The Weekly Bulletin

Dec 18, 2017

 

Call to order: President Musterman

Invocation: Pat Brown

 

Pledge: lead by Ken Oster

 

Introduction of Guests   Carl Scott introduced two guests from the Kids First Optimist Club, Patty Gusky and Marilyn McCurry.

 

 

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Ed Musterman reported he and his wife Sue were each celebrating their birthdays this week.

 

 

Mystery Person  –

Rick McKernan awarded this week’s gift certificate to Shirley Beckett, our perennial guest and     wife of 50+ year member, Jim Beckett

 

Greeter   –

Carl Scott passed out candy canes to all who worked the tree lot this season. This past Wednesday he worked the Food Drive at Providence and Broadway and later brought Charlie Brown Christmas trees to kids staying at the Ronald McDonald House.

Announcements

• Sign In or Pay the Pig Carl Scott called out members Jim Murphy and Sid Sullivan for getting their picture in the Columbia Missourian article on our Optimist Christmas tree lot and Kelly Schilling for being quoted in the article for her work on Respect for the Law.
• Food Bank –Larry Fick reported his work at the Food Bank preparing Buddy Packs. He mentioned this will be a busy week for Buddy Pack work as they will need extra help to prepare Buddy Packs in time to be distributed one day early on Thursday for the long week-end.
• Koeze/Certificate update: Only a couple of boxes of Puddles and some chocolate candies and Peanut Brittle are left in inventory.

• Tree Lot – John Sapp, C.O  – Of the 1300 tree ordered for this year’s fund raiser, less than fifty remain for sale during this last week of sales. Jack Cruise reported this year’s tree sales of $79,538 are up $8,000 over the same period last year.

Last sales date: Tree sales will end at 4:00 pm on Thursday. John Sapp asks that lot workers on Tuesday and Wednesday help alleviate some of the clean-up work by moving the tree stand boards from the south side of the clubhouse (Austin Street side) to the north fence. Our insurance requires tree stands no longer be placed against the building.

Lot clean up: Lots of help is needed to for the lot clean up scheduled for Thursday at 4:00 pm. Don’t leave all the work to John.

Left over trees – John Sapp to contact the Conservation Dept to pick up the trees for use in fish beds.

• Tree lot sign up/ Cash Register – C.O. Scheffer said lot workers were needed for the 1:00 – 5:00 pm shift on Wednesday. Carl Scott and Sid Sullivan agreed to work this shift.
• Board – No December meeting
• YOHO Meeting  C.O. plans to have the next YOMO event in early February. Stay tuned
• NEW MEMBERS Ed Musterman reported he received five membership applications and a check from Schneider Engineering for their membership dues.
• Feb 9-10,  E.MO District Meeting in Rolla

 

Today’s Speaker

 

Sonja Boone, Boone County Administrator

Sonja Boone came with the agency attorney, Mick Wilson to discuss the work of the County Administrator. Sonja took office this past year after a 26 year apprenticeship with several past elected County Administrators. She finally took the advice and encouragement of her former bosses to stand for election. She is now the supervisor of an office of three deputy administrators, one account manager and a receptionist.  This six person office managing 440 court assigned cases of Guardianship and/or Conservatorship.

 

The guardianship focuses on the activities of an individual’s life where the conservatorship is responsible for the financial control of that person’s life. A guardianship/conservatorship is a relationship where one person places trust and confidence in the capability, integrity and fidelity of another person. In the case of the Public Administrator it is where Society places trust in a single individual to manage all the interconnected relationships and material assets necessary to maintain life for a multitude of persons who can’t manage their own affairs and who have no one to perform this function.

 

The job of the Public Administrator may sound easy but it entails picking up the pieces of the life of someone who has been referred through a court process and managing those pieces in the best interest of the client. It may start with convincing the person they are no longer in control of their own life or convincing family and relatives the court has decided there is no one else qualified to care for the needs of this person. Then the PA has to identify and collect assets to support this referral. Revenue streams have to be identified and redirected to special accounts. In the case of the Veterans Administration or Social Security, this could take months. In the case of physical assets they are sold or auctioned. Then there are the appropriate services. Case management is needed to identify the needed services, connect the individual with them and work out a payment plan. This could involve working with public funding sources when personal resources are no longer available. Housing is also an issue. The person may need to stay in a group home, a residential facility or skilled nursing facility. Oftentimes this involves locating someone in a distant community and working with family on the changing relationships involved. All this work has to be documented.

 

Other responsibilities of the PA include record keeping. Permission is required from the court for any expenditure over $75.00. The VA and Social Security will require audits. The probate court requires annual accounting of the fiscal records of each individual. Site visits are needed to ensure proper care is given in the various residential facilities throughout the state. Where there is non-compliance or agencies or governmental bodies that don’t agree to voluntarily cooperate, the PA must get a court order. The job entails the patience of Job, the perseverance of a saint and the pugnacity of a prize fighter to deliver the services required for the best interests of the disabled under their charge.

 

 

 

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

 

Dec 25 – No Meeting

Jan 1 – No Meeting

Jan 8 – Rachel Finch, Family Access Center

Jan 15 –TBD

Jan 22 – Jeniffer Clark, Community Programs, MU School of Law

Jan 29 – Peter Stiepleman, Supt. Colulmbia Public Schools

 

 

 

Adjourn with the Creed: 1:00

Optimistically Yours,

 

Sid Sullivan

Secretary