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BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PROGRAM OF OREGON BECC SPECIAL MEETING

Date: Thursday, September 12, 2019

OREGON COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND

535 SE 12th Avenue (Portland office)

Conference line: 404-443-6397

Participant code: 943611#

Agenda

• Any agenda item may become an action item.

• Any of these items may be a conflict of interest.

1. Call to Order - Chairman Hauth

a. Roll Call

b. Adoption of Minutes

2. Public Comment

3. Old Business:

a. AP responses

b. Derrick Stevenson's complaint

c. Script vending proposed increase

d. Self-service implementation

4. New Business:

a. Portlandia building contract

b. New ODOT building/rest area contract

c. Commissary development

d. Director's comments update

5. Adjournment - Chairman Hauth

Transcript

Art Stevenson:  This is Art, and...Randy, are you here?  No, he's not.  He said he might be a couple of minutes late.  And so I will go ahead and call this meeting to order.  Okay...

Miranda:  Roll call.

Art Stevenson:  Yep, okay, first of all, we'll do roll call.  Hey, Lewanda, would you do the pleasure?  You're better at that than me.

Miranda:  Okay.  Roll call for the Elected Committee.  Randy Hauth?  Art Stevenson?

Art Stevenson:  Here.

Miranda:  Derrick Stevenson?

Derrick Stevenson:  Here.

Miranda:  Steve Jackson?  Steve Jackson?  Steve Gordon?  Steve Gordon?

Hauth:  Hey, Lewanda.

Miranda:  Yeah--. OK.

Hauth:  This is Randy.  Lewanda, this is Randy.  I am here, but I'm going to be on mute for a little while.  So just to let you know I'm here.

Miranda:  Okay, thank you, Randy.  Okay.

Hauth:  Yep.

Miranda:  And then Lewanda, so we do have a quorum.  So now we'll go with membership. Jerry Bird?  

Bird:  Here.

Miranda:  Jerry Bird? Okay. Hi, Jerry. 

Bird:  Hi.

Miranda:  Charlotta McKinzie?  Charlotta McKinzie?  Celyn Brown?  Carole Kinney?  Cathy Dominique?  Trevor Garcia?  Harold Young?

Young:  Here.

Miranda:  Joseph Becker? 

Becker:  Here.

Miranda:  Jason Doss?  Jason Doss?  Lin Jaynes? 

Jaynes:  Present.

Miranda:  Salvador Barraza?  That concludes the membership.  And from the agency--

Smith:  Not quite, Gordon Smith is here.

Miranda:  Oh, hi.  Sorry about that.  Okay, Gordo. 

Smith:  Yeah.

Miranda:  Thank you.  Thanks.  From the agency?

Morris:  Eric's here, just me.  Actually, Joseph's sitting here with me, but it's just me in the room for the agency.        

Miranda:  Okay. And any visitors?  Okay, Art, I'll turn it back over to you.  Vice Chair Art Stevenson?

Art Stevenson:  Okay, I'd like to entertain a motion to adopt all of the last meetings previously that have not been adopted.   

Miranda:  Okay, I'll make a motion that we adopt all past meeting minutes.  Do I have a second? 

Derrick Stevenson:  I second.

Miranda:  Derrick seconds.  Art, do you want to do the yes or no vote?  Okay, so we're going to vote per elected member.  So yes or no, Derrick Stevenson?

Art Stevenson:  Oh, am I off mute?  Am I off mute, Lewanda?

Derrick Stevenson: Yeah.

Miranda:  Oh, there you go.  Okay, there you are.  You are now.

Art Stevenson:  Okay.  Derrick Stevenson?

Derrick Stevenson:  Yes.

Art Stevenson:  Lewanda Miranda?

Miranda:  Yes.

Art Stevenson:  Randy H.?

Hauth:  Yes.

Art Stevenson:  Steve Gordon?  Steve Jackson? 

Jackson:  Steve Jackson's here.

Art Stevenson:  Okay.  How do you vote on the minutes, Steve, yea or nay?

Jackson:  I'll accept the minutes.

Art Stevenson:  Okay, and I vote yea as well.  Okay, next item on agenda is public comment.  Is there any public comment?

Jackson:  Can I make a quick comment? Steve Jackson.

Art Stevenson:  You sure can, Steve.

Jackson:  I just am trying to clear up a little bit of confusion, maybe, about the manager that was moved to, I believe, Georgia or somewhere? Tessa Brown.  I wanted to ask maybe if Eric could clear it up later.  Is she still a licensed manager in Oregon or, or is she not? 'Cause I'm a little confused on that one.  So maybe later if you can address it.  He doesn't have to.  I know it's just a comment, but it's unclear to me still, so.  Thank you.

Jaynes:  This is Lin Jaynes.  I have a question.

Jackson: Go ahead, Lin.

Jaynes:  Can you hear--

Art Stevenson:  Go ahead, Lin.

Jaynes:  Alright. Well, okay, I wasn't sure you could hear me or not.  I'm not sure if this question can come now or if perhaps it ought to come later under new business for the director's comments.  So if he's going to discuss this later, forgive me, I'm not aware of it. But my question is this: regarding the new Smitty's repair plan that's on the contract that he sent out, I did want to make a-a note of the fact that prior when we had had Smitty's in the--in the past, they did not service the coast, at all.  They did not come up there.  They would not come up there.  I tried several times to get them up there, and I ended up hiring an actual repair person out of, actually he was out of Newport, a retired gentleman that did it on the side, and he's no longer available.  So I'm just wondering if maybe that's something Eric can check into for us and see if in fact they will now come to the coast, because I need to know in case I, if they don't, I need to hire somebody again.  It'd be real helpful if he could find out for me.  Thank you. 

Art Stevenson:  Okay, thanks, Lin.  Is there any other public comments out there?  Okay.

Doss:  Hey, Art.  This is Jason Doss.  Sorry, I was a couple of minutes late.

Art Stevenson:  Oh, okay, Jason.  Glad you could join in.  Thanks for letting us--. Hey, Lewanda--

Doss:  No problem.

Art Stevenson:  --I don't have [inaudible] unlocking [inaudible] iPhone.  Go ahead and tell me what the next item is. 

Miranda:  Three is old business, A is AP responses and they're provided below the agenda.

