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National Association of FSA County Office Employees

December 2018

NASCOE Makes an Impact If you read the

NASCOE NEWS

FLASH sent out a

few weeks ago, you

know that NASCOE

has been following

up on a few items

that membership

asked management during the questions

and answer session of the National

Convention recently held in Sioux Falls,

SD. One of the items that membership

was passionate about was the November

15th acreage reporting date for perennial

forages. Changing the date has also been

a NASCOE negotiation item in recent years

submitted by membership through the

negotiation process.

If you were at the convention, you know

that Administrator Fordyce stated that he

believed that the date should be

reverted back to July 15 and that he

had been in discussions with the

other agencies involved. As you are all

aware, the recent release of Notice

CP-748 changed the acreage reporting

date for perennial forages back to

July 15. I want to thank membership for

keeping this topic in front of FSA

leadership through the negotiation

process and at the national convention.

I want to especially thank FSA

Administrator Fordyce and his team for

listening to the NASCOE membership and

making the change happen.

Included in this Newsletter is

information about the NASCOE

leadership team. Please take a few

minutes to review and learn about

these volunteers. Each of them

contributes significant amounts of

personal time, resources and work

on your behalf. Please know that you

can contact any of us at any time if you

have issues.

I want to also take this time to

promote the 2019 National Convention

which will be held in Manhattan,

Kansas July 31 through August 3,

2019. KASCOE is working diligently

to prepare and provide an excellent

experience. As mentioned earlier,

membership had the opportunity to

express their concerns about important

issues directly to management and

we have seen direct results. The

National Convention is a unique

opportunity for membership in interact

directly with our FSA leaders. If you have

never attended, I hope that you will

begin planning now to be in Kansas next

year.

NASCOE President Dennis Ray

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Happy Fall Ya’ll! It’s hard to believe that

the NASCOE National convention was

over three months ago. South Dakota

did an amazing job this year and we are

looking forward to seeing what Kansas

has in store for us in 2019. Some of the

highlights to look forward to in Kansas

are the following:

• Tall Grass Prairie Reserve Tour

• Golf at Colbert Hills

• Historical Abilene Tour

• Local Dairy and Milford Lake Tour

• Taste of Home Denim Night

• Kansas Night

• Diamond Night Banquet

For those of you that have never helped put on a National

Convention or even a Rally they are a lot of work. Thankless hours of

details are put together to make sure this family we call NASCOE has

a great business meeting as well as family reunion. Please be sure if

you have never attended one that you put it on your bucket list

before you retire to attend at least one rally and one National

Convention. I promise you will be hooked and have something to

look forward to when you retire and become a member of RASCOE.

The holidays are upon us and what that means to NASCOE is the

deadline to submit items for negotiation. The deadline to submit

items for the 2019 negotiations is December 1, 2018. You can

either click on the following link https://nascoe.org/negotiations/

negotiations-submission/ or go to the NASCOE.org page and click on

Forms & Downloads and scroll to negotiation and click on the link

there for new submissions. Negotiation is a time for NASCOE to

work with the folks in Washington to fix things that cannot be

corrected through the regular program submission process.

If you have ideas on how to improve things or if you become of aware

of benefits that our members could utilize please submit them

through the negotiations process. NASCOE has built a great working

relationship with the folks in DC and this process helps them

become aware of how they can improve morale in the field and how

the folks in the field can be part of a positive impact on the Agency. If

you have an item and you are not sure whether it would be a

program submission, or a negotiation item please feel free to

contact myself or Michelle Stahl and we will be happy to assist you.

I would like to wish each and every one of you a very happy holiday

season. In light of everything that has happened this year, please

take time out of your busy schedule and spend it with your loved

ones.

Official Publication of the National

Association of FSA County Office

Employees (NASCOE)

Officers, Executives and

National Committee Chairs

President Dennis Ray, Missouri

Vice President Brandon Wilson, Kansas

Secretary Marcinda Kester, Florida

Treasurer Curt Houk, Iowa

Midwest Area Executive Jackson Jones, Missouri

Alt Executive Mary Roberts, Iowa

Northeast Area Executive Lawrence Parker, Vermont

Alt Executive Annette Hyman, New York

Northwest Area Executive Jessi Colgrove, Nebraska

Alt Executive Joel Foster, South Dakota

Southeast Area Executive Mike Mayfield, Tennessee

Alt Executive Beth Farmer, Alabama

Southwest Area Executive Jay Goff, Oklahoma

Alt Executive Kristal Jackson, Texas

Awards and Scholarships Samantha Garrison, Indiana

Benefits and Emblems Christy Wallace, Idaho

Legislative Donny Green, Tennessee

Neil Burnette, North Carolina

Membership Lynsey Brooks, Oklahoma

NAFEC Carla Spencer, Texas

Programs Michelle Stahl, Ohio

Publicity / Webmaster Teresa Holmquist, Minnesota

NASCOE Website

www.nascoe.org

NASCOE Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/NASCOENews/

Make Plans for Kansas!

NASCOE Secretary

Marcinda Kester

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Visit the NASCOE website to keep up-to-date with the 60th Annual NASCOE

Convention planning. Watch for Registration information coming soon!

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Application submission deadline is January 15.

Traditional Scholarship

This award may only be used to defray expenses for a graduating high school senior or first-year college freshman enrolled as a full time student with a minimum of 12 hours at an accredited college, university or trade school. Applicants must be a NASCOE member’s child, or a member’s legal dependent.

