BUSINESSENTERPRISEPROGRAM OFOREGON

SPECIAL MEETING

Proposed date:Tuesday,March 21,2017

Time: 3:00p.m.

OREGONCOMMISSIONFOR THEBLIND

535 SE 12thAvenue(Portlandoffice)

Conferenceline:404-443-6397

Participantcode: 943611#

Agenda

•Any of theagenda itemslisted belowmaybecomeanactionitem.

•Anyof theseitems maybe aconflictofinterest.

  1. Call toOrder
  1. Adoption ofMinutes
  1. PublicComment
  1. Training andEducation
  2. HB 5003 – OCB Budget – Dacia Johnson, Executive Director
  3. In-Service Update
  4. Support For National Training
  1. DirectorsReport Follow Up-Questions/Concerns
  2. Port of Portland
  3. Deschutes County Jail
  1. Sub-Committee Reports/Business
  1. OldBusiness
  2. VendingMachine Roll-Out Plan (non-volunteers)
  3. Necessary/Needed Supportfor (volunteers)
  4. Survey Monkey Results
  5. Legislative/Legal Update
  6. OCB Budget Bill
  7. Summary Determination
  8. Agency Collaboration/Support Requested
  9. Other
  1. NewBusiness
  2. RSA Monitoring Update/Request Assistance/Mediation
  3. Set-Aside Concerns
  4. Site Visit/Communication Protocol
  5. Concerns of Proper Administrative Conduct
  6. Concerns with Uniform Procedures/Practices-Medford
  7. VendingRevenues/Douglas County Vending Opportunity Concerns
  8. Other
  1. OpenDiscussion
  1. NextMeeting

VERBATIM

[Start at 00:00:00]

Hauth: Okay. Well, let’s go ahead and… let’s go ahead and start the meeting, everybody. And if you would, please… please go ahead and put your phones on mute so that as little disruption to everybody. We’ll go ahead and call the meeting to order. And we’d like to… I’d like to entertain a motion to adopt the last meeting minutes of March 9th. Do I have a motion to…?

StevensonA: Chair… Chair Hauth?

Hauth: Yes.

StevensonA: Chair Hauth?

Hauth: Yes.

Hawkins: Roll call.

StevensonA: We need to take… We need to take roll call and stuff. You’re getting a little ahead of yourself.

Hauth: You bet, buddy. So, hey, if everybody… Hello? Okay, here I am.

Hawkins: Yes.

Hauth: So let’s go ahead and call the meeting to order and we’ll take a roll, starting with the Board. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson, very much. Derrick Stevenson, are you on the line?

StevensonD: Here.

Hauth: Derrick, welcome. Thank you. Art Stevenson.

StevensonA: Here.

Hauth: Thank you. Welcome. Jerry Bird.

Bird: Here.

Hauth: Welcome. Thank you. Do we have Steve Gordon? [Silence.] Steve Gordon, are you on the line? [Silence.] Okay. Steve Jackson, are you on the line?

Jackson: Yep, I’m right here. Present.

Hauth: Okay. Welcome. And Randy Hauth, I am on the line. Do we have Cathy Colley-Dominique on the line?

Colley-Dominique: Yes, I’m here.

Hauth: Welcome, Cathy. Char Mckinzie, are you on the line?

Hawkins: Yes. Here.

Hauth: Okay. Do we have Salvador Barraza, Salvador on the line? [Silence.] Do we have Salvador Barraza on the line? [Silence.] Okay. Do we have Harold Young? Harold Young, are you on the line? [Silence.] Harold Young, are you on the line? [Silence.]

Smith: This is Gordon and Karen.

Hauth: Okay. Yeah. Harold Young, are you on the line? [Silence.] Okay. Lewanda Miranda, are you on the line?

Miranda: Present.

Hauth: Hey, thank you. And I believe that completed the Board membership and the managers, unless I’ve inadvertently left somebody out. Hopefully, that’s not the case. But let’s go ahead and now also introduce anybody on the… the agency is here, correct? Who’s here from the agency, please?

Morris: Eric is here and so is Dacia Johnson.

