QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE ELECTED COMMITTEE OF MANAGERS

April 7, 2017

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Suite Houston
by the Galleria
5353 Westheimer Road
Houston, Texas 77056

Call to order 8:35 A.M.

1. Roll call of ECM and Guests

Paul P Lubbock

Cecilia W: Houston

Karla M Austin

Aloha C Austin

Harvey J El Paso

Clayton H

Zach D Dallas

Manny S Austin

Dwayne Z Dallas

Kristen M San Antonio

Arnold S

Audience:

Joseph Lopez, Connie Sanchez, Slim & Suzan Marquis, Mark Russel, Mike Hooks, Elizabeth Chaney.

Approval of minutes of last meeting.

Cecilia W: moved to approve the minutes.

Manny S: seconded.

Vote passed.

BET Directors Report

08:40

History

· Sparring match between Sam and Steven, battling which city would be the capital.

· 4th most populous city, in USA, 2.1 million.

· Very Austiny side, that is not advertised very much.

· Beercan house, house completely sided in beer cans, every can was drank by the home owner. Art car parade, converting vehicles into art.

Program Status

· 115 locations, none opened none closed.

· Equipment upgrades, 20 locations.

· 3 contract locations, VA Waco, NASA Houston, Terry Houchan was running Chopper’s Cove.

· 6-7 facilities under temporary management, 3 in DFW, Abilene, Donley County, TCEQ Austin, and IRS Austin.

· 3 applications for IRS and 1 for TCEQ.

· J Wolf, newly licensed manager, very ready to be assigned to a facility, researching every facility, where a manager is bidding on a new location.

· 3 managers left the program.

· Unassigned managers, Jerrie House, JD Stuart, Michael Vanderport, and Steve Saltzman.

· 1 manager, waiting to get his first initial assignment.

· Billy-Joe Hutcheson, only person in training, should graduate in 1-2 week in May.

Figures

· $364,000 equipment purchased.

· 1,344 employed.

· 13 blindness disabilities.

· 116 additional disabilities.

Litigation

Ft Sam

· 3/6/17, Judge ruled Ft Sam must take corrective action to insure that BET is included in the competitive range, for bids.

· 90 day extension for the contract.

· Difficult time getting money from the DOD, due to agency changes.

Ft Bliss

· We lost the arbitration.

· The appeal was filed, expecting the response within 20 days.

· Awarded a sole source, for 12 months, but only doing this to get enough time to create the next solicitation.

Lackland

· Preparing to submit the bid, but DOD slowed the process down, looking at the end of April.

Legislature Update

· HB646, Lucio III, tried to regulate vending machines last session, doing it again.

· BET and Chairman, met with Lucio’s staffers, trying to discuss this topic, and Clayton did a very good job. Hooks confident that Clayton helped them understand this bill should not apply to prison vending.

· SB596, Lucio II, wanting to tax sugar, on sweetened beverages, referred to finance 2/8/17, just sat there.

· SB1147, companion, establishing the TX music museum, which already exists, and it specifically exempts us from having preferred status to the on-site operations.

· HB3743, requiring posters relating to food allergens.

· HB3300, requiring employees that come in contact with customers in food service, to all be certified in CPR.

Audit Actions

· Hooks has been working on resolving all of these actions.

· Scoring Metrics for the program is the final audit action.

· Hooks requested metric suggestions from the ECM.

National Legislation

· DC is wanting to push for privatizing public rest-areas.

· Big PR push, starting using national media outlets.

· Proposed DOD regulations, these were stalled, based on how many comments we lodged, and Trump stopped it all for the time being.

09:02, report concluded.

Mark R: asked if the historical society included his building, Hooks responded that his building is not included in these BET exemptions.

Chairman’s Report

09:05

· Privatization or commercialization of roadside rest-areas, he sent an email, requesting people to send their issues to the DC representative’s assistant. Hoping that since a freshman REP, they are hoping this bill does not have much muscle behind it.

· January 2018, fly-in scheduled, for lobbying against DOD regulations and in defense of roadside rest-areas.

