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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-05-15 VAC MINUTES.7 i VETERANS ADVISORY COMMISSION CITY OF CHULA VISTA MINUTES May 15, 2001 TUESDAY, 6:00 P.M. 1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 2. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER — 6:03 p.m. Human Resources°Conference Room City Hall Building 3 ROLL CALL — Stephen Arends P Carmen Fedje P , Agustive Hermes, Jr. P , William Poindexter P , Robert White P , A.Y. Casillas A , Stephen Millikin_E_ Other Attendees: Trevor Angood — Student, Eastlake High School 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - The minutes of April 15th were approved and accepted with modification of dates. Mr. Arends and Mr. White asked to be excused from the June 19th meeting. Mr. Fedje, Vice Chair, will conduct the meeting. 5. ACTION ITEMS Unfinished Business a. Street Names Chair Arends thanked Captain Dyke for assistance in getting a response to issues presented to the Planning Department.. As of this meeting date, there has been no response. Discussed e-mail dialogue with Armando Buelna regarding Trevor unveiling the Veterans website on 5/22, the evening when the Mayor presents her State of the City address. Advised that we would be contacted when our issues would be brought before the Parks and Recreation Commission. Vice Chair Fedje will represent the Commission if Chair Arends is out of town. Still trying to locate the missing copies of essays of the research project. Trevor is working on getting the students to reconstruct the information if possible. b. Veterans Memorial in Rolling Hills Ranch Chair Arends reported nothing new. c. Chula Vista Veterans Home Support Foundation Update Quarterly meeting rescheduled tentatively for June 1 st at the Veterans Home at noon. Commissioners Arends, Millikin, and Fedje will attend. Discussed Block Grant amount voted on by City Council. Block Grant requests for help from other cities in the County were turned down, and the allocation by Chula Vista's City Council was less than what was requested by the ®Foundation, and City staff had recommended. Amount for FY 01/02 is more than the CDBG grant from Chula Vista for last fiscal year, however. 1 d. Veterans Home Update According to John Smith at the Veterans Home there are currently 196 full-time residents as of this date. Problems in Barstow are further delaying the certification of the Skilled Nursing Facility. The opening is now pushed back to September or October. A celebration in honor of the first anniversary of the Veterans Home was held last week. Chair Arends reported that it was a very successful event. The Chair thanked everyone for attending the Town Hall meeting and reception at Bob's on the Bay when Secretary Principi was in town. e. Veteran of the Year Award Jeri Gulbransen will place an announcement in the next issue of the SPOTLIGHT for the Veteran of the Year. Applications will be located at the front counter of the police department. f. Goals and Objectives Chair Arends reiterated that the long standing goal of the Commission is to try to get the Veterans Memorial built in a park or on the site of the Veterans Home. Meetings have been postponed and no decisions have been made. Mr. Fedje spoke with Matt Flock who stated that he had no further information. g. Legislative Reports Chair Arends reported on HR441 — building the new Veterans Cemetary. Discussion is continuing to make a decision to •acquire space to bury veterans in San Diego. At present there is no space for burials, including ashes, in San Diego County and the closest Veterans Cemetary is in Riverside. h. Oral History Mr. Poindexter advised that he had enough names and information to begin the project. He will be utilizing a dictating unit to accomplish that goal. 6. COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR'S COMMENTS -Chair Arends • Commented on the artist who has painted some incredible murals on the inside walls of the Veterans Memorial Center in Balboa Park. Survivors of Pearl Harbor will actually sign the murals. • Advised that 35 new employees were hired at the V.A. Regional Office to try to handle the workload for the veterans here in San Diego County. • Met with Manny Cruz, Editor of the Star News. He is an Air Force veteran who is interested in what's going on in our city. He wrote a nice article in the Star News the weekend Secretary Principi was in town. • Advised that we have a VA clinic at the south end of Third Avenue which will probably expand with the growth of the City. • Shared information on the Tricare health system for military retirees. . • Announced that the Medical Resource Guide from the Veterans Home will be distributed soon. 2 COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS — Mr. Hermes • Reminded everyone of the Memorial Day service at Glen Abbey on Monday the 28th at 11 a.m. • Inquired about the computers that were given to the home last year. A discussion followed regarding questions and concerns. Mr. Fedje • Suggested that we invite the officers of the other veterans organizations when we have our next meeting at the Veterans Home. STAFF COMMENTS — Trudi was notified on May 26t1 that a Summary of Activities was requested by the City Clerk's Office with a due date of June 15th An Attendance Report is also required and will be due by the end of June. This request was promptly forwarded to Chair Arends who will return it to me before he leaves on vacation. The Commission will be prepared to submit these reports prior to the end of each fiscal year NOTE: 6/4/01. Commissioner Arends has completed the Summary of Activities and Trudi will submit it to the Deputy City Clerk, Lorraine Bennett, by Tuesday, 6/5/01. Each commissioner will also receive a copy along with the May minutes and June agenda. PUBLIC COMMENTS - None 7. ADJOURNMENT — 7:03 p.m. To the next regularly scheduled meeting at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, June 19, 2001 at the Human Resources Conference Room at City Hall, 276 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91910 • Trudi Ford Clerical Support 0