Clark County Veterans Advisory Board

0:00 >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Bruce, invocation. >> Invocation. Thank you, Heavenly Father. >> We want to thank you for being helpful with us and watching our deliberations and also supporting our troops as they are in harm's way to keep the freedom and democracy that we all have. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. At this time, would I ask board members to have a momentary pause of silence in memory of Dan Tarbell. May Dan rest in peace. Thank you, comrades.

0:55 >> Bruce, roll call. >> Yes, Mr. Chair, roll call of board officers, 488, Bob Brennan. >> Present. >> Alternate, Mark Lacy. American Legion Post 14, Gene Kuchar. >> Here, here. >> Yeah. American Legion Post 44, Jim Bowen. >> Here. >> Darren Wertz. American Legion Post 168, board chair, Bob Nichols. >> Here. >> American Legion Post 176, Michael Gibson. >> Here. >> Jonathan Frederick. >> He's excused. >> American Veterans Post 6, John Lovejoy. >> Here. >> Vanis Pratt is excused. DAD Chapter 4, board secretary, Bruce Moss. >> Here. >> Roy Gay. >> Here. >> Korean War Veterans Association 321, Patrick Locke. >> Here. >> Earl Edwards. >> Excused.

1:54 >> Marine Corps League 826, Steve Sledgers. >> Here. >> VFW Post 4278, Thomas Brandt. Debra Proctor. >> Here. >> VFW Post 7824, Greg Gilbertson. >> On the line. >> Here. >> Steve Stewart Bower. Vietnam Veterans Post Chapter 512, Greg Whitsitt. Nick Herver. Our members at large, Brian Mcgillis. >> Here. >> Board Vice Chair, Buck Marr. >> Here. On the line. >> Larry Smith. >> Here. >> Lloyd Bowman. >> Here. >> Michael Langsdorf. >> Here. >> Tanya Ward. >> Here. >> How can I representative Abby Malloy. >> Here. >> And we have some people that are joining us today in the back, and I'll just run the mic through for your name. >> Michael Fisher, T.W.

2:54 Cesser. >> Angela Sullivan. >> Carol Ross, the Historic Trust. It looks like I got a dead mic with all of our guests. Mr. Chair, do you have the floor? >> Thank you. >> Bruce, we're here from the Clark County Veterans Assistance Center. >> Hi, Judy. >> Judy Russell as well, along with Sonia Woods. >> My mic's not working either.

3:47 >> I will entertain a motion for the approval of June's meeting minutes. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Seconded. >> Those in favor? >> Aye. >> Those opposed? >> Aye. >> Motion carried. >> Committee reports, appeals, Judy. >> Judy Russell, do we have any appeals information? >> We've got a glitch here somewhere. >> I will continue. I don't recall ever hearing about any appeals. Policies and procedures. Greg, you got anything? >> I do not, sir. No.

4:47 Nothing. >> Thank you. Nominations. Bruce, nothing yet? >> Nothing at this time. >> All right. Budget work group. Patrick? >> No, we did not have a meeting today. It's suspended until we get more information. >> Okay. Hopefully, that will be today. >> Yeah. >> Emily, can we have you? >> Sure. >> This will be the subordinate levy update. Hopefully, the microphones are working. It's not coming through on this system. >> I can hear you. I can hear you. >> Okay. So it's just not on the room. >> It's not coming through inside the room. >> Okay. Let me know if you can't hear me enough. All right. So happy to be here again. Good to see you all. What?

5:46 Abby asked if we could join today. I think it would be great if we could reframe what the specific questions are for today. And I'll take it. Is this resolved as experts here as well? >> Right. Anybody got any questions about the update? Everybody know what it entails now? >> Yeah. >> Okay. I can recap what's happened so far. >> Please do. >> Okay. So there was a work session which you guys were familiar with that happened back in June on the 4th and 4th where the council was presented the options that House Bill 2442 made possible which was either keeping the veterans as well as the other two said levies underneath the general fund or breaking them out and having them be their own separate levies.

6:46 The council gave general direction during that work session saying, yes, we want to move those levies, sub-levies out into their own levies. And then the council didn't meet on July 21st. When there's a copy of the staff report, if you guys need it, we can give it to you, where the council actually formalized that decision and said, yes, for sure it will be that way. So now what's happening is the budget office is working in town with the assessor's office and we're putting all the things together for the actual 2020 budget adoption and we're just right in the thick of that right now. So I don't have any other updates right now other than we're moving in the direction of the council. >> Now, it's going to be the one and one-eighth sense, right? >> Yes. Yes. It will be what the House built to require it to be. >> Just SML? >> Yes. >> It would be nice if we could get it a little higher, but I understand the taxpayers need a little relief. Any questions? >> I have one. >> Yes, Tom. >> I'm assuming the answers process goes along.

7:45 We'll figure out how we ask for money, or not ask, we approve money being spent and then how it goes through the treasurer and the assessor's office, things like that. >> Right. So kind of just in my mind, too, thinking about what we've talked about this year, the Veterans Advisory Board has already come forward with requests for funding for 2027, and the Department of Community Services, which is kind of the liaison for the Veterans Advisory Board to split that through the budget process, has been working on those requests, and those additional requests are included in what we're looking for to the council for final approval in December, as well as the changes in the levies and additional revenue to all that we've heard after that conversation. So that for 2027 is, I keep saying, is like the railroad, the trains left the station

8:44 on all of that for 2027, but then you guys will have that opportunity to start the conversation and look at things early next year for the 2028 budget process, and we can have available any time you guys want to start thinking about that. >> What's a good time for us to start that? >> You know, you could start having those conversations in January. >> Okay. >> Thinking about it. >> Yeah. Let me ask a question. I always do. Do we, we being Clark County, model any other county in the state of Washington, Oregon, that's maybe similar to us as far as providing a veterans service, assistance service? Is there anything like us? >> I don't know that. >> Yes. >> I don't know. >> I don't think there is. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Is it up in the Seattle area? >> Well, Catsip County in particular, I attended their meeting yesterday, and they operate

9:43 very similar to this. Every county is supposed to have a Veterans Advisory Board, so there should be 39 of them in existence. Many of them don't operate the same. Some of them only meet quarterly. Some of them only meet biannual or twice a year, whatever that is. And there's, so there's a lot of variance in how some of them actually operate. >> Yeah. >> But I'm in the process of researching that. >> Yeah. >> So I'm attending these meetings in other counties, and I'll be looking at how they do things and, you know, their whole processes. >> Right, Larry, King County, King County gets the, I think, one-and-one-eighth cents, plus they have a separate levy for veterans. >> Yeah. >> They have big bucks up there. >> Yeah, they do. >> Yeah. >> There's a lot more veterans up there, too.

10:43 >> Yeah. >> Well, yeah. >> But still, it'd be nice. >> Yeah. So there's some models out there. >> Okay. >> Yeah, there is. >> So one of the things that, you know, with what we're doing here and the, what the county council just did, the meeting that they have where they approved what we're doing, it was made to look like this is a brand new levy. >> Yeah. >> And it's not a new levy. And this is something I'd want to really make sure that everybody understands, because it seems to me that it's being put out to the people as a new levy, a new tax that's being put out to them. And it's not. >> Yeah. >> And the one-and-an-eighth cents has been a minimum since 2005. It's been the minimum. >> And I would just say that it is, you're correct, it's not a new levy, but the way

11:41 that it is going to be taxed will be separate from the general fund. So it will be raising taxes to the property owners. >> But it shouldn't be put out that way. It's not a new tax that's now just going to the veterans. It has always been there going to the veterans. What fund it's come out of has nothing to do with whether it's a new tax or not. And I think that's where it's being deceptive to the people, making the people, the general public believe that this is a brand new tax that they're having to pay, and it's not. And I think that's very deceptive by the county council. >> Well, I don't speak for the council, but I don't think that was the intent at all. I think the conversation on July 21st was really trying to say that because it's not a subordinate levy, it will be an increase in taxes. It's additional money that we're going to --

12:40 >> They did say the words, if we go back and look at the recording, they did say new. They used the word new. >> It will be a different levy. It won't be part of -- >> They used the word new in that meeting. >> I think it's semantics, and I think we can work on our ways to communicate that. I think it is fair to say that it won't be the same. It's not the same levy. It's not a subordinate levy. Being its own standalone levy is different than what it was before. >> I understand, and I agree 100%, but from the public looking at it and hearing the word new gives the impression that this is a new tax that they're paying, and it's not a new tax. >> Well, maybe we can work on some language for conversation as we move forward through the budget process so it feels more comfortable.

