QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE ELECTED COMMITTEE OF MANAGERS

January 14, 2017

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Dallas Near the Galleria
4099 Valley View Lane
Dallas,  Texas 75244

A block of rooms has been set up under the code ECM. 

Call to order 8:30 A.M. 

Roll call of ECM and Guests 

Committee Members Present:

Paul P

Calvin S

Dwaine Z

Aloha C

Karla M

Manny S

Clayton H

Zach D

Kristen M

Cecilia W

Arnold S

Guests Present:

Beverly Hell, Mark Russel, Chun An, Elizabeth & James Channy, Steve Saltzman, Kim and Tom Chepey, Ed Marlow, and a few others came in through the meeting.

Approval of minutes of last meeting. 

Zach D motioned to approve the minutes from the last meeting.

Manny S:  seconded.

Vote yes.

BET Directors Report 

08:40 Mr. Hooks.

Dallas is about money, San Antonio is about culture, Austin is about weird, but Dallas is about money.  Hooks spoke for a few minutes on the founding of Dallas.

BET Numbers

·         115 facilities.

·         No new facility openings or closings.

·         5 operational upgrades this year.

·         Non blind vendor managed facilities, NASA Houston and VA in Waco.

·         Temporary Managed by blind vendors, 5 facilities, IRS Farmers Branch, Hardeman County vending, Donley County vending, Abilene vending, and Young St Café Dallas.

·         J Wolf, most recent licensee, awaiting a new facility, licensed Nov 2016.

·         112 assigned managers, 115 facilities, 3 contracted.

Manager’s Who Left the Program

·         Louis Furel

·         Matthew Brewerton

·         Terry Houchan Sr, passed away October 2016.

Hooks briefly spoke well of Terry, recounting his history, and what he did for our program.  Taking Chopper’s cove from nothing, to a booming C-store.

Unlicensed Managers

·        Michael Vandaport retired/letting his 6 months run out

·       Jerry House:  resigned from SA medical center.  Kristen M’s new facility.

·       Rhonda Essan:  left Farmer’s Branch, her license should expire next month.

Program Information

·         587 BC facility visits.

·         RS programs are starting to be expected to hire more disabled individuals.

·         A RS R15 performance measure has become number of blind and number of other disabled hires.

Kristen M:  asked what types of disabilities count for ADA?

Any disability both either recognized or proven, that limits a major life function.  A number of illnesses also can qualify.

Zach D:  will make a blog post on this topic later.

Current Events

Arbitrations and Litigations

·         Military bases pay a significant amount of set-aside fees.  Which means if we lose them, funding drops, and set-aside fees will be increased.

·         FT Bliss we Lost our arbitration last year, them trying to pull out the dining portion of the contract.  Panel rules 2 to 1, that the army was in the right, at least it was not unanimous.

·         Last week, in Oklahoma, almost the same case was tried, and the arbitration ruled for the blind, not for the military, even though it was about the exact same situation.

·         FT Sam, we are Appealing a federal judges official ruling.

Asking that Ft Sam cannot be allowed to award our contract to someone else, until our arbitration is concluded.

·         BET currently has Three sets of legal contracts going, to fight these battles.

Potential New Facilities

·         Brenham state school, recently called BET, wanting to spin up a new location.

·         BET used to have food service and vending at the state school, but eventually they were no longer interested in our services.

·         They are interested in BET now, and the prospect is being investigated.

·         FT Hood, There is existing food service, but they are interested in exploring what BET can contribute.

RSA R15 Draft

·         The official Accounting Department’s report is not finalized yet.

·         Sales up from $67 million to $70 million

·         Purchases 10.551 million to 10.5528 million.

·         Payroll   40 to 45 million

·         Earnings   12 million

·         Average $107,842 to $108,221

·         Median $54,080 to $54,267

·         Average = the sum of all earnings divided by the number of Blind Vendors.

·         Median = the number of all blind vendors income, sorted numerically, the middle income.

·         RSA 15’s are published online.  Due Dec 15 each year, although most states do not get them in on time.

85th Texas Legislature

·         Started Jan 10

·           DPS cordoned off around the capital, no delivery trucks permitted between 04:30am and 05p.

·          HB 646, near copy of Lucio’s bill filed last session.

·         Texas legislature online, bottom right corner, 4-5 educational links, to teach bill movement.

·         On the same website, top center of the page, to key word search existing bills, Hooks constantly running his search words.

