Midwest Area Report for Membership Organizational Meeting Oklahoma City, OK September 21-22, 2013 Dennis Ray, MWA

Exec I want to begin by thanking the Oklahoma Association for hosting the organizational meeting at the site of the 2014 National Convention. Oklahoma has a great convention planned and based on what we experienced during our time there I can tell you that you will not want to miss being there. Start making plans now to attend. The organizational meeting was busy as usual and we were able to finalize a couple of items that had been on the table for several months. I look forward to working with the other area execs and our new leadership team of Mark and Wes. As you can tell from the way this fiscal year has started, no matter how much we accomplish there will always be work that still needs to be done. This association is great because of the combined efforts of all members and it is going to take continued action by all of us to make it through this time with our sanity. I would like to bring you up to date on a few of the things we discussed at the organizational meeting. Membership and Leadership Databases At the national convention in Asheville, state presidents were charged with going home and loading state membership in the new online database housed on the NASCOE website. At the organizational meeting, National Membership Chair Stephanie Bradley-Fryer provided a progress report on progress states are making toward getting the information loaded. Being on furlough this past week and all of the information being shared via email should be all the evidence we need to see how important this database can be. Please make this a priority if you have not already done so. Many of our members are anxious to hear any information that we can share. A complete database can go a long way in relieving that anxiety. Also on the website is a leadership database that state presidents have been asked to complete. This database will be used by national and area committee chairs to help establish distribution lists for disseminating information and fulfilling their job responsibilities. Membership Resolution Passed at National Convention A resolution was passed at the national convention that would allow employees who work in a state without an affiliated state association to be a member in a neighboring state association, provided that neighboring state would accept an employee from another state. While this was adopted and the national by-laws were revised, a state that wants to accept employees from a neighboring state without an affiliated state association would also have to change their by-laws. I dont know of any states that join a MWA state that does not currently have a state affiliated association but I wanted to remind you all that it would also require a change to your state by-laws to match the national by-law revision. Benefits Provider Contracts At the organizational meeting, NASCOE entered into contract with and has endorsed a new benefits provider, Dillard Financial Solutions. This provides another benefit to NASCOE membership and provides a much needed income stream to NASCOE. I encourage everyone to welcome Teresa Dillard and her staff to the NASCOE family and to take advantage of the opportunities this new business relationship offers.

NASCOE has also entered into an agreement with JM Marketing which allows JM Marketing to continue to service NASCOE members. The effect on NASCOE members is limited, JM Marketing will continue to service ALL existing policies and your FSA-444 will remain in place, unless canceled by the policy holder. JM Marketing can sell and service ALL NASCOE members. JM Marketing can attend your State Association Conventions, and is paying NASCOE an administrative fee monthly as part of their agreement. This agreement is on a yearly rollover basis. Knowing sponsorships are vital to financing State Conventions; NASCOE has worked hard during the negotiations process to protect the states right to invite whomever they choose. That being said, Dillard Financial Solutions and JM Marketing would like for states NOT to invite any vendor to their state conventions who can compete with JM Marketing or Dillard Financial Solutions. Dillard Financial Solutions has offered to help States find vendors to help sponsor conventions. The host state for an Area Rally can invite any vendor they choose to attend. However, Dillard Financial Solutions will contribute $2,000 to each Area Rally. Dillard Financial Solutions contract gives them the opportunity to negotiate with the host state to be the ONLY benefits provider at the rally. I would encourage all states planning conventions to contact Dillard Financial Solutions prior to making any arrangements with other similar providers. Please understand Dillard Financial Solutions will compensate you for your negotiation efforts. NASSCOE has protected your relationship with JM Marketing AND Dillard Financial to improve our benefit offerings for members, and to improve our income stream. Please contact me if you have any questions about the new benefits provider. Negotiation Items As has been discussed for the past several months, we are making some changes to the negotiation process. We will be taking items continuously and will review them for merit every quarter. The deadline for the first review period under the new process will be November 15th. Please encourage your membership to complete items for consideration using the online form located on the Negotiations link on the NASCOE homepage. Our new negotiation consultant for the Midwest Area is Crystal Dibley from Minnesota. We will be getting additional information and reminders out as we get closer to the deadline. NAFEC Directors I want to thank the states that have been able to recruit NAFEC directors. I want to encourage the states that have not been able to find a NAFEC director to stay diligent in their efforts. It is imperative to the future of the County Committee System that we continue to increase interest and participation in NAFEC. Future of FSA Task Force As many of you are aware, FSA management and the SEDs held meetings the week of September 23rd to discuss the future of FSA. As we are preparing how to participate in this discussion, NASCOE is forming a work group to determine how FSA should look from our perspective. I have been asked to supply the name of a CED and a PT from the Midwest area to be considered for participating in this work group. If you are interested in working on this please let me know as soon as possible. As always, please dont hesitate to call or email if you have any questions or concerns. Dennis