13:39 I think it has to tell both sides of it. >> It's not a matter of comfort. It's a matter of what it really is and putting it out there in such a way that people understand this is being transferred from one line item to its own line item, right? And that's my concern is that people will get the wrong impression of what it is. >> That's my concern, too, is to put it out to the public so they're not confused. They're going to look at this and say, is this a new tax or no tax or what is? How does it fit in to the whole mechanism of funding a county? And that's a concern. >> Emily, this is Buck Marr from Montana. >> Hi, Buck. How are you? >> Buck Marr from Montana. >> Not bad. It's not bad out here.

14:32 >> To support what has been said, the day of that work session, the counselor on the end, the right end, used the word "new." >> I understand. And I was remotely attending that. Like I said, I think we can work on some language to accurately describe it and maybe not use the word "new" but describe how it is being broken out and what the impacts of that are. >> Because it's not the same amount of taxation. It's an increase. So we want to make sure that's clear. >> But the one and an eighth cents is not an increase. That's part of my issue, right? The one and an eighth cents has been a minimum since 2005. >> Which we have not imposed at the county. So I think that's also a nuance.

15:31 >> But that has still been the minimum. And they've reduced it from that. But that still has been the mandated minimum all along. >> Greg, did you have something to say? >> Yeah. Emily just said the perfect word right there. It hasn't been imposed. Now it's going to be imposed, right? So the imposed versus new versus change, that's all kind of schematics what she's saying. So now we need the public to understand that it's going to be imposed what has been on the books before, in law before. Now it's going to be imposed. So we as a board, right, we need to communicate that out to our various veterans organization that that's what's happening and to prepare for it. And hey, these like we're on right now, this is a public hearing, right? Anybody can log on and listen to this, right? Anybody in Clark County? >> Yes.

16:30 >> So we need to start getting our membership involved, engage and understand as best we can. If that makes sense. >> Emily, I think you had it right. You can sense though that our concern, so many things in life are how they are presented. And in this case, we are very worried as a board that this will be misrepresented somehow and somebody will seize upon the opportunity to take it away. >> I hear you guys. And I think there's some opportunity in the budget package that will actually implement this financially into the budget. We can work on that wording and also in how the presentation is for the actual budget hearing and we've got a little bit of time to come back and talk about how that wording

17:27 might tell the best of both sides of what you guys are concerned about as well as the truth that it will be an increase to taxpayers. >> It's so important when you put that message out, folks look at what is the return on investment. What I'm paying money for, what do I get in return is trying to package that where it can sell and people can feel comfortable with it without having -- >> Right. And just so we're clear, this is not going out to vote for the public to vote on. This is something that's councilmatic. They are able to -- it's actually House Bill 2442 is actually pushing that this is the decision and they're just choosing to break it out which that's already been done. So I do think messaging is important through the budget process and we can talk about that. I think the council may talk about it during the hearings and we'll work on that language

18:24 but it's not something where the public's going to be voting on this happening or changing. It's already -- >> Thank you for that clarity. >> It's already there. Yeah. >> Jim, you had something? >> Yeah. When Larry brought it up, I thought he was referring to what goes into maybe some of them and what other counties are doing within their boards and that seems to me like something that needs to be part of the strategic plan that we're going to talk about next month is how do we baseline or benchmark what we're doing versus other counties and other places. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thank you, Emily. Mike. >> One thing I don't understand, Emily -- >> Walk into the microphone, please, Mike. >> I'll put it in my mouth. >> Don't swallow it. >> For a lawyer, you don't do that very good. >> What I don't understand and maybe it's just because I'm dumb, this is in effect the

19:23 levy is going to be a separate fund and that levy is going to be at one and one-eighths. What I don't understand is how we transition from being in the county fund to having a separate fund for the veterans because in the past we've had a reserve that we could transfer over to make sure we're covered in the first few months and if this levy goes into effect only in January, are we going to get some of the reserves that we used to have or are we coming up with about 300,000 to fund the first three or four months? >> I think that's a great question. And essentially there's fund 1019 which is where these funds have been managed historically. They're levied under the general fund but they're moved into 1019 every year based on that certification amount.

20:21 So that is going to be the fund where all of these funds will go into. It's not something new, 1019 will be where this new minimum amount will come in, all the revenue will come into that fund and everything that's existed there will be in there. Part of what I think would be helpful maybe even next month Abby is to revisit that six year forecast for the fund and that's going to show you guys again, I know if you don't look at it all the time it kind of like gets gray, mine does too if I don't check it all the time, but if we could revisit that and just talk about what's planned for this year, what we're anticipating is left, that will carry forward in this same fund as well as that new revenue coming in, that additional revenue coming in next year which is all part of that forecast that Alyssa prepared and I just think we should look at that one more time. I think that will help just re-solidify it. >> You would. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely.

21:20 >> Is that okay? >> Yes. >> Okay. Hope to see you again. >> I'd be happy to come back. >> Now, does anybody from the assessor's office have anything to say? >> Got a question? Okay. >> Yes. >> The reserve that they're talking about, where does, where will that come from? >> I was thinking about this just a couple days ago, trying to remember what our plan is and right now that reserve is not in policy. It's a recommendation from the department and from the county's finance team. I think when we look at it next week or next month, we can revisit what that is and then it's going to be a really conversation with the council during the budget adoption process because if the new things that the advisory board has requested for the Veterans Assistance

22:15 Center are approved, that would put us further below what we would have needed to have that reserve available. So, it could be a tradeoff for the first year. I know you guys had recommended maybe phasing that amount in over the next couple of years, but I think we can revisit that conversation and again, if the council just adopts the minimum rate as is being presented, I think that will have to be a conversation about do we phase in that reserve and it would come from the same funding source. It's really just holding, I think it's three months back of potential expenses in case of something catastrophic or it's like a rainy day fund. The funding's still there, it doesn't go anywhere else, it's just held from being spent. >> So, the way it was described earlier conversations was that this number was going to be something

23:12 like $300,000. >> That's what I remember as well, yeah. >> Okay. So, it doesn't exist. >> It's in the fund. It's basically saying, you know, I have $10 to spend, that's my whole year's expenditures. I'm going to spend seven of it, but I'm going to hold three of that in the fund. It doesn't get spent and just, and that's there not being allocated and pushed out. That stays in my balance, my bank account in case there's major, like, revenue source thoughts and changes. >> No, I understand what it is. The question that I have is where is it initially coming from to be able to hold it there? >> It would come from the fund balance. It comes from whatever's in 1019. >> Okay, but if that fund balance isn't that right now, then it has to come from somewhere.

24:10 And if we're saying that the fund will provide that, then that would mean that initially that levy would have to be increased then to get that fund in there so that the budget can be maintained. >> That would be one avenue, but that is maybe not the most likely avenue. That's not my choice. That would be council's decision to either raise the rate or supplement that for the first year to create that 300,000. If that's not the case and that's not what happens, then we're left with what the minimum rate is, what that revenue produces, and what the expenses that the advisory board approves, and then we'd have to look at what's left and decide can we hold that reserve or would we have to maybe phase that in and build it up over the next couple of years? >> Then that would affect the budget. >> It would. >> Then we'd have to increase the budget and to get to the right place.

