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Meetings

Social Services

Veterans Advisory Council - April 24, 2025

Veterans Advisory Council - April 24, 2025

Meeting materials

Free language assistance services are available for this meeting. Contact Sean Wells at swells@clackamas.us (48-hour notice needed).

Agenda

  1. 2:30 p.m. -- Call meeting to Order
    1. Establishment of a Quorum
    2. Approval of Agenda
  2. 2:35 Approval of February Meeting Minutes
    Chair Report
  3. Committee Reports
    1. Expo Committee (Oct 2025) -Tracy (3 minutes)
    2. Legislative Committee (constant & ongoing) – Laurie (3 minutes)
    3. Monument – Brian (3 minutes)
  4. New Business –
    1. New Applicants (5 minutes)
    2. County Fair Booth (12 Aug – 16 Aug) -Gus
    3. Extending Meeting Time
  5. Guest Speaker - AMEN
  6. 4:30 p.m. Adjournment
  7. Announcements -Good of the Order

Minutes

Present:

  • Betty Fish-Ferguson
  • Laurie Kimmell
  • Tracy Bogard
  • Thomas McAlarney
  • Don Hedlind
  • Tawnya Lege
  • Austin Hansen
  • Dan Miner
  • Brian Gornick

Absent: 

  • Paul Edgar
  • John Budiao

Excused: 

  • Carol Bernhard

Other attendees:

  • Steven Beals
  • Aubrie Balkwill
  • Don Kingsborough
  • James Manning

Staff:

  • Joey Johns
  • Gus Bedwell
  • Sean Wells

Meeting Called to Order and

Introductions

A quorum was established at 2:33 pm. Tawnya motioned to accept the February agenda. Dan seconded. Agenda adopted.

Adoption of Minutes 

Laurie motioned to adopt the February 2025 minutes. Approved by acclimation. February 2025 minutes adopted. 

Chair Report Laurie announced a new slate of VAC executives. She will be serving as the Chair, Dan will serve as the Vicechair, and Betty will serve as Secretary.

Subcommittee Updates

  • Expo Subcommittee
    • Tracy provided an update on the Veteran’s expo. A tentative agenda and layout have been set. The expo will be held on Wednesday, October 15th from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. The next subcommittee meeting will be on May 1st at 2:30 pm on the Red Soils campus.
  • Legislative Subcommittee
    • Laurie offered an update on current bills going through the legislature related to veterans. Gus offered his perspective on HB 2559A, a bill broadening what is acceptable proof of eligibility for benefits. Dan provided an update on the now defunct K9 Cavalry bill.
  • Monument Subcommittee
    • The committee have met with Christine Drazan who will try to get the proposed monument into the current legislative session, though it may be postponed to a special session. Members of the subcommittee may be asked to testify in Salem. Once the current monument has been passed the subcommittee will work on monuments in other cities.

New Business

  • New VAC Members: Laurie read the names of applicants that appeared for interviews. Tawnya motion to accept the new members. Tom seconded. The motion was approved. The individuals below were approved and Sean will work on getting the recommendation packet to PGA.
    • Aubire Balkwill
    • Michael Blackwell
    • Don Kingsborough
    • Rafael Kaup
    • Kyrion Gray
    • Steve Beals
  • County Fair Booth (August 12th through 16th): Gus let the VAC know that the VSO has reserved a table at the Clackamas County Fair. In years past Social Services had a single table for all of its programs, but this year the VSO has a table of its own. The table will be near the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office table. Gus passed along a sign-up sheet for VAC members to volunteer at the table. Volunteers will have parking and admission comped.
  • Extended Meeting Time: Laurie proposed formally extending the VAC meeting time from an hour to two hours. It was accepted by the council.

Guest Speaker – AMEN

Chris Owens from AMEN (American Military Encouragement Network) introduced himself and the organization that he works with. AMEN started as a volunteer food delivery service for food insecure vets working out of a church and has since moved into a warehouse and purchased a small fleet of vehicles.

They are an all-volunteer organization with about 30 regular volunteers and more than a hundred volunteers for special occasions. Chris invited the VAC to tour their warehouse at 16965 SE 115th Ave. in Clackamas. He then fielded questions from the VAC.

Adjourn 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:48 pm. 

Member Updates, Announcements and Upcoming Events

  • Aubrie let the VAC know that Clackamas Community College will be hosting a showing of Island Soldiers, a documentary about the difficulties facing Micronesian soldiers. The screening is on Tuesday, May 6th, from 5:30 to 6:30 at the McLoughlin Auditorium on the Oregon City Campus. More details can be found online.
  • Gus reminded the VAC that his office will be unavailable from May 12th to the 16th for a mandatory conference.
  • Tracy informed the VAC of the 9th annual Run to Remember will take place on Saturday, May 17th, in Salem. More details can be found online.
  • May 26th is Memorial Day. KOIN will be running an advertisement for the VSO. Do Good Multnomah will be holding a ruck march. More details can be found online.
  • Gus told the committee that the new courthouse is tentatively opening on May 19th and could effect future VAC meetings held on campus.
  • After a lengthy discussion on the sometimes confusing way to get resources for recently deceased veterans, Dan proposed a subcommittee to help with end-of-life arrangements for veterans.

Next Meeting 

Veterans Advisory Council

Thursday, June 26, 2:30-4:30pm – In Person

Location TBD