Clark County Veterans Advisory Board

0:00 (upbeat music) - The Clark County Veterans Advisory Board to order. Pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Would you give us a prayer over there, please? - Yes, Mr. Chair, I will. Oh, Heavenly Father, thank you for joining us and overseeing our meeting today. As we know, the month of May is the time for Memorial Day,

0:57 for remembering our veterans as well as family members during and across our community during this special time of need. And that's all we're gonna be asking in your God's name, blessing, amen. - And would you give roll call, please, Bruce? - Yes, Mr. Chair, I'll give roll call of board officers. (muffled speaking) - Roll call of board members. 40 and eight, primary, Bob Brennan. - Here. - Mark Lacy. - Here. - American Legion Post 14, Gene Kucher. - Here. - American Legion Post 44, Jim Bowman. I believe is excused. Darren Wertz. American Legion Post 168, board chair, Bob Nichols. - Here.

1:55 - American Legion Post 176, Mike Gibson. - Here. - Jonathan Frederick. - Excused. - American Veterans Post 6, John Lovejoy. - Here. - He's online, Dennis Bratt. - Yep. - Is excused. - Excused. - Yes. DV Chapter 4, board secretary, Bruce Mosher, Roy Day. - Here. - Korean War veterans, 321, Patrick Locke. - Here. - Earl Edwards. - Excused. - Marine Corps, League 826, Steve Sludgers. - Here. - VFW Post 4278, Thomas Brandt. Debbie Proctor. - Here. - VFW Post 7824. - Here. - Thomas is here online. VFW 7824, Greg Gilbertson. - Here. - Stuart Bauer. - Is excused, Vietnam Veterans Chapter 512, Greg Whitsitt.

2:55 Nick Herber. Members at large, Brian McGillis. Board Vice Chair, Buck Mar. - Here. - Larry Smith. - Here. - Lloyd Bowman. - Here. - Michael Langsdorf. - Here. - Tanya Wark. Clerk, any representative, Abby Malloy. - Here. - Clerk, any Veterans Assistance Center. Who's present, please. Nobody from the Assistance Center is online at this moment, so they may be joining us. In the back gallery, our guests are, would you please just say your names and I'll relay it. - Diane Ark. - Excuse me. - Diane Ark. Any other gentlemen? - Steve Hamaker. And Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. - Thank you.

3:53 I will entertain a motion for approval of the minutes from last month. - Move to approve. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded. Those in favor. - Aye. - Those opposed. Motion carried, minutes approved. Gene, anything on appeals? - No, there was a list in here that said some folks were eligible, but no one was called. - Okay, then no appeals. Greg, you got anything on policies and procedures? - I do not, Mr. Chair, no. - All right, thank you. - Thank you. - Bruce, nominations, nothing yet? - Nothing at this time. - Okay.

4:52 Budget workshop. Patrick. - Yes, we had a few items that we discussed. We talked and we'll bring up after a while here. And we also had a little bit of discussion on the meeting that we're going to have with the council on the third. So there's some old business items for particular things that we'll be talking about later on in the meeting. - Okay, next item. David Puente, you're on, sir. - Good afternoon. So first I just want to say thank you for the invitation to sit down and have a conversation with you all. I did turn it on, so maybe I just need to get the mic closer to myself. Just to get it closer to myself, so I apologize for that. So I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to show up and provide an update

5:52 on what's going on at your WDVA. So what I'd like to do now is, oh, she's already got it up. So just kind of walk, I have a PowerPoint, but what I'd like to do is if you have any questions as I'm walking through this data, please, let's have a community conversation so that I can answer and we can. Next slide, please. So here what you're looking at is our strategic plan for the agency that we've worked on over the last couple of years. And the one thing that I will say that for our state DVA, we are one of the largest portfolios when it comes across to the U.S. to our peer agencies through other states. We have a large portfolio and a lot of work that we do, and that's one of the reasons why for us, as we continue to work and try to focus on strategically, we want to take a look at where do we want to spend the money that we're receiving from the legislature and the federal government. We want to make sure that we're strategic about that. And what I'd like to discuss are the four goals that we have,

6:50 and that is sort of our primary vision that we're working for. So save and transform lives, respect, empower, and inspire everyone, be the leading state veteran service delivery agency and the outcomes, and then lastly, operate effectively and efficiently. So in order to do some of this work, we currently have established four goal teams, and they're members of the agency, and they have been working hard at evaluating our goals, objectives, and strategies, and having conversations. So for example, this morning, we had a conversation about goal three and four, trying to figure out how we're going to target those and where do we want to spend some time and energy and focus. It's important for us to continue to work with you all as well, internal and external customers, so that we continue getting feedback so that we can focus on the primary work that we need to be doing. Next slide please. So here I'd like to talk about the four state veteran homes that we have located throughout the state.

7:50 This is primarily where we spend about 78, 80% of our budget that we get from the state and federal government, is at our four state skilled nursing facilities. The oldest one that we have is obviously a Washington soldier's home in Orting, and the next one that we have is in Port Orchard, the Washington veterans home, and then is our Spokane veteran home, and the newest one that was opened last, I believe around 2018, is the Walla Walla veterans home. We have a total of about 517 beds where we provide skilled nursing care for our veterans. Other eligible individuals are spouses, widows of an eligible veteran, and then also Gold Star parents are also eligible as well. We currently partner with all of the VA medical centers located throughout the state, so the one in Seattle, Spokane, and Walla Walla. We have sharing agreements where we can take our veterans there to receive healthcare and any other specialty care that's unique.

8:50 Also the other thing that for us when our state veteran homes that's unique is when you look at the residents that we have, primarily we have male, we do have some female in our facilities, and if you look at the outside in private industry, they're more female than they are male. So for us, the reason I'm bringing that up is the staff that we have are trained in dealing with our military veterans. They receive training on competencies, on how to interact with them, and then the other thing that's good about our facilities is that residents can connect to each other, veterans to veterans or spouses to spouses, and have that camaraderie that we all need and we all seek when it comes to living in one of our facilities. Challenges that we have that we address is because the population that we have is higher male, is typically when it comes to long-term care, individuals need higher level of nursing care and skill care. So that may require two individuals to potentially lift, to use chairlifts or lifts.

9:49 So we do have a little bit higher when it comes to daily hours that we spend on number of veterans that we have. The other thing that I would like to mention that's not commonly known is, and I wanna, this is something that's important, for veterans that are rated 70% and higher, service-connected disability, and the level of care that we provide in our facilities. If the reason that we're caring for you, it's related to your service connection disability, the cost of care can be fully covered in one of our skilled nursing facilities. What does that mean for the veteran and their family is, they get to keep and retain their income, their disability, their retirement, their social security. So if they're rated at 70% or more, and the reason we care and provide service for them is because of that service-connected disability, they have a high potential to keep their disability, social security, retirements. If you go to a private nursing home, you're gonna have to spend that money.

10:48 You're gonna have to pay for that out of pocket. So that's one of the benefits of coming to our skilled nursing facilities to be able to do that. Each one of our homes has admission staff that can help with any questions that you may have, and I'll be glad to help you and connect you with that if that's something that you would like to hear more about. The other thing that I wanna bring about is two of our nursing homes. So over in the Port Orchard, the Washington Veterans Home, and the Walla Walla Veteran Home, so one on the east and one on the west side. They provide memory care. As we all know nationally, this is an important issue for us so that we need to ensure that we have memory care. Two of our other homes do not currently have that. I will say that our population, some of them do have a level of memory care or needs for that type of care. The individuals that are in our memory care units and those units are typically secured because they're trying to exit or they may have issues that require a higher level of care and those types of things where we wanna make sure

11:47 that we're providing that level of service. I will add a little bit more where we're gonna increase the number of beds that we have in the future when I talk about some of the projects. The other thing that I'd like to mention that in our homes that we have, each of our skilled nursing facilities have different types of activities that they provide so that our residents can connect to their wellbeing and their quality of care. So for example, at our soldier's home, we have a fishing pond. Every year we have fishing derbies and fishing opportunities for our residents to be able to come out and connect with the community. We also, it's an opportunity where our volunteers can come and provide assistance and continue to do that and volunteer in Spokane. We have our partnership with the Cattlemen Association, Combat Veteran Motorcycles, and a lot of barbecues that take place at that facility and our veteran service organizations are very active at each one of these homes. So I think it's important for us about volunteerism to make sure that we're keeping track of that.