25:09 >> I think we should look at it again next month, and I don't think you're wrong. I just think it's just a timing thing because we do this with most of our other major funds in the county where there's a minimum reserve that we just hold back and we're not able to allocate that in case of something bad happening so that we have some time to phase out contracts or keep people paid or keep services going until there's another resolution. >> I understand. And all I'm saying is that in order to have that, then we can't take it away from what we're allocating. It has to come from some other source, either increased or from some other place to be able to be there instead of taking it away from what's being budgeted and allocated. >> And I don't know that that will be the case. That's a conversation to be had. I don't know that there will be supplemental funding put in or decided for that purpose

26:08 for this. It may be that the money that's coming in based on this new legislation and the separate levy, that that's all that the fund will get based on the council's determination. And if that's the case, sometimes it's a tradeoff to say, okay, well, maybe we can't spend quite as much this year as we wanted to or we say that minimum fund balance, you guys have talked about this, we're going to build up to that three-month reserve over the next three years. I'm not sure how that would work. That's a collaborative thing we have to do. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Bob? This is Buck. >> Anything else? >> Yeah, Bob. >> Buck? >> This is Buck. Yeah, for Emily, all this conversation is wonderful. And Emily, we thank you for coming and helping bring some clarity to the situation. In a summary way, I would just say that we were tasked to look at services by the organizations

27:06 that are funded by the Vet Fund. We did. We made one recommendation, and that was the mental health issue, largely the mental health issue at the CCVAC. It was explained to us about a month or so ago that if the -- depending upon how you implement a $300,000 reserve, that would in effect -- and it kind of verified by informal conversation with some of the council members -- that would wipe out the opportunity to achieve a $222,000 amount of money to hire a mental health capability at the center. That's putting it in very blunt language. This county, Clark County, has a fairly bad record for providing mental health services only exceeded by the inability of the VA to come through.

28:02 So, you know, that is why we're fairly adamant today, and I wanted to put it in plain English. We're trying to provide a service to the veterans, and we may not get it, depending upon what the council says about the budget. Thank you. >> I appreciate that, Buck. I do think we should talk about it again next month, just to make sure we have those numbers in front of us, and that is the truth. There's always the possibility of a tradeoff for services versus the available funding, and that's why I think we might be able to collaborate on building up that minimum fund balance to meet that threshold. That's a good conversation with DCS, talking about the risk of that, but I do think that's something we can consider. I would also just ask, I don't think that there was an application put in for the mental health sales tax, was there, for this particular need?

29:00 >> I don't think so. >> Okay. Because that's always something that we should talk about, like in January, if there's additional mental health services, if there's funding available in that fund, it's called 1033, that would be a good avenue to preserve as well, because that funding is specifically for mental health services, and might be a good candidate, again, if there's funding available. >> Excellent. Thank you, Emily. Judy, do you have any comment about that? >> Well, as far as the mental health, the mental health fund goes, we have not applied for it yet, because it is a reimbursable fund, and without having the funds to spend, you can't get reimbursed, so that's always been an issue, so hopefully, moving forward with the new amount in the levy, that won't be an issue, or it won't be as much of an issue,

29:56 but Buck, you're absolutely correct, without phasing in that reserve, we will lose the ability to get our mental health professional in 2027. >> And it should be noted for the board that we have a PhD level person, a 30-year veteran of working mental health in this area, who has volunteered to come into the center and help Judy and her cohorts put together a reasonable program based upon need. That's informational for the board. >> Just one last thing. I wanted to leave, and again, I'll be back next month, and we can get that six-year forecast. If the decision is made to collaborate and phase in the minimum fund balance, part of what the advisory board should consider, that that may limit new things for the next several

30:54 years until that revenue starts to increase, unless you ask for more in the council where to raise that rate, but just based on that kind of standard baseline minimum rate, there may be some trade-offs, but I think we could look at that and see if phasing that minimum fund balance in can still allow enough room for these new requests that you've put forward this year, but again, there may not be anything available for next year. We've got to watch the cost of increase on everything else too, so we can talk about it. >> Yeah, but they're adding this after we came up with a budget, then they come up and say, "Now we're going to add a reserve, and we're going to take that away from you to make it a reserve." >> Well, I would just say we've been talking about a minimum fund reserve since last year, so I don't know if that's a conversation all of you guys have had, but it is a conversation

31:51 that the budget office and the finance team for the county, those are standard best practices, and it's something that we've been starting to talk about, which is why I think we can look at phasing it, because it is fairly new. >> Because we were never privy to that prior to coming up with this budget. If we would have known that, that could be a budget line item, to say if there has to be a reserve there, we've got to take that into account. It's got to come from somewhere. >> Right, well, with the forecast, you can see, like I said, I don't want to keep repeating myself, but we can look at it. It is something new, but I would say a lot of the stuff we're looking at is something new. I think seeing the six-year forecast and really understanding that transparency and how things are managed I think is a positive thing, and also, of course, the House bill giving the authority for the minimum rate, that's a good problem, because last year we were talking

32:46 about not having even enough to pay for the assistance center cost of lease increase. So I mean, I think there's a lot of positive things happening, and we can work through getting things lined up over the next couple of years. I just want us to be realistic about the revenue that's available. >> I understand, but the authority for the minimum levy has been there since 2005. >> I know. I know that. People keep saying that it's not. >> The counties had the ability to reduce the one and one-eighths based on -- >> But that's not a permanent thing. That's for a year, and then it has to go back to the thing. If you read the RCW, that's what it says. It's not reduce it, and then that becomes the new minimum. That's not the way the law is stated. >> But when it was in the general fund, they could do that.

33:46 >> They could do it by an annual base, not permanent. >> Right. Exactly. So that's changed now. >> That's still the minimum, and it has been since 2005. >> Well, it's been that way since before then. >> Yeah, but 2005 was when the RCW was put in place. >> Right. >> Yep. >> Thanks a lot, Emily. We appreciate you being here, Emily, by the way. >> Thank you, Emily. >> We're not -- >> Yeah. >> Now, again, does the Assessor's Office have anything to add? Thank you so much. >> Thank you. I think the biggest thing is it's not perfect, and it might be a little while before it's perfect, but at least we're having the discussions. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> And it's going in a positive direction. >> Definitely not perfect. Okay. >> Who is she? >> Next item. [ Multiple Speakers ] >> Budget for the county, county budget office.

34:45 >> Good afternoon. >> There you go. >> My name's Carol Ross. I'm development and outreach manager with the Historic Trust, and I'm so grateful that you gave us time on the agenda today to come talk about the Marshall Leadership Awards. The Trust is the nonprofit that has the great honor of caring for the buildings and the stories that are a huge part of Vancouver's history, including Officer's Row and the West Barracks. And we also put on Vancouver's Veterans Day Parade coming up on November 11th. But one of the ways we shine a light on probably the most famous resident to live on Officer's Row is the Marshall Leadership Awards. General George C. Marshall lived in Vancouver from 1936 to 1938. And his principles of leadership are timeless, and we'll take a look at him in a minute.

35:43 But I wanted to mention -- would you mind advancing the slide -- that the city of Vancouver is our partner in this, and we've been putting on the Marshall Awards since 1989. It's to recognize youth in Clark County who are leading today, right now. They don't just exhibit leadership qualities that, like, George Marshall had, but they are out doing the work in the community. There's two awards, one for a high school senior and one for a young adult age 35 and under. And so it's more than just a scholarship program. The youth recipient is a high school senior and does receive a college scholarship, but the recipient of the public award also receives a scholarship they can use for professional development.

36:39 Whatever that looks like for them, they can use those funds to become an even better leader and do more of the work they're already doing. If you could advance the slide. We're actually at the tail end of this year's kind of schedule for the Marshall Leadership Awards. We announced our recipients for 2026 in February. Now we're leading into nomination period for the 2027 awards. Those will open up October 1st. And this is a nomination-based program, so we ask members of the public to nominate folks who qualify who they believe are worthy of this award, who are out showing those leadership qualities. The nominations close in early December, and at that point we ask the nominees to accept their nomination by putting in an application saying that they'd like to be considered.

