Jackson County Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes October 25, 2012 Members present (quorum = 5): Ernest H. Corey, Jr., James C. Hanley, Brett Johnson, James W. Lewis Members absent: (4-6) vacancies, Art Lumley (excused) Ex-Officio Member present: John Howard Staff present: Bob Carson, Selina Delafield, Carol Wedman Topic Discussion Action Call to Order Pledge of Allegiance Moment of Silence for All Veterans Roll Call to Establish Quorum Brett Johnson called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m. Roll call was performed and revealed that a quorum could not be established. Minutes: Meetings 1/26/12 and 4/26/12 Membership/Bylaws Due to lack of a quorum, acceptance of the minutes could not be considered. By-Laws Consensus Vote/Re-Install Members Carol queried the group for a consensus to recommend both Ernest Corey and James Hanley who indicated that they would like to continue on the committee. There was unanimous acceptance. Membership Recruitment There was consideration to recommend Kirby Rider as a member to the Veterans Advisory Committee. As he is a veteran, it would be appropriate to contact him to see if he is still interested via his personal contact information, as he is no longer with Easter Seals. More suggestions for membership recruitment include Bob Huff, eligible October 1, 2012. He is Senior Vice Commander of the American Legion and retired. He is quite busy now, traveling often, and so may not be interested. Bob may have some good leads if he himself is not interested. There may be possibilities for more recruits at the Armory meeting as well. Carol to forward recommendation for continuation of members Ernest Corey and James Hanley to BoC. Contact of potential members for the VAC. Revision to draft By-Laws to include ex-officio members was accepted by VAC. Page 1 of 5
SOU/ROTC Membership Recruitment At some point the committee had a representative from the 186 th Infantry Regiment (National Guard). Gail represents the domiciliary. It would be good to have a representative from SOU/ROTC. John Howard shared that the current ROTC program manager at SOU (Southern Oregon University) is major Kirk Nicholson. Draft By-Laws: Ex-Officio Member Eligibility Review and consideration to recommend adoption of draft by-laws, establish a consensus, was brought to the table. Carol mentioned the only change since the last time everyone reviewed this was to add ex-officio member eligibility. If the committee changes the By-Laws so that exofficio members can become full members; that would make John Howard a voting member and part of the quorum. Five members are required to create a quorum; however, when the By-Laws are changed, it would take 3 to make a quorum. The committee could come to a consensus for a recommendation to the board of commissioners. The changes were accepted unanimously with a consensus. Announcements Caseload Update John announced that the Federal government and Veterans Administration are finally making the overall caseload go down. In Portland, as of the beginning of this month, there were 11,750 cases in their inventory, down from 12,500, which decreased the backlog by about 6%. Nationwide, it is down from a high of nearly 910,000 in July, down to 884, so both sets of numbers are going the right way. However, 65% of cases are still taking more than 125 days. Bob shared that he was recently at Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs Fall conference. The regional manager stated that decision review officers would be working on appeals. John stated that the bulk of veterans claims are still from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, but Page 2 of 5
claims from OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) and OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) are longer and more complex because when they get out of the service or are demobilized from the Guard, there is a representative from the VA advising on their departure physicals as to VA claims. Veterans Day Veteran s Day will be observed at the domiciliary on Sunday. The congressman will not be in town. The Oregon Dept of Veterans Affairs website has posted announcements about the Veterans Day parades in Medford, White City, and Central Point. There is a resource table covered with Veterans resources near the police department. The new city manager for Medford, Eric Swanson, is a colonel in the Air National Guard, Kingsley Field. He is big into veterans and veterans services. Summary of Stats for JC Veteran Services Office Bob provided a handout: Summary of Stats for The Jackson County Veteran Services Office. He shared that they are still very busy. In the last quarter (April-June), they saw a record 1777 clients. In the interim, they lost two valuable employees. It will take time to train replacements and a year for claims work accreditation. So it will be some time before there will be a realization in service increase. The stat sheet lists the quarterly average of clients. It is continuing to go up. Cash recoveries into the pockets of veterans with their benefits are averaging about 12 to 13 million a year which is pretty consistent. In fiscal years 2011 and 2012, 6839 clients were served with over 13.5 million in recoveries. If the 2012 trend holds true, they are going to again see another record number of clients, though that is flattening out a bit with less clients seen this last quarter (July-Sept), partly due to the recent loss of employees. Page 3 of 5
Veterans Community Center in Shady Cove A new monthly outreach for veterans is now available at the Upper Rogue Community Center in Shady Cove. Advertisement has been implemented via radio and newspaper locally to encourage veterans to visit. Budget Issues They are transitioning to a new web-based claims program called VetraSpec, which has received high reviews from other counties. The current program, Vetrex, has become unstable, outdated and slow, with no customer support. This new program will also reduce the paperwork burden by about 50%. This will be under the Oregon Department of Veteran Affairs license. It is to be mandated. They were tasked by the legislature with finding a consistent tech solution for the state. The long-term goal is electronic claims submission. Old Business: New Business: None James Hanley shared that he is involved in signing a deal to buy the building that is housing the Moose Lodge to be the new Post 1833. He will be coordinating with them to move in the first of the year. It is located behind Winco. Ernest shared that he has a new position with the Moore Center as a veteran peer mentor dealing primarily with homeless vets; they are contract vets referred from the VA. Susan O Connell is the point of contact at the VA. SORCC (Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinic) in White City has a good reputation throughout the country with referrals from other states. John stated that he heard the SORCC s census is down to approximately 380 with the capacity for 450. There is word from the media Page 4 of 5
that SORCC is cutting back on residents. Outpatient numbers are up and there is a turnover for physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, with a focus on recruiting replacements. The VA nationwide is apparently having trouble recruiting healthcare professionals into rural areas. There is an effort at providing new buildings, as well as remodeling and landscaping. Next Meeting: April 25, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. Health and Human Services Administration Conference Room 1000 E. Main St., Suite 1, Medford OR 97504 The meeting was adjourned at 3:37 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Selina Delafield Committee Support Page 5 of 5