Art Stevenson:  Okay...yeah.  This item of agenda--on the agenda, as everybody knows, Director Morris sends out his responses to our motions and is supposed to provide a written explanation why it is accepted or not accepted, and we received the last list of AP responses, which definitely concern me greatly, because it was -- in a lot of them, the statements were, "that's not an item for active participation."  And this concerned me greatly because, first of all, it looks like to me that Eric is...is implementing the new rules, which have not been okay'd by RSA, in that he has the authority to decide what is active participation and what is--is--is not, and--and obviously, it--it seems very ludicrous, and of course, the elected committed--committee voted unanimously to reject those rules, and for lots of, lots of reasons, I won't go into details on that, but these A re--AP responses say that, you know, that's not subject to active participation. And there's no explanation on why it is not considered a major administrative policy or development decision.  It just says, I say it's not subject to that and therefore, it is, you know, that's it.  So, we're -- I wanted to go through these, and that's why I put it on the agenda, because number one, it seems that Director Morris has implemented these new rules, which have not been okay'd by RSA, which says that, you know, he doesn't have the authority to decide whether it's active or participation or not.  It should be kind of a joint decision making after providing all the information, and these AP responses don't provide the elected committee with any information.  It just says I say it's not active participation and therefore it's not.  So I wanted to go through these, and I may make some motions, but for instance, the elected committee made a recommendation that we not put the Labor and Industries Building out to bid right now given all the financial information that we had, so we could examine whether this really is going to be a lucrative vending facility or not. And to me, investing money into a vending facility, our limited money, into maintaining and servicing a vending facility that is not going to provide a good return on our investment is a major administrative decision and therefore is subject to active participation by the elected committee.  And so therefore, you know, I wanted to bring that up.  I do believe it's act -- subject to active participation.  It's written in the federal law that we're supposed to be involved in money manner -- manner -- money matters and budgeting, and budgeting money for repairs on a non-lucrative facility is definitely a major administrative decision.  We made a motion to put this on hold so we could examine, so we could -- the elected committee could actively participate and give our input on this situation, and of course, Director Morris said, "Nope, that's not active participation.  You don't have the right to give input on whether, you know, it's financially feasible to keep a cafeteria that is not producing a lot of income and invest our set-aside monies on a facility that may not be a very good return on our investment."  So given that, I -- I do believe that Mr. Morris' response that we don't have the right to actively participate in that kind of decision is an incorrect interpretation of the law and -- and so, I wanted to throw that out to the elected committee, get their input on it, and then I may make a motion, because I do believe that we have the right and responsibility to examine how we're spending our money and making recommendations, given all the information. And I can tell you I talked with several chair -- chairs of other states, and a lot of cafeterias are closing down and not being kept cafeterias and are being made into micro-markets and as a matter of fact, there is criteria across the country with GSA and the post office that, you know, given the numbers of the people in the building and all those kinds of things, whether there's going to be a cafeteria there or a snack bar or another -- another kind of facility, and I believe that we should have that kind of criteria here in the State of Oregon and should not be maintaining facilities that are not going to give us a good return on our investment.  So I'd like to open that up for discussion with the elected committee on what your thoughts are about that, because obviously we voted unanimously that we wanted to re-examine this before we, you know, kept this facility open as a cafeteria.  So are there any thoughts of the members of the elected committee? 

Derrick Stevenson:  This is Derrick.

Art Stevenson:  Go ahead, Derrick.

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah, we definitely should have -- have -- have a say in -- on, you know, whether or not, you know, facilities that aren't making money stay open and [inaudible].  It doesn't make any sense to invest in a bunch of -- of new equipment and stuff.  If the facility's just going to -- going to fail.  So that's my two cents, I guess.

Becker:  Is the comments open?

Art Stevenson:  Okay.

Becker:  Is comment open to people who are not part of the elected committee but still here?

Art Stevenson:  Well, yeah. I -- I assume this is Mr. Doss.

Becker:  No, this is Joseph Becker. Currently [inaudible] L and I site.

Art Stevenson:  Oh, okay.  Yeah, go ahead.

Becker:  Okay.

Art Stevenson:  Joseph, you can make a comment.

Becker:  Thank you very much.  So I wanted to let you know, now, I personally went down to the L and I site recently to go over inspection before I even put it in the bid.  And I saw the same data that the facilities beforehand were losing money and I had the same questions.  Well, what's going on here?  What can be fixed?  Now, upon inspection, the first thing to note that, I don't know if anybody else saw the kitchen, but the kitchen was in a pretty bad state and not just because they're packing up, but there were several health hazards that were happening inside that kitchen, things that were definitely questionable as far as how the kitchen was being run.  Now, I can say that before I even put in the bid, I did look into different models and it was agreed, when talking with Kathy and Eric and so forth about, you know, what I could do, I put forth a proposal that is definitely a different style.  For one instance, it was interesting that the comment was made about cafeterias being changed to micro markets, because I will be actually facilitating a micro market in the L and I Building along with catering service. So, you know, these are things that I knew beforehand. And as they say, you know, yes, we -- we do have a right to go and have say of how things are run, but we also have the right to go and put in a bid as individual managers, I think.  So that's on me for going and accepting it.  I knew what the risks were going in.  So that would be my comment.

Art Stevenson:  Oh, well, thank you, Joseph.  I really do appreciate that. And that is the reason why, you know, we had made a motion to, hey, wait a minute, we want to look at this and we want to decide if we want to maintain it, because it was put out as a cafeteria, okay.  It was not put out as a micro market/catering service.  It was put out as a cafeteria, okay. And that -- that -- that is a fact of the matter and that's why the elected committee, okay, said, well, wait a minute --

Becker:  But is that your job?

Art Stevenson:  -- we don't think -- yes.

Becker:  Is that the job of the elected committee to go and have all that say?

Art Stevenson:  Yes. Well, a -- abso --

Becker:  I didn't read it in the rules.

Art Stevenson:  Joseph, it is our job.  It is our job to look at vending facilities, give our -- give our input and our recommendations on how our money --

Becker:  Yes, but that's not cemented.  That's input and advisory.

Art Stevenson:  Joseph -- Joseph -- Joseph, okay --

Becker:  No, no, Art, I'm just saying, I think it's being misrepresented here what the committee is used for.  That's not what [inaudible].

Art Stevenson:  Well, no, I --

Becker:  You guys are -- we're here to go and give advice and work together.

Art Stevenson:  Hey -- hey, look, I have been in the program for a lot more years than you have.  I know what the --

Becker:  That's fine.

Art Stevenson:  -- the elect -- the let -- what the elected committee is supposed to do given, you know, how other states are run, et cetera, et cetera, what the law actually says, okay, and -- and how things are supposed to be done, which includes active participation, Jason, which you have -- as a rookie, have no idea --

Hauth:  Hey, Art -- Art -- Art --

Becker:  You know, you can stop with those kind of comments.  That is very rude.  I have had many hours working on different councils. And if you keep calling me rookie and all of those, I mean honestly, I'm going to have to start questioning your, you know, business-like manner. I'm going to have to start -- because that's -- honestly, we should be all professional here. And I think we're all above name-calling.

Art Stevenson:  I am being -- I am being professional.  You're stating that hey, that's not your role as a member of the elected committee or the elected committee. And you are entitled to your opinion, but my knowledge and experience far outweighs yours and you can have your thoughts on things, but what the law states, okay, and it --

Becker:  Why don't you bring the laws up, we can [inaudible] take a look at those.

Art Stevenson:  Okay.  Hey, Joseph, I'm not going to argue with you about this right now. 

Becker:  Okay, I think that it does need to be discussed, though, because I think that this is being misinterpreted. And I think we really need to --

Art Stevenson:  No, I don't --

Becker:  -- make some changes on how things are run around here, 'cause it just doesn't make any sense.

Art Stevenson:  I don't --

Jaynes:  Wow -- wow -- wow.

Becker:  You know.

Art Stevenson:  Okay.

Jaynes:  Hey, guys --

Art Stevenson:  Hey, Joseph --

Jaynes:  -- this is a meeting. Can we calm down?

Art Stevenson:  Yeah, we will.  Okay, so anyways --

Jaynes:  Thank you.

Art Stevenson:  -- anyways, given -- given what was done by --

Hauth:  Hey -- hey, Art, if I may, here -- I'm sorry.  I still am in a noisy area.  I'll be online here soon, but if I could just add a little bit here, please.

Art Stevenson:  Okay, go ahead.  I'll turn it over.