12:45 The Walla Walla home has a lot of activities where communities come in and do a lot of arts activities, music, dancing, choirs, and these types of musical things. And one of the advantages in our Walla Walla home is our licensed nursing home administrators, the pianist, and she's a vocalist, so she's able to provide that level of service and care for our residents there as well. Talking about volunteerism, there's always opportunity for the community to come out and volunteer for any of the state veterans homes that we have throughout the state. If you need some assistance, I'll be glad to provide directions on that as well. Next slide, please. I was talking about memory care and some future needs, so what I'd like to do now is talk about two of our big projects that we have moving forward currently on the capital side. So this is the Spokane veteran home replacement project. So these are two things that we're focusing on, so we're looking at replacing two of our current nursing homes.

13:42 The first one that we're gonna focus on is Spokane. Next on the list is the Washington Soldiers Home, so that is on our list and it'll be in a couple years down the road as we continue working on that. I think the thing that I wanna do first is I'd like to thank the legislature for giving us the $10.9 million in the capital budget so that we can continue doing the pre-design work at the Spokane replacement home project. The previous year they gave us $8 million so that we can purchase the land so that we can continue moving forward. Currently right now we have a lot of support from the legislature and our governor and the Spokane community to continue focusing on the replacement home that we're going to be building in the Spokane location. Some things and challenges that we currently have at our Spokane home right now, the existing facility. It's located on 1.75 acres. And essentially it's a hospital that we repurposed and turned into a skilled nursing facility years ago. It doesn't have any outdoor space. It's basically a parking lot

14:42 and some storage buildings and et cetera. And each one of the residents share a room. So there's a curtain that divides them and the lack of privacy is one of those issues. The growing need for space, storage is another issue. The lack of outdoor environment where our residents can go outside and look at the playgrounds or do some type of activities outside. So these are some things that we're looking at for the future that are going to be added to the location that we're going to be building. The next slide please. So here's an overview of the parcel that we have purchased. It's right next to the Dwight Markle Sports Complex and it's about a quarter mile away from the Mangrand Staff VA Medical Center in Spokane. So proximity to the VA Medical Center is ideal, less than a quarter mile. The thing for us that it's gonna do, it's gonna enhance the ability for our residents to be able to receive their care right next door at the VA Medical Center. It's gonna enhance our response time.

15:42 It's gonna reduce our travel costs. And then for us, it's gonna allow us the ability to retain our staff 'cause that was one of the things that we were looking at of where were we going to build. We looked at locations that was owned by the state. Some of that property that we had looked at in the previously before making this decision was in Medical Lake. And some conversations that were had with us by staff is the location, locality of where everybody resides. Because of this location that we've elected to purchase and to build on, our staff are gonna be able to be retained. The other interesting thing for us is that we're probably gonna be able to attract new healthcare providers, new healthcare staff because of the new location that we're gonna have and the new facility. So this location is a total of 41 and a half acres. It's going to definitely allow for us to have outdoor activities. Definitely gonna improve the ability for our volunteerism and our community to interact with our residents to come and visit.

16:38 It's gonna allow us to build a small home model that the VA is sort of requiring us to do. They encourage us to do the small house model. What does that mean? It means that each resident is going to have their own room, their own bathroom, their own facilities, their own locations and everything. So it's going to be like a small studio apartment that they'll have and they'll have everything in that room individually. We're looking at building about 120 beds facility and currently right now we're evaluating of those 120 whether we're gonna have either 20 or 40 beds that are gonna be for memory care. Currently we do not have memory care at the Spokane veteran home. So this is a, we're gonna be adding this to Spokane and the ability to do that. We recognize there's a need 'cause currently right now we are, if a resident is trying to move in and get admitted into our facility, if they have that higher level of care right now for memory care, we're not able to accept that because we don't have the facility that's built to currently do that.

17:38 This is why one of the things that we're gonna be focusing on in the future to ensure that we're able to provide that higher level of service. Some things that I can share about the pre-design study, we completed that in October of '24. We submitted our capital request in 2025 to '27, the biennium and for the total of the construction costs which is about 162, $165 million to replace that home. This is what the total cost is. The VA will reimburse us for 65% of that. So that's almost about $98 million. The state has to come up with about 35% which is about $65 million. So currently right now, the legislature and the governor did grant us $10.9 million to continue with the pre-design work. We've submitted our request for grant in order to be able to build this facility. We still have to come up with a 35% matching fund. So that will be the next future asks that I will be submitting to the legislature in the next cycle to ensure that we continue

18:36 moving forward with this. Currently because of the money that we received, the 10.9, we're gonna currently continue to work on offsite improvements so the things that we have to do is the pre-design work for that structure. Right now, we've got a really good collaborative partnership with the city of Spokane, the school district, especially the Parks Department because they are currently working on updating the sports complex there. They've passed a levy at Together Spokane recently. As a result of that, they're going to be making some infrastructure upgrades. We are gonna partner with them. We should be invited to a couple meetings starting at the end of May, early June as we work on this. So what we're trying to do is we recognize that as a state, when it comes to replacing this home, we're gonna have to do a lot of infrastructure work, water, sewer, gas, power, internet, all of these things. Currently, the city of Spokane and the Parks Department are going to be doing that as well when it comes to updating their parks.

19:34 So what we wanna do is make sure that we're working smartly and if there's things that we can share some of the costs, we'd like to do that and they are working very well with us and they're inviting us to the table so that we're gonna be having some really good conversations about trying to figure out how best we can share the cost for some of the infrastructure work that's going to be needed. The other thing that I wanted to share about is our existing structure, the current Spokane veteran home. Some of the ideas that we're contemplating right now are turning that into a transitional housing program. We do not have transitional housing over on the east side of the state. We do have transitional housing on the west side and I'll talk a little bit about that. Another potential idea that the VA's encouraging us to consider is adult day healthcare. What that means is that we would be providing healthcare and services for veterans and residents that can come in. We would either pick them up or a family member

20:32 could drop them off or we would, again, charter with vans, go by the residents, pick them up, bring them to the facility in the morning around eight and then at the end of the day we would take them back home, back so that they're leaving the residents. So that's some possibilities. The other things that we've been having conversations with is the county, city and nonprofits. They're very interested in partnering with us when it comes to housing options for veterans because we do have homeless veterans on the east side of the state and this is an opportunity for us to kind of take a look at all of the surroundings and some options that we do have. So I just wanted to share some ideas that we're contemplating for the current state veteran home over there once we build the new one. Next slide, please. The second large project that we're working on currently right now is to build our second state veteran cemetery in eastern Washington. Currently right now we have one state veteran cemetery that serves about 500,000 veterans in our state.

