State Committee of Vendors’ Meeting

Altamonte Springs, Florida: July 11-12, 2003

Mr. Spiliotis called the meeting to order at 1:10 PM Friday, July 11, 2003.

Roll Call

SLA Staff

Gallery

Business Guests

Mr. Spiliotis introduced Mr. Foreman who in turn introduced Messrs. Daigle and Kalfut to discuss offering Barnie’s Coffee to in the vending machines at the facilities on the Inter-State Highway Rest Areas. Ms. James said she favored branded concepts but liked a liquid coffee base for use at here locations. Mr. Gaudette suggested Crane National be contacted to discuss compatibility of the Barnie’s product line and the National coffee machine. Given the program’s different venues i.e. snack bars, cafeterias and full vending operations, Mr. Rose suggested a few of each type be selected as test markets. Messrs. Foreman, Daigle and Kalfut agreed to develop such a plan for further discussion.

Ms. Murphey reported on two contracts on soon to commence.

Visinity – This contract is designed to locate in Florida all of the federal and state properties that are eligible for Randolph Sheppard Program participation, but may or may not be known to the Division. The long-range benefit is that unassigned vending machine income will increase. This 5-year contract will tract income sources and provide an in-depth analyses of each properties sales. The Division has no exposure in this venture. Ms. Malmberg asked if vendors might be considered as third party providers and Mr. Spiliotis said that if they provide quality vending service Viscinity would be likely to consider such vendors to service the locations not known to the Division. The initial phase will focus on database development and location of new federal property. Phase two will focus on existing locations. Visinity representatives plan to attend the next Committee Meeting to discuss this initiative.

Aramatic – This contract is designed to manage facilities on a temporary basis. The contract provides for a $10,000.00 a month payment as a flat fee to provide this service for department operation of locations, as needed. In the past, the Division paid as much as $360,000.00 for department operation. This past fiscal year approximately $220,000.00 was spent to have FIRE provide this service.

Mr. Elliott said rehabilitation funds were would be used to purchase a talking Cash Register and Money Identifier for each Region. A discussion ensued regarding the need to accommodate persons who are not capable of seeing money-counting dials on coin sorters.

Mr. Spiliotis inquired about the status of the Division becoming a Commission. Mr. Elliott responded that this past year’s legislative effort did not progress as planned due to a number of factors, including the lack of pubic forums to discuss the proposed changes. He said that public forums were being planned for this Fall. The forums would be located in Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Orlando, Tampa, Ft. Myers, and ft. Lauderdale. Changing to a Commission would allow more flexibility than the Bureau has now within the Department of Education. To the best of his knowledge, the forums would be held on a Tuesday or Wednesday at a location with public transportation available. Mr. Elliott indicated he would keep the Committee apprised of the public forum schedule.

Mr. Rose suggested that future training be conducted on Saturdays rather than on weekdays. The logistics of the training offered recently by Crane national were discussed and its problems with adequate notice. Mr. Prescott asked about reimbursement for persons who had traveled more than 100 miles to attend the training, specifically vendors from Ft. Myers who traveled to Tampa and had to spend the night. Mr. Elliott said that the affected vendors could be reimbursed now for the expenses they incurred. Mr. Newcomb asked that vendors contact him for these arrangements. Mr. Prescott said he would do this.

Mr. Spiliotis asked if there could be some effort to decrease the number of duplicate payments on repairs. He said that a vendor had received such a duplicate payment but met resistance by State officials when he asked how to return the duplicate voucher. This disturbed the vendor since he wanted the payment returned to the State and not credited as a payment to him twice. Ms. Murphey said she would discuss this further with Mr. Spiliotis to be sure it was resolved satisfactorily. Mr. Spiliotis did acknowledge the improvement on the timeliness of repair reimbursements.

Mr. Sampadian discussed the financial state of the program’s set aside fluctuations. He said net proceeds are increasing and the number of facilities had remained fairly constant. However, there has been an increase in the vending machine only businesses within a constant number of locations.

After considerable discussion it was determined that the Florida program ranked well against other state programs. Mr. Sampadian said there still seemed some concern about sales being so flat over time. He said expense analysis showed the program was moving more toward vending machine opportunities rather than the more traditional food service offered by snack bars and cafeterias.

Mr. Spiliotis thanked Mr. Sampadian for his diligence in monitoring the program’s finances. The Committee acknowledged this sentiment by a round of applause.

Mr. Sampadian said he did not see the need to change the current set aside rate. He indicated the program presently seemed financially sound but continued improvements should be sought.

Ms. Alger made a presentation on the status of vendor service plaques as well as the Don Cameron and Frank Adams awards. She also talked about a new award for persons newly licensed. An effort is being made to determine these awards from discussions with District Reps and Regional Consultants rather than merely on performance.

Mr. Spiliotis adjourned the meeting for the evening.

Mr. Spiliotis reconvened the meeting at 9:15 AM on Saturday, July 12, 2003.

Roll Call

SLA Staff

Gallery

Mr. Spiliotis indicated that changes to the Committee by-laws needed to be made and that the timing to do so would allow for their adoption at the upcoming Statewide Seminar.

He asked Mr. Newcomb to read and scribe the recommended changes. This took most of the morning session since each section was read and changes discussed. A conference call is to be scheduled for July 29, 2003 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM for final resolution of the changes. The By-Laws with proposed amendments are attached.

Round Table

Mr. Spiliotis opened the meeting to presentations by Districts, but asked for brevity due to time constraints.

Mr. Rose made a presentation culminating in a recommendation that the four vending machine locations, which currently constitute Facility #493 based from the State Regional Services Center in Ft. Lauderdale, be absorbed into Facility #501, the vending machine route based out of the Internal Revenue Services Building in Plantation. Ms. Murphey she opposed inclusion of the machines at the State Regional Services Center sine it might soon be re-opened as a Snack Bar.

After further discussion, Ms. Alger made a motion to attach all of the locations involved in Facility #493 to Facility #501 with the exception of the machines currently located at the Regional Services Center. In the event the Regional Services Center remains all vending machines, it would be attached as well (determination to be made within next 90 days). Ms. Malmberg seconded the motion.

Mr. Lover conducted a roll call vote with the following votes cast:

Motion carried.

Mr. Francis asked for agency assistance with a multitude of operational problems that he is experiencing at the cafeteria in the State Regional Services Center Towers in Miami. It was suggested that the cafeteria be converted into a Snack Bar. Mr. Elliott said he would work with Mr. Francis to make the conversion. It was suggested that Aramatic be consulted for recommendations in this conversion.

Mr. Lover presented an update on the upcoming seminar.

Mr. Spiliotis expressed his appreciation to the members of the Committee for all the support he had received as Chairperson and singled Mr. Lover out for his extraordinary wisdom and dedication throughout their tenure as Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson. Both were given a round of applause.

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM on July 12, 2003.

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