· Conversations with Nicky Geccos, talks with regulation groups, regarding our presence on DOD facilities, that do not have contracts, but instead permits. Lack of notification and willingness to work with us on new buildings, or add-ons, ex: NEX micro-markets at NAS Corpus Christy, directly competing with our C-store.

· Sept 12-15, BLAST, Clayton will be attending, and he requests that anyone that can attend, registers to go. Since we are interested in BLAST coming back to TX, thinks we should try and attend their BLAST.

Aloha C: asked if DOD permits can be pulled from us at any time, unlike a contract, the answer was yes. If the BET operator provides grossly unsatisfactory performance, yes, with permits we can be forced out.

Manny S: Are we going to consider doing some type of partial scholarship, to help people to attend BLAST?

Clayton: that is being discussed later on the agenda, under BLAST and finances.

09:14

District Reports: Limited to two minutes per report.

D1-FManny S

· Contacted everyone, only one person responded.

· Harvey S, “needs more information on procedures and rule changes to address some of our poor operator situations, like the ones that have recently came up, thank you for your consideration.”

· Wayne S: is now fully running his C-store, no longer trying to juggle the VA.

· Deborah Westin, fully operating the VA location, which can be extremely difficult. BC, Nick N, went in, when her cook quit, and assisted by preparing entrees and sides.

· Manny, TXDOT, legislation to fund their own building, which is pending currently.

· Harvey S, doing fantastic job, with his temporary location, issues with union and strikes are ending, and sales are increasing, $1,800-$2,000, much hard work.

D1-VCalvin S

· Unable to attend.

D2-F Zach D

· Al M, doing good.

· Ed M, doing good, began doing waffle Wednesday again, customers are loving it!

· Scot Smith, café doing well, C-store not doing well, engaging in talks with GSA and BET, he is no longer opening the C-Store.

· Paul F, temporary managing 1301 Young St, Jr and two employees, working very hard.

· Zach D, Commerce Café doing well, fully staffed again, just broke the 2,000 online order mark, temporary location, much positive feedback on cleanliness and wearing of proper sanitation equipment.

D2-VDwayne Z

· Everything is fine in his area, no comments or complaints.

· Chung, in his military location, they have brought in 2 military vending machines. Asking if they could please move one, that was right next to his machine. They complied, and both were satisfied with the new arrangement.

D3-F Arnold S

· Ashly E, still working at increasing sales, struggling, but working at it. Issues with new building host, accessing her space afterhours, without permission or reason.

· Greg S, trying to work with the building on a recycling program.

· Arnold S, highest sales to date, doing well, having drain issues, attended a tenant meeting with TFC, but the BC did not attend. He was told there is no money for repairs, and he is out of luck. He has water coming out of his drains, and it is leaking and seeping. He has contacted his BC, but has not heard back what can be done. Sounds like the buck is being passed, regarding the payment of the drain repairs. Karla, mentioned it happened twice to her, and turns out the fix ended up being easier than they expected. Pipes are exposed in the basement, where you can see, a plumber was brought in, but his opinion, the pipes need replacing. Small repair was done, but it was a short-term fix, that has already failed.

· Infestation of rodents, brought to their attention, TFC stating they are not responsible. He cannot stop them in the ceiling tiles, being told again no money.

D3-VCecilia W

· District moving smoothly.

· Slim Marquise, in attendance, and Cecilia thanked him.

· Losing a manager, Ralf Hornell, retiring at the end of May.

· Cecilia’s prison is going well.

D4-F Kristin McNabb

· Sylvia D, working on the remodel of her space, 6ish months expected.

· Edgar, Chopper’s Cove, losing sales due to NEX micro-markets, NEX pricing below his, and having issues getting equalization payments set up.

· Kristin, trying to buy new equipment, signage, and making it look more professional, introduced cold brew, going great.

· Rolland Marshal, says everything is good.

D4-VClayton H

· Elizabeth, doing well, her host has been really great, anything she needs, the host quickly addressed the issues, EX: shaking machines.

· Basing his district’s status on the lack of called in complaints or issues.

· RHIVS payment, a lot of operators waiting for it, but it is coming.

D5-FHarvey J

· Doing pretty good.