Hauth: Hey, Eric, Dacia, welcome. Welcome. Now, going to the public that would like to identify themselves. You have Vance Hoddle with Canteen Vending. Hi, everybody.

Hauth: Hi, Vance.

Colley-Dominique: Hi.

Hawkins: Hi.

Hauth: Anybody else?

Edwards: Hi, yes. James Edwards, ACB of Oregon.

Hauth: James, welcome. Is there anybody else?

MirandaO: Oscar Miranda.

Haseman: [Inaudible.]

Hauth: Okay, Linda Haseman. We heard James Edwards, Linda Haseman, and is there anybody else?

MirandaO: This is Oscar Miranda.

Hauth: Hey, Oscar. Welcome.

Wallace: And Pat Wallace is here.

Hauth: Pat Wallace, welcome. Is there anybody else? [Silence.] Anybody else on the line? We did hear Gordon and Karen, Gordon Smith join in. Thank you, Gordon.

Smith: You betcha.

Hauth: Is there anybody else that would like to be identified? [Silence.] Okay. Anybody else? [Silence.] Okay. We’ll go ahead, again, and call this meeting to order. And thank you everybody for joining in. It’s a beautiful day here in Portland this afternoon. I’d like to ask for a motion to adopt the minutes of the March 9th meeting.

StevensonA: Chair Hauth?

Hauth: Yes.

StevensonA: I move we… I move we adopt the minutes as recorded.

Hauth: Okay, a motion has been made by Art Stevenson, to adopt the minutes as recorded. Do we have a second to those?

StevensonD: I’ll second it.

Hauth: Derrick Stevenson has seconded it. Any changes, deletions, corrections? [Silence.] Okay, hearing none, I’ll call for the vote. Signify by saying yay or nay. Derrick Stevenson?

StevensonD: Yay.

Hauth: Art Stevenson.

StevensonA: Yes.

Hauth: Jerry Bird.

Bird: Yay.

Hauth: Steve Jackson? [Silence.] Steve Jackson? [Silence.] I think you might be on mute, Steve. Steve Jackson?

Jackson: Yeah, I’m sorry. Yes. Here I am. I’m back.

Hauth: Thank you.

Jackson: Yes.

Hauth: And I also vote yay. Steve Gordon, have you joined in yet? [Silence.] Okay. So that motion passes. Before we move on I do want to apologize. I left out Lin Jaynes. Lin Jaynes, are you on the line, by chance? [Silence.] Okay. Also, we wanted to do some housekeeping. I did request, I know, recently there was a notification for a meeting that is to be convened with Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, agency staff and the licensed blind membership. And so, I did want to add that to the agenda. I reached out to Mr. Riesmeyer today and, in conferring with Director Morris, I understand that it would be easier, better to just take care of it through some housekeeping and so I’d like to take a motion to include the proposed scheduled meeting that I just referenced, including that within Training & Education. Do I have a meeting…? Do I have a motion to include that in today’s agenda? [Silence.]

StevensonA: I make that motion, Randy.

Hauth: Art…

StevensonA: That we add it to the agenda.

Hauth: Art Stevenson has made the motion. Do I have a second?

StevensonD: I’ll second.

Hauth: Okay, Derrick Stevenson has seconded. Any discussion? [Silence.] Okay, hearing no discussion, we’ll take a roll call vote. Again, yay or nay, signify. Derrick Stevenson.

StevensonD: Yes.

Hauth: Art Stevenson.

StevensonA: Yes.

Hauth: Jerry Bird.

Bird: Yes.

Hauth: Steve Jackson.

Jackson: Yes.

Hauth: And I also signify by saying yes. So that motion passes. We’ll move along right away to public comment. Please, if you’d like to make a comment, identify yourself and I will call on you. Is there any public comment? [Silence.] Any public comment?

Haseman: Linda Haseman.

Hauth: Yes, Linda.