·         TWC, this is all new territory, and they want to help, but they are still learning.

·         Food and beverages available in vending machines on property used by state agencies.  It breaks down calories, sugar, nutritional minimum requirements.

Food Trucks

·         Exploring the possibility of food trucks around the capital complex.

·         Triangle building project has slowed, TFC and arcatecture company has slowed.  They need to concentrate on securing their budget, with the start of the session.

·         We have interest in trying to deploy BET trucks, or partnering with existing trucks, but food trucks are popping up everywhere.

·         Some instances of food trucks parking on state property, and they are camping out.

·         Intent is to get all agencies to participate in working against unauthorized food trucks.

Questions:

Steve S:  what benefit is there to hiring disabled people in our environment.

Hooks:  reduces set-aside fee slightly, helps the economy, we should recognize it is beneficial.

Clayton H:  it is very political.  The people in office, want to see us priority blind business owners, passing on our good fortune, in hiring disableds as well.

Hooks:  state priority, in statue today, chapter 355 of the labor code, has not been updated in forever.  We re-wrote it all, presented it to the legislative board, but they have not touched it.

Hooks:  our image is critically important to our program.  He’s telling everyone how professional we are, it is not Texas helping the blind, it is the blind helping Texas.

Steve S:  Better Eating Today, does it trickle down to Dallas, is it our job to put it on our machines?

Hooks:  BET goes through huge efforts to do things, no one does it, and then people start to ask about it.

Zach D:  explains to Steve, yes, you need to request the Better Eating Today machine advertisement and learn how to deploy it. 

Discussion ensues, regarding what should we have done to get more blind vendors to have complied.

09:33 Closes.

Chairman’s Report 

09:34, Clayton starts.

·         Clayton welcomed Kristen M to the ECM.

·         He wanted to thank all roadside vendors, for participating in the online comments, against the bill to commercialize highway rest areas.

·         Proposed future topics, ask TWC to explore the possibility to make monthly reporting portal safari accessible. 

·         Hooks said he will bring it up.  If you know any existing ruling or legislation, that uses ADA to require online accessibility, like this, pass it to him.

·         Kristin M:  asked about online set-aside payment.

Hooks:  he’s working on it, it is looking promising.

·           Clayton H:  Mentions future topic of assessing the existing Manager’s Annual Performance Review.

·         Clayton H:  Mentioned some vendors are interested in exploring Graduated license, option of being single or dual certified based on vending and or food service.

Tom C:  Asks, person graduates with vending certification, if they wanted to bid on food service, in the future, they would have to receive additional training to move up.

Mark R:  agrees with the duel concept.  If a person has no desire to be in food service, train them with less dollars, just in vending.  If we train them to do everything, and go into vending, will forget all the money spent to teach them on food service.

Zach D:  Agrees with the duel licensing concept, but recognizes specific policy and administrative wording will be required, for future blind vendor conflicts/confusion.

District Reports

D1F:  Manny S

·         Mark R thinks the ECM should give more time to the body of the agenda, not district reports.

·         Harvey S:  Nov and Dec had good numbers, thinks ECM needs to start getting ready.  Start looking into potential rule changes.

·         No other constituents responded.

·         Edgar’s IRS situation, still working there and is still experiencing the boycotting, hoping the busy season will pick up sales.

·         Wayne:  still satelliting the VA.

D1 V:  Calvin S

·         Talked to just about everyone.

·         Robert Jones:  happy for the start of the legislature, loving credit card readers on his machines, for increased sales.

·         Mike Sparks:  Again requesting the BET portal be made compatible with Safari.  People kept unplugging his cold food machines, but that has been resolved.  Bought 2 motorized carts, which he likes greatly.

·         Mark V:  going well, wants to implement card readers, but does not like the 5.45% transaction fee, can’t get past it.

·         General upset regarding the mistake relating to Coca-Cola prices.

·         Deborah W:  trying to obtain a new facility.

·         Jaime Garza, doing well, problems with rest area closures.

·         Bobby A:  displeased with the Coke pricing.

·         Calvin S:  entering his slow period, but things are going well.

D2F Zach D

·         Al M:  happy to have one the bid for Chopper’s Cove, but also hesitant regarding recent information, ready to get going.

·         Steve S:  Working with consultants to assess his business, exploring other operational opportunities to be more profitable.

·         Dwayne Z increasing sales at Alpha Rd.