21:31 We recognize that the one federal cemetery that we have in Tahoma and then ours over in Medical Lake on the east side is not sufficient. The VA gave us some data back around 2016, 2017 and we conducted a study and an assessment to determine if the area that you're looking at right now online that's shaded yellow or dark green that you're looking at is sort of the area that the VA would like us to build a new veteran state cemetery. So it's a 75 mile radius that is all of that area that's in that circle and the location that we've looked at is in the tri-cities. Right now the cemetery would service about 46,000 veterans and again that 75 mile radius would go into northern Oregon as you can see there in the northeast corner as well. What we're looking at potentially is about 400 internments a year at this location. Next slide, please. Preferred site.

22:30 We looked at a lot of state property, a lot of local property, private property. We narrowed it down to two locations. One that was privately owned in West Richland and the second one was owned by the city of Richland. We've identified the property owned by the city of Richland as the ideal location for us to build our new state veteran cemetery. There's a lot of things that we look at when it comes to considering. We definitely work with the National Cemetery Administration, use their requirements. So, for example, things that we're looking at is access public roadways, availability of utilities, suitability of the land and just the landscape in general. We conducted a pre-design with the 500,000 that the legislature gave us to take a look at this thing right now. We made a decision on the location. We are gonna go with the city of Richland location and it's about 130 acres right now that we're looking at. The city's gonna be donating that land to us once we continue moving forward with these projects.

23:28 We are going to have to do some infrastructure work and, again, that cost is gonna be borne by the state, so I will be coming back to the legislature to ask for some funding to be able to do some of that work. We have to run, again, all the water, sewer, light, power and everything to this property and currently it's a good distance from where the property, I mean, where those utilities are currently located. We also are going to have to work on some road improvements. We're looking at building a traffic circle near this location. Some of the things that we've done is working with the city of Richland and working closely with them. We've submitted some requests with our congressional delegation to ensure that if there's possibilities for us to receive federal dollars to do some of that work, so we're moving forward with those requests. The city of Richland has submitted those requests with both Congressman Newhouse and Senator Cantwell to be able to ask for those federal dollars to be able to do some of this infrastructure work

24:25 that we need to get done before we start doing this. We have submitted our grant application with the National Cemetery Administration. They're aware that we're gonna be doing this. Some next steps that we have is the request to take care of the site improvements. That's gonna be borne by 100% by the state, so I will be asking the state for that. We're gonna be working very closely with the city of Richland to transfer that property over to us as we continue working on this, and then we're gonna be submitting the federal grant for the design and construction to the National Cemetery Administration to be able to build this new cemetery. The grant dollars, the VA will pay for 90% federally funded. The state has to come up with 10% state match funds. The other good thing about this is once we complete the build of the cemetery and they give us the keys to open the cemetery, as long as we've done everything correctly, the VA may pay us back for the 10% that the state provided.

25:24 So ideally, what we're looking at is 100% reimbursed for building a cemetery, which is very ideal for the state. It's also an opportunity for us to be able to serve the 46,000 veterans that are living in that tri-cities area in Oregon as well. The other thing that I'd like to talk about is funding for this. Currently, how many of us have the armed forces license plate on your vehicles? Okay, there's only a couple here in the room that I'm seeing with your hands. So what I wanted to share is that right now, if you were to purchase a armed forces license plate for your vehicle, part of those fees come back to us to be able to maintain and operate the cemetery that we currently have and the future cemetery that we're gonna be building. So $28 of the fee that you pay for the armed forces license plates comes back to your WDBA so that we can operate our state veterans cemetery. The current budget that we have, that we currently have,

26:23 is not gonna sustain the second cemetery. So we are going to have to come back to the legislature and ask for additional funding to be able to operate. So I'm gonna be asking for the FTEs and funding to maintain and operate this cemetery. So again, this is an opportunity for the community to continue to support us if you take a look and purchase those license plates. My ask is the next time you renew your license plates, if you don't have it, please consider that because it does support us and continue to help us. Next slide, please. So here I'd like to talk a little bit about our Veterans Service and Counseling and Wellness Program. We currently have 23 counties that we currently work with that have county VSOs accredited through your WDBA. We contract with five of the nonprofit veteran service organizations. We also have memorandums of agreement with 10 of the Indian tribes in our state. They also have tribal veteran service officers

27:21 that are all accredited through us. There are six additional counties that contract directly with us for VSO services. And then currently right now, Steve Gill, who manages these contracts, has been, they've reached out to them. So we have a couple other counties that want to partner with us. So we'll be working on that in the next coming year to ensure that we increase the number of counties to ensure that we're trying to cover all 39. I do want to say thank you to Clark County and to this advisory board for the ongoing support, the contract that we have, and then the subcontract we have with the Vietnam Veterans of America. The work that we do with Clark County is amazing and we continue to partner. So I just want to say thank you for that ongoing support. Currently right now in our state, we are at about 33% service-connected with the total number of veterans that we have. Nationally, the average is about 34%. So we continue to do that work. So what does that mean? Does that mean that there are 67% of our veterans that are not service-connected?

28:21 I will say that probably not to that level, but there are certain percentages that would be ineligible for disability and pension. Not every veteran is gonna be eligible for some type of disability or pension. There's gotta be some service connection. Disability in order to connect and be able to be receiving those benefits. There are other benefits that a veteran may be eligible for. So education via our knee and some other things. But when it comes to disability, as we all know, there's gotta be some service connection. We recognize we have work to do, especially in our rural communities. So that is an area that your WDBA is really focused on as we travel around the state and meet with our counties such as yourself to ensure that we're making sure that we're having an impact in those areas where we have their vulnerable population and our veterans decide to move to. The other thing that I wanna say thank you to is that we work with the current five veteran service organizations that help us connect veterans to their benefits.

29:18 Currently right now, we're bringing in about $3.7 billion into the state of Washington throughout our counties. And our veterans and their families, as we all know, are spending those dollars in the local communities. So that's 3.7 billion that we're bringing in to this state as a result of service connection and pension. So I just wanted to talk about that. Next slide, please. Transitional housing program, and I mentioned this a little earlier. We currently have about 135 beds that we have for transitional housing at two of our facilities, one at the Washington Soldiers' Home in Orting, and the second over at the Washington Veterans' Home. Total of 135 beds. We do not have anything on the east side, and this is the east side of the state. This is why we're looking at that model and transferring it over to the Spokane location once we're able to move out from there. I will be meeting with the Spokane VA Medical Center next week to talk about this idea and hopefully garner some interest.

30:18 So I just wanted to talk a little bit about that. Also, at our campus at the Washington Soldiers' Home in Orting, we have a public-private partnership with New Horizons. They have built 35 tiny homes on our campus. We've leased five acres to them, and they currently have 35 of those tiny homes in our property that they lease, and they're built for veterans. So it's supportive housing. The intent is for them to stay. They can stay there as long as they'd like, but typically our residents that live in the transitional housing, what typically happens is they go through our program, they go next door to the transitional housing or locally to a community where we're able to find, 'cause the goal for us is to get them connected to their benefits, get them connected to any other type of benefit that they've earned, to get them housed, to get them employed. How do we go about doing that? We have staff and we offer wraparound services currently, so when they come in, the first thing that we do is make sure that if they can get service-connected

31:17 that we do that. If they haven't signed up for a Veterans Health Administration, we make sure that we connect them to their medical benefits. If they're eligible for any VBA benefits, we also connect them to those as well, and we also work with our state agencies to find out for employment connection. We also recognize that some of the veterans that we take in are still dealing with substance abuse, so we do have a small number of beds that we handle that type of care, and our staff are trained to be able to do that case management and wraparound services. We have a pretty good success rate in making sure that we house them and that they're employed when they leave. Now, the types of models that we had, if we go to the next slide, this slide describes the type of models and the type of beds that we have. So you see bridge, clinical, low-demand, service-intensive, and then some contracts that we have with the VA Puget Sound that talk with our medical and recuperative beds. So there's a variety of types of models that we have, and the residents can stay with us