37:38 In January, aside from the committee review, we have a workshop that's free to everyone who has been nominated where local leaders present the different ways that Marshall's principles directly still apply to leading in today's world. And then in February, the final decisions are made and we honor the five finalists and one recipient in each of those two categories. And those are General Marshall's nine leadership principles. And we could all benefit by following them today, I think. All of our candidates tend to hit one or more, often many, of these leadership principles. And again, it becomes evident, especially in the workshop that we host, how relevant

38:35 these leadership principles are to leading today in today's world. So I'd like to have the opportunity to introduce you to our Marshall Leadership Award recipients for this year. Our youth recipient, can you advance please, is Itzel Contreras-Monteil. And I'm not sure if she's on remotely. She's away at school. She just moved away to Reno this week. And I don't hear anybody popping in, so she might not have been able to join us, but I would like- She's right here. Oh, you are. Yay. Wonderful. Well, first I'm going to have Rashawn Williams- Flop machine. No, I don't think so. I'm going to have Rashawn Williams come up to tell you a little bit about himself. He's our public award recipient for this year.

39:29 With Shifted Theory, he's actively prepping the leaders of tomorrow here in Clark County. So Rashawn, please join me. Hello, everyone. Hello, Itzel. Congrats, and I hope you're having fun out there in Reno. My name is Rashawn Williams. I am the leader or owner of an organization locally called Shifted Theory Youth Mentoring. We support youth in the afterschool program. We have a third space in East County, right next to the Margarita Factory, where we're open Monday through Friday about 4 to 7 p.m. And we're serving our youth and young adults, middle school ages through high school. I work as well with Evergreen Public Schools and Vancouver Public Schools, and we run a leadership program where we just focus on behavior management, goal setting, just overall skill development for our youth and young adults. And so I was honored to receive this award.

40:28 I'd like to just continue to work, thanking people who have nominated me as well, but this work doesn't stop. It continues with our young adults, Itzel as well, and just people who are coming up under her and under ourselves. I was a youth in this area who would have loved some extra support and guidance, and that's just all I'm trying to do is provide that, and we're doing a good job. We have a lot of community members who support us. We're able to get some youth out in front of small business owners, and the business owners get to talk to them about certain sectors that they can see themselves in, and that's all we're looking to do. So thank you for having me, and if you all have any questions, I'm here to answer them. I don't know how good I'll be able to answer some of them. I was listening back there, but I'll try my best. Thank you. Do you have something, Jim? What age youths do you do this with?

41:25 My ages right now are typically 14 to 24, working with youth and young adults, but we support younger siblings as well, so if there's a middle school age student or elementary age student of a sibling, they're in the center with us. We're at one elementary here, Ogden Elementary, and so we support third, fourth, and fifth graders, but typically it's our middle school and high school students. Is it possible to get your contact information, have conversations with you later also? Yes, sir, admin@shiftedtheory.com, and we have a website, shiftedtheory.com as well. Abby, can you put that out? Thank you. So are you actually in the schools, or where are the centers that they go to in the schools? We're actually in, not all schools, I'm at four of the high schools in Evergreen Public Schools Union, Mountain View, Evergreen, and Heritage, we're at Fort Vancouver High School,

42:20 as well as Ogden Elementary, and so those are the only schools I'm supporting locally, but also teens can come from Ridgefield or Battleground area to our after school space, in which they do. Go for it, I'm going to try it. All right, go ahead. Yeah, Mountain View Thunder, if anyone else graduated from Mountain View, I'm here with you. Yes, sir. Let me just maybe notice, I go all the way back to 1989, when I was involved with the Marshall leadership ward, because I was a member of the 104th division. But one of the things that's kind of neat to see what's changed over time, when it initially started out in 1989, it started out by Bruce Hagenson. Bruce was the mayor, he acquired Officer's Role, and Bruce went back personally to the Marshall Foundation in Lexington, Virginia, to learn something about Marshall because of the Marshall house, and his history of living here, and so forth.

43:15 But it was initially a push that the Marshall leadership awardees would be military, be veterans. It was a initial push that came from the start, and it was Bruce Hagenson that said, "No, we don't want to do that. We want to make this broad swap all over where everyone can compete, whether it's male, female, next to it, and if it wants sex or anything like that." So that's how it wound up there, and then the other thing was to be active in the community, always stressing the active, because Marshall, I don't know how you guys feel about it, but as far as I'm concerned, he's one of the greatest leaders we've ever had in this country. For all the things he did, if you go back and look at some of his history and what he did at the second ward, it's unbelievable on the fact. So it's so important to get these young men and women out and let people see them, what they're about, and then learn something about Marshall leadership and so forth. This is what he does.

44:14 He gets out there and talks about it, which is important. Yes, sir. Thank you, Larry. Advance it for itself. Okay. Next. Next slide. Yeah. Thank you all. Okay. Go ahead, Edsel. All right, so as you guys know, my name's Edsel Contreras Montiel. I am a recent graduate from Prairie High School in Vancouver, Washington, and now I'll be attending the University of Nevada in Reno, which that's where I'm at right now. I start my orientation in a couple of days, so unfortunately I couldn't be there, but I just wanted to start off by saying just thank you and just showing how grateful I am for the opportunity that I was given by the Marshall Leadership Award. That's why I'm here. That's why I can pay for college. Five thousand might not seem a lot when you're paying for tuition, but when you're paying

45:12 at a state, when you're wanting to go places in life, you need that money, and especially right now, and because of the Marshall Leadership Award, I am here. I'm in another state, and I'm learning from others around this community, a new community that I've never been into. I've only lived my whole life in Washington, so coming to a whole new place because I was given the wonderful opportunity from the Marshall Leadership Award was great, and it was wonderful, and it was kind of a push of confidence to come here, come to another state, learn new things, and make a change in a new community. Back in Vancouver, I did a bunch of nonprofit organizations. I organized something called Winter Carnival at Prairie High School, where we gave free toys to every kid who walked into our school. Everything at the event was free. I had planned a levee march for one of our levees in the Battleground School District, as well as being a student representative of the Battleground School District.

46:12 I sat on the board for two years, which was really amazing, but I'd also wanted to point out that not only was the leadership just an award, but it was a push of confidence. It was a push to show me that I am possible and that it is possible to complete the goals that I have, the tasks that I want to complete, and just overall knowing that I have confidence in myself. Thank you. And thank you again for giving us this opportunity to come and speak to you. Does anybody have any questions for Izzell? Can I just say something? Hi Izzell, I'm Tonya, and I just want to say congratulations. What you're doing is amazing. And keep that confidence and go for what you want. Don't be scared.

47:07 It can be scary, but don't let that stop you from doing what you want to do. Thank you. So, I noticed on your slides it says city of Vancouver, so is it limited to, is there any geographic limitations on this? The geographic limitation is Clark County, so the recipient or candidates must reside within Clark County. And I would suggest, especially the many of you military units you belong to or even homeowners associations and so forth, invite them, you know, let them talk about George Marshall, what's that about, and the award itself, because it speaks of Vancouver, it speaks of our community, speaks of our military, and it speaks of our young folks, and that's how we get these folks out into the public and be exposed and expose them to some history about what it stands

48:05 for and so forth, but also what the individual stands for. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you both. Yeah. Great job. Okay, Abby, you're on the hook. Thank you. Contractor reports. Thank you, Bob. And, oh, is this, yeah. And thank you Carol, Sean, and Itzel for being here today. Really appreciate your time, and congratulations on the awards. All right, so this is the May 2026 Contractor and Fund reports. I'll also be sharing June on the next slide since we skipped a month of meetings. So for the Clark County Veterans Assistance Center, there were 656 visits to the Center

48:58 for Essentials in Food in May with 881 SAC breakfasts and lunches and 112 food boxes provided for a total of 6,443 pounds of food provided. There were 485 volunteer hours totaling $19,536 in value, and there were 44 veterans served through vet fund in May with services totaling $26,572.55. Of these, 38 were male veterans, four were female veterans, and there were two widows and zero others served, and there were 11 denials, zero of which were subject to appeal. At the free clinic, there was one veteran served in May. Services totaled $1,021 in value, and they billed $696.70 to the fund.