Haseman: I believe one of the topics of discussion today is going to be about the budget. And, as I understand it, it’s under, I believe, House Bill 5003 and I just wanted to summarize that for you as best as I understand it. It appears like it’s a movement from the Governor’s Budget to that House bill and it looks like there’s a new 2% decrease to the overall biennium budget for the 17-19 biennium from the 15-17 biennium budget, which is a net decrease of $347,330. It looks like the decrease comes from the General Fund, a decrease of 539,196. However, the other funds and the federal funds have increased by 150,895 of other and 40,971 from the federal. So, again, the overall decrease is 2%. However, it looks like it’s a fairly significant decrease from the General, where they’ve offset some of that through the other and federal funds. The other interesting part I’m finding is that it looks like, even though there’s a net decrease from the proposed Governor’s Budget for the next biennium from this biennium, there’s a significant position increase in FTE. So, for example, in 2015-17 it looked like the Commission had 56 positions, or 52.21 FTE, and it looks like they’re increasing to… the proposal is to increase to 64 positions, or 61.5 FTE. So I guess, for me, the question becomes, where are… if there’s an overall net decrease of 2% but an increase in FTE and a good portion of your budget seems for FTE increases, money-wise, where are those other decreases coming from? So I looked in the Business Enterprise Portion of the Governor’s Budget and it looks like she’s projecting they’ll keep five positions, or $3.0 million in there. So it doesn’t look like the BEP should be decreasing staff, so I don’t know where those decreases are coming from, as it doesn’t look like the BEP is set for any reductions. However, I think somewhere in documentation or in review of emails there was some kind of reference that the BEP might be reducing a half position and I’m not sure where that came from because the Governor’s narrative for the BEP budget shows five positions still. So that’s just kind of a brief summary of what I’m seeing overall, the net effect of what’s going on in the Governor’s Budget for the entire Oregon Commission for the Blind and a component of the BEP program.

Hauth: Okay, thank you, Linda. Is there any other public comment? [Silence.] I would like to… Hearing none, I would like to briefly make a… a comment. As most of you have seen, there’s been a recent federal proposed ruling. As most of you know, there’s legislation underway to help fix… create more jobs for Oregon’s blind. As most of you know, there’s been a systemic problem with the Business Enterprise Program and, really, many instances with some other aspects of the agency. As many of you know, the proposed rules at play in the arms of RSA appear to have many problematic concerns with them. And, again, as many of you know, there are current complaints that have gone through the process that may be pending arbitration and other litigation. And, as many of you know, there’s been some other issues raised. What I would propose and suggest and hope, that somehow, some way, we can encourage and support the Oregon Commission for the Blind to lay down their swords against the Business Enterprise Program and the licensed blind vendors and to embrace any ruling that might come their way, to embrace any legislation that might come their way, to embrace working together. And let’s find a way to get this train back on the track. And so, you know, from my perspective, even though there’s been a lot of problems, there still remain a lot of problems, wouldn’t it be so much better to support those goals and missions and objectives. And so I just want to put that out there, food for thought. So, with that being said, thank you. And if there’s no more public comment…

Edwards: Mr.… Mr. Chair?

Hauth: Yes, James?

Edwards: This is James Edwards. I’d like to just make a short comment about the… I attended the Sagebrush conference for the licensed blind vendors of the Enterprise program in Las Vegas last month and just want to state it was a very interesting and educational conference. I learned a lot by talking to other vendors from around… across the nation and their staff people that were there. And I would just encourage any blind licensed vendor that hasn’t been to one to attend one. I know Steve Jackson was there as a first-timer and he also learned a lot and enjoyed himself. So… And I want to thank Randy, through the BEST organization, for sponsoring me and inviting me. Thank you.

Hauth: Yeah, we enjoyed having you there, James. Thank you very much. Is there any other comment before we move on to…?

Hoddle: Yes, sir.

Hauth: Yes.

Hoddle: Yeah, this is Vance Hoddle. Yeah, I was also at the Sagebrush conference and it was an absolutely interesting event and I got a chance to, you know, share a… share a meal with Steve Jackson, who was absolutely awesome when he got his award and that was a very cool deal. So it was very informative. So, if any of the rest of you get an opportunity to go there, I would heartily recommend it. And then, would I be out of order to bring up the meeting that’s… Keny-Guyer’s office is scheduling?