D5-VPaul P

· Operators doing ok.

· Ken Lantroop, plugging along, everything is fine. Austin truck was all over the district, delivering and picking up equipment.

· John M, having issues with people needing reimbursements.

· Paul P, cages built for the machines at his state school, where vandalism was taking place.

D6-FKarla M

· Maria B, still having badge issues in her building, going on a year.

· Wayne S: issues with the C-store, keeping product stocked, hoping this is resolved, now he is no longer temporary managing the VA. Equipment issues, they are working out with the B.C.

· Tom C, flooded facility twice, in the last month, had to close both times.

· Arnold M, left TCEQ, Karla is now temporary managing the location, already up to $1,200 in daily sales.

· Same topic as Manny, the future agenda topic, of cleanliness.

D6-VAloha C

· Sent out a group text, and got plenty of comments.

· RHIVS check questions, which have been addressed.

· Dwayne Sparks, cashless in prisons, Hooks mentions there is complication, but it is being investigated.

· Dwayne Sparks, why we don’t have the commissaries, and the federal prisons.

Hooks: most federal prisons have statute exemption, trumping the Randolph-Sheppard Act, and we can only afford fighting so many battles at once.

Clayton: TN has legislation in place, allowing them to be in county jail commissaries, not the federal prisons, being fought by most county sheriffs, , TN also has the vending on all state universities.

· Jerry Ramirez, when are we getting a price increase.

09:45.

Sub Committees Reports:

Rules and By-Laws Sub Committee: Karla Martinez

· Karla talked about a document that Zach D sent out, assigning a number and two questions to each rule, should it be changed, to what and why?.

· Once we finish the document, we will be meeting before the July ECM meeting, to work on it.

Hooks: please refer to the rules, regarding revising rules. You are welcome to open that door, if you want, but it won’t be between just the ECM and Hooks.

Karla: asked what he was meaning.

Hooks: mentioned that other parties may be interested in looking at our rules, other than the ECM and the SLA.

Hooks: reading an email, Oregon, state of Oregon managers introduced a piece of legislation, attempting to strengthen and enforce their legislation. Last minute amendments came in, trying to change their set-aside to 30%.

Hooks: suggests we try and change what we can, without opening rules, would be better.

Mark R: can we change daily operating procedure, without changing rules?

Hooks: Yes, administrative procedures can be changed, as long as the change does not contradict rule. EX: We cannot change eligibility criteria with procedures, that would need an actual rule revision.

Manny: before we jump into the rabbit hole, we need to make sure people are supporting of a potential rule change.

Finance and Budget Sub Committee: Zachary Davis

· $18,098.05

· Two checks were paid out, for past conference award reimbursements.

· Quarterly Vending check was deposited.

· Will discuss later, regarding the fund and 2018 BLAST

Elections Sub Committee: Kristen McNabb

N/A.

Training Conference Sub Committee: Zachary Davis

· Update, reminding people which hotel will host the conference.

· Brief discussion regarding approaching venders, for the tradeshow.

· Discussion of decreasing the vender registration fee, in an attempt to get a larger turnout.

· Speakers, IRS, Sales tax, etc.

· Paul P: asked if we wanted to try and get a TDCJ rep, to come and talk.

Training of Potential Managers Sub Committee: Manny Sifuentes

· 1 person in class, Billy-Joe Hutcheson

· 1 persons did not pass the serve Safe managers examination, failed out of class.

· Interacted with Joe, perhaps bringing in food service and vending operators, to speak with the class.

· Joe asked Mark R, to see if he would be open for 2 week evaluations, and Manny volunteered his services.

· Karla M is also still conducting 2-week evaluations.

· Temporary management is leading to an issue finding people with the time and or who are willing to do a 2 week evaluation.

· Aloha, mentions she thinks it would make since to open the door for 2 week evaluations, with vending operators. Manny, thinks since the hardest situation is food service, and that is why they pick 2 week evaluations.

· Cecilia: agrees with Manny, the point of the valuation is to make sure someone has the stamina and determination to do the job.

· Karla will be doing a 2 week evaluation, with someone from Louisiana.