Open Continuing Education Scholarship

This award may only be used to defray expenses for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th year, or graduate student continuing their education at an accredited college, university or trade school while carrying 6 or more credit hours per semester. Applicants must be a NASCOE member, member’s spouse, member’s child, member’s legal dependent, or member's grandchild.

Member Continuing Education

The applicants must be a NASCOE member continuing their education at an accredited college,

university or trade school.

Continuing Education for Adult Children of Members

This award may only be used to defray expenses for a Member’s adult child continuing their education as required or encouraged through their employer for 5 or less credit hours a semester. Applicants must be a member’s child, member’s legal dependent, or member's grandchild.

Grandchildren Scholarship

This award may be used to defray expenses for a student continuing their education enrolled at an accredited college, university or trade school while carrying 12 or more credit hours per semester. Applicants must be a member's grandchild.

Associate Member Scholarship

This award may only be used to defray expenses for an associate member, an associate member’s spouse, an associate member’s child, grandchild or legal dependent enrolled as a student with a minimum of 6 hours of enrollment at an accredited college, university or trade school.

Please see 2019 Scholarship and Awards Handbook for complete

eligibility requirements.

All applications are submitted online at www.NASCOE.org under Awards - Scholarships.

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Application submission deadline is January 15.

Distinguished Service Awards This Program encourages recognition of NASCOE members who make outstanding contributions in the Areas of:

Service to NASCOE

Service to FSA-Agriculture

Service to Community Nominations for these awards are competitive.

• State winners are eligible to be considered for Area winners. Area winners are eligible to be considered for the National winner in each category.

• Any member of the Association may make a nomination.

• A State approving official of the State Association (which may be the State Awards Chairperson) is required to certify to the eligibility of the person being nominated.

• Members of the association in good standing, members serving under a permanent appointment, and members voluntarily retired during the current year are eligible to receive these awards.

• Only members of a State Association which is affiliated with the National association can be considered eligible at the Area and National levels.

• National officers, Area Executives, Alternate Area Executives, National Committee Chairpersons are ineligible for consideration of a Distinguished Service Award while serving in any of these capacities.

• No Member shall be awarded more than one Distinguished Service Award for the same action on the same level. This does not disqualify a Member from receiving multiple Distinguished Service Award in one or more categories with different nominations, but rather prevents winning two or more awards with the same nomination on the same level.

Sick Leave Awards

• Certificates and plaques shall be requested through the Area Awards Chairperson 60 days prior to the Area Rally or National Convention.

• Certificates obtained, at no charge, from the NASCOE Area Awards Chairperson are awarded for accumulated sick leave of 1000, 1500, and 2000 hours. These are to be presented at the Area Rally or National Convention.

• Plaques are awarded to permanent employees who are NASCOE members in good standing that accumulate 2500, 3000, and 3500 hours and above of unused sick leave. The State Awards Chairperson should contact the Area Awards Chairperson, who will forward this information to the National Awards Chairperson to order the necessary plaques. Plaques should be presented at the Area Rally or National Convention.

All applications are submitted online at https://nascoe.org/awards-scholarships/

Please see 2019 Scholarship and Awards Handbook for

complete list of eligibility requirements.

NASCOE can take your

directly to the National Specialists!

Have a solution to a program or software

problem or inefficiency?

Visit nascoe.org and submit your idea

through the Program Efficiency

Submission Form.

A state, area, or national programs

chairperson may contact you for

further clarification of the problem/

solution, and will keep you informed

of their communication with WDC!

Once the National Programs chair has consulted with the

National Office, the response will be shared on the

NASCOE website.

Programs suggestions can be submitted on work time

and NASCOE has the ability to work on these ideas year-

round, not just at negotiation time. Send in your ideas as

soon as you think of them. NASCOE wants to see prompt

results when it comes to your ideas for how we can

improve the way we do business!

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December 1, 2018 NASCOE Negotiations Submission Deadline

January 15, 2019 Distinguished Service Award Deadline

NASCOE Scholarship Applications Deadline

January 10, 2019 2nd Quarter NASCOE Dues Transmission

Deadline

March 14 - 16, 2019 Midwest Area Rally Champaign, Illinois

April 1, 2019 NASCOE Convention Cash Club Contest

Deadline

April 10, 2019 3rd Quarter NASCOE Dues Transmission

Deadline

April 10 - 13, 2019 All South Rally

Nashville, Tennessee

April 25 - 27, 2019 Northwest Area Rally

Idaho Falls, Idaho

May 15, 2019 NASCOE Candidacy Announcement

Deadline

May 16 - 18, 2019 Northeast Area Rally

Dowell, Maryland

June 15, 2019 NASCOE Membership Awards Deadline

June 30, 2019 4th Quarter NASCOE Dues Submission

Deadline

July 1, 2019 NASCOE Memorial Submissions Due

July 17 - 20, 2019 Texas - TASCOE Convention

Allen, Texas

July 30 - August 3, 2019 NASCOE Convention in

Manhattan, Kansas

October 10, 2019 1st Quarter NASCOE Dues Submission

Deadline

Contact NASCOE Vice-President, Brandon Wilson to add State

Convention and Area Rally dates to the NASCOE Event Calendar

NASCOE Calendar