Hauth: No, not at all.

Hoddle: Okay. So, apparently – and I wasn’t the direct recipient of this, nor will I be a participant in this meeting, because I wasn’t invited – but there’s an opportunity to have a discussion regarding the program and to make some changes going forward, possibly. And I would… You know, it’s been my experience that, you know, the entire licensed blind vendor group is a very bright and engaging group and this is an opportunity for you to participate beyond the B.E.C.C. Board in kind of shaping the future of the program, I think. I don’t know that that’s actually what’s going to happen in this meeting, but I’m guessing that it is. So I would, like, really, you know, for some of you folks who would like to have a say and like to step forward and maybe shape the future of the program or have an impact on it, I couldn’t more heartily recommend that.

Hauth: Thank you, Vance, for your comments. Thank you very much for your comments. Is there anybody else before we move on?

Jackson: Steve Jackson. Can I say something?

Hauth: Yes, Steve Jackson. Go ahead.

Jackson: Hi, everyone. I’d like to say that it was very fun and informative to go to Vegas. It was also crazy, so beware when you go there. But, besides that, I talked to a lot of vendors from other states and learned more about the Randolph-Sheppard Act and the nation, you know, across the nation, how it… how it’s different in every state. And everybody was… It was great. Everybody was friendly. And I would just like Dacia and Eric to strongly consider using some of our set-aside money to send at least two managers a year to some kind of in-service… national in-service.

Hauth: Yeah. Thank… Thank you, Steve. Is there any other comment before we move on?

[00:13:20]

Hoddle: Randy, would it be out of line to jump back in for half a second?

Hauth: No. I welcome you.

Hoddle: Okay. Yeah, so one of the things that came up that I thought was really exciting is that one of the states that is, at least in large degree, all self-service, without any subcontracting, has contacted me about, you know, possibly forging some changes into the future where subcontracting, where it works, could be used going forward. And I thought that was an interesting development that came out of the Sagebrush conference. So I’ll certainly be facilitating and making that work for the blind program in this other state.

Hauth: Yeah. Thanks. Thank you very much, Vance. And I just want to make a comment that, and we’ll talk about it a little bit later in the agenda, about the in-service national training that will be sponsored and, you know, by the agency. So, with that… and, Dacia, I know that you fit us into your schedule and we do appreciate that. With that being said, I wanted to ask you if you would please have the floor. And if you could… I don’t know what exactly you have planned, but if you wouldn’t mind explaining to us, you know, the details, maybe, you know, behind the budget and, you know, what it’s… what it’s intended to gather, and also address some of those questions that were brought up during public comment, it’d sure be appreciated. So, thank you.

Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the Elected Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to come, at your invitation, and talk about the agency budget process for the next two years, which will start July 1 of 2017 and go through June 30th of 2019. For those of… Some of you are frequent participants as interested parties in the Commission meetings, so I apologize if this feels a little bit duplicative of the months of the budget discussions that took place at the Commission but, just as a framework, obviously, we’re in a budget environment in which the current service level for need of services, particularly around education and healthcare, exceeds the available resources in Oregon. And, unlike the federal government, Oregon, by Constitution, has to deliver a balanced budget. So when the Governor created her budget that was due December 1st, she had to create framework in which she… whatever expenditures she was recommended were aligned with the revenue that she had available to her. So… And you probably heard that the government is facing a $1.8 billion shortfall that was adjusted down to a $1.6 billion shortfall. But, you know, for an agency our size, obviously the news is that there’s not a lot of money to go around. So we knew this going in. We anticipated that this was not going to be a particular growth period. So we had some ind of unique circumstances that I’ll explain. For the Business Enterprise Program, as we know, we’ve made some considerable investments so our proposed budget is basically what is called current service level, which means that we asked for the same level of revenue. And there was a technical adjustment that phased out the limitation of federal funds into 17-19, so that’s not a money… It’s… It’s just a spending authority adjustment that is going to take place. But, in essence, minus that technical adjustment, for the Business Enterprise Program we asked for what’s called current service level, which means that, with some inflationary factors built in we asked for the same budget we have for the current two years.