· Clayton, agreed with Cecilia and Manny.

· Kristin, pointed out, food service really is much more difficult than vending, since in vending you can basically set your work schedule, compared to food service, where you should be 100 MPH, from opening to closing.

Vending Sub Committee: Arnold Sanchez

· Working on forming a committee to help him.

· Kristin mentions he just recruited her in our meeting.

· Manny, if you need to, utilize the ECM free conference call line.

· Zach D, reminded Arnold it is very easy to request data from people, with apps like scan and go, and the email receipts from Sam’s club pickup.

Break: 10:07.

Break Ended: 10:31

Changeovers / Cleanliness of Food Service Facilities

· A frank discussion regarding current changeover rules, defining the acceptable standard for cleanliness, and where the physical and financial burden of cleaning should fall, be it the outgoing manager, incoming manager, and or BET.

· Discussion on the cleanliness of our food service operations, to determine if/what needs to be done to insure managers are being held accountable, by BET staff, the ECM, GSA, or other parties, that facilities are not being permitted to continue to operate while filthy.

· Discussion on the impact, for the manager, BET, to our customers, and to GSA if facilities are permitted to operate while unclean.

Karla: brief summery of the situation, three facilities changed over in a 2 week period, and all three were filthy, disgusting, and beyond reasonable standards of cleanliness. Karla M, Harvey S, and Zach D were the incoming temporary managers, and many hours were spent trying to get these facilities remotely clean.

Karla: Suggesting contacting a company like, PB Technology, massive cleaning company, reach out, get an estimate, to find out what type of a cost would be involved in using their services.

Manny S: started to describe Harvey S’s change over experience.

Hooks Interjected, he thought the plan he was already acting on should resolve most of the topic, and asked if we would like to jump right into a solution, instead of re-hashing all of the details of the cleanliness problems.

· Hooks: complaints of incoming managers, regarding dirty equipment, filthy, this problem starts with the quarterly reviews, insuring that problems are being noticed, documented, and actually acted upon quickly.

· managers will be notified of these types of deficiencies, and the consultant will provide them with a seven day window, to get the sanitation or cleanliness resolved to a satisfactory level.

· If not fixed within 7 days, BET will hire a cleaning company, that can or will address anything from floors, to equipment, to pots and pans, and after completion, present the bill to the manager.

· If a manager abandons a facility, or if a resignation is submitted, an inspection will be scheduled, so that the professional cleaning can be conducted, before the incoming manager has to take over.

*it sounded like the entire ECM began clapping, loudly voicing approval of this swift and seriously needed action.*

Hooks commented, he does not like taking this hard approach, since it’s an admission that our managers are not doing twhat is needed, themselves.

No one else voiced any disagreement, most thinking this was a very well needed change, due to the ongoing issues faced on both state and federal property with dirty and unclean facilities.

Hooks: mentioned they are actively, now, searching to locate a good, statewide, professional cleaning company, we can get contracts set up with.

Manny: agrees, but we need to figure out how it will be applied across the board, to the same standard, district to district.

Zach D: asked what tool will be used, so that all BCs and districts are to the same standard.

Hooks: Referenced the email Zach D sent to the ECM and himself. The email with 6 years of past BET, GSA, and FOH sanitation inspections attached.

He said he does not agree with all of Zach D’s points, but many good points were made, and that we need to revise our sanitation quarterly form, considering a better point value distribution, to actually score seriously on cleanliness/sanitation topics.

Aloha: Can we look at MAPR, clarification, as well as revisions.

Hooks: mentions he does not want to take on the MAPR and the quarterly inspection revisions, at the same time.

Planning ECM Workshops and More

· Discussing the idea of ECM workshops, extending meeting lengths, and or when needed staying a second night.

· Discussing ways those committees and other topics can actually be worked on, while we are together, for ECM meetings.

Clayton: we’ve not done a workshop, in a number of years. We’ve been doing quarterly meetings. Workshops are where we could work on the MAPR, quarterly inspections, and other items that actually need in person work.

