Minutes 05

                    Veterans Employment Committee Of San Mateo County Inc.

Business Meeting Minutes: 11/14/05

Held at the PeninsulaWorks San Carlos Facility, Winter Conference Room

 

 Recorder: Sheryl Shaffer

 

Meeting called to order:  Sheryl Shaffer led Pledge of allegiance and welcome.  Roll called.

 

Roll call of officers:

Chairperson                                          Sheryl Shaffer             Present             AMVETS Post 34

1st Vice Chair/Treasure                         Helen Wong               Present             AMVETS

2nd Vice Chair/Correspondence            Phil Kurokawa           Present             AM LEG

3rd Vice Chair/Special Projects             Joseph Cody              Present             World of Veterans

Recorder                                              Sheryl Shaffer             Present             Next Step Center

 

Others:

            Frank Sherr                                         Excused                        AMVETS Post 53

            Wayne Pfeiffer                                    Excused                        EDD  San Carlos

            Jim Kenney                                         Present                          SMC Vets Ser Officer

            Col. Nick Itsines                                 Excused                        AMVET Post 53

            Ted Gomez                                         Excused                        VFW SM

            Lucio Vera                                         Present                         EDD San Carlos

                                                                                                           

 

Minutes of last meeting:  There were 6 members present at the August meeting: Helen Wong, Jim Kenney, Phil Kurokawa, Joseph Cody, Lucio Vera and Sheryl Shaffer. The minutes were approved as mailed. No corrections or additions.  Minutes were taken at the meeting.  There were enough members present for a quorum. 

Correspondence:  Minutes of other VEC meetings were received and some advertisements.  San Francisco VEC is debating as to whether or not to have a Job Fair in 2006. Santa Clara County VEC has decided not to host a Job Fair in 2006. The VECSM will not have a Job Fair in 2006. 

EDD:  Lucio Vera, EDD Office Manager of San Carlos EDD, thanked the group for the sympathy card. He gave us an update of the future of the EDD office in San Carlos. He said some of the administrative functions have been combined with the San Francisco EDD office but there are no plans to actually close the San Carlos EDD and merge it with San Francisco at this time. The Director’s office has not said yes or no.  He hopes to hire 2 vets for Job Service office soon. He has to go by an Employment Program Representative list from Sacramento. If no one is hired from the list, he can do an open recruitment. Wayne Pfeiffer retires Dec. 31, 2005.

 

Secretary/Treasurer Report:  Helen Wong reported account balances and submitted transaction reports.  She and Sheryl discussed the transfer of the VEC web site from godaady.com to puenetlistings.com 

 

The cost for hosting our web site with Pure Net Listings is $20 per month. Our previous service with Vital Stream was $60 each month.  Our billing will continue with Available Resources and a check for 3 months for $60 has been mailed.  We currently have $1051.89 in our regular checking account and $5,358 in our money market fund.

One of the checks written for training is being returned, the veteran did not need it after all.  Helen said she needed a $20 check to renew our non-profit filing fee with the state of California. She also needs to renew our Post Office box rental of $136. Our P.O. box is at the Post Office located on Delaware in San Mateo.

 

Next Step Center: Rose Sutton was excused for personal reasons. She did make arrangements for the volunteer TV crew to assist in the TV show on Tuesday November 15.  Rose will host a TV show in Jan and Feb 06.

 

TV Show Update:  The featured guests, Russell Bissonete and Richard Dunbar of the American Legion District 26, will be on November’s T.V. Show. Commander Russell Bissonette of the American Legion will pay production cost and food for volunteer crew.  There will not be a TV show done in December. It is too hard to get volunteers during the holidays.  Sheryl will host a TV show in March.  Phil Kurokawa will follow up with Peninsula TV as to the status of the September master tape. Please cancel the TV show in time so we do not have to pay cancellation fees of $25. The show needs to be canceled 2 weeks before our studio date.

 

World of Vets Report:  Joseph Cody continues to support veterans with his solicitations at the SFO and mailed a donation check to Next Step. Joseph is trying to get a permit for Next Step Center at the San Francisco International Airport. He needs clarification on the Next Step permit directive.

 

County Veterans Service Officers Report:  Jim asked for help from the VECSM as to what do with the VECSM file cabinet in the warehouse. Arrangements were made to deliver the file cabinet to Helen’s house.

He attended the dedication of the new VA clinic on 1001 Sneath Lane in San Bruno. Phil Kurokawa was also there. Jim said there may be a new CVSO in Santa Cruz, a lawyer.  Jim stated the work has picked up a little. He is currently helping a Korean War Veteran, a Marine who served in the Chosin Reservoir, to get his service connected disability increased.

 

QUARTERLY MEETINGS:  Our meetings are now once a quarter instead of every month.  Our next meeting is scheduled for March 13, 2006.

 

New Business Discussion:  Sheryl Shaffer has completed the transfer of the VECSM web site to Pure Net Listings and has updated many of the links. The web site had been infected with a virus.

 

The County Veteran Service Officer Jim Kenney motioned that Sheryl Shaffer be reimbursed $100 for each quarterly meeting she attends and was seconded by Helen Wong.  She stated that in our bylaws, the Chairperson can received reasonable travel expenses.  All members present voted in favor.  

 

FOR THRE GOOD OF THE ORDER:  Helen Wong and Phil Kurokawa attended the San Francisco Veterans Day Parade. Phil also attended the USS Hornet for 3 days to assist in the 442 Memorial memorabilia room.  The dedication of the AMETS carillons for the new cemetery in Shasta County is on Nov. 19. Phil K. is President of the Avenue of the Flags. On Nov. 5, they had a flag burning ceremony.