·         Ed Marlow, going well, exploring temporary management possibilities.

·         Scott Smith, doing well, struggling a little with the C-store.  His wife will be getting badged, so she can attempt to man it, without incurring labor cost.

·         Zach D:  Doing very well, sales were up by about 20%, online ordering for customer’s best decision ever.

D2V Dwayne Z

·         Contacted half his constituents, left voice messages for the others.

·         Got no responses, assumed everything was fine.

·         Chung, everything fine.

·         Tommie Townson, post office slowed down, hopes it will go back up.

·         Dwayne Z, sales down 10%, but profit only reduced by 4%, very happy he could only drop his profit by 4%.

·         Tommie Crawford, fine and happy.

·         Jose Frederickson, complaining not making money, and doesn’t want to move, mentioned we have openings coming up, but he is not interested in food service.

·         Complaint, Coca-Cola prices, that went up Jan1.

Mark R:  Mentioned he has figured out the correct point of contact to resolve our Coca-Cola pricing issue.  Those of us on the Commission for the Blind special pricing, were accidentally bumped off, when the 3% annual increase happened.  Contact Mark R, if you still need help resolving this issue.

D3F Arnold S

·         Ashley Edwards, no response, going to continue trying to contact.

·         Greg S, long conversation, at the end, said he had nothing to report.

·         The rest of his district was doing fine.

D3V Cecilia W

·         Ralf, still waiting for the restrooms to be fixed at his boarder facility.

·         Slim M, contacted about the Coca-Cola issue, thanked Mark R for passing along the contact information.

·         Cecilia’s prison is going well, slow period, able to cut back on the labor cost.

D4F Kristen M

·         Sylvia D, converting her snack bar into a convenience store, at the state school, she’s very happy.

·         Alex G, cannot contact.

·         Terry H JR, everything is fine.

·         Rolland M, said everything is fine.

·         Allen T, tried, no contact.

·         Rebecka C, having a hard time with her business.  Loyal Customers, difficult since only profited $900 over the holidays.  Interested in figuring out about attaching vending, to help with the bleeding.

·         Kristen, loves the coffee shop, going great.

Chopper’s Cove

spoke with Terry Jr, micro Mart is opening, this week, 100 feet from the C-store, discussion of building remodeling, doesn’t know what’s going on,

Al M, very excited about moving to Corpus Christi, very hesitant, about potentially losing his job, next year, due to all the Corpus confusion.

Hooks:  Tom Hill, is all over NAS trying to find out information.  He’s asked very pointed questions. 

Hooks read an email from Tom Hill, to BET’s POC at Corpus.  Described how they’ve tried emailing her four times, with no response.

Zach D:  Asked why Tom Hill doesn’t go in person, and Hooks responded that he is not allowed access to the navy facility.

Hooks, Zach D, Kristen M, & Mark R engaged in discussion/debate regarding the navy, BET, and RSA, for 10 minutes.

Hooks concluded the discussion by stating, NEX has priority over RSA.

The discussion was tabled for a later time.

Break:  10:30

Resumed 10:44

D4V Clayton H

·         Gay N, people were smashing vending machine glass, has been resolved.

·          First new oil refinery, built north of Lerado, roughly 1,800 employees.  Suggested BET looks at this opportunity.

·         His district is going well.

D5F Harvey J

Unable to attend.

D5V Paul Parker

·         Running ok.

·         Lost 3 managers over the past quarter.  One transferred, and two retired.

·         All good in his district.

D6F Karla M

·         Arnold M TCEQ, difficult time, conflicts with consultants, treating him unprofessionally, talked with his consultant.  If he’s on the register, we talk to him, if we need to.  Do not want to air dirty laundry in front of customers.  He feels harassed, showing up four times in one week.  Requesting performance review ability for BET operators to review consultants.

·         Wayne S Winter’s convenience, failure in his heart, fell, busted his head, he now has a pace maker.  He’s now doing a little better, and he hopes someone can soon take over the VA, to decrease his stress.

·         Maria B, since sept-16, has been unable to get her badges updated, for her building.  Unable to get this situation resolved.  Interested to see if BET can expedite this problem.

·         Contracted vending machines, charging $.10 more per credit card transactions.  Her vendor said it was negotiated years ago, that BET did approve this.  If BET wants this changed, BET needs to officially request this.

·       Hooks:  made it clear BET would not be contacting this subcontractor, it was the blind vendor’s job.