49:53 For May, there was a revenue of $55,059.36 with $113,759 in expenditures, and at the end of May, the fund balance stood at $575,843, which was a $58,700 decrease from the previous month. And here we have the June 2026 contractor and fund reports. At the assistance center, there were 791 visits to the Center for Essentials in Food with 1,106 SAC, breakfast, and lunches and 105 food boxes provided for a total of 4,290 total pounds of food. There were 579 volunteer hours totaling $23,322 in value.

50:52 There were 50 veterans served through vet fund in June, services totaling $43,417. Of these, 42 were male veterans, four female veterans, two widows, and two deceased veteran dependents served through vet fund, and there were 17 denials, zero subject to appeal. The free clinic, again, served one veteran in June. Services totaled $233 in value, and they billed $699.43 to the fund. We also have a second quarter update from WDVA in June. For the second quarter, they served 875 claims, had a 91% batting average for success, and helped folks get $1,816,401 in VA payments.

51:49 And June revenue for the fund was $9,720, expenditures were $96,393, and the fund balance at the end of June stood at $489,170.42, which was an $86,672 decrease from the previous month. >> Abby, if I may interrupt -- >> Go ahead. >> -- for the public who was looking in on this. Look at the WDVA second quarter, $1,816,401 came into this county through this fund. So when you look at your taxes, think of what it's doing for you to have this extra money come into the county. Thank you. >> Thank you, Bob.

52:48 Any other questions or comments on these reports? >> Just to add to what Bob was saying, I'm also taking a look at some of the numbers that are being taken out of the VFW Service Officer. I'm not going to say what it is, but I would definitely say that the Assistant Center and Emory down at the VA are really seeing a lot of veterans to keep the numbers down so we don't have a lot of people calling other areas outside of our area or even getting to our DAV chapter, we're doing the best that we can to have people. There was a spike a little bit this couple weeks of veterans just frantically calling this to see somebody, and like I said, it's over 60 days out just to see somebody. So it's something that I'm noticing quite a bit for both myself and Roy through the DAV. >> Thank you, Bruce.

53:42 If there's no other questions, I'll pass it back to Bob. >> Okay. Judy, you're on the hook. >> Hello, everybody. So I have quite a few things to tell you today. First of all, let's talk about the stand down. It's going to be September 25th at the Armed Forces Reserve Center. It'll be 9 to 2. I will send the flyer to Abby and she can send it around to all of you. But we are, as always, raising money to help make our stand down bigger and better. So if your organization has donated in the past and they want to donate again, or if you haven't donated in the past and you wish to donate, send a check to the center or call the center and someone can come out and, you know, we can talk to you about it and give

54:41 you all the details. And we'd love to have your help. So the second thing I want to talk about is, as you probably all know, I stepped down from the presidency in April and we elected Sonya Wood as president. And there were also some lots of changes in personnel at the center. And so that became an 87 hour a week job for Sonya to do the presidency and her admin duties for the vet fund. So Sonya resigned as a president and our vice president, who is D. Shaw, was in the hospital at the time. So she was unable to step up as the president. So we are board collections and we have a new board. We have our president now is of the board is Kelly Jones.

55:41 Our vice president is Sam Whitley. Our treasurer is Jack Goldberg and our secretary is Varun and I'm not going to butcher his last name. His last name begins with a P and I'm not even going to attempt to tell you what it is. Sorry. They are all working with our consultant who is in the process of doing a strategic five year plan for the center. You all know that we have grown into this or come into this bigger space. We have 10,000 square feet. Mr Angelo, who rented us the space, wanted us to increase services and that's what we're working on doing. Our five year strategic plan hopefully will lead us in all the right directions. It'll help us to bring in more services for our veterans.

56:36 We're still hopeful that our 2027 budget can include mental health help. And we are, we have our tentacles out there everywhere in the community, reaching out to all of our sister and brother organizations, trying to bring in as many services as quickly as we can. We also are working on getting more volunteers. So we hope to do what Mr Angelo asked us to do and that was increase our services for veterans. So that's what we're all working on. If you all have any questions, you can all reach out and I'll be happy to any answer any questions that you have that I can answer and if not, I will give you someone who can answer them. So I also, hello, yeah, this is a question, yeah, I didn't, yeah, I had, it's Buck, just

57:34 something that is very, very important to our board. Will you remain as the vet fund administrator? Yes, as far as I know, I will be here until I retire. Great. So I have no intentions of going anywhere. Sonia and I are working as full and part time vet fund administrators. One of the things that I'll be passing on to Sonia and helping her with is the budget and our new treasurer of the board has been in nonprofit boards for 20 plus years. He is a QuickBooks master. He also is a CPA. So he's going to bring a lot of good energy to helping vet fund streamline and be better at forecasting and budgeting and all the things that perhaps I wasn't stellar at in the past,

58:33 but I'm going to get there. Okay. So anyway. Is it possible maybe to set up some type of event where the advisory board could meet the people there? Yeah. Of course. And this will happen once, it'll probably be towards the end of the year because we are working with a consultant company called Point North and they are working on our five year strategic plan. And with the new officers in place, of course they have their plates full making the transition right now. So absolutely I will pass along that the board wishes to meet with all of them. And I think that's a great idea. Okay. And part of it will have to do with strategic planning because we are going to be looking at the strategic plan for the advisory board also. Right.

59:33 So what you do and what we are doing go together very closely. Okay. I agree. So I definitely will try to set that up for you. Judy, just to add on and footnote what Patrick just said, it's an opportunity whenever you plan this get together to recognize the volunteers and folks who donate money as well. If you can expand into those particular areas, I think it's a good time to do that. I agree with you. We always are looking for ways to thank our volunteers and our donors. Yeah. So. Okay. So the next thing on my agenda is I wanted to read to you all a letter, and this is why we do what we do at Vet Fund. It says, "Dear Clark County Veterans Assistance, on behalf of the Clark County Sheriff's Office

1:00:28 and the Morgan family, we'd like to extend our deepest gratitude for your generous support in covering the funeral costs for Deputy Patrick Morgan. Your kindness and willingness to assist during such a difficult time provided immeasurable comfort to Deputy Morgan's family and eased a significant financial burden as they honored his life in service. Your compassion and commitment to supporting our veterans and their families are truly appreciated and reflect the very best of our community. Deputy Morgan dedicated his life to serving others, and your generosity helped ensure he received the dignified and honorable farewell he deserved. We are sincerely grateful for your partnership, your thoughtfulness, and your support during this time of loss. Thank you again for your generosity and for standing beside our law enforcement family when it mattered most.

1:01:26 With heartfelt appreciation, John Horch, Sheriff." So this deputy was a veteran, and we were able to help with the funeral costs for him. So this is why we do what we do, and this is why we're all here as much as we are and why we love what we do. This is the reason. This letter brought me to tears, and I'm so grateful that someone did reach out and tell us how much they appreciate the things that we do every day. So thank you for allowing me to read that. And I have one more little thing that I want to say, and then I'll kick it back. And that is congratulations to Abby, who just got married. Yay! Thank you, Judy. Thank you. There's a lucky guy who lives here. Congratulations, Abby. Thank you for all the help that she gives us. She's amazing. So thank you, Abby.

