• Membership is currently 82% of permanent COF Employees.  Currently, there are 19 Associate Members. 
• Scholarship Committee report resulted in two state scholarships being awarded.  The winners are Cheyenne Perry (Traditional), and Kassandra Hamilton (Open).
• Because national scholarship program rules and categories have expanded over the past couple of years, it was evident that Kentucky needed to update our state-level policy.  For future years, the state will award one $500 Traditional Scholarship, one $250 Associate Scholarship, and consider other scholarship applications only if there is additional funding available.  As is currently policy for Traditional/Associate scholarships, Kentucky will follow NASCOE rules for any categories that are considered at the state level, in the future. 
• Programs Report reflected 15 Programs Suggestions have been sent in this year from the Southeast Area, with 6 being from Kentucky.  All employees were encouraged to continue to utilize this process through the NASCOE website. 
• Benefits Committee report announced that Holiday World is a new discount available to KASCOE members, with the discount code released in a 4/26/17 membership email. 
  
• NAFEC Committee report included announcement that there are 29 COC members from Kentucky who participate in NAFEC, currently.  Coy extended appreciation for Debbie Wakefield having recently sent a state-wide email to COF's asking them to present the info to COCs.
• Publicity report announced that the March Madness Bracket Challenge winners were Gidget Cropper, Jennifer Farmer, and Patricia Estes.
• Dawn Ovesen gave a report from the SEA Rally.
• Kenni Crane gave a Legislative Update and discussed the need to distribute the White Paper info that was recently sent out to members by KASCOE email to all federal legislators in the state.  There was a discussion that some had already been contacted, but all congressional offices need to receive the information.  It will be posted to the KASCOE website.
• Convention Planning was discussed.  Participation in a State Convention has been down recently, so the Directors decided to forego a state convention this year, and plan to host the SEA rally in spring of 2018.  Preliminary ideas were to have in Lexington in April, in order to offer Keeneland as an activity to draw participants from the Area. 
  

• Membership Report - We have 82% membership of all current COF employees.  Also, 19 Associate Members.

• Scholarship Report:

4 Traditional and 2 Open scholarship applications were received -- all from deserving candidates!  Sufficient funds are available to award all applicants a scholarship.  The Directors voted to fund all 6.  Check back later on our Scholarship page for more info!

Kentucky will offer a $250 Scholarship to Associate Members' children/grandchildren beginning in 2017.  NASCOE will be offering a similar program, and Kentucky's will match those forthcoming rules.

• Kentucky plans to send 2 representatives to a Legislative/Leadership Conference to be conducted by NASCOE.
• A March Madness Bracket Challenge will be held again this year.
• Members are invited to attend and help with the upcoming KACS Zone Meeting.
• Kentucky will now offer Member Benefits of Kentucky Kingdom and Louisville Zoo discounts.
• Dana McKinney will serve as Kentucky's delegate at the SEA Rally, April 6-9 at Savannah, Georgia.  Several members plan to attend.
• 2016 National Convention will be in Cedar Rapids Iowa, August 3-6.
• State Convention planning for 2016 is underway.
• Director Elections will be held this year, in September. 
• Follow-up to communications meeting at CRP training was discussed.  Marcinda indicated that the reports calendar remains a priority that she nearly has this completed to share with COF users.
• A new NASCOE Emblems provider is being announced and is linked to NASCOE.org website.
• 2 DSA Nominations have been submitted from Kentucky.
• Kevin Whitaker was presented with the Spirit of KASCOE Award.

• Appreciation expressed to STC for authority to hire many new employees over the past year.
  

• We presented the need for additional Mesonet stations, particularly in StrikeForce Counties.  SED and FPC will follow-up with partners to discuss this. 
  
• KASCOE requested the STC reconsider the decision that CED's are not authorized to attend the upcoming COC Orientation sessions.  Concerns noted were attendance of COC members expected to be less if carpooling with CED doesn't occur.  Also, CED's feel like it is important for them to hear the same information concerning administrative matters and appeals.  The STC/SED will give consideration to our request.
• Need for retirement training was discussed.  All-PT meetings will include presentations from Mark Stivers.  KASCOE suggested that additional trainings for new employees, mid-career employees, and those near retirement be held.  The STO agreed to evaluate the possibility of this, and to look at putting out a Notice with recommended resources for employees to access concerning retirement. 
• KASCOE presented a concern from the field regarding timely processing of COC members' applications that have to go before the STC for approval. 
  

• Membership is at a recent-high of 81% and growing!  Please help us reach out to new employees and even those who may have worked with the agency for some time to share what KASCOE is doing for Kentucky’s FSA Employees.
• Financial Planning/Retirement Meetings have been planned with NASCOE Benefits provider Dillard Financial.  These will be held Feb. 7 in Hopkinsville and Feb. 21 in Versailles.  More details are forthcoming.
• KASCOE will continue to work for more than one Key PT Position in Kentucky.  We will formally propose that a total of 4 are needed in the state.
• President, Dana McKinney will communicate with CED’s in shared management offices to remind managers of key policies that may apply to their circumstances.
• A memo will be prepared and submitted to the SED and STC stating that KASCOE is strongly in favor of finding an alternative to Lincpass-controlled Lexmark printers/copiers that have been rolling out to COF’s.  Feedback from other states and users in our state leads us to believe our customers and employees will be adversely impacted if these are put into our offices.
• We plan to cooperate with DD’s and the State Office in a work-group format to find ways we can improve the Performance Evaluation Rating System for future rating periods.
• Dana McKinney and Nina Hunt will be attending the SEA Rally as delegates in April.
• A team of KASCOE representatives will “crunch the numbers” to better understand how the workload model used this FY, and possibly into the future, reflects the volume of work in our offices.
• A State Convention will likely be held in October, 2015, in Owensboro.
• See any Director if you're interested in a chance at winning a $3,000 cash prize.  For a $1 per ticket donation to the Southeast Area Rally's fundraiser, your name will be entered in the drawing.

• “Thank you’s” were extended for face-to-face trainings, partnership with activities like FSA Feud, STC members' participation in trainings, and allowing for our current meeting with them.
• Remarks were made on improved employee morale, and how this is due largely to things like promotion opportunities for PT's to recently filled COT positions, backfilling critical vacancies, and networking opportunities that have occurred at trainings.
• We shared some KASCOE success stories regarding Scholarship, Awards, Emblems, and Publicity.
• Opportunities were presented for cooperation between KASCOE and the STC/STO concerning:
  • Key PT Positions
  • Workload Model Team
  • Performance Evaluation Rating System Work-group
  • NAFEC membership