32:16 from one day up to two years, depending on the model. Also, we have individuals, as I've mentioned, that require some service-intensive, so some of them may still be using, so we try to ensure that we work with that, and that we provide that care and that service so that we can move them forward and progressing. The things that make this model work is that we have staff that work with our veterans when they get admitted to the Transitional Housing Program. The residents, our clients, have to do their work as well. They have to continue to work and progress on their recovery and continue to focus on their sobriety and focus on getting better. They all have goals, commitments, and things that they're doing, just like we used to when we were in the military. They have duties that they have to do in the locations where they're at and the facilities. So whether it's working in the day room, working at doing some chow hall, they're always doing something in order to progress and improve their ability to continue, 'cause ultimate for us, the goal is to get them housed,

33:14 employed, and to live out in the community and have a high quality of life. So again, those are some things that we work on at the facility to do this. Next slide, please. I wanted to share about our Women's Veterans Advisory Committee. This is something that was established several years back. The intent for them is to connect women to their identity as veterans, change the perception that women veterans are veterans, because I know as I travel around the state, I continue to hear where they still have that imposter syndrome, so to speak. We wanna make sure that women are connected to their benefits. We wanna make sure that they're recognized within the communities. We recently were over in Eastern Washington. We went to Clarkston and Pullman, where our Women Veterans Committee got together in the community and invited women veterans. It's an opportunity for them to get together, fellowship, have conversations about things that they're dealing with, and also give us information

34:13 on areas that we need to be focusing on throughout the state. Our women veterans also work on the Incarcerated Women Vets Program at state institutions to ensure that we're helping incarcerated veterans as well get service connected when they're getting out and providing type of assistance while they're there to continue to make sure that they're being assisted. We also have, in our Transitional Housing Program, we have a 10-bed facility, Betsy Ross, that's specific for our women veterans to ensure that they're provided that level of care as well. We continue to work with federal VA to improve our partnerships to ensure that the women veterans have their health services and continue to work with the local VA medical centers. Next slide, please. This is an overview. I'm not gonna go over all of them, but these are other state benefits that we wanna make sure that our veterans that reside in the state of Washington are aware of. Obviously, number one, there's no income tax

35:11 in the state of Washington when it comes to this. Federal park passes, state park passes, long-term care that I mentioned about this. The other thing that I wanted to mention is that the legislature did pass recently that changed the tax exemption. It used to be 80% starting in December 31st of 2026. It'll be 40% eligibility. It is still based on your income. - Welcome to Washington. - But again, they did change it and update it, so I just wanted to make sure that we're aware of that. And again, these are some of the other benefits that are within this, and obviously, you all are aware of the County Veterans Assistance Fund. You all do an amazing job of making sure that you're helping residents within Clark County, so thank you for that. The next slide, please. I wanted to provide a little bit of an update on what impacts that we've had at your WDBA for 2026. So we did request some funding to work on some projects, the Veterans Estate Management Program.

36:08 We received a state auditor's office, and we had some findings regarding how we're managing this. Overall, ultimately, what it came down to is we don't have a platform. We don't have a software system that we're able to show them how we're managing the dollars and money. There was no finding on how we're doing that. It was more about having a system and process in place for us to do that, so we did receive some funding to be able to work on that, and I'll talk about that. We've also had a Legionella mitigation over at our Washington Veterans Home that we've been focusing on and working for that. We needed to request some funding for that to continue to work on that. We also asked for a small amount of money for the central office move to study what does that look like and do some assessments. I would like to talk about the impacts that the reductions that we are having to face. So the 2025-2027 operating budget, as you can see,

37:04 we took administrative reductions of $103,000, and what that is for us is taking a look at where are we spending our money. So some of the things that we're gonna be looking at is just goods and services, how we go about purchasing things, replacing things, and equipment. So that was reduced by $103,000. The next one was our suicide prevention program, which is in vet services division. That impacted us, so we had to abolish 2.8 FTEs, which is a total of about 417,000 to that grant program. So the impacts to this, this is gonna limit the amount of learned trainings and stigma training that we're able to provide and the amount of outreach that we do within the suicide prevention program. So currently we have two staff that are still doing this. We're still gonna be able to do it. We're still gonna be able to travel around the state. It's just gonna be at a limited amount, and we're gonna have to really strategically target how we're doing the work that we're currently doing

38:03 within the suicide prevention program. The next thing that I wanna talk about is another 224,000 that was reduced in the veteran program, the definition of veteran. So this is an area that last year we were watching and trying not to spend too much because we needed to save dollars. Ultimately, at the end of the year, the legislature saw that we were saving some money. They went ahead and took that money and future dollars from us. So it's one of those we save money, but we're also, they reduced it. So what this is going to do is reduce the amount of outreach that we're doing on definition of a veteran. This is an area that we still are going to do this. It's just reduced the number of abilities and interactions that we're gonna be able to have statewide. The last thing that I wanna talk about is another reduction of 119,000 in vet services, counseling, and wellness. This is an area where over in general, again, they saw some savings. They took the 116.

39:02 We're gonna continue to do the work that we do. What's gonna happen is you're just gonna see a smaller reduction of the impacts on the work that we're doing. Overall, we're still gonna do the same thing that we're doing. It's just gonna take us a little bit more time to get there, to get to the locations that we wanna get at, the outreach that we're gonna be doing. It's just gonna be reduced to what we're doing now. So I just wanted to share that, the impacts that we're gonna be feeling here over the next couple of years because of the budget, but I still want to be able to come out and continue to visit like these and have these conversations. And I think that was the last slide. Yeah, so this is a way that you can connect with us. You have the links that you can click on and do this to connect with us. So do you have any questions on any information that I've shared or just questions in general? - Yes, I do. - Okay. - Can you go to slide 14? - Patrick, identify yourself.

40:01 - Patrick Locke with the Korean War and Defense Veterans. And a few other organizations too. At least a few. - Slide 14, where are the transitional housing locations right now specifically? - Sure, currently we have two locations. One is at the Washington Soldier's Home in Orting. We have a campus there. And then the second location is the Washington Veteran Home in Port Orchard. We have a total of 135 beds at both of these locations. - So the one that's here is up on the hill by the VA hospital area? Where is that? - No, the closest one is probably going to be in Orting, which is in Pierce County, north of here. - Okay. - Washington Soldier's Home. And then the second one is over in Kitsap County

41:00 over across the Narrows Bridge on the west side of-- - Okay. - Patrick, the one here is a VA facility. - Correct. - Yeah, exactly. So how is this one up here supporting anything in Clark County? - That's my question. - Which one, sir? - The one you're talking about in Kitsap County? - Orting. - Gotcha, so-- - Does that support anything in Clark County at all? - So what I will say about that is the majority of our referrals are coming from that area there, whether it's King, Pierce, Thurston, Snohomish. We take referrals across the state. So there have been individuals that have moved from the east side of the state to come over into the two transitional housing programs. - And is that facility available to people in Clark County? - Yes, we would have to have a conversation

41:59 and figure out a way to transport. If they're eligible, we would gladly come here and move them into the transitional housing program. Some of the barriers that we run into is our veterans that do not reside near the transitional housing program may not want to travel, may not want to move. So those are some challenges that we have. But we do accept veterans that are eligible from across the state. - So is there anything being done to recognize something in Clark County? - Currently right now, your WDVA is not looking at a transitional housing program here. As you mentioned, I do know that the federal VA has transitional housing here. So that's how I can answer the question for now. - So that's not being looked at from WDVA? - Currently, no, because some of the barriers