·         Tom C:  Mentioned he used accent vending, when he set up his subcontract, required them to follow the guidelines, so that people would not charge over state prices, need to make sure there is a contract in place.

·         Travis W, concerned about coke pricing, will be handled by Mark R’s information.

D6V Aloha C

·         Jerry R, interested in vending price increase.

·         Aloha’s post office is good, had a security scare, but everyone is ok.

·         Rest of her district is good.

Sub Committees Reports: 

Rules and By-Laws Sub Committee: 

Clayton H:  We need to have a session, to look at the rules, figuring out what needs to be tweaked.  It has been 4-5 years.

Aloha C:  mentions the MAPR also needs to be looked at again, sites examples like the decoration and handling of customer complaints.

Hooks:  reminds us that MAPR is not a rule, it is fully in the hands of the ECM.

Hooks:  thinks that TWC is going to want to look at rules as well.  It was not made clear if he was suggesting it would or would not be a good idea to open the rules, based on his TWC comments.  National level, should we or should we not open RSA, same conversation relating to the rules.

House Bill relating to Vending Topic

Tom C:  What did the ECM do to be proactive to work regarding the vending bill that was filed?

Clayton H:  It’s been on the agenda repeatedly, strongly urged people that we should have done Better Eating Today, that we talk with our constituents, but people do not choose to voluntarily comply.

Tom C:  if you look at quarterly ECM meeting attendance, maybe as a suggestion, each ECM not just sending your email or text, persistently trying to really contact constituents.  He suggested holding district meetings.

Clayton H:  Fully agrees, Zach D mentions this has been suggested, but blind vendors do not show an interest, it takes time or they must travel to attend.

Tom C:  I’m living on X street, in my own place, nothing else affects me, but they do not grasp it effects everyone.  New ECM members, probably do not have enough of that experience or knowledge yet.  He estimates 85% of the active managers do or don’t know.

Paul P:  suggested and talked about for years.  Humans are creatures of comfort, we want to stay in that comfort zone.  Our world is ever changing, if you don’t change you will get run over by the bus.  If people don’t want to change, you will lose what you’ve got.

Cecilia W:  To Tom, we cannot force people to do this, we can make the information available, we are proactive at information distribution, but we cannot force them to comply.

Kristen M:  If we are all in, on healthy options, revisit the MAPR, making it a required point category, not a bonus.

Steve S:  So what does all this discussion must do with the bill?

Clayton H:  explaining how our proactive behavior could have helped us defend against the bill.

He is in contact with NAMA, working regarding lobbying.

Zach D:  Recommends we table this topic, to be addressed later.  It does not do good to discuss what should have been done 2 years ago, instead, we need to strategize what we now need to do, collectively, regarding the proposed bill.

Finance and Budget Sub Committee:  Zachary Davis

PayPal:  $0

Wells Fargo:  $18,420.08

Zach D:  describes how the financial report page will be changing how it looks, at texasecm.org.

Elections Sub Committee:  Cecilia Wilson

Clayton H:  We do not need this committee at the current time.

Training Conference Sub Committee:  Zachary Davis

·       The Doubletree we are currently at, is where the conference will be in November, it is undergoing an extensive renovation.

·         Conference will be Veteran’s Day weekend, Nov 10-12.

·         Most facilities should be closed Friday Nov 11, if people want to make a small trip of it.

·          Contract is completely done and signed, now we can start focusing on speakers and tradeshow vendors.

·         Described why the specific hotel and date were selected, money, money, money.

·         Mentions, Uber is a much more cost effective means to get from the airport to the property, and yes BET does reimburse Uber receipts.

·         Manny S:  looked it up, and it was only $13.5, instead of a $40 cab ride.

·         Zach was asked about in room refrigerators, for medicine, and the rental fee.

·         Zach already spoke with the property, and anyone needing a refrigerator, for medical purposes, will not pay a rental fee.

·           Hotel’s renovation timeline of completion dates: Guest Rooms              by 4/15/17, Meeting Space            by 6/15/17, and Common Space          by 9/15/17.  They are on track.

Training of Potential Managers Sub Committee:  Aloha Cook

·         2 candidates, Billy Jo Hutcheson, left in good standing, he is very excited.

·         Antionette very sweet, very eager, interested in food service, has a degree in pastry chef, some cooking experience.

·         The next class starts in February.