1:02:25 Yes, she is. And with that, if you don't all have any questions, I will turn it back over to Bob. Jim? I've got one quick question, Judy. Have you got some sort of summary of the tasks that Northpointe is doing for you that you could provide before our next meeting where we start talking about our strategic plan? I'm sorry. I have to go. We have an emergency up front. Oh, boy. Yeah. Okay. Mental health. Yep. Hey, I did have something. I know they had to leave, but something we probably should think about. Maybe it sounds like the two boards are going to eventually meet here soon, but maybe we should have a standing annual or twice a year standing meeting with our board and their

1:03:21 board in the future, just something to throw out there. And then she's not on the answer to the other question, so I'll reach out to Judy and Sonya separately. Well, get Amber and handle it. I'm trying to figure out what happened with Joe without talking with them. You got an open mic? Open mic. Oh, she's got somebody in crisis. There he goes. It's good. Okay. Anyway, hopefully you heard that about having the two boards meet regularly, twice a year maybe, I don't know, once a quarter in the future. Any other comments? Yeah. Just to hear with Kelly Jones and Samantha Whitley, they're alumni here to our Clark County Veterans Advisory Board, so it's really going to get things a little bit more streamlined with the leadership knowing what we're doing. That's a good thing. Okay.

1:04:17 If not, then we'll move on to old business. Yes, Patrick? Old business, from last, from June, we talked about the strategic plan. The last strategic plan that was done for this organization was 2015, and Amy was going to send that to everybody. I don't know if that did that happen. The 2015 strategic plan? Yeah. I sent out the most recent version of the strategic plan, which is about a decade old. I've been working to update all of the demographics in there based on more recent census data and local data, and I'm just waiting on a couple more things, and then I'll send out the most updated version that I have with current data, and then I would love all of

1:05:13 your feedback on more of the content of the strategic plan and what goals you all want to see updated for the next cycle. Yeah. I'd like to see us have some kind of conversation on that, maybe a subcommittee that would look into it and then develop what our elements are of the strategic plan. So I don't know how we would do that. But Bob, do you want to appoint? I could appoint a committee to do that, to look at the strategic plan. Any volunteers? I got two. Three. Put me down. Four. Yeah. I'll help out. Okay. Larry. I'll help out. Jim. I'll help out. Okay. I can help. Me too.

1:06:13 Greg. You Greg? Greg's on. Greg's saying. Greg, thank you. That's five. Well. I'll be on that also. Okay. Patrick, thank you. That's six. So you all decide who's going to be your leader and pick a date to meet, and then we'll discuss the strategic plan next month. Okay. Thank you. Real quick. For anybody who was on that committee, I have Tanya, Larry, Jim, Greg, Patrick, and was there one other? Bob. Bob Brennan. Great. I will be sure to send updates about the strategic plan to you all, and if you need help facilitating a meeting, let me know. Okay. Any more old business? Yeah. Just one, and it's come up several times, and I'll mention it to a couple of groups I go to.

1:07:08 I know a lot of police officers, only because of my work with the city of Vancouver and city council and so forth, and they're very busy. If you haven't been to a concert lately, look around. You'll see police officers walking around. It's so important, and I tell folks this, especially folks with families. Go thank them. Walk up there and say, "Hey, I appreciate your job. I spent about 10 minutes talking to two of them at the Columbia Tech Center Sunday night, how it's going and so forth." They've got families, and they've got kids and so forth, and a lot of these police officers are very stressed out. I don't know whether you know. I'm familiar with some of the calls they're getting lately, especially those related to mental illness and drugs and so forth. It's not good. It's not healthy, and then all you have to do is just open up the newspaper or listen to the news, and you'll find a shooting going on someplace.

1:08:04 But I'm just asking, we can sort of be the leaders of reaching out and encourage the kids and so forth. You know, when you see a police officer walk by, and they're usually two of them at a concert, "Hey, thanks for coming out, and thanks for taking care of us." It's a little thing, but it means so much, and a lot of folks are afraid of police officers. I'll tell you that. I talked to a couple folks that said, "I don't want anything to do with a police officer," because of all the stuff that's in the paper lately and so forth. It's a wrong attitude to have. Those folks are here to protect us and so forth, and they need to be complimented for the work they've done, and I think most of them, 99 percent, do good work. But I just want to mention that, because what's going on right now is really, I live at Touchmark, and at Touchmark, we're not allowed to watch TVs if it's on news. Fox News are seeing that, because people get in an argument.

1:09:01 We had a couple doctors there who said, "We don't want to stress out some of these individuals in their 90s," because they're getting stressed out with the war going on in Iran, with the news, and every place else. So the news is turned off. We try to degrade a little bit of the anxiety level and stress that's going on, and there is stress, let me tell you, of what's going on in the country, the world, and in the care and so forth. But we have a rule, and the manager has instructed the staff, if you're watching cable news, one of the staff would say, "I'm sorry, we're going to change. What sports network do you want? If you want to watch news, go to your room." And that's unfortunate, but it's going on right now, and I've seen arguments in there that almost two 90-year-old guys almost got in a fistfight arguing over Iran. And I said, "God almighty, can't we get along with one another?"

1:09:55 But I just want to mention how important it is to get out there and be an encouragement of bringing people together. And we've got all these events. If you look at all the events we have going on, Columbia Tech Center had about 2,500 people Sunday night. It was fantastic. People coming together, all young people, older people having a good time and so forth. That's the way we want it. We've got to keep it like that. We don't want to be stressed out. That's right. But anyhow, I just want to mention that. It's old business. We mention it all the time. We're catalysts in the community. We make things happen, and all of us are pretty well respected in the community for what we think and what we believe. So... >> Thank you, Larry. >> Yeah. >> Hey, Bob. I've got one something to add to what Larry mentioned. >> Hi, Greg. >> Outstanding. Police, you know, comment there, Larry. I also think we need to thank our wildland firefighters, too.

1:10:52 This is terrible in Oregon, Washington, and the northwest. So even though we don't necessarily see the fires right here directly in our neighborhoods, we had a significant amount of BFW members in Spokane affected by the firefighters over there or the fires over there. So we need to be thanking them as well because they're putting it on the line to keep us safe this summer. It's bad this year. And then I have a question, though, and I don't know if we need to answer the question right now. But if we're out in the -- can this board, can all of us on this board, can we create like a coin, like an appreciation coin that we can give to the police and fire in? And when we're out in the community, you know, a Clark County Veterans Advisory Appreciation Coin, something like that, maybe it takes funds from us each individually to put in to have those designed. But I know some designers that could help us with that. So this is something I just thought about when Larry was mentioning. >> Yeah.

1:11:50 It would be difficult for us to fund something like that through the fund because anything we fund has to go to veterans. So it would have to be something we would individually contribute to. >> That's what I'm asking, because we individually do something like that. >> I may be able to find a company, a veteran company that would step up and donate money for coin. Thompson Mathew Fadd is one of them. >> He's a great idea. >> Yeah. We can shop around. >> Okay. >> So we don't have to go with our own back pockets. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Give us some luck next meeting. >> Larry knows about everybody. So I figured you'd have a name. >> Yeah. He does. >> Good and bad. >> Okay. Any role in business? If not, I'll move to new business. >> I got one, and some of you don't know about this. Some of you do.

1:12:47 I think it's tomorrow the 104th Division retires. >> At Fort Lewis, right? >> Yeah. They're at Fort Lewis. They were at the barracks since 1945, 80 years. They will retire at the building, they had a brand new building up at North Vancouver. They're going out of business. Some of the units will not. I understand that the Army Band, their band will be moved to another unit. They're located at the Armed Forces Reserve Center. But they are going to retire. They're retiring them throughout the country. They've got a couple companies spread out, and they're just going out of business because of it. >> That's most of the training divisions, isn't it? >> This most of what? >> Most of the training divisions. >> Oh, yeah. >> They're being deactivated. >> Yeah. They're changing. >> Yeah. >> But I just want to mention that.