42:54 is having land facilities and going through the legislature to do this. Right now, the federal VA will not provide construction grants for us to build transitional housing. We would have to already have a facility, own it, run it, and operate it, and then apply for grants through the local VA MC to be able to do this. - Okay. Can you go to slide 13? And claims assistance through veteran service officers. We have a contract through the county here for providing VSO services that's being paid through the 1019 fund. Is that accurate? Okay. I had a conversation with a person from Kitsap County that assured me that the way that the system

43:53 is operated up there is that this contract that is providing these VSO service officers to Clark County and being paid for through the 1019 fund is actually up in Kitsap County, is being funded through a federal program. And I'd like to have that verified if that is the case. I'd like to know why this couldn't be provided through the federal program. - So I will answer this. I am aware that Kitsap County recently hired a county VSO through the county. I will have to go back and double check what you're asking about, whether there are any federal dollars going to Kitsap County on that or not. - Yes, that's what I'd like to know. - I will do that. - And if there are, where are they coming from, and is it something that we can have available to us here in Clark County? - I will get that response to you, sir,

44:52 as quick as possible. I would like to add to that question. Federally, the Elizabeth Dole Act that has not been enacted yet, the Secretary of VA, Secretary Collins, had a committee hearing the other day where he was asked this specific question about the Elizabeth Dole Act. He stated that they're going to continue to move forward and start working on the policies that VA needs to work on so that that money that was allotted through that, that means that county VSOs may, in the future, be able to receive some federal grant dollars that you're asking and you're talking about. So that's still in the future. It's not happening right now. It is included in the Elizabeth Dole Act. - Which was passed three years ago. - Yes, and VA has to work on the policies in order to implement it. So that's what we're waiting on. The good thing is Secretary Collins stated he is aware and his intent is to move forward with this.

45:51 - Okay, and you'll follow up with this and get us some information on my questionnaire with that. - I will follow up and answer the question about whether or not Kitsap County is receiving federal dollars. - Yes. - Yes. - Okay, thank you. - Yes, sir. - And let's see, slide 16, if you would, please. I believe that was, oh no, go back one. I'm sorry, is that? No, go forward, forward, that's it, okay. The Women's Veterans Advisory Committee, that is a committee that is under your WVAC organization? - Yes, it is not a governor appointed. This was created by the agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs that's run through our agency. - Okay, and how is a person appointed or elected

46:53 or what is the process of a person being put on that committee? - So we currently have a board, an advisory committee that works with us and just like this committee here, this advisory board, we have an application process. Any woman veteran that would be interested in applying for this, we can send you the information, send them the information so that the board and advisory committee can have a conversation about admitting them to the program, to the board. - Okay, and how would we access that information? - I will send you a link so that you have that. - Okay, thank you. And slide 18, I think it is, to the last one. The budget reductions, it sounded as though you're saying that even with all of these reductions that you're still going to be able to do the same thing. - That doesn't make sense to me.

47:52 - I want to be clear about this. Even though I'm saying that we're still going to be able to do some of it, it's going to be reduced. For example, the suicide prevention program, we had five FTEs, we are now down to two. - That seems a lot. - It does seem a lot. I don't disagree with you, but when I say that we're still going to continue to do it, we are going to continue to do some of it. - Well, we certainly can't do what we were doing before if it's down 60%. - I agree, sir, I don't disagree. So we're going to continue to do what we can with the resources that we have. - We seem to be having a tremendous amount of tax increases coming in, and now we're looking at reducing programs in a big way, but they're raising taxes continuously. That doesn't make sense to me. I don't know, maybe others it does. - But the millionaires are leading to America.

48:50 - How, what is been going on that's been reducing these, but yet they're hollering for more taxes and doing things that are going to increase taxes and the whole income tax thing. We know that's not going to be just applied to millionaires eventually. But how is this, why is this being reduced like this? - Well, I'll answer it this way, is that all state agencies receive their reduction, very similar and administrative reductions. And if agencies did not spend funding and there were savings there, those were areas that the legislature looked at trying to reduce. So for us, it was a challenge 'cause we were trying to make sure that we were managed and we were being good stewards of public funds. It just so happened at the end of the year, this is what we had. So we are going to continue to do the work. I recognize that I'm saying I'm gonna continue.

49:49 It's just going to be reduced at what the amount of impact that we're going to have. - Okay. Well, we get a copy of this presentation. Okay, thank you. Okay, that's all I have. - This will be included with the meeting materials that I sent out after the meeting. - Okay. - Bob, I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask. - Okay, Mike, go ahead and identify yourself. - I'll speak right into the mic, you know? - Yes. - I'd like to ask a couple questions. - Identify yourself. - My name is Michael Langsdorf. I've been a member of this board twice, each for about three years. The question I have to the speaker is how many veterans are in the area around Walla Walla, their county, how many veterans are there? - Which county? - Where Walla Walla is located.

50:46 - Off the bat, I can answer the question. I'll make sure I get that to you. - Well, does it have more or less than Clark County? - Probably less, and that's why I say probably 'cause I don't have the number yet. - So why are we spending so much money east of the Iraqis and east state of Washington? Why are we spending it in Spokane and Walla Walla and not in Clark County? - So the projects that I spoke about was the Spokane veteran home. And we identified that one as a priority just because of the amount and location. So during COVID, that location was really impacted in the type of facility that it is, how it's situated, the fact that we had two residents in one room, the lack of privacy. So the things that I've shared of some of the reasons why we're doing that. So that location was a priority for us to replace. And build for memory care as well.

51:45 The second location was the soldier's home just because of the age and location. The advantage that we have at the soldier's home is we don't need to purchase property. There's 140 acres there we're gonna be able to build onsite. The reason that we're building a cemetery in the Tri-Cities is we received information from federal VA, the National Cemetery Administration, that that is an area that they would like us to focus on when it comes to serving the 46,000 veterans that live in that 75 mile radius. - I'm with you. What I'm trying to say, and we in Clark County have been saying this to you for at least 10 years, you do everything in north of us, everything to the east of us, but you don't do anything in Clark County to speak of. In fact, we've been paying your agency $135,000 a year for two VSOs and where's the extra money going?

52:42 - The extra money is going for the administrative costs to manage and the oversight of the contracts and for us to ensure that they're accredited, trained and et cetera. So that's where that administrative fee is going to. The issue about us doing things in Clark County, I think we are. I understand what you're asking us. So an example is the National Cemetery Administration probably within the last 30 days. I sent an email reminding you all that there was an opportunity to voice and attend a public hearing with Federal VA because they're building and expanding the Willamette National Cemetery. A reason that we cannot build one here is the proximity to the location. They use that 75 mile radius when it comes to cemeteries, national cemeteries. Now, if we in the state of Washington decide we want to have a state veteran cemetery, that's fine. But then I'm gonna have to go to the legislature

53:41 and ask to buy the property, all the infrastructure and all the other work that needs to happen. And the VA may not give us grant dollars to do that because of the proximity of the one in Oregon. So those are things that we're willing to have a conversation and talk about. But again, it's gonna come down to cost. - We're having a conversation right now and we've been saying this to your organization for at least 10 years. Why do you not do anything other than basically take a contract from us for 135,000, pay two of your CSOs less than 135,000? That's been going on for 10 years. - So I think the thing that I'll add to the conversation is we are looking at long term strategically. Should we look at building a state veteran home down in the southwest corner of the state? - You said that. - I understand that, but I need to replace

54:39 the other two first because it's a priority, sir. - Don't most people when they check into your nursing home, they want to see their children or their wives and they have to drive all the way to Spokane or to-- - Right now the locations would be Orden. No, they can go to Orden or Port Orchard or the two closest state veteran homes. The other thing that the VA does to meet that need is they contract with local private skilled nursing facilities to be able to provide that level of service. So the VA does reimburse private nursing homes if they have a contract with them to be able to provide that level of care for our veterans in the local communities. So that is a way that it's currently being done. - Well, my point is I'm trying to get across and maybe I'm not doing it. Clark County is a very growing location. Most people who have people who need memory care