Hauth:  Yeah, I, you know, I, okay, I just wanted to say, you know, I personally am very happy that L and I finally went out to bid.  You know, it was -- it was two or three years that -- or more, longer maybe, that Sassy Onion managed that location, and so the -- the first thing I'd like to say, I'm happy that finally, whatever caused it, that that location went out to bid.  I did personally have some concerns, and not about Joseph Becker, but about the [inaudible] that was put out in the bid. It would have been probably better for kind of a disclaimer to go out with the cafeteria bid, 'cause like you said, it was sent out as a bid, and, you know, it should've said, hey, lookit -- these numbers might not be right or they're -- you know, the kitchen's in disrepair or whatever.  There could have been, in my opinion, a lot more information sharing from the agency on that situation.  You know, I think it's good that we have a blind vendor willing to take that location over and willing to use some other business models.  That's my own personal opinion.  However, just to share with Joseph is that, you know, if Joseph leaves that location in six months and bids on another location or whatever it will be, that facility is still, you know, within the -- within the privy of the program.  So I would just suggest it's good to always share more information than not.  So I just wanted to -- wanted to say that. And again, you know, best -- best luck to you, Joseph and I hope, you know --

Becker:  Well, thank you.

Hauth:  -- things all work out and, you know, while we have differences of opinions, hopefully, we can find a way to, you know, support each -- each other.  So anyway, so.

Becker:  Absolutely.

Hauth:  Thanks.  Okay.  What do we have -- what do we have next on the agenda. Or Art, you were -- you were going through a laundry list of items and I know that particular issue came up and, you know, I certainly support your concerns, but, you know, I'm not sure exactly what you would like to do at this point in time?  I think you're on mute, Art.

Art Stevenson:  Well, Randy --

Hauth:  Oh, go ahead.

Art Stevenson:  Am I off mute?

Hauth:  Yes, you are.

Art Stevenson:  Okay.  Director Morris made a comment, I mean, this body, the elected committee, made a motion and seconded it, passed it unanimously, and then the director of our program said that it was not subject to active participation, which I believe is--. Well, number one, he made that determination, in my opinion, in -- in accordance with the new rules, which he is not supposed to, under the federal law, to implement until it has gotten the blessing of RSA.  Obviously, that's a violation of the law. And then second of all, to say it isn't subject to active participation when the, like I said, spending of the money, of our money to replace equipment, et cetera, et cetera, should be -- is a major administrative decision and we should be allowed to actively participate in and make recommendations of what is being done.  And therefore, in my opinion, Directors Morris -- Morris's comments that it isn't subject to active participation is not true.  Now, I realize that we do have a complaint about active participation, but one way or the other, this needs to be documented, whether it be by a new complaint, because it is a new infraction, by the elected committee and noted that we were not allowed active participation in accordance with the law, whether we make a motion to file a complaint on this one issue or add it to the complaint or, you know. I wanted to discuss how we should take action as a body to hold the agency accountable for violating the laws and rules and regulations of our program.  

Hauth:  Well, let me just -- let me just share with you, I mean, I -- I see the same concerns as you do and most of the other board members do, I believe, from what I've heard.  And like you did note, we do have an official complaint of record that was signed by, I believe, 11 managers.  So in order to, you know, document that for the record, do we do that now and not move forward with the rest of the business, or do we maybe, you know, go through those concerns and, you know, document them in a well-written, you know, document and concern?  I don't know, Art.  You know, that's -- that's certainly up to you and the board.  So --

Art Stevenson:  Well, I'd like to make a motion that we document these concerns and add it, you know, document these concerns and send our concerns to Dacia Johnson who is the, of course, the executive director of the program.  So I'd like to make a motion that we send a letter to Dacia, you know, voicing our concerns.  Obviously, we do have -- we do have the open complaint, but we also have a new situation, because Director Morris is -- is implementing rules --

Hauth:  Okay, well, I -- I'll take that -- I'll take that motion.  So a motion's been made.  Do we have a second on that motion?

Miranda:  Second.

Hauth:  Second's been made.  Any discussion around that motion?  Okay, hearing no discussion, we'll do a yea or nay vote.

Derrick Stevenson:  This is Derrick.  This is Derrick.

Hauth:  Derrick, go ahead. Go ahead.

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah, I just want to bring up, you know, there was -- there is a policy, I'm sure it's still in existence; it doesn't get used like it used to, because, you know, we changed directors or whatever, but there was a policy, and I think it was if the commission was to spend more -- more than five thousand dollars at a -- at a time, that they needed to -- to inform the elected committee and get the elected committee to weigh in on whether or not it was a feasible deal.  I don't know why we quit using that, but if you're going to spend money on a micro market, you know, that's definitely way, you know, that's a lot of money and it should be discussed with the elected committee.

Hauth:  Any other discussion?  Yeah, Derrick, just to share on that, I believe it was either contained within the active participation document that was adopted some years back, I don't know if it was in the one that was rescinded by the Commission Board or in the most recent one.  I do know in state procurement after five thousand dollars, there's a requirement for [inaudible].  So, you know, if it's a requirement or not at this current time, my only thought would be, why wouldn't the agency be more, you know, more concerning of having input on what's going on when set-aside money is being spent, so.  Anyways, that's my two cents' worth.  Anybody else before we call the vote?  Okay, yea or nay vote, Derrick Stevenson?

Derrick Stevenson:  Yes.

Hauth:  Art Stevenson?

Art Stevenson:  Yes.

Hauth:  Lewanda Miranda?

Miranda:  Yes.

Hauth:  Steve Jackson?

Steve Jackson:  Yes.

Hauth:  Steve Gordon?  And I'll vote yes, as well.  So let's move on to the next item.  What's the next item?

Miranda:  Number...B is Derrick Stevenson's complaint.

Hauth:  Okay.  Well, I think it's only appropriate that we hear from Mr. Derrick Stevenson on this to start out with if he'd like to, and then if not, you know, I'll entertain other board members.  Derrick, the floor is yours, if you so choose.

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah, okay.  The administrative review, I think it's pretty tickle -- typical of administrative reviews in the past, and Dacia did not accept any -- any of my complaint or -- or to the -- to any kind of satisfaction.  They never tried to work with me in any way, shape or form to try and -- try and get rid of this.  I think, you know, that they, in my opinion, they -- they took -- took little pieces of -- of -- of rules that weren't even in effect when this whole thing started and -- and just sort of -- sort of twisted it and put -- put their spin on it, and -- and to my...to my thinking, that...well, I don't know, but I'll just say I was disappointed.  She didn't agree with anything.  They -- they -- there's a few things in there that I think are untruthful statements and it looks like I'm probably going to be moving to the next stage.  That's about it.  Am I on mute?

Jaynes:  Nope, you're not.

Derrick Stevenson: Oh. Okay.

Hauth:  Hey, Art--. I'm sorry.  Yeah, thank you, Derrick.  I want to make sure you're okay with the other board members discussing this matter or, you know, what --

Derrick Stevenson:  Well --

Hauth:  -- what the particulars would be around that, so.

Derrick Stevenson:  Well, since I, you know, chose to have the board advocate on my behalf, I think, you know, they --

Hauth:  Okay.

Derrick Stevenson:  -- they have a right to say what needs to be said.

