Cliff Fussell and I attended the Kentucky Convention Thursday and Friday. It was a very nice convention with a great turnout! Kentucky
hospitality was outstanding. . Our administrator was also in attendance. One thing the Administrator talked about was the MIDAS
project. Employees from state and county offices will be asked to go into WDC and work on the project. I hope to have some additional
info on that soon.
Senate version of the Farm Bill was passed and is scheduled for discussion on the floor November 6th if the schedule permits. Couple
things that are currently included in the Senate version are the Average Crop Revenue (ACR) program which if it survives through the
process and is in the final Farm Bill, will be a complicated program but will give farmers some options instead of direct payments.
Another amendment that was successful in Committee limits the closure of FSA offices during the life of the farm bill with some
exceptions. Exceptions include offices within 20 miles of another office and those with zero full time employees, and then there are
exceptions to the exceptions. We'll see how it all comes out in the final version of the Farm Bill.
Some follow up on the position descriptions we submitted. The response I received indicates that HRD will need to do a detailed
analysis of the proposal which could take some time. Plans are to initially have a conference call before the task force would be formed.
We will continue to pursue the formation of a task force.
The CED Classification taskforce met last week in WDC. I have not received a report yet from our representatives but I'm sure that will
be coming soon.
Performance Plans and Ratings - My e-mail has been full of concerns/issues with the process for the 5-tier Performance Plans and
2007 Ratings. Now that the Awards are tied directly to Ratings the process has taken on new meaning for many. The one constant I
see from my e-mail is that every supervisor, reviewer, employee, state office, and county office has a little different interpretation of the
"rules" in that 100+ page notice that serves as our handbook on performance plans and ratings. In my opinion, we have a long way to
go before this process can be considered successful.
Jeanne Monday and I worked on a letter for Honorary Life Members, and that is ready to go. It's important to me to congratulate those
folks who have put in their time and are now retiring. I applaud states that care to submit their NASCOE members for Honorary Life
Membership. I had the honor of visiting with Janice Sweet while in KY. Janice was selected by Kentucky to be honored with a "Spirit of
KASCOE Award". She plans to retire in January. Many of you know Janice from NASCOE Conventions.
Mike Mayfield and Loren Nelson have been scrambling this past week with lots going on for their committee. Mike was researching
leasing language and that information has been sent to our Consultant Bob Redding for his use. I want to thank both of them for giving
of their own time for these important issues.
Dan and the folks from MN have been working on providing requested information on Conservation Admin.
Becky Zirpel has the new NASCOE travel site set up: www.nascoetravel.com or you can access it from the NASCOE web site. Very easy to
use.
Diane Holowaty has been devoting many hours to the web site. She recently re-established the automatic submission form for
Negotiation items. Give it a try: http://www.nascoe.org/NEGOTIATIONS%20FORM%2008.htm and click to submit! You can still use the .pdf
form if you prefer to mail it in.
Tammy Eibey has the newsletter completed and it should be in the mail! I was granted a "sneak preview" and it is a great newsletter!
Tammy is doing double duty as the Publicity Chairperson and the CapWiz Coordinator.
Herb Sorley and the A/S/E Committee will be announcing the new Member Scholarship as soon as the Exec Committee reviews and
approves the application process.
Bill Putnam has been working on a variety of program efficiency suggestions that have been submitted, but he is always glad to receive
more. The form and information is available at www.nascoe.org under Programs Committee.
Sean Rafferty, our Parliamentarian, has been working on some clarifications for our NASCOE policies.
Officers and Execs have been reviewing past Negotiaiton sessions and unanswered questions from the convention in preparation for
our discussions with management in November. Anyone that has an item for discussion should submit it to their Area Exec.
I want to publicly thank each of the officers, execs, committee chairs, and all of the others who assist me with advice, serving on task
forces, etc. These folks devote many hours to the success of NASCOE. I could not do my job as President without them and each one
is very much appreciated!
Thanks,
Bonnie Heinzman
bheinzman@suddenlink.net
J Cliff Fussell - Ben Hill FSA
County Executive Director
124 West Central Avenue
Fitzgerald, Ga. 31750
229-423-2041
Notes from Kentucky Convention
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