State Committee of Vendors

Orlando, FL - Friday, August 27, 2010

Mr. Spiliotis called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. Mr. Klindtworth called the roll.

Members Present:

Members Absent:

Division of Blind Services Representatives:

Ms. Joyce Hildreth, Mr. John Clarkson, Mr. William Findley, Mr. Lawrence Batterton, Ms. Kathleen Crosson, Mr. Gene Newcomb (by phone), Ms. Maureen Fink, Ms. Raquel Delgado, Mr. Chadwick Duncan, Mr. Darryl Lane, and Mr. Bernie Kaiserian.

Other attendees who made a presentation to the Committee:

Mr. Steven Moss, BEP Instructor, Mr. Greg Savoy, Farmer Brothers Coffee.

Mr. John Clarkson announced three changes in the Bureau: Mr. William Findley, new Bureau Chief; Mr. Chadwick Duncan, the new Region V Consultant; and Ms. Maureen Fink, who replaced Ms. Kathy Murphey as Operations Management and Consultant Manager.

Mr. Chadwick Duncan read the minutes from the previous meeting. Mr. Joel Rose moved to approve the minutes. Mr. Phil Bluschke seconded the motion. Motion carried without objection.

The motion was passed to make background checks mandatory before clients can begin the BEP program.

Mr. Tom Spiliotis discussed the on going audit with the DOE Inspector Generals Office regarding the monthly business report in process. There were twenty five vendors randomly selected for this audit.

Mr. John Clarkson did a recap of activities since the last meeting. Mr. Tom Spiliotis and Mr. John Klintworth requested to be involved in the
selection of the new Bureau Chief. Mr. Spiliotis was also involved in the interview with Mr. Chadwick Duncan for the Miami Consultant position.
An update on the OJT training program in Tallahassee was provided with the announcement that training has been cancelled with Aramatic effective August 31, 2010. Aramatic will still be managing the cafeteria at the Turlington Building.

On July 6, 2010 the standardized menu proposal was approved.

Mr. John Clarkson discussed with the VR counselor and District Administrators at a state wide DA meeting on July 27, 2010 to get more involved in the Business Enterprise Program regarding quality of clientele.

Bank of America agreements have been signed for online reporting. We will start testing around mid-November. They have a pilot with ten vendors submitting reports online. Hopefully by early 2011 monthly reports will be submitted online.

Ms. Raquel Delgado stated there was an OSHA inspection at NASA on August 11-13, 2010. The snack bars passed the inspection, but the inspectors felt strongly that the facilities were weak in some areas. The areas where improvements are needed include monitoring critical control points, monitoring temperatures daily, and having a HACCP plan in place. Ms. Delgado will be working with NASA and the operators to implement a HACCP plan for each snack bar that will address these concerns.

Raquel discussed a new postal vending route in Orlando which will start August 31, 2010. Kathleen Crosson has issued sixteen permits for this location.

Mr. Tom Chancey with Sara Lee/Dunkin Donut Company stopped by at lunch to promote coffee products.

Mr. Darryl Lane gave an update on the business opportunities in Tallahassee at the Southwood location Department of Revenue, which is being temporarily operated by Carther Graham. This facility will serve twenty two hundred employees. It is undetermined at this time how much yearly profit this location will make.

Darryl received a call from a private company in Fort Lauderdale who
contracts with the Department of Corrections stating they had heard about the Randolph Shepherd Act and would like to contract with the Division of Blind Services for a vending facility in a newly built prison in Milton. It would house two thousand inmates and three hundred and fifty employees. They would like for this to take effect by October 5, 2010.

Darryl gave an update on the North Florida route stating that the twenty two to twenty six locations will be kept as one facility due to the economy.

Mr. Bernie Kaiserian discussed the small snack bar that is going into the Alachua County Library having a set back due to bad construction designs, but is still moving forward. Also, the Duval County Courthouse snack bar, which we will have an option to operate, will be twenty one hundred square feet and will cost about hundred and seventy five thousand dollars for equipment, vending machines, working capital and construction that will need to be done, such as plumbing and electrical. The City of Jacksonville would like to know immediately if we plan to take on this facility.

Ms. Joyce Hildreth acknowledged the new BEP staff to the committee members, which included William Findley, new Bureau Chief, Maureen Fink, promoted to Operations Management and Consultant Manager, and Chadwick Duncan, the new Business Consultant in the Miami region. Congratulations to all.

The DBS training group gave an overview of the training program. Kathleen Crosson discussed CDs that were sent from various states regarding their training program to John Clarkson. It was suggested that we evaluate clients for two weeks at Daytona Rehab before starting the program and that additional training time was needed on vending machines. Steve Moss suggested extending the program to sixteen weeks to include more record keeping and vending machine repair training and getting the trainees more involved with the snack bar at Daytona by operating a cash register and ordering food. Steve stated he would send out an email to all committee members asking for recommendations to improve the program. The classes in Daytona will start back up on October 1, 2010.

Mr. John Klintworth discussed having an interview at the district office with the client, business consultant, district representative, or alternate and counselor before being recommended to the program.

Ms. Joyce Hildreth suggested new clients coming into the program do their evaluation and one week work experience at Daytona followed by one week of work experience with a manager in their district. It was decided that the CRP will evaluate the client and refer to a counselor then get a background check and OJT.

Mr. Bernie Kaiserian gave a report on the standardized menu, which is a standard breakfast that is being served now and eliminating the hot lunches. The snack bars will be selling sandwiches, soups, etc, which will improve cleanliness by eliminating cooking.

Mr. Gene Newcomb discussed via phone the Type II Selection Policy
which was sent out in draft form stating it is essential to meet the needs of the facility and that any licensed operator in the area where the facility is located can be considered a newly licensed operator not under contract or any licensee out of the area. Mr. William Findley read the Type II Selection procedure clause stating meeting the needs of the facility including any special circumstances that may apply.

Mary Hayes made the motion to approve and Phil Bluschke seconded. Motion was approved.

Orlando, FL - Saturday, August 28, 2010

Greg Savoy with Farmer Brothers Coffee gave a presentation on their new coffee machines that could be installed in snack bars and cafeterias.

Mr. John Clarkson and Mr. Tom Spiliotis gave an online monthly business presentation report. Monthly reports and payments can be done online. It will be required that all new licensee operators and eventually all managers will be using the program. The programs that have been added will help the managers with calculating cost of goods, labor percentage, payroll percentage and taxes. It also will be able to pull up previous reports for comparison. After you set up your account the password will change every one hundred eighty days.

Mr. Gene Newcomb gave an update on background checks policy stating changes to the rule 6A18.041 and 6A18.0421 are moving forward. They are scheduled for the State Board of Education meeting in late September and RSA has indicated that they are going to approve the changes to the rules.

Mr. Newcomb drafted a policy that will support and explain how the background screening will take place and sent out a draft policy to the committee members and business consultants regarding these changes.

Mr. John Clarkson gave an update on the budget report stating three main categories: salaries and benefits, expenses, and vending stands equipment and supplies. The salary and benefits pays for the employees in the division, expense pays for travel phones etc, vending stands equipment and supplies pays for cleaning of facilities, shipping, repairs, training, contracts, and new site development. The bulk of money that goes into these areas comes from the basic one ten support grant from the rehabilitation service administration, unassigned income comes from contracts and set aside fee.

Next State Committee of Vendors Meeting is scheduled for December 16-18, 2010 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Meeting Adjourned.

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