Hauth:  Okay.  Well, thank you, Derrick, I just wanted to make sure.  Anybody else?  You know, I -- if I may, just real quickly, I was asked to be one of the advocates that served on that -- or that sat in on that administrative review. And I've been in a few of them, you know, it's a lopsided process.  I know it says in the rules that it's an opportunity to hear from the complainant and, you know, it's nothing more than, in my opinion, the agency coming in with a list of questions asking the complainant and attempting to document, you know, a position.  It doesn't appear to be necessarily a fact-finding or even a fair process.  I do know historically the attorney general has participated prior to and/or in the writing of these administrative review responses as I understand.  And, you know, it says it's supposed to be an informal process to resolve these matters.  Again, I was told that I could not speak as an advocate on behalf of Mr. Stevenson, and, so, you know, that's -- that's my weighing in on it.  I have read the response, and while it wasn't directed at me, you know, I do think there were things that weren't answered and I do think there were things that were taken out of context or not necessarily accurate, but again, that's my interpretation of them.  So, yeah, just -- Derrick, let -- let -- let the committee know as you go forward or what your decision is on how we can best advocate on your behalf.  So with that, is there any other board members that would like to weigh in on this?  

Art Stevenson:  Yeah, Randy?

Hauth:  Art?

Art Stevenson:  Yeah, I'm back.  Sorry, I get kicked off.  I don't know why, but anyways, I -- I definitely am back.  So, unfortunately, I did want to talk about one more of those AP responses, but anyways, we'll -- we'll go ahead and do this and maybe if we have time we can circle back on -- on that. But, you know, obviously, the elected committee voted unanimously to reject the administrative review, which was part of the rules.  The agency ignored it.  Of course, there is a complaint about that.  We have been told by professionals across -- across this country who are experts in Randolph-Sheppard that, you know, the agency is required to provide for a full evidentiary hearing, and all these other bells and whistles are used to lengthen the process, and, in -- in all actuality, there were some parameters that said hey, you only have 15 days to respond, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, which really concerns me.  I personally believe that the federal law says that we can receive, transmit, and advocate for the blind licensed managers, and we have the right to advocate in any way that's possible, any way that we feel, see fit.  And obviously this complaint from Derrick has been an ongoing process and obviously we were -- made lots of recommendations to the agency on what they should do concerning, you know, Derrick down in southern Oregon, including following the state statutes and assigning, you know, those locations that were vacated by Ken Gerlitz's death to Derrick's route in order to bring his income level up, because his income level was [inaudible]. And, of course, the agency did not comply with the law, and actually, Derrick had said, "Yeah, I would love to be assigned these locations.  I am available." And the agency ignored the state statutes for years, not just months, and -- and did not take action, which was in violation of the state statutes, and, you know, they can only -- they are supposed to follow the laws, not make up the laws, and obviously they're pretty good sometimes to make up the laws or implement laws that haven't even been okay by the agency.  And so to make a long story short, I would make -- like to make a motion that the elected committee advocate for Derrick by placing our names on his complaint, because we agree that, you know, the agency didn't follow the laws and rules and regulations of our program.  Derrick has a very viable complaint and that we place our names on the complaint in -- as a form of advocating for Mr. Stevenson in this issue.  So that's what I'd like to make a motion.

Hauth:  Okay, so that motion has been made.  Is there a second to that motion?

Miranda:  Second.

Hauth:  Okay, so there's a second.  Open for discussion.  I would just -- I would just say, you know, I think -- I think your motion would probably be rejected by the agency. Nonetheless, you've made it, and I don't know that it will be, you know, accepted that we add our names to the complaint.  I mean, I'm not an expert in that field, but, you know, seeing how these things have gone in the past, I don't know.  You know, I certainly think we need to advocate and support Mr. Stevenson's request, but beyond that I don't know -- you know, I don't know, so.  Anyway, any other discussions before we move forward?  A motion's been made.

Derrick Stevenson:  This is Derrick.

Hauth:  There may be a conflict--.  Derrick, go ahead.

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah.  I just want, you know, it -- it just seems like our agency forgets the -- the fact that this is a federal program ran under federal -- federal laws and they -- they -- they can't just pick and choose to -- to do things and -- and say, well, the state says it's okay for us to do that.  Well, it's not okay for them to do that.  It's, you know, this is a federal -- federal program and the federal laws take precedent over state laws.  You can't interpret state laws that go against the federal regs, and that seems to be the problem we've -- we've had for years, is that our agency does not recognize that this is a federal program first, and the state is -- is just -- just running our program, so. 

Hauth:  Okay.  Thank you.  

Art Stevenson: Mr. Chair?

Hauth: Yes.

Art Stevenson:  I would like to say, okay, the elected committee has the right to file a complaint, whether together or not, and obviously the agency has ruled that we can't.  The latest complaint that we filed is obvious of that.  And, of course, the agency is going to say that we can't file a complaint, but we can, and we have the right to advocate for a blind licensed manager in any way that we see fit and to place our names as a body on this complaint, because we know the agency has violated the law.  We know that, you know, different people get treated differently in this program, and it seems that, you know, members of the elected committee are subject to that also.  And so I think, you know, this is going to make a very valid statement that, you know, the elected committee has the right to do these kinds of things, and the agency does not have the right to tell us we can't, because the law says so.  So I urge everybody to vote yes on this, because we need to advocate for all blind licensed managers in any way that we can --

Hauth:  Okay.  Well, I'll go ahead and --

Art Stevenson:  -- in order to --

Hauth:  Art, I'll go ahead and move forward with this motion.

Art Stevenson:  Go ahead.

Hauth:  We have like 45 minutes left and a lot of business to do.

Art Stevenson:  Go ahead.

Hauth:  So a motion has been made.  A second has been made.  There's been discussion.  There may be a conflict of interest, I don't know, that's up to the board members to decide and clarify.  Anyway, so I'm going to call for the vote, yea or nay.  Art -- Derrick -- Derrick Stevenson? Derrick?

Derrick Stevenson:  I do have a conflict of interest, obviously: this complaint is from me...but I do vote yes.

Hauth:  Okay.  Art Stevenson?

Art Stevenson:  I may have a conflict of interest because Derrick is my brother; however, I also vote yes.

Hauth:  Okay.  Lewanda Miranda?

Miranda:  Yea.

Hauth:  And Steve Jackson?

Jackson:  I vote yes.

Hauth:  Gordon Sm -- or, Steve Gordon.  Okay, Steve must not be on.  I'll vote yes, as well.  Motion passes.  Okay, what do we have next on the agenda?

Miranda:  C is script vending proposed increases.

Hauth:  Okay, so, Eric, I believe this is something that you had asked to be on the agenda, so I'll first defer to you.

Morris:  Thanks Randy.  Just real quickly, we talked about this -- I don't think we talked about it at the last meeting, but we talked about it over email -- that Department of Corrections was looking to increase the price of script to a dollar sixty, if I remember correctly. Then there was quite a bit of email chatter, including, I know, Jerry saying that, hey, we should move it up to like two dollars, in that price range.  We touched base with DOC contracting staff after they got back after the holiday, they're not opposed to that.  They didn't see any reasoning why that can't happen, but per the contract we need to basically justify a price increase, which makes sense: most contracts have that language. But the language is specific to say that we need to base it on either fuel cost increases, labor cost increases, or direct distribution cost increases.  So I know I went back through some of the emails trying to kind of mine out some of that stuff.  I know minimum wage was one of the things that was cited 'cause minimum wage has increased since, I believe it was 2015 or 2016 was the last increase.  And then I believe Art also talked about the gross receipts tax, but I wanted to talk about it in the meeting today to see what other -- what other type of costs that fit into those three categories we could include with a justification letter back to DOC with a price increase and get a better solid idea of what everybody thinks is an appropriate script price.  

Hauth:  Okay.  Let me know who would like to speak to this and I'll acknowledge you.

Bird:  Jerry.

Hauth:  Jerry, go ahead.