1:13:41 I'm working with the superintendent of the National Park Service in Temple Lents to get some kind of monument or something dedicated to the 104th. They're very reluctant over there to put monuments and so forth because where do you stop? I've been trying to work on one for Bob Knight and one for Royce Pollard for their contribution to the barracks and so forth. But I would like to get one on the 104th, probably a plaque or something that designates that they were located here in their contribution. They've got a great war record. Some of you may have been in the 104th. I served with them in 1989 and 1991. They've got -- in the local area, they've got 7, 8, 8 general officers who commanded the unit. They're still very active. But I am working with the National Park Service and the Historic Trust for some kind of monument to be dedicated to the 104th because of here.

1:14:38 Now here's the issue and it's an issue that all of us face is what do we do with the stuff? So when they close up, they're going to have all the pictures and all the paraphernalia that goes with the unit. What do you do with it? I've been down in the basement of the Howard building, Howard House. I've been down in the basement of the artillery barracks. I've been down in the basement of the hospital. It's covered with stuff. I mean a lot of it's very valuable. I mean it's got paintings and pictures and clothing and so forth. No one knows what to do with it. The only thing that keeps coming up is auction it off because a lot of this stuff is valuable because it's been donated by individuals who've passed away and they've donated the stuff to the trust. Trust doesn't know what to do with it, don't have any room. We've got a room down there loaded with butler, congresswoman butler stuff.

1:15:36 When she was in the Howard House, she donated when she left and got out of the business. I don't know what to do. We're trying to be careful about the 104th and something where we can designate it, whether it's a plaque or something for their contributions and some of you may have served there. There are a lot of folks in Clark County who have served with the 104th or have gone by it on the way to Vietnam because it was an embarkation point and so forth. As far as clothing, can we bring that to the stand downs? What's that? As far as clothing, you said there's a bunch of clothes on the thing, bring it to the stand downs? Yeah. That'd be a great way to get rid of it. But I just wanted to pass it on. So I am working with that and I'm working with Kurt Loop, who's one of the local general officers who commanded the 104th about 1993, 1995. He's a helicopter pilot. But it's just one of those things that's happening and unfortunately and I hope we keep the ban,

1:16:35 the Armed Forces Reserve Center will stay there. There's no reduction in any of their particular force. It's just 104th as a training unit. They were mission was at Fort Lewis was to train ROTC cadets up there, advanced camp and basic camp and so forth. They don't have a mission to speak of anymore and they were sending some drills to Fort Knox as well, but it's changed. So I'll keep you informed of that, what we could come up with and so forth. The last monument we put out there was a guy named Dan Tarbill in 2014 in front of the Armed Forces Reserve Center, that POW/MIA was Dan Tarbill's work of getting $20,000 to build that monument and we couldn't build it at the Armed Forces, we couldn't build it at the National Park Service because they didn't allow any more monuments because we already have monuments dedicated to war veterans.

1:17:32 But anyhow, I'll keep you informed, but I thought you know, surprisingly enough, there's nothing in the paper and I called the paper and I said, "There's nothing about the 104th. It used to be here at the barracks, 80 years." Have you seen something? I have, I think it was on TV. Okay. Maybe it was in the news on TV. Okay, yeah. I'll get what information I can and what information is covered with the coverage up there, but I'll keep you informed. That's it. Okay, thank you, Laurie. I have new business. All right. Can I go ahead? So I think it's amazing, we're getting our fund under our control and be able to do more things that we need to do. I'm just wondering, and I'm just putting this out there, you know, no answers today doesn't need to be answered right now because we don't have all the paperwork yet and know how things are going to work, but there's a veteran organization up north. Some of you may have heard of them, Schooly, they're in Olympia.

1:18:31 Anyway, they're willing to give us a shower, a shower trailer. It's done, it's put together, bring down and give it to us, but we need to be able to set up, you know, the gray and gray water lines and, you know, everything, because I'm assuming it would go down at SEVAC. I don't know. That's another thing that needs to be decided, but anyway, and that's just an example. So I'm wondering if we can't, as a board with the fund, also allocate money for things like that. Not everything goes to SEVAC. I think that's, we don't need to do all that. It's a shower trailer for veterans. A shower trailer, a shower. There's like four, yeah, there's like four to, depends how big the trailer is, four to six showers in there, and you can take a shower and then go to your job interview, you know. Wash some clothes out in there or something. Yeah, I mean, people ask why, houseless people just go to work, and I tell them all the reasons that that is not possible.

1:19:28 Tanya, that would be something that would be up to the assistance center. We can't do that because our money has to go directly to help veterans. What is a shower trailer for veterans? No, no, no, no, no. Follow the RCW. Showers ain't in there. But it's directly helping veterans. It doesn't make any difference if it doesn't benefit a veteran who is needy or indigent, it can't go there. We can discuss the things later, but I'm just saying, as the-- It's a suggestion that Judy could get maybe the center to hook onto. Right, but we would pay for that. No, we wouldn't. For the extra, because they'll have an extra water bill, they'll have this, they'll have that. No, we wouldn't. We would pay for it out of the fund by giving them all money. No, we wouldn't. Yes.

1:20:24 It could be paid for out of the other side of the assistance center. The thing you're talking about is a capital expense infrastructure versus something like rent for a person's apartment or something, right? That's not considered capital expense, but a trailer or something like that is what would be considered capital expense, and maybe-- Mark, are you online there? Mark Lacy? He's not online there anymore? Just Greg. No. Greg. Yeah, I'm here. And another-- Yeah, he's there. Mark? Mark's there. Mark? Yeah. Capital expense. Did you hear what Tanya was talking about?

1:21:21 Yeah, I heard that there was a donation of a piece of capital equipment that was designed to provide mobile shower capabilities. Yes. All right. Now, what's the issue again? I said as a board, could we pass whatever money it needed to take to get it set up? Because they'll bring it down to us for free, and that's just an example of things. I don't want to see, and this is just me and nothing against this center, but I want us to be able to-- Patrick. I think Patrick was raising the issue that-- It'd be a capital expenditure. Install that anywhere, because that was a capital expenditure rather than a direct assistance to a veteran. Right. All right. We have a homeless shelter or a veterans' shelter somewhere? No. People are sleeping in tents on the street, if they have a tent. You might just have a sleeping bag.

1:22:20 I'm sure that's true, but is that necessarily the best solution to the problem? No. It's not. It's not a solution to homelessness, but it's a solution to help them be able to get a job on other things. I'm just asking the question. I'm not saying it has to be deliberated today. That's okay. You need to ask that question. Don't feel that that's not-- And I see what you're saying now. We're having a conversation, so to clarify and understand what the potential is, right? And that's what I was asking Mark to bring some comment in here, because he's a finance guy. He knows this kind of stuff, and I'd just like him to comment on what his views would be on something like that. So couldn't the assistant senator then add money on? Go ahead. I'm sorry.

1:23:18 From what I've heard and know about the issue, this is something that clearly we probably all agree that it would be of benefit to the homeless veterans, but is there any way we can get it done? Is that the issue then? Oh, yeah. I've got a place up north, Schooley Foundation. They're all veterans that said they'll give us-- it's done, it's put together. That's what they do up there. They went and just took some stuff over to Spokane for the fires, for fire relief. And they said they'll bring it down, we just need to have it set up where they can be hooked up. Again, Tanya, the other side of the assistance center, the private side, could pay for that. We can't. So it would be something that we would have to ask the assistance center to do. Okay. So what can we-- And that would go to the assistance center board, right?

1:24:16 The board we were talking about a little bit ago. So there's a good topic for our joint meeting, Tanya. Yeah. I think a shower trailer would be excellent down there. I also wish we could get a washer and dryer trailer, but I don't know how that's going to work. They have those too. And then also like other things, say I think that VFW organizations, and tell me if this already exists, can put in requests for money from our veteran fund. Like the VFW needs to help somebody, a veteran, with their mortgages, which they already do, but let's say they run out of money and they need help more. They go to the center for that. Other places help with it. Not everything's got to go to the center. No. That's my problem. We can't give any money out like that. We can't appropriate dollars that are raised through taxes.

