July 2004 News

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Recent newspaper articles report few people are upset by service changes resulting from the last budget. Generally I think this is because most people really don’t know what is happening inside state government. Everyone from the outside sees the shell of government and assumes that things are functioning as normal. Government is starving and things are eroding under Governor Doyle’s watch. As Doyle continues to make cuts to staff and programs without understanding the impacts, the shell of government is eroding. Doyle also continues the expensive outsourcing of government services. Everyone should wonder why this is good government?

The public expects and assumes that government is staffed and able to meet their needs. The growing gap and erosion of government limits its ability to respond. This is what concerns all engineering professionals. We know the ability of the state to deliver quality services is eroding. The starvation means short staff, high work loads, and government simply becomes dysfunctional. Then, because tasks can not be completed, everyone assumes government is not working so the politicians beat the outsourcing drum. The very thing that is contributing to the dysfunction is continued or expanded. Are you getting the picture? There is a real need to have trained professionals looking after public health and safety. Public servants who have institutional memory and knowledge about the necessary tasks government needs to perform. Cutting government employees simply to be politically popular is not leadership, but lazy government.

We are in the process of planning the upcoming fall elections for the SEA executive board. You still have time to get involved and make a run for office, but the window of time is closing. Voting will be scheduled near the end of August.

Again mark your calendar for the SEA annual meeting, it is scheduled for September 24, 25.

Remember to be professionally and technically the best you can be at your jobs! It is how you

can best serve yourself and the taxpayers of the State.

Respectfully,

Timothy R. Hanley

SEA President

Legislative Report July 2004

Larry Legro 2nd VP

Last month I received many compliments on the Top Ten list and my pledge. Much later on, I heard from others who gave it a thumbs down. Nevertheless, it is probably “thee” first time in 4 years that I have gotten so much feedback, which is good as it tells me that you are reading the newsletter. We had a plan as a Board to strike out a bit through this medium called the newsletter, and I played my part. Now it will be time for others to play their part in SEA. It is a good role to play.

Board Elections are upon us in a few months. The dilemma about current bargaining and the bargaining process will overlap within TWO administrations in SEA. It is conceivable that one bargaining team will finish the work they started while a second team will be prepping for the possibility of the next (2005-2007) contract. The Board will work this one out. Keep in mind that we are over 1 year into a contract we should have had on July 1, 2003. But, the flip side is that we are still within the May 19, 2003 to June 30, 2003 contract, which as you can see, was signed and effective for only 42 days!, until it “expired.” The sad fact is that our elected officials (i.e. Legislators and Governor) think they are taking care of business, which they clearly are not.

Also, last month I told you I would summarize the Board officer positions, according to our Constitution and Bylaws: All of the Board Governs SEA, and controls SEA property, meet usually monthly or more often, participate in elections, and committees.

President: CEO of SEA, Chair of Bargaining Team, Overseas Board of Officers.

Vice President: SEA Grievance Officer, acting President in absence of President. Monthly grievance updates at meetings.

2nd Vice President: legislative liaison, second in line after V.P. Monthly newsletter article.

Secretary: From meeting notes, create meeting minutes, parliamentarian, keeps member lists.

Treasurer: control of, use of tracking of all SEA funds. Keeps track of members and lists. Basically all the bill paying and accounting for a fairly large treasury.

Most of the above officers are involved with the bargaining team, the demands formulation team (which selects bargaining issues), election committees, audit committees, other committees as appropriate or as a consequence of contractual issues.

The President and Treasurer receive a stipend of $400/month while the two V.P.’s and Secretary receive $300/month. Time commitment varies. Estimate for treasurer is about 40 hrs/month while the rest of officers varies with the project.

Come to the annual Meeting of the Membership being held the weekend of 9/24 and 9/25/2004 in the Superior/Duluth area. The Superior Section has promised to host a first class event. Local Sections of SEA will probably as usual cover most expenses such as hotel cost meals and travel (mileage) for members who wish to attend. Watch for further information as the meeting will be more formally announced in the newsletter and by mail.

I was in Iowa in June and happened to read in the Omaha World Herald (6/18/2004) that Iowa state agencies are saving Iowa money by becoming charter agencies. They re-invent the way the operate by becoming state charter agencies and in exchange, they receive more freedoms to operate. For example the Iowa Dept. of Revenue increased their audits and then decided to pay out less interest on refunds due to those who had refunds coming. Total savings approx. $2.4 million dollars.

“Iowa’s six charter agencies are part of the state’s reinvention plan, introduced last year. The performance based program focuses on results with an emphasis on better serving Iowa taxpayers.”

Also, the Iowa DNR saved $38,281 by replacing contract employees with 15 full time positions. The move also eliminated supervisor duplication.

Wisconsin is hopefully looking into this too, especially the contracting out area with which

SEA has time and time again shown is a place where substantial savings can be had.

The legislature is off until November (after election time) and will be working on the next biennial budgets in January 2005. The Legislative Audit Bureau should have their 6 month analysis of the fleet by the end of this year, which will figure into this budget. Hopefully they will have the benefit of my input, but so far I have not been contacted by them. I have a lot of info from over the years and understand the fleet and some of its problems. Get involved. Be professional. Got a great idea???, share it with us. Check out our website at www.wisea.org. See you at the Annual Meeting! I have enjoyed writing this column for the members, and others who read it. I will miss it. August 2004 will be my last column. I thank you all. May God Bless you too.

WISCONSIN COALITION OF ANNUITANTS (WCOA) MEETING - JUNE 23, 2004

Matt Pommer, reporter for The Capital Times, was our guest speaker. The news
that gets printed is primarily the hot news of the moment.

Matt envisions a change in leadership because they are not representing their local
areas as they should. John Gard, for example, doesn't represent his people in Peshtigo who
elected him. This fall election will determine who will lead the next Legislature (2005-2007).
The Supreme Court will be changing with the new appointments by Governor Doyle
to fill the vacancy by Justice Sykes.

Bill Ford reported on the status of TABOR as being dead this session; however, he
predicts it will return next session in 2005. He reported that there are 14 states that
already have it and 13 more states that are in the process of developing some form of TABOR.
Wisconsin is not a high tax state as Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce contends.

We are in the middle at 29th, and we are in the middle of the pack on spending. This means
that a lot of lies are being used to try and pass the TABOR Bill by legislators and Manufactur-
ers Association. Newspaper articles are being provided to the SEA Board on this subject.
Joe Strohl, lobbyist for Wisconsin Firefighters, led the discussion on the proposed
change to the retirement system to help any surviving spouse when the annuitant dies.

There have been problems because ETF is understaffed, and there have been delays in
spousal continuation of up to 6 months without any payment. This proposal is for ETF to
continue the full amount for three months after death of annuitant to provide time to make
corrections, but only if the plan selected has the spousal continuation included. We will be
working on this bill next year.

The next WCOA meeting will be held on July 21,2004.

Melvin B. Sensenbrenner,
SEA Retirement & Health
Insurance Representative