Bird:  Yeah, very [inaudible], you know, we do -- you always need to justify when you take increases, and that should be no problem because, you know, it's just how the cost of it is, but I thought it's in the contracts about that we're able to charge the, you know, basically the convenience store price.  You know, it splits the -- that is, and like Eric went he bought one and it was two and a quarter, you know, and I'm sure that in -- that included your ten-cent deposit, which we -- vending machines and that, you never, the blind person will never see that dime, which is another thing kind of you don't want it, because I used to have to haul a lot of cans out of -- out of the state hospital and they were terrible. But gives -- gives even maybe the inmates a chance to, you know, do a little work on the cans or bottles or -- and make a little extra money or something, but my point being is we should not have to sell our product for less than market.  And the market right now --

Hauth:  Okay.

Bird:  -- is -- is between two and two and a quarter.  I know mine's at two. The script,  I don't know how the heck they got out of that for so long, but it's like -- it's -- it's almost like the inmates get a discount, because they're such good people, but --

Hauth:  Okay, Jerry, let's go ahead and move on.  I appreciate your comments. You're -- you've always been a supporter and a business-minded, savvy person on, you know, keeping up with the -- the times and so your comments are -- been noted.  I want to make sure that there's anybody else that has a comment and if so, let's hear from him and if not, Eric, let's hear what we need to do to, you know, what exactly we need to provide you.  So, again, thank you, Jerry.   Anybody else?

Miranda:  Lewanda.

Hauth:  Yep, go ahead, Lewanda.

Miranda:  Yeah, so, also, our products have gone up.  My -- my soft drink price, Coke and Pepsi, has gone up twice in the last year. And then also the 10-cent refund and -- and all of that combined, too, so.

Hauth:  Okay, thank you, Lewanda.  So Eric, what do we need -- what does the body need to do to -- or what information do you need?

Morris:  Well, I -- I -- I'll tell you Randy, a couple of different thoughts. I think the -- the minimum wage, I think Lewanda had sent out a snapshot of that.  That will not be hard to like, draft up in a -- in a letter to them, 'cause everybody realizes that minimum wage went up.  The deposit fee increase is something that is out there, too.  That's also fairly easy to document.  That's a -- that's a -- a cost that's in there for, I would say, under distribution, because it's part of the distribution process.  I think it would be helpful if people could do a little bit of that market surveying.  I mean, we can obviously do it pretty quickly here in the Portland, Metro, and the Salem markets, but those like Lewanda, over in your neck of the woods, if you guys could give me some pricing from a couple of different -- at least two, maybe three different places in the -- in the general area of the prisons, that would also be helpful to, I think, substantiate the market price saying, you know, here's -- here's the different things, you know, pricing has went up a couple of different times over the years at least, and we have this bottle fee, minimum wages went up, and here, this is what it equates to in the actual market value.  I think that would make it easier --

Hauth:  Okay.

Morris:  -- at least to outline. 

Hauth:  Okay, and so you said in your initial talks with DOC, they don't have a problem with that as long as we can justify the need to increase the prices?

Morris:  Yeah.

Hauth:  Okay.  Jerry, I know you had said when I talked to you before that, I mean, every year on the dot, Coke and Pepsi provide price increases, right?

Bird:  That's right.  I mean, I --

Hauth:  And so that's probably coming up again.  So I don't know if you have any documents to, you know, show that or not, but, I mean, bottom line, it looks like Eric's on board.  It looks like DOC's on board. And if we can get the agency the information, then we'll move forward with that, so.

Doss:  Hey Randy, this is Jason Doss.

Hauth:  Yes. Jason?

Doss:  I mean, I -- just something else that we could put into this, in my opinion, A, if we're going to go to self-service, correct, at the first of the year, can't we put that into the proposal, too? Saying that hey, our increases in price are because we are delivering it ourselves now.  We are doing this, that, and the other.  Should that not be in the proposal, as well?

Hauth:  Eric, you think that's --

Bird:  We'd have to take even a -- we'd have to take even a bigger increase in that case.

Doss:  So, I -- I'm -- I'm with you on that, but I'm just saying, that should be something --

Hauth:  Well --

Doss:  -- that we put into that proposal, that some of our expenses are going up, so we need to charge more.  This is something that does affect our bottom line.

Hauth:  Well, I'll tell you what, we've -- we've listened to that and maybe we'll consider that, Jason.  I don't know the answer to that, you know, Eric's been the, you know, the cop on the beat there with AOC.  He was the [inaudible].

Doss:  It was --it -- it's just another thing to put into the proposal, in my opinion.

Hauth:  Sure. Okay. Okay.  Well, thank you.  So let's get that stuff to Eric and, you know, Eric, hopefully you can circle back with everybody and, you know.  I mean, I don't know where we go from here, but it looks like it could be something pretty readily, easily attainable, so.

Morris:  Yeah.  If pe -- if people could get back to me like in the next week, week and a half, that'd be cool. And I'll have -- I'll have my staff work on stuff for Portland and Salem markets, because I think that's -- that's pretty darn simple.  And then Lewanda if you could take a sampling over in your neck of the woods, that would be helpful, too.

Hauth:  Yeah, and if you could do -- if you could do the market research in the Portland area or have Kathy do it or whoever, I think you said it'd be easy to do...and if, you know, Lewanda can provide that pricing and Jerry could provide or whoever could provide that, let's -- let's get it to Eric, so.  Yeah, talking about...minimum wage increases, I just talked to Restaurants Unlimited, and they're, you know, they're claiming that that increase is one of the reasons that they file for bankruptcy, so.  Yeah, it's kind of had an impact all across the land, so -- or, all across the state.  So what's next on the agenda?

Miranda:  D is self-service implementation.

Hauth:  Okay.  Art, I think you wanted this on there.  I know there's others that want to talk about it.  Art, I think you're on mute.

Art Stevenson:  Okay, am I off mute?

Hauth:  You are.

Miranda:  Yep.

Art Stevenson:  Okay, yeah, as you all know, the vending routes have received, you know, a mandate from the agency that we're required to do fifty machines. And, as you all know, the -- this was an arbitrary number that came up from the agency without the active participation of the elected committee, and of course, in the federal law, it does dictate that all managers are supposed to be treated uniformly, and this mandate, as far as I'm concerned, would force me to do a hundred percent of all of my locations, and other managers it would be as little as fifty percent or forty percent, which obviously is not treating the managers uniformly.  And obviously the elected committee did not get to participate in this decision; it was just arbitrarily and capriciously decided by the agency without our active participation. And therefore, I believe it is our obligation as the elected committee to ensure that all managers are treated uniformly, and quite frankly, this mandate is not treating managers uniformly.  I know for a fact, okay, that one blind licensed manager isn't included in this, you know, this -- this mandate, because they're already doing fifty machines, but I have talked with this manager and they would like to do more; however, they weren't provided the opportunity, and -- and I don't think that's fair. Just where I don't think it's fair that I'm going to be mandated as a manager to do 100%, and -- and other managers can't say, well, I want to do more so you should let me more -- do more.  And so I believe the elected committee needs to...I know we got a complaint against the rules and everything; however, I -- I -- I do believe that -- that we should make some kind of statement, like we did earlier, that we were not allowed the opportunity for active participation and there [inaudible] uniformity in this mandate by the agency, which is unfair.  And so I wanted to bring that up.  I do believe there should be flexibility here that a manager who definitely it would be good for them to have more machines and -- and if they want to do that, then they should be allowed to do that, Mr. Chair. And so I wanted to bring this up, have a discussion about it, and then possibly we could make a motion, you know, to address this issue.  But number one, we were not allowed active participation.  This was just arbitrarily and capriciously decided by the agency that it was going to be fifty machines for everybody, which in my opinion was very, very wrong.

