
- Has been calling our Academy appointees ( 6)
- House passed the bill to increase funding for the VA for about 2.3 Billion
Allocated over 43 Billion for various VA medical services
4th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland
- On 1/27/14, had announcement meeting with Stillwater officials and MNNG that new readiness center for Stillwater was funded
Significant construction west of town, will include Stillwater Fire Department
20 million dollars, 79, 000 sq.ft.
Full time staff of Guard will be there ( 26)
Drill strength at 180
Will replace 92 year old Stillwater Armory
Wonderful example of federal, state, and local government working together
12, 000 sq.ft. of common space for use by community
Completion date by 2015 - Chairman and ranking members will start holding hearings
- White House will release VA budget on March 4
- Historytheatre.com
One man show of Tim O’Brian’s “The Things They Carried” from 3/15-4/6
From 3/16-4/6th doing production about lonely soldiers, woman at war in Iraq - Representative from Congressmen Nolan’s office
- Touring VA to hand out Valentine’s
- New CBOC in Hibbing and Ely
Setting up meeting will Sterling Medical - Congressmen Recommended 5 academy nominations out of 10
- Huge issues with propane shortage and prices – let Veterans know there is help
Was an expansion of eligibility - Congressmen Wahl joined his 19 of his colleagues in bipartisan effort to introduce the Wounded
Announcement:
- Veterans Recreation Act of 2014- HR3976
Legislation provides a no cost, lifetime pass into National parks/recreational lands - Armed Forces Servicemen center volunteering by airport ( for active members)
- Again this year, Culver’s Jammers will be playing on February 22, from 1:00- 4:00 we will be jamming, bluegrass/country style for the Fisher House of Mpls.
We will be honoring the vets, the military and the families of these wonderful military folks.
We will be singing at Culver’s in Blaine MN, up on Highway 65, 10550 Baltimore st ne.
Free sundae’s for the vets and we will be honoring them all day.
Collecting all the money we can for the fisher house of mpls.
In the past five years, we and the other 18-20 jamming groups jamming around the world have collected
Over a quarter of a million dollars for the fisher house foundation or other military causes.
spread the word for us to the different VFW’s
We are going before the Legion this year.
Any idea’s you have will be great. And we will sure depend upon you to spread the word in the community of the military vets.
Barb Carlson, leader of the culver’s jammers. 763-784-7881 - Duluth Community Joining Forces is May 17th
- End of February is Military Saves Week
Event on 2/19 at Better Business Bureau HQ
Meeting in Recess for 10 Minutes
Treasury Report:
- Only about 15% of organizations have paid dues for this year
- Balance as of beginning of January: $4,103.09
Expenses in January: $170.90
Transcription expense is $120, parking is $29.75, postage and envelopes $21.15
Balance is $4282.19 as of today
Motion to accept: motion accepted - Old Business:
- Putting together flyer that’s going to the House and Senate
Should be finalized for next MAG meeting
Session is open for Day on the Hill
Next UVLC meeting is March 5th
MAG meeting is 2/11/14, SOB Building, Room 300 North at 10 am. - Important to push admin people downtown to certify Veteran Owned Businesses
New Business:
- Work on getting payment plan for dues: Pay for future years and get discount
- Motion to allow people to contact Treasurer to pay in advance
- No more new business, meeting adjourned
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.” – George Washington, 1789