1:25:15 That's our vet fund. Okay. Yeah. But other organizations have their vet fund. Yeah. If you look at the RCW-- Does that make sense? The RCW lays the primary responsibility on the organizations, all of these organizations. These organizations have put into place the Veterans Assistance Center to do that. The way that the RCW reads is that if we put in an organization in place like that, the Veterans Assistance Center, the first place the veterans should go is to the organization, and then the organization is supposed to refer them to the center-- If they can't help them. Exactly. Right. And so they can help them, but that would come from the center then, the way that we've structured it here in Clark County.

1:26:15 But now we're going to have different funds. It's not a different fund. Same fund. It's a different pocket. For money. Same rules. A lot more money. Yeah. This is a great conversation because as the commander this past year of the VFW, we had a lot of people come to us for assistance on various things, rent, utility bills, fixing their car, things like that. Now here's the deal, right? So, we do as much as we can. Sometimes people need more than what our bylaws say we can provide. Exactly. Right? But here's the deal, right? If someone, and I'm telling you, we have repeat customers, and if they're not part of the RCW, Patrick and others, they have to be a resident of Clark County for at least one year. Right. Right? Yes. One year. So, here's the deal.

1:27:15 If the veterans organizations, such as the VFW, the American Legion, other organizations that have funds, if they continue to help them, and they're repeat customers, they don't get on the Clark County Veterans Assistance roles. So, you have people that say, "Well, I can't wait a year." So that just needs to be a further discussion because I've seen it often. Because if they don't go to the assistance center, then the assistance center doesn't know about them. Right? And then they come back to the organizations that have veterans relief funds because they're repeat customers. So, it's kind of a revolving circle here, folks, that we need to vet through and talk about. You're absolutely right, Greg. Why are the members not reported to CVAC? Because the organizations don't report what happens in their organizations.

1:28:10 Right, that's where we have to do some educating within the organizations to understand the process that we're putting in place. And if I could just jump in here to provide a little bit of clarity around requirements of the Veterans Assistance Fund. So, essentially, the only requirements of this fund is that it is used to serve indigent veterans. So, veterans who are under 200% of the federal poverty level who live in Clark County and their families. Thank you. We have decided to allocate those funds into our three contracts through the assistance center, the free clinic, and the WDBA, but the contracts that we have aren't a requirement of the RCW. That was a determination made by this board. So, if the board wanted to entertain other organizations, funding other organizations within the funding that is allowed, that is definitely a conversation that can happen.

1:29:06 And if we wanted to potentially open up funding for applications, that's also something that we can definitely do. We have processes at the county to do that, but it would mean that all organizations that come in for funding have to go through the application process. Exactly. Right. Yeah. And I understand. I'm working on one of those right now, as a matter of fact. I understand exactly what you're saying, and we have the authority to bring things in like that. Okay. So, is there an ability, I just have one more comment, is there an ability to change that and reduce the requirement of one-year residency? No. Is that something that's in the, Abby's going to check. I, off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure that one-year residency in Washington State is a requirement of the RCW, but I will double check and get back to you with confirmation. I don't remember being that.

1:30:05 Check it. Okay. I was just bringing it up. That's all. Thank you for listening. Okay. So it's a county thing, not necessarily a state. So if you lived in the state of Washington, that doesn't count because you're living in a different county. Yeah, it's an RCW, so therefore it does, Craig. State. Oh. That's a state requirement. Washington State. Yeah. It's RCW. All right. And then the, right, oh well, we'll talk about it later because that raises another question. We can't just beat this to death. All right. Since old business, new business got mixed up with open forum, I'll move it to open forum and Larry. Yeah, I've got one thing and I hate to bring this up. If you haven't made any plans of using I-5 starting in 12 September, you better make plans. If you're going to the VA, OHSU, or some of the medical facilities, it's going to be worked on for five weeks.

1:31:04 It's going to be shut down. They're putting new lanes in and I've already, I've heard some complaints. I've had a couple folks that had appointments at VA in late September, they've changed them because they're afraid they're not going to be able to get there. This is bad news. I've seen some of it just start 12 September. Where's the work being done? Down by the motor center, I-5. Right. Southbound. Yeah, probably from the take off four or five, five. Yeah, well. It's going to be pretty much shut down. You have to go up to 205, you have to go around to use Powell Boulevard. There's all kinds of routes to get to the VA. It's just time-consuming. Yeah, it is. So that's why. TDY. I did hear that someone told me that the VA over there is bringing some additional services over from Portland over to Vancouver. That's good. But I don't know what those services are.

1:32:03 That's right. They got room to do it. Alrighty. So, open forum continue. Okay. According to the RCW, at the discretion of the county legislative authority and in consultation with the Veterans Advisory Board, counties may expand eligibility for the Veterans Assistance Fund as the county determines necessary. So there is -- We would have to change our policies and procedures. Yeah. But that's -- That's just what we write, it's not the RCW. Right. Well, we can -- No, we don't write anything. We recommend the county does it. Again, we're just an advisory board.

1:33:03 Yep, we're -- Oh, I have one more thing. The community services -- Okay, Tanya, get it out there. Some of us ladies are getting together. Deb is one of them and me and Cynthia and Sarah Fox. Anyway, we are hopefully starting a women's veterans group. Our initial meeting is going to be August 29th up at the VFW. Oh, I don't remember the times. Remember the times? Two to four. Thank you. Two to four. Yeah. Two to four. Good word. So if you guys know any female veterans, you know, let them know. Everybody -- Everybody is welcome. You do not have to be a member of the VFW. Females only. Right, so females. If you know females, yeah. If you men show up, we're kicking you out. So. No. So it's all in Clark County? Yeah, Clark County veterans. Right now, there's -- I've had response from across the country. I put it on some female websites and I didn't realize some of them weren't just local.

1:34:02 So. But that's for the future. We'll see. But, yeah. First meeting, August 29th, and if you know any female vets who want to come together and talk about stuff, please let them know. Thank you, Tanya. Mm-hmm. All right. Continue. Open forum. Any more? I just have one item, and we can discuss this at a later meeting. It's not urgent. But Diane Arp will be coming to our December board meeting, per the request of some of the board members to give a presentation and have a discussion with you all. And she would love to know if you have any specific questions or topics for her to prepare for this visit. Who was this again? Diane. Me. Oh. Okay. And what is it about? I think we can do that. You can do that, yeah. I'm sorry. I don't know. Oh. Yeah. Great. Yeah. She's part of that million dollars that comes into the county. Yay. Yeah. She's a big part of it. All right. I just have one more thing, Bob.

1:35:02 All right. Greg. Yeah. I just wanted to let everybody know. So I'm now the, as of a couple weeks ago, the Oregon, Idaho, and Southwest Washington outreach coordinator and Portland MEPS manager. So if anybody's interested in volunteering for the USO, United Service Organizations, I'm not very demanding. So give me a holler if you're interested in volunteering and I can walk you through the process and even give it, you know, show you the spaces and stuff. Tremendous opportunity to connect with, especially the young, the youth in the area and the new recruits before they head off to boot camp and stuff, and the staff down at the MEPS. So you know, there's a lot of opportunities, so I just want to throw it out there. That's one reason why I'm not there in person today. So thank you. Where is it based at now, Greg? Where are you based?

1:35:59 The Portland MEPS, Portland MEPS is on the airport road behind the embassy, the embassy suites hotel by the FBI building on the airport road. Oh, okay. And I've talked to a few people individually about it before, but I just wanted to bring it up in a group. So I'm already, I'm already signing Buck up right now. I can see he's got to get him out of Montana. Buck didn't have enough to do. Yes, Mike. Thank you. Bob, I think it's about time we make a motion to retire for the day. I'll accept that. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Meeting adjourned. Thank you all for coming. You didn't ask for anybody. Thank you.