55:36 in their homes don't want to really travel 120 miles to be able to see their kids or see their spouses. And yet you continue to say we're gonna put the money up north or we're gonna put it in east of the mountains. You're not doing anything for Clark County at all. In my estimation. - Understood, Mr. Langsdorf, I hear you. - Well, but what are you doing about it? - We will continue to strategize and work on to ensure that we're meeting those needs. Now, as I've mentioned, for the nursing home, the federal VA does contract with local private nursing homes to provide that level of care so that the Clark County veteran does not have to go up to Orting or to Port Orchard or to Spokane or Walla Walla. They can receive that skilled nursing care here in Clark County. If that nursing home has a contract with VA, that is a way that that service is currently being met. - Can you provide us the information so we can pass it on

56:35 to some of the nursing homes down here? - Yes, I will try to get the information about which nursing homes currently have contracts with VA so that you have that. - Second thing I'd like to ask for, and I think we've been asking for this for several years now is your office keeps telling us that we have somewhere between 32 and 35 veterans in this county. Is that correct? - I will have to double check that data, but it's close to what I remember. - So something that a lot of the service groups have asked me to ask you is please provide all the names of people in Clark County that are veterans so that they can get in touch with them and make sure they're getting offered services by the different organizations in our county. - I think that's a reasonable request, and we're still trying to get that data from Federal VA right now, so-- - With that, when they come into our county,

57:34 you, your organization, finds out from the different militaries who is retiring or getting out and you get the information to come up with the number of veterans. What they would like to do is when you get that information, please provide it to us so we can put it out to all the organizations in Clark County. Thank you. - That's it. - Gene. - I wanna maybe-- - Gene, identify yourself. - Okay, I'm sorry. My name is Gene Kuchar. I'm from Post 14 American Legion. I'd like to reframe just a little bit of what you said and say is there something that we can actually do to get some of these services down here? We have been underserved, partially because we're next to Portland. Can't do anything about that. But is there something we can do actively

58:30 to bring some of these services down? - So I will say this, that we have, I have had conversations with the agency and the leadership team about any FTEs that we have that become vacant, is there possibilities for moving them down to the southwest corner of the state? So I recognize the ask and the need because this is a similar question that I get asked typically when I come down to visit you all. I'm not ignoring you, I'm trying to figure out a way with the limited resources that we have to be able to provide that service. Currently, it's being met in other avenues, whether it's nonprofit organizations, county VSO, the contract you have with us, or federal VA is doing some things. I recognize you don't see a WDVA body here, I get that. We are working at trying to ensure that we're doing that as we evaluate and look at our current resources to do that in the future. Now, we also have members from the Women's Veterans Advisory Committee that live down in this area.

59:28 So they are, again, those are things that they're representing the agency and speak for us. So we're trying to do the best that we can with the resource that I have, but I hear you. - Thank you. No, I appreciate. Now, a completely different question. As a certified old person, I appreciate the things that you're doing to serve old people with your presentation, the cemetery, the old soldier's home, et cetera. Most of the stuff you have told us is for older veterans. One of the problems that I know we're having at American Legion, and I'm sure the other posts are having, is getting the younger veterans in. But that's a huge issue. Some of it's just societal change. We can't do anything about that. But I noticed in one of your goals was serving the entire population of vets. I wonder if you could add a goal to that

1:00:27 of coming up with a service that would simply attract younger veterans. Child care. I don't know if I knew who it'd do now. But you're talking about setting goals for expanding WDVA. I'm asking, could you add something to serve younger vets? - We can, and I think I wanna answer that in a manner that things that we're doing currently right now, we recognize that challenge that you just brought up. 'Cause when I look at the current contracts that we have with the five VSOs that are working in this space, they're wiser, right? I'm not gonna use the word older, they're just wiser, right? And they're having a hard time hiring younger individuals that have experience working in this veteran space. So this is an area that as an agency, we're taking a look at how are we going to deal with this in the future.

1:01:26 I don't wanna wait five, 10 years down the road where it happens and then no one's doing the work. We're having conversations exactly about how to do and attract that. So I hear you, and those are things that we're actively trying to figure out as well. - Well, if you figure any of 'em out, share those with us. - Of course. - I'm sorry, there was one other question. - Yes, Mike. - We have a piece of property that is called Camp Bonneville. We've got a lot of land there. It wouldn't cost you anything to acquire that land. You could probably enter into agreement with Clark County. They've got a lot of acreage there. And that might be a place that we would put some things for a nursing home or something. - Thank you. - Craig Gilbertson also has his hand raised online. - Yeah, can you hear me? - Yep.

1:02:25 - Yeah, yeah. - Okay, so I just had a couple comments and a couple questions for David. But I think in reality, this board, the four priorities that David brought to us on one of his first slides, this committee, this advisory board, we need to come up with some of our priorities to take back to David or get to David before we just start slinging this or that or this question or that question. The Camp Bonneville thing, sure, that's a great idea, but is it gonna be a long process? And we know that it's not gonna happen overnight. David's organization is doing a great job. I've worked with a couple of his folks on the suicide awareness training. Donald Sasse and Sese being one of them last fall, they came to our post and provided

1:03:22 a suicide prevention training to about 25 or so VFW memberships and their spouses. It was an outstanding training. I put the word out to this board and I didn't see many people come from this board. So if we're gonna do this stuff and they're gonna provide the resources, we need to be there willing to commit the time to be there. So I give them kudos for that and they are doing the best they can. And given the reductions that they're facing, I think a lot of it is federal reductions too. So we have to realize their budget is being reduced because they're getting reduced in some of the federal money coming in. Is that right, David? - The federal reduction that we took was probably less than 18 months.

1:04:19 That is an area where we're receiving a grant dollars, federal dollars to have vet corps members located through about 30 campuses, educational universities and colleges where they were working there, assisting veterans that are going to school and their family members to provide and make sure they're getting connected outreach and having that resource available in those universities and colleges. We no longer have that. We received a call on a Friday, I wanna say it was like at three or four o'clock and the federal government just stopped funding it. So that is one area that we took ahead. - Yeah, so yeah, that's an example of a medium drop in federal funding. So we need to recognize that they're doing their best job, but we need to come up with some priorities prior to this meeting to send back. I mean, that's the reality of it,

1:05:17 living in the environment. Then the other question I had, David, was about, and you and I have spoke to a couple of VFW conferences and conventions and appreciate your candidness at those conventions as well for the VFW. Maybe I'll see you next month in Wenatchee for our summer convention. - I will be there. - All right, sounds good, sir. Looking forward to talking to you then. The other question I did have was related to the Women Veterans Advisory Committee. Is that a completely virtual committee or do they rotate throughout the state to different counties? - So those meetings are conducted just like this one in person and virtually. - Okay, so in person, where is that out of Olympia or where's that out of? - It depends on where they wanna have it. They do travel around the state. So for example, as I mentioned, part of our Governor Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee, in the morning session, the Women Veterans Advisory Committee has their breakout session for an hour.

1:06:17 So we have those four times a year throughout different locations. And then the advisory committee currently meets throughout the year, three to four times a year on their own at different locations. There will be a Women's Veterans Conference coming up in the near future. I know they're working on planning that right now, but anyone that's interested in attending can participate in person, depending on where the location is at, or they can attend virtually like this meeting. - Okay, outstanding. Because the reason why I bring that up is my VFW post, we're looking to stand up a Women's Veterans Honor Guard or Color Guard, specifically made up of all women, including Sarah Fox, Cynthia Ross, and a few others. So they may be interested in getting involved with that. And if others are interested in all women's color guard, honor guard that may be expanded outside of Clark County, that might be an opportunity to bring it up at that Women's Advisory Committee.