Hooks: In the old days, the workshops did not always take place in Austin. They would place them based on where the most people are located. He also did not attend all workshops. Hooks reminded the ECM that he does not have to be in attendance at workshops, or even ECM meetings, unless invited. Pointed out, sometimes it might make since to have him their, since he can help inform what is and is not possible.

Manny: Pointed out that a workshop, in Austin, would be an opportunity for Joe to conduct training the trainer, referring to managers who choose to accept OST students.

Brief discussion took place, regarding the idea of holding 2 night meetings, or extending meetings, finding ways to get more bang for the buck being spent to gather everyone together.

Hooks: discussing how TWC thinks of the ECM, and the budgetary breakdown.

General Appropriations Act, we are considered an Advisory Committee, to TWC>

* annual budget, $16,000, for ECM expenses.

1. travel,

2. Meeting rooms

3. Unsure.

Mark R: District reports could be moved to conference calls, and the people attending quarterly meetings really are interested in the meat and potatoes.

Clayton: mentions again, the ECM has our own free conference call line now, and that it is a resource that could be used by subcommittees, etc.

Discussion of the status of HB646.

· Highlight our efforts to offer healthier options in vending locations.

· The Legislature and Wellness Committee need to be made aware of our

efforts to be part of the solution not the problem in order to mitigate any

possible damage to our future.

· Discussion of ways to encourage our managers to be proactive in their

efforts to provide and market healthy items in their businesses.

Clayton H: If we dodge this bullet, like we did last time, which the lobbyist think should happen. If this bill fails, we need to add to the performance review, specific points for people who use Better Eating Today or some form of Fit Pick.

Suggested 2 points.

Zach D: Suggested if this is a very important topic, perhaps we need to make it much more than a 2 point value. Talked briefly, if vending operators really are concerned about being legislated, and we truly find this to be a critical issue, then we need to weight it so, suggested possibly even upwards of 10 points.

Zach D: asked if Better Eating Today, is still able to be produced.

Hooks: at this time no, it is not being printed, but it is possible, if people actually want/need it.

Kristin: Asked if why re-invent the wheel, why not use the national branded, Fit Pick, instead of a small BET specific healthy eating program.

Zach D: agreed with Kristen.

ECM did not seem interested in trying to present a unified single healthy vending plan as what will be used.

Karla M: mentioned she will be in a state magazine article, about her use of better eating today.

Discuss SB1147 and HB2495 exempting BET from operating the concessions at the Texas Music Museum.

How do we stop passage and assert our priority?

Also, the possible damaging effects that could come as a result (i.e. Loss of the Capitol complex).

Hooks provided the following bill notes:

2495: Geren

Referred to committee, 4/4 lit up, schedule for public hearing, testimony, pending committee.

SB1147: 4/5, same thing, recommended for local and uncontested calendar, committee report was distributed.

ECM realizes, it is too late, the time for public hearing has already happened.

Zach D: comments, perhaps once we get the new mandatory cleaning standards in place, people’s perception of our program will be better, and we might be wanted in facilities, not barred from them.

Discussion about our participation in BLAST 2018.

BLAST, $20,000

· Discussion took place, wondering if it could be more cost effective, to not hold BLAST in a conference hot spot city.

· Discussion took place, again, wondering why BLAST is being schedule for the workweek, Tues-Fri, instead of Thurs-Sun, when most people who attend, are business owners, needing to be at their businesses.

· Zach D: spoke about the budget, and how we need to really ramp up cash flow, to not be left with very little, after BLAST.

· Zach D: mentions it would be nice to actually see how/where money is being spent, and suggests again, the state rate is utilized for the hotel.

· Clayton H: mentions doing the 50/50, at BLAST, most agreed would be a great idea.

· ECM does want BLAST back, but it is starting to get a little costly.

Slim Marquis

BET Operator presenting to the ECM>

· Slim talked about his prison vending, and how integral his wife is to his success.

· Mentions he thinks we often forget to mention, it is not just the blind operator doing everything on their own.

· Presented a plaque, from the prison unit, at his vending location.

Reliable vending, logo of a drink machine, intricate design, we appreciate you,

Set date and location for the next meeting or workshop.

Zach D: motioned July 22, Austin

Cecilia: seconded.

Voted.