Vending Sub Committee: 

Clayton will appoint someone for this, because it has been 2 years.

George Millton, Food Trucks

George is a food truck operator, interested in partnering with BET blind vendors to have food trucks at rest areas.  He provided an overview of his operation.

He and his wife used to operate two BBQ restaurants, had to sell based on health issues.  They are back in the industry now, instead of brick and mortar, they decided to go mobile, with food trucks.  He used to cook at motorcycle rallies, pulled into a rest area, one day, 22 briskets and 50 pounds of sausage.  He wanted to check the temperature, and ended up selling product at the rest area.  He drove away, with half of his meat sold!

Convinced there is serious money to be made at a rest side location, for food trucks/bbq.

He’s sat and physically counted cars pulling into roadside locations, in Texas.  Trucks, good customers, they don’t only just eat, but they purchase extra, to take on the road with them.

George addressed competing with the products the blind vendor is selling:  things being sold in vending machines, he won’t sell, he would direct them to the vending machines.  EX:  he would be selling food, but not drinks, the customers would be urged to use the machines.

If a food truck is parked outside, theoretically, machines will be safer.

Commission:  he runs tapes, ask at any given day, to provide verification that you are receiving proper commissions.

Hooks:  Mentions this topic is related to the Kenly Amendment, regarding the preparation and selling of fresh food at rest areas.

Clayton H:  mentions that this amendment is being considered by BET, and people are eager to see if this is possible.

George’s purpose behind this is to make a good living, but he also wants to make sure the blind vendor is making a living.  Since, if the blind vendor is making money, that means the trucks are making money, which means George is making money.

Business Consultants Seeking out New Business Opportunities

·       Hooks briefly spoke on this topic.

·         The consultants are supposed to be in contact with GSA, regularly, RSA requires them to notify about new facilities.

·           He commented on the costs of opening a new facility, equipment, etc.

·         He Does not feel a need to seek out many new facility opportunities.

·         Manny S:  who was hired that filled Nancy’s position, Amanda Neal.

·         Ed M:  Rachel is doing a good job, in District 2.

·          Mark R:  if we want growth, should we go out and recruit additional potential managers.

·         Ed M:  asked if anything has changed regarding how interested parties apply to our program.

·         Hooks responded to Ed, no, the application process is still the same, need to go through Vocational Rehabilitation services.

·          Hooks agrees that ECM lead recruiting would be good.

BC Performance Evaluation

Karla M raised the topic again, since it was not commented on during her district report.

Hooks:  He will email BC’s, regarding when to provide constructive criticism, proper time and place.

Hooks:  Again, if you want to create an evaluation form, go ahead.

Hooks:  recommended reading the rules, regarding performance reviews on state employees.

Zach D:  *Inserted this after the meeting* The rule Hooks is referencing, most likely, is this

Section 106.1925 BET Elected Committee of Managers

(f) Exclusions from participation.

Neither the E C M, nor any of its members, nor any manager is an employee, officer, or official of the State of Texas. Therefore, the ECM shall not participate in any decision-making process regarding personnel of DARS D B S, personnel policies, or personnel administration.

  Mark R:  thinks most issues are isolated, the consensus, Mark knows our consultants, who spend 90% of their time, working with managers that do not wish to do their jobs.

Ed M:  described how he had a bad experience, and it eventually got handled by interacting directly with Austin.

Elections

Chairman

·         Kristen M:  nominated Clayton H, Manny S seconded the nomination.  Clayton accepted his nomination.

·         Arnold S:  nominated Cecilia w, Aloha C seconded Cecilia’s nomination.  Cecilia accepted the nomination.

·         Votes for Clayton 7

·         Votes for Cecilia 4

·         Counted by Mark Russel and Beverly Hell.

·         Clayton H retains his chairmanship.

Vice Chair:

·         Aloha C nominated Karla M, and Kristen M seconded the nomination.  Karla accepted.

·         Zach D:  nominated Manny S, Manny seconded, and he also accepted the nomination.

·         Cecilia W self-nominated, Aloha C seconded.  Cecilia accepted the nomination.

·         Manny S won the election by 5 votes.

Treasurer:

Manny S nominated Zach D, Kristen Seconded, and Zach D accepted.

No one else was nominated, all voted yes, Zach D wins.

Set date and city of next meeting.

·         Destination is Galveston, Houston as a fallback.

·         Date window will be April-May, pending date and price availability.

Adjourned:  12:50.