1:07:16 So we're relaying that information to them. Appreciate your time. And thanks for coming to the meeting, David. - So for that color guard, I'm gonna make a note for myself to share with our chair so that if that's implemented, maybe they can attend the conference. - Yeah, they haven't started that yet. They're starting some meetings this summer, but it's been in discussion for a little while. So now they're trying to move forward with it. So I can let you know, maybe in June when I see you, how they're progressing. - Okay, thank you. - Yeah, just, are you gonna stay or are you leaving? - I can stay as long as you want me to stay. - Yeah, just, and then I'll, Buckmar, a member at large, Vice Chair. And this is a very specific question. You and I talked about it before we got going, but I was afraid, afraid you're gonna get away from me. This committee has, is significantly involved

1:08:12 in making advice regarding contract budgets for the city, the county council. Matter of fact, our briefing is being presented to the county council on the 3rd of June. A specific question that I got from one of the councilors was the WDVA VSO requested money for 2027 is six and a half percent increased over the 2026 budget. No other contract administrator in the county has had a 6.5 increase. They're generally run between three and three and a half percent and we're, as I said, it's a very specific, but I've gotta go answer him. Why does the WDVA contract for veteran service officers almost double that for the other

1:09:10 veteran contracts for 20? - I will get you a really good answer. I will send that to you so that you have that for your June 3rd meeting. - I'll look forward to your really good answer. - I've got a question or at least a comment. I'm getting a little bit backlash back and forth. Larry Smith, I'm a member at large and as we go forward, you gotta be proactive and think ahead about the growth of this community and I worry greatly about it, especially, and I'm very much read into it, especially about the new bridge going in. That's gonna have a significant impact on VA services coming from across the river over here where we're staffed over here to provide those services and so forth. I've seen some of the plans of that bridge and you're talking about a project that may go seven years

1:10:08 and it will do a dramatic impact of people trying to commute back and forth, not only veterans, but people going to OHSU and getting those services from across the river and how we plan for that, how we organize it and so forth. The thing I had about Bonneville, Bonneville is a wonderful place, but it's providing the services to Bonneville and getting those services out there and you wanna be close to those services we possibly can. That's why it was so unfortunate to have the VA build a hospital over here in Vancouver 'cause that almost didn't happen years ago. But I just wanna caution as we look forward to be very progressive and think about the growth of this area. It is growing, it's growing very rapidly and being prepared to make decision that compensate that we live next to another community called Portland that does provide a great deal of our services.

1:11:07 Just, that's all, just a heads up. - Thank you for that. - Also, Larry, I don't know if you're familiar with, but there's conversations right now about a pre-toll on the bridge. So it's not when the bridge is done that they're gonna start putting tolls on, but before it's done and as it begins, they're gonna start tolling that bridge.

1:11:37 The VA is so critical to us. - They've got no idea what it's gonna be. - And Bruce Moss with just a follow-up question. There's been some talk here in southwest Washington about expanding, having some type of emergency care services available through the VA campus here in Portland instead of having to go into downtown Portland. And once the bridge gets tolled, then there's going to be this great divide where there's gonna be demand of services similar to available in Portland to be available here in Vancouver-Clarke County in the years ahead. - So luckily tomorrow I will be attending the 75th anniversary at Seattle VA Medical Center, and in attendance is supposed to be the VISN, so Dr. Boyd from VA and also other members from federal VA. So I will ask her that specific question that you just stated.

1:12:35 Anything else? Yes, sir. - I'm really in the dark on this whole issue, and partly to do, it's possible to be in the dark regarding entitlements as a veteran in the state of Washington for a cemetery or for a nursing home. But coupled with that, there wasn't a story in the Why Not Weekly a few years back about a well-heeled man that had the state as his guardian, and it got placed in a very dive on 82nd Street. If you remember that story, they ran it, I don't know if they did a follow-up, but given that juxtaposition, each of us should have some understanding about the use of the cemetery and the nursing home in the state of Washington. I for one do not.

1:13:35 How do we get what you know and what you're empowering this board to do to get that information out here in the resource center so it's not just the homeless person that's being served, but it's that old timer, or otherwise, that would like to know about this, what, 500 you said, roughly, 500 or 600 people? That's my statement. I would like to know the cost for each individual that's housed in those nursing homes across the state of Washington compared to what could be in a comparable private endeavor, whether it be a home share or a corporate-run building. In other words, take a look at the cost. I'd rather have the money put in a nursing home because our numbers are gonna explode, and no one's talking about that.

1:14:34 Thank you. So two things. The first question that you asked about the outreach and education and understanding the entitlements for the state of Washington, we're more than willing to come back. So if you decide to have a town hall meeting and a listening session, or you need us just to create one and invite Clark County residents to come and talk to us, I'm happy to do that like this and just have tables depending on what it is that you want and how you wanna model that. So what I would ask this advisory board is, take a look at what it is that your needs are, and then let me know. And then I'm glad to be able to provide that service whenever you need to, and I can work with our team to make sure that we show up and that we're providing those answers for you. The second one, I can give you information, and I'll be happy to add that to my list that I'll be responding to the board about that. Just quickly, state-skilled nursing homes that provide care for our veterans, save federal dollars.

1:15:33 We're a better, we provide a high level quality of service at a better rate than federal VA and private industry. So I understand the question that you're asking, and a lot of it is very different when it comes to reimbursement rates, and it's hard. So I'll give you an example. Right now we're asking the federal VA to reimburse us for medication that we're taking, that when we care for a resident, for example, if that veteran has cancer or some type of medication that's highly expensive. One example that I'll give you is we have a resident in one of our nursing homes on the west side, $16,000 a month for the medication. The state is having to take that expense. The federal VA is not reimbursing us for that medication. Now, if that same resident decides to go outside and reside in a private-skilled nursing home, federal VA will pay for that medication.

1:16:30 So all we're asking for is to treat us fairly and equally and reimburse us for those medications so that we're able to provide that service, 'cause right now the state is taking on that cost when it comes to that. I'm not saying it's prevalent, but there are cases that we have in our nursing homes where we are paying that higher level of cost for medication for residents that do need it. Right now, we're not turning anybody down. It's just those are the things that we're evaluating in our nursing homes. I will say, nationally, other state veteran homes are taking a hard look at that. So when it comes to admission in other states, not in this state, other states are taking a hard look at whether or not they're going to admit a resident that has that level of need. In our state, we do not do that. We evaluate when you come in. If we can provide that level of service, we will admit you based on whatever the needs are. - They like your closet. - Yes, sir.

1:17:29 - We met a lady at a stand-out, and her dad got placed here locally on this campus. She had learned about an attorney firm back in the Eastern Seaboard that all they do for 900 bucks at the time was look at your file and give you options for placing your dad, and he ends up right here in our backyard. It gets me that we can pay good money, that's not a hell of a lot of money, but good money, and have an attorney tell us our options. But we wanna know, as a resident, what do we have our options, long before we have to decide that we have nothing, and we are gonna have to hopefully qualify for a bed. - Once this committee or board decides what type of outreach you're looking for, I would be glad to ensure that one of the members that we bring is our admission, so that they can answer those questions for you, so that you know what it will entail and what we can offer. Thank you, you're welcome, sir. - That's what we need.