Hauth:  Thank you, Art.  And I know -- I know this has been a bone of contention for you and others, and quite honestly, I think you have a valid point, as far as, you know, the percentage of your route versus the percentage of mine or Lewanda's or, you know, whoever's, you know. But I can tell you that in written documentation and in presentation to the commission board, it's been identified that the uniformity of this is, by the agency, is that they took the money remaining and then they divided it up. And so that's uniform.  I'm not saying that's the right way to do it or correct, but, you know, Eric, obviously, you know that there's concerns that have been shared about this, but was there consideration given like in Art's situation, I don't know how many machines you have, Art, but let's say Art has fifty, was there consideration that Art will have to do fifty, and, you know, I have a hundred and fifty machines and I'll have to do only fifty, or, you know, Lewanda or Jerry or Steve or Gordon, you know, or whatever it is, you know.  So I'm just trying to figure that part out, how the agency decided that.  That's one thing. And while you're thinking about that, you know, Art, I would say I don't think it's probably a good practice just to...if we're going to address this, I think it needs to be done through a well-crafted and documented concern and probably with some guidance from experts and not necessarily, you know, on the -- on the fly by way of a motion that will simply be denied, but, of course, that's up to whoever wants to bring it forth.  But if this is a concern, which I think the concern is the self-service mandate, not necessarily if you have to do more than Lewanda or I have to do more than Jerry or whatever.  I think that's getting us off track, even though I --

[undetermined]:  Yep.

Hauth:  -- personally understand it.  So that's my two cents' worth.  If we're going to move forward on this, I can tell you, I would rather personally do it as some kind of official action other than, you know, by way of this motion that'll just be dismissed to the side, so.  Anybody else?

Art Stevenson:  So Randy?  Randy?

Hauth:  Hold on just a second and -- hold on, Art.  Just a second.  I'll get back to you.  Anybody else?

Derrick Stevenson:  This is Derrick.

Hauth:  Derrick, go ahead.

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah, I, you know, I kind of have concerns on, you know, them recklessly just saying, you know, you're going to service fifty machines when -- and not taking into account the distance a person has to drive, like...I -- I -- I believe I'd have to probably drive four and a half hours...well, not me drive, I'd have to hire someone to drive me four and a half hours to go up to the Eugene area to fix a dollar bill jam. So, you know, that's -- that, to me, is -- is not -- is just not good business and there's no way I can maintain any kind of a profit if I have to just keep -- keep paying my employees to go fix dollar bill jams and stuff, because the locations are such a far spot away. And --

Hauth:  Sure.

Derrick Stevenson:  And most of the machines, you know, if truth be said, don't make enough money to warrant having the Commission for the Blind pay for machines and, you know, you have to wonder what kind of effect it's going to have for the rest of the blind in -- in -- in Oregon, if the Commission spends all this money buying trucks and -- and forcing people to do this.  I -- I think if I tried to write a small business loan, they would -- they would deny it in a second, because there's just --

[undetermined]:  Yeah.

Derrick Stevenson:  -- there's no room for profitability.  

[undetermined]:  Yeah.

Hauth:  And -- and Derrick, thank you for that.  I do want to share, also, I've heard from one of the managers and I know that Lin Jaynes is on the line.  She can share with you all if you want as well, but I've heard from the same things that you're sharing, that lookit, I'm going to have to drive hundreds of miles up and down the coast to service locations that don't even really make much money by the time I'm spending the gas and hiring somebody to drive me there, when I've been able to find a system through a subcontractor.  And so, you know, I know it was like four or five, six, seven months ago where the agency said this is the remaining money, what do you want to do with it? And then all of a sudden this mandate of fifty comes out.  So, you know, Eric, I'm not sure, you know -- and Art, I will get back with you.  I just want, you know, I'm not sure, Eric, what you can, how you can, you know, help us better understand how these fifty were decided or if it was simply by the remaining money or, you know, how in some instances things don't make sense, but the agency is still, you know, mandating forward.  You know, I can tell you here in the metropolitan area, I'm going to say traffic -- I'm going to -- I'm stuck in traffic right now, so...I'm going to be stuck maybe -- maybe some will be driving hundreds of miles, I'm going to drive like 10 miles and it's going to take me an hour, you know, and I'm going to be facing higher warehousing costs and labor costs, and blah, blah, blah, but I think we're all trying to understand how the agency determined or decided this, so. And maybe I already cleared it up, but I'd -- we'd love to hear from you.

Morris:  Yeah, Randy, I think you -- you -- you summed it up well and I'm sure your -- your documents you're referring to are the emails that I've sent.  The, you know, the argument that Art's putting forward, that the percentage that he has to do of his route versus everybody else's route is the same argument that could be made if we said we're only going to give Manager X 10 machines, we're going to give Manager Y 50 machines.  They'll say, hey, I didn't get fair treatment because I only got 10 machines.  So this divides it evenly amongst the vending routes for, jeez, a quarter of a million -- a little over a quarter of a million dollars' worth of machines for each vending route.  So it was just a simple mathematic problem that way.  Now, I think everybody's aware that some vending routes are bigger and some are smaller than others, and that's, you know, just a better opportunity to service more of your own machines from, from my perspective.

Hauth:  Thank you. Anyone else?

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah, I just --

Art Stevenson: Chair Hauth?

Hauth:  Yes, Art, go ahead.  And then I think heard Derrick.

Art Stevenson:  Well, here's the bottom line, Randy, okay, the elected committee was not allowed active participation in this major administrative decision, and obviously the blind licensed managers who have vending routes should be taking into consideration what their needs and wants are, because obviously my situation is individualistic to your situation and to Lewanda's situation and all those factors should be included so that everybody is, you know, treated uniformly, and the needs and -- and the actual wants of the blind licensed managers are met best of the ability considering that the agency, you know, said hey, we got to have so much money.  Everybody's got to service their -- they're basing it on an AG's opinion, which was only an opinion, as we all know, and -- and that is what the law specifically states: that the elected committee should be involved.  We should be able to represent ourselves and our constituents in coming up with a viable solution to obviously what is -- what is a big problem, because the agency doesn't have the money to do, you know, what they originally said we had to do, and that is the point of this matter.  The elected committee should be involved.  The blind licensed manager should be involved.  Everybody's individual circumstances should be taken into consideration because that's, you know, that's what this program is about, is about a joint effort to resolve problems and it wasn't done.  And so I believe --

Hauth:  Art, let me just say real -- let me just say real quick, so it's -- it's 4:42.  I don't know, I don't have the agenda in front of me, you know, but...so, I do agree with what you're saying.  You know, it was like the agency said, here's the money, what do -- what do you guys want us to do with it?  And all of a sudden this mandate came out.  And even though the state statute's in -- intent initially was about choice, right? And did it make sense to do this on the coast, did it make sense to do it here, and it was really supposed to be all about the manager's choice, because not -- it's not a one-size-fits-all; however, as you know and I know, the statute and the intent of the statute got hijacked somewhat, I believe, by the agency, and the agency said this is what you guys are doing, you're doing fifty each, and there's no wiggle room around that.  And so that's what it is, and yeah, we weren't -- we weren't involved in that as a committee.  So, you know, back --back to you.  I do know Derrick did want to say something as well, but again, I would say if we're going to tackle this in a -- in a way, we probably need to do it as properly as we can, so.