1:18:29 - Anything else? If not, we'll move on, and thank you, David. - Well, I appreciate the interactions and the questions, that took a lot of notes, so I will make sure to respond to what the questions that you asked. So, thank you for your time. - Yes, Mike. - Here's the guy. - I'd like to have you make a copy of all those slides. - She's going to. She's already said that. - Okay. - Okay, Abby, you wanna do the contracts reports? - Absolutely, thank you, Bob. And thank you so much, David, for coming down here to speak with us, and for following up on those questions from the board. So, this is the March 2026 Contractor and Fund Report. For the Clark County Veterans Assistance Center,

1:19:27 there were 649 visits to the Center for Essentials and Food, with 907 sack breakfasts and lunches, and 81 food boxes provided, for a total of 1,628 pounds of food provided. They also had 632 volunteer hours, totaling $25,457 in value. They served 43 veterans in March, with services totaling $24,278.57. Of these, 38 were male, five were female, zero were widows, and zero others were served. And there were nine denials, zero of which went to appeal. At the free clinic, there was one veteran served in March, services totaled $640 in value, and they billed $724.65 to the fund.

1:20:25 For the WDBA first quarter, they had 985 claims, with a 91% batting average for successful claim reimbursement. And they helped clients receive a total of $2,339,511 in VA payments. As for the Veterans Assistance Fund, the March revenue was $60,154.04. Expenditures were $63,018.51. At the end of March, the fund balance stood at $384,148.01, which was a $2,864.47 decrease from the previous month. Any questions?

1:21:19 - All right, back to you, Bob. - Okay, Veterans Assistance Center, who's online? - That would be myself, Sonja Wood. Judy is out this week. - Okay, tell us what you got going. - I'm really only here to report that, just to remind you that we have our upcoming gala coming up next month in June on the 20th. And we're still working on stand down, which will be on September 25th this month, or this year. - You have a flyer for that gala? - Yes, sir, we do. It's on our website, and I believe I can send it to Abby if she needs. - Please do send it to Abby so she can send it out to the members. - Yes, sir, I'll get that done today. And that's all I have. - Okay, thank you.

1:22:16 Old business, did you have something, Patrick? - Yes, I do. Regarding the Veterans Assistance Center, we'd like to get a current organization chart, and to be notified of any changes in the organizational structure of the assistance center. We would also like to get a copy of the last two years of 990 form filing. - Okay, I can get that done for you. - Okay, and a question, is there a current business plan

1:23:15 in place for the assistance center? - I am not 100% sure. I have to talk with Judy on that. We do have a meeting coming this Monday in the afternoon. We have a consultant coming in to help us to get a strategic plan going for the next couple years. - Okay, we would like to get a status on what the business plan plan is. And what the progress is on it. - All right, I will make sure that we get that to you. - Okay, and is there currently a nomination committee in place that's working on, I understand there's some restructuring going on in the organization. Is there a nomination committee that's doing research

1:24:15 on candidates for different positions in the organization? - Not that I'm aware of at this time. Last month we did have our, I should say starting in March, there were nominations for president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. And those were voted on at the April meeting. And that I am the current president. Dee Shaw, who is one of our CSOs, is the current vice president. And Varun, who is one of our volunteers, has been voted in as secretary and treasurer at this time. Once we meet with the consultant and we talk with them more, we may find that there might be other people that are better suited for different positions, but we won't know that until we talk with the consultant. - Okay, can we get a report on that next month's meeting? - Absolutely. - Thank you.

1:25:14 - Any more questions for the veterans' center? Any more old business? If not, we'll move to new business. What do we have for new business? - Mr. Chair, can I just kind of briefly explain something in an email that I had Abby send out to the board members, Bruce Moss, board secretary. For everybody here, there's gonna be a change in accessibility standards when presenting in public meetings. It's gonna take effect next year. It's a federal law. I had Abby send out the email. I'm not gonna get into details of it, but you can just go ahead and just read the information and keep it in back of your minds that when we do these public meetings, we're kind of being a little bit more descriptive because as many of you know, we've got disabled veterans in our community who might be viewing our board meetings

1:26:13 and if they've got like TBI or they have some type of disability to where they can comprehend what's going on in the meeting, it just gives them a chance to be more descriptive and to get out there and serve our disabled veterans who view this program. That's all I'm gonna say about this. The county will be providing followup information by way of staff as we meet this new federal requirement going forward in 2026. That's all I have. - Okay. - Mr. President, can I ask a quick question? - Yes, sir. - There was a bill that we all read, the Engrossed Bill of 2442. There was in a minute it says that it does not start until January 1st, 2027. I'd like the executive to ask the prosecuting attorney's office for a written interpretation

1:27:11 because I read it, it may have come, started sooner than that. - Can we do that? I'd ask that we ask for a, because we can't do it individually, we have to ask it on board. - Yeah, I'm happy to reach out to our prosecuting attorney for a written interpretation of when the bill will start and I'll follow up with you all on that. - Thank you. - Thank you, Abby. - I've got an announcement. - Yes, which is-- - Public service announcement, don't forget Memorial Day. 10 a.m., down to 11 a.m., it's at 10 a.m. Monday the 25th at the parade field at the American flag.

1:28:08 The garrison flag hopefully will be raised at 9.30. The ceremony starts at 10. Captain Marv Sirhan, a retired Navy captain, will be the keynote speaker. Congresswoman Perez has acknowledged she will be there and it's important that we support these things. I get a little miffed when I look out there and then people make a thousand excuses why they don't get their butt out of bed or out of the couch and come on down and take part in that. Visibility, especially with all the crap that's going on in the world right now, especially a war in Iran and American troops are scattered throughout the country, it's so important we remember those folks have given their lives to this country. And as I remind a lot of folks, we talk about 58,000 that are lost. There are more people that are lost out of Vietnam

1:29:06 than what you see because of Agent Orange, because of wounds and so forth. When Memorial Day we recognized those that killed in combat but technically these individuals end up dying along the way, especially Agent Orange. And so there's at least what I've been told over 140,000 folks are probably been killed with Vietnam because of the diseases, because of Agent Orange and all the other stuff that just went on. But trying to get people out there, and this is not, Memorial Day is not done for veterans, it's done for the public. They're trying to get the folks out there to appreciate that, 'cause I often hear folks come back and say, "Well Larry, that's just for veterans. "That ceremony's for veterans." And I said, "BS, it's for everyone in this community "to show up and be part of that and recognize, "especially the Gold Star families that'll be there "and thank them for their service "and thank them for their loved ones." So just wanna remind you once again,

1:30:03 it's Monday, it's at 10 a.m., not 11 a.m. We started an hour early, and it's at the parade field at the flagpole, okay? - Thank you, Larry. - I'll be there at six o'clock. - Yeah, I figured you wouldn't be. (laughs) - Any more new business? - Yes, Mr. Chair, we're less than 60 days out from Independence Day weekend. There's a lot of festivities and acknowledgements around our community that will be going on. There's also large flag displays that will be available in and around Clark County. The two big ones are down at the fort and also the Clark County Fairgrounds, and then also some of our local businesses will be displaying the big flag as well. There should be a flag on display at 10th and Main Street in downtown Vancouver, and I'll probably update with more information as we get closer. Of course, there's a 250-year committee through the Clark County Historical Society going on, so everybody's looking forward to Mother July. It'll be here before we know it. Thank you.

1:31:02 - Make a motion, we adjourn. - Second. - No more open forum. - Can I make some comments? - I'll see you later. - Okay, it's been moved and seconded that this board adjourn. - We have an open forum, right? - Aye. - Those opposed? - I'm good. - Open forum. - Meeting adjourned. - Greg's asking for an open forum. Mr. Chair, do we have any other side conversations that need to be done because we did that last month before we adjourn? Okay. - Have a good day, everyone. Enjoy the sunshine.