Art Stevenson:  Well, Randy, I would just like to say I would like to make a motion that the elected committee ask the agency to abide by the laws of the program and allow us active participation in this major administrative decision and come up with viable answers to the problem so we mitigate litigation, because I believe that I'm being discriminated against.  I believe other managers are being discriminated against when they would like to have --

Hauth:  Well, make that -- make -- make that mo -- make that motion and I'll --

Art Stevenson:  Okay.  I make a motion that we request that we be allowed active participation in this roll-out thing and things be reconsidered on how the implementation of this is going to be rolled out.

Hauth:  Okay --

Miranda:  Second.

Hauth -- and when you say we here -- when you're saying we, you're talking about the BECC, correct? The elected committee.

Art Stevenson:  Exactly.

Hauth:  Okay.  So hearing that motion, do I have a second?

Miranda:  Second.

Hauth:  Lewanda seconded.  Any discussion?

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah, I'll discuss.  

Hauth:  Okay.

Derrick Stevenson:  I just -- I just want to add, you know, I've -- over the years I've talked to several managers in -- in several different states where they actually did this sort of thing, and what they found out was five years later when all these machines started breaking down, they didn't have the funds -- funds to - to fix it.  So it's really, you know, we have to question the sustainability. And since we're such a small state and we -- and our income is not -- not that great, being able to sustain this -- this forever, I don't know, you know, Smitty's under -- going to be under contract, I -- I'm taking it as for just the warranty type fixes, but what happens when that runs out?  You know, there's -- there's -- there's a lot of questions that have to be addressed and -- and considered.  We're, you know, we're business people, we own these businesses, we're -- we're responsible for every last -- you know, every part of that business.  We have to pay all the bills and stuff and that has to be, you know, the choice should be ours whether or not we wish to do it.

Hauth:  Th -- thank you, Derrick, and yes, sustainability was and is certainly a concern and there's certainly a number of other concerns that, you know...however, thank you.  A motion's been made.  There's been a second and discussion.  I'll go ahead and call a yea or nay vote.  We may have -- I believe we have conflicts of interest, so just take that into consideration.  Yea or nay, Derrick Stevenson.

Derrick Stevenson:  I suppose I have a conflict or I could have a conflict, but I vote yes.

Hauth:  Art Stevenson?

Art Stevenson:  Conflict of interest, yes.

Hauth:  Lewanda Miranda?

Miranda:  Yea.

Hauth:  Steve Jackson?

Jackson:  I vote yea.  Thank you.

Hauth:  I believe I have a conflict of interest and I'll vote yes, as well.  Okay, motion passes.  Hey Lewanda, can you give me a rundown on what's left on the agenda, please?

Miranda:  Yeah, and I think you got about 13 minutes and now we go into four, new business, Portlandia Building contract, new ODOT building -- or rest area contract, commissary development, and then director's comments update.

Hauth:  Okay, so you guys have -- do we -- how do we get through this?  Do we want Eric to give us a rundown on those certain issues?  Do we want to start stepping through 'em?

Art Stevenson:  Randy?

Hauth:  You know, clearly, we're going to -- clearly, we're going to need another meeting, so it may be good -- just let me share with you just for a second, it may be good to get a rundown from Eric on those issues and then circle back with more of a targeted approach, but that's just my thoughts.  Go ahead, Art.

Miranda:  I agree with that.

Art Stevenson:  Okay, well, I think right now we ought to find out when Eric's next availability is so that we can get the meeting set up, because all these issues need to be addressed, and -- and I think they're very, very important, and so, I think we should probably set up a time for the next meeting, because obviously we're not going to get through all these agenda items.  

Morris:  Hey, Randy?

Hauth:  Yeah.

Morris:  So if -- if you guys could, basically, if we can move the new business forward to the next meeting, that's cool.  I can give a brief update and I think that'll finish us up right on time.  

Jaynes:  And -- and I -- and I --

Hauth:  What do you guys think about that?  Board members, what do you think about this?

Miranda:  Yep, sounds good.

Derrick Stevenson:  Yeah, we're -- if -- as long as we schedule a new -- a new meeting date [inaudible].

Hauth:  Do we need to make a motion on that?  Do we need to make a motion to move forward with those business items?  Art, you're on mute.

Morris:  Yeah, you can table 'em.

Art Stevenson:  Okay, I make a motion that we move the new business agenda items and set a meeting up to address those issues in the next weeks.

Hauth:  Okay.  Do I have a second?

Miranda:  Second.

Derrick Stevenson:  A second.

Hauth:  Okay, discussion.  Okay.

Jaynes:  Yes, I --

Hauth:  Yea or nay, Art?

Art Stevenson:  Pardon me?

Hauth:  Oh, go ahead -- go ahead, Lin, go ahead.

Jaynes:  No, I just wanted to bring up the point that I did ask for a question under public comment from our director, and I wanted to know if that would be answered today.

Morris:  I got you covered, Lin.

Jaynes:  Okay, thank you.

Hauth:  Okay, so yea or nay, Derrick Stevenson?

Derrick Stevenson:  Yea.

Hauth:  Art Stevenson?

Art Stevenson:  Yea.

Hauth:  Lewanda Miranda.

Miranda:  Yea.

Hauth:  Steve Jackson?

Jackson:  Yes. Yea.

Hauth:  And I vote yes, as well.  Thank you.  Okay, Eric, go ahead and the floor is yours.

Morris:  Thanks Randy.  I appreciate that.  So just real quickly, ORPIN, you may have seen if you guys are monitoring ORPIN for the approved subcontractor list, we had to close out the original posting, because we had it left open indefinitely through the first of the year, 'cause if we don't -- if it doesn't close then we can't access the bids that were -- there was at least one bid submitted online.  So we're going to post that each month, so there's a -- a month period in there, and we're trying to figure out a better way for ORPIN to do that.  But don't be surprised if you're seeing those updated RFAs going out for that approved subcontractor list.  I've only received one and I actually received that today, but if you're talking to your subs that you're working with right now, please tell them to go into ORPIN, but also please tell them to follow the instructions, just, read the instructions, because some people it seems like are struggling with that and they're not -- it's not complicated at all.  They just need to read through it, fill it out, and send it to us, so.

Hauth:  Hey -- hey, Eric -- Eric?

Morris:  Yeah.

Hauth:  Just real quick, I've heard from a couple of  -- a couple of subcontractors, including Canteen, that submitted those RFAs.  So I don't know if there's some kind of procedural glitch or what's going on.

Morris:  Well, Randy, Can -- Canteen actually did submit theirs, but they submitted it online via ORPIN, which is not the -- they didn't read the process.  So I think they must've went back and read it, 'cause I actually received their RF -- their RFA response like about 20 minutes before this meeting, so.

Hauth:  Okay.

Morris:  They're -- they're --

Hauth:  So they're -- they're the only ones -- they're the only one though, so far?

Morris:  Yeah, so far.  I think there was somebody else that tried to do something online via ORPIN, and I -- I don't think that's a --

Miranda:  I've had three of mine that couldn't do it.

Morris:  Yeah, they just -- they need to log into ORPIN and basically download the documents.  There's nothing to do online through ORPIN.  They just need to read the instructions and the instructions are really simple.  I wrote 'em.  So, it's not complicated at all and if -- if they're struggling with it, have them call me and we'll walk through it.  It's not -- it's not hard.

Hauth:  Yeah, Eric, if you could get me -- if you could please get me the instructions, I'll get those out to NAVA, but anyway, if you could do that, that'd be helpful, I think, so go ahead with your report.

Morris:  All right, I'm just making a note of that.  Next, to address Lin's question, I talked to Smitty's.  They will be able to do prisons.  I think we had some struggles with prisons -- accessing prisons for repairs.  We had some access problems, not only with Smitty's group, but with DOC actually granting permission.  So we're going to open that conversation back up with DOC and set up a process to where they'll be able to respond to the prisons in a timely manner like we need on the weekends.  And I asked about outside of the metro area and the coast is not a problem.  I don't know if they've changed things, Lin, since they were, you know, back in the day type of thing, but that's not a problem to respond to, but there was also a pretty extensive conversation about, you know, training people to, you know, do some of the basic stuff.  And obviously, you know, managers will have a couple of extra bill validators with 'em to swap out if something gets jammed or screwed up and they can basically hot swap those and send 'em back in for repair to keep 'em open, but there's going to have to be a basic level of, you know, understanding of how the machines work, and that doesn't necessarily have to be the manager doing that, but the manager's staff, you know, lead driver, or whatever you want to call it, will need to have that training, which Smitty's will obviously provide, but, yeah, so that's -- that's the con -- the conver --

Jaynes:  Well -- well, okay, I appreciate -- I appreciate that.  The reason I asked was because we'd had problems in the past with Smitty's being able to get badges to actually go into the prison.  They were not able to for whatever reason.  I don't wish to -- to -- to make any assertations that may not be correct much, but they couldn't get badges to get into the prisons, so they've been denied a few times, but as far as the rest of the coast, they -- they basically would not come up to Lincoln City to actually do anything.  It wasn't just the prisons involved at that point in time.  And that is why we hired a repairman to actually go around and do 'em.  As far as the simple repairs, like replacing coin mechs, if I had a nickel for every one I did, I'd be rich.  So that's not a problem with the basic repairs.  It's just generally when there's something far more than just a -- a penny put in there or a coin mech problem, I'm wondering who would do it, because if they aren't going to come up, I need to go ahead and make arrangements to hire someone.  So thank you for the information you gave and hopefully they'll come through this time.

Morris:  Yeah, I think -- I think, just my understanding of what's been going on with their business, they've actually, you know, they've had to upscale quite a bit as they've taken on this contract and some other things.  So, you know, things change over time.

Jaynes:  Yep. Yep.  Thank you.

Morris:  And the last thing I had to update everybody on, it's one of Steve Jackson's questions he was talking about.  The -- I believe I sent it out, or I sent out a link when we were talking about people in the program, the VR program and the BE program, you know, are -- are tied together, but you do not have to be a resident of the state you're licensed in, and that's -- that's accepted across the United States, because if you're, like, talking specifically about Tessa, if she resigned from the program and said hey, I don't want to be a BE licensee in Oregon anymore, that's a different story, but she did not do that.  So the residency, there's not a residency restriction, and RSA has told me that several times in different conversations, that back east, like if you're a BE manager in Washington, D.C., it's incredibly expensive to live there.  So a lot of them live across the river in Maryland and service locations in DC, because they're, you know, they're present to operate those operations. So that's the -- that's the thought process behind --

Hauth:  Hey -- hey Eric, let me just -- let me just -- let me just ask if you can give an update on L and I.  I know you said you were going to do that.  And also just, as far as Smitty's and the repair, I, you know, we need to make sure that all the managers are covered from north to south, east to west, and it's not from nine to five and it's not excluding weekends, and, you know, the current -- the current subcontractors that provide these services are very conscientious and responsive to, you know, such repairs, and I know that there's IGA's in place and so some [inaudible] those IGA's site out those certain repair requirements.  So I just want to make sure that the agency does everything they can to make sure that the managers don't suffer from that, so.  And then if you could update us on L and I, please.

Morris:  Yeah. So, Joe obviously gave you an update earlier in the -- in the meeting today.  He's been working on getting his business model squared away.  I mean, like we talked about, it's not going to be a standardized cafeteria compre -- concept, so he's been working on his menu, getting things squared away.  Tom will be back in there later this month.  He's been out sick a little bit and we'll be looking at what equipment needs to go in.  Obviously, a little micro-market kiosk and what type of fixturing and stuff to accommodate that, but we're on track, so.

Hauth:  Okay.  Hey, Joe, are you on the line?

Becker:  I still am, yes.

Hauth:  Hey, do you mind sharing, just real quick, the concept?  Are you going to have food there and you're going to have like a -- a -- a -- like a -- a staffed -- kind of a staffed location, but also a kiosk where people can check out, or...what -- what are your thoughts, if you don't mind?

Becker:  Not a problem at all, no.  So the -- the primary setup out front is definitely going to be, like I said, a micro market set up, and it's definitely going to be -- it's going to be around the idea of an Asian menu, more specifically to some of the Japanese bento and some wok bowls.  The kitchen in the back, we're still going to be definitely implementing that.  We're actually -- I'm looking at setting up as a catering business to cater to the many different meeting rooms that are actually down in that area, and possibly, of course, expanding later, but to definitely provide those kind of Asian cuisine, and I believe that by starting out of going and providing this cuisine out front to the micro market, having these fresh options that are available on a timely basis for people to eat, that will also help to promote the catering aspect and then we can watch them both then flourish. 

Hauth:  Well, thank -- thank you for sharing.

Becker:  You're welcome.

Bird:  Jer -- Jerry.

Hauth:  Okay, any -- Jerry, anybody else before we go?  Jerry, go ahead.

Bird:  Just a quick thing.  Joe, so are you going to be filling the micro market?

Becker:  Absolutely.  I'll be filling the micro market myself with the stuff I make in the kitchen, as well as goods that I get from, you know, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and various candy machine, you know, your normal [inaudible] as well.

Bird:  Well -- well good.  It sounds like a good concept.  Good -- good luck.

Becker:  Thank you very much.

Hauth:  Anybody else before we go?

Morris:  Thanks guys.

Hauth:  Art?  We all good to go?

Art Stevenson:  For now, Randy.

Miranda:  Goodnight.

Hauth:  Okay, goodnight.  Let's adjourn the meeting.  Goodnight, everybody.

Smith:  Goodnight, everybody.

Motions Passed

1. That the BECC [adopt all past meeting minutes].

Proposed: Lewanda Miranda. Seconded: Derrick Stevenson. Passed. Steve Gordon not present.

2. That the BECC “send a letter to Dacia voicing our concerns.”

Proposed: Art Stevenson. Seconded: Lewanda Miranda. Passed. Steve Gordon not present.

3. “…that the elected committee advocate for Derrick by placing our names on his complaint, because we agree that, you know, the agency didn't follow the laws and rules and regulations of our program.”

Proposed: Art Stevenson. Seconded: Lewanda Miranda. Passed.Derrick Stevenson noted a conflict of interest. Steve Gordon not present.

4. “…that we request that [the BECC] be allowed active participation in this roll-out thing and things be reconsidered on how the implementation of this [self-service initiative] is going to be rolled out.”

Proposed: Art Stevenson. Seconded: Lewanda Miranda. Passed. Derrick Stevenson, Art Stevenson, and Randy Hauth noted a conflict of interest. Steve Gordon not present.

5. "…that we move the new business agenda items and set a meeting up to address those issues in the next weeks."

Proposed: Art Stevenson. Seconded Lewanda Miranda. Passed. Steve Gordon not present.

Transcription: Tonja McMillan at Dictate Express, Edited by Katherine Peace at OCB

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