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SEANC Voices: Kirk Montgomery on Leadership and Legislation · The SEANC View

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  Hello, everyone. We're excited to launch a new series we're calling Scenic Voices.
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  We're going to pop in on the podcast feed every once in a while with interviews
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  of some of the wonderful members we have on the issues facing state employees
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  and retirees, as well as Scenic as a whole.
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  We hope it'll give you more insight into what happens around here.
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  Our first episode features a conversation with Scenic President Kirk Montgomery.
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  Kirk is now a year and a half into his term as president. He is the IT director
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  for the city of Mevin and has worked at several agencies, including the State Lab and UNC Chapel Hill.
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  We had a great conversation when he came over to the office a few weeks back
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  for a quarterly board meeting. We hope you enjoy it.
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  Music.
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  Okay, so we're here with our usual team in here, and we got a treat today.
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  We were able to get a few minutes with our president because it's
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  the quarterly meeting of the scenic board of
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  governors and so we haven't checked in with
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  him i guess a month or so he was on our podcast it's been a minute on the podcast
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  he's been on yeah our videos but not the podcast in a minute yeah so we just
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  wanted to grab him if we could i know he's busy on this weekend but we we did
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  get a few minutes with him how are you doing kirk mcgomery the president i'm
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  doing well you know it's good to be here at the office.
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  And, you know, we have a lot of things going on. I just want to give kudos to
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  our staff for all the hard work that they've been doing, especially to our lobbyists.
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  Things have been very difficult in these last few weeks. I'm trying to,
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  you know, circumvent some of the bills and stuff that have come through. You saw that firsthand.
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  I did. I did. You know, being able to go down to the legislation and talking
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  to some of the representatives and stuff, it was a treat within itself.
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  A lot of things that I wasn't exposed to, I was able to get exposed to.
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  I really was very surprised and very proud to see our executive director speak
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  up when they did not allow for people to speak on a bill that they were voting on until at the end.
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  And they passed the bill at that time.
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  And, you know, it was an experience of, you know, seeing how politics work,
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  but also seeing the dedication that we have and the focus that we have for this
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  organization and for state employees.
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  And our executive director let them know that, you know, that was something
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  that we're not happy about and that, you know, we need to have an option to
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  speak about it before people make the decision and take the vote.
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  You must have been pretty confused because you had gone to meet with one of
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  the appropriations chairs.
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  You were doing your meeting and then you zipped down to the committee meeting
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  to see if you could catch the vote.
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  You must have been very confused because we were speaking after a vote.
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  That was a weird thing. Yeah, I was because, you know, I've been into a couple
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  of sessions and so forth, but it was nothing like this. I actually saw...
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  You know, some of the items that were addressed, even for local government,
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  which kind of sent me back because, you know, I've been a state employee for
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  24 years, but then now I am local government.
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  And to see some of the items that they passed, that didn't make a lot of people
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  happy, especially, you know, some of the county commissioners and so forth that were there.
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  They were not happy with the way they were trying to reappropriate some of the
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  funding and stuff that they got.
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  So it was a different environment, but it was something that,
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  you know, I needed to be more exposed to.
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  And as the organization's president, this is something that we have to stand and fight for.
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  And specifically, that was H549? H549, yes. Bill 549.
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  The bill to take away SHRA protections from state auditors' positions.
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  The whole agency. Yeah.
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  Make them all political. Yep. And so you know we're going to have a trickle-down
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  effect because once it's done in one agency, other agencies are going to look at that.
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  And, you know, that's something that we're going to have to stand very steadfast
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  for and fight against. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head with that.
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  So you worked at the, was it the state lab?
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  So you know the importance of the SHRA protections.
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  Yep. I worked for the state lab. Pretty much I've worked in a lot of positions in the state.
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  I worked for the state lab. I worked for Diener. I worked for the UNC system.
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  And so, you know, this was something that was brought to the UNC system years
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  ago as well. So, and, you know, we took a stand and we helped and we fought
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  on that front as well back then.
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  So, you know. Do you find that members really count on those protections to?
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  They do. Okay. Because, I mean, you know, North Carolina is an at-will state,
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  but having those protections gives them some sort of cushion.
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  But without those protections, I mean, you know, you can walk in one day and
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  they can just tell you, well, we don't need you anymore and you're gone.
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  So those protections help go through the process of grievances and everything
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  else. And that's a big part that state employees need.
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  Yeah. So I think, you know, we've got some Gen Z members who are coming in this
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  afternoon to cut a podcast from their vantage point, how things look,
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  because we're really curious.
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  It's an odd time to be alive in terms of politics, but I want to know what the
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  younger people think. And I know as part of your presidency,
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  you've been really wanting to highlight younger members, give them a voice and put them at the front.
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  So do you have thoughts about that and how Gen Z should be a bigger part of the organization?
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  Yeah, I mean, we have to understand that the world is changing and the younger
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  generation has a different perspective than what we do.
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  They have a lot of very good perspectives because they want to see things done
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  and they want to see it done now.
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  But for them, we need to bring them to the forefront, give them an opportunity
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  to see what the leadership is about and help plan the future of the organization.
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  And as far as dealing with state employees, I mean, because if you look at the
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  approach that things are happening
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  now, they're trying to take everything away from state employees,
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  the benefits and things of that nature, because used to people came to work
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  for the state because there were great benefits. Right.
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  Make a career. Yeah. And so, you know, now it's a different mindset is that
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  it's like we're numbers.
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  State employees are numbers. And so when you look at people as numbers and you
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  don't see them as people or a valuable resource,
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  then that causes a major concern because then you're just going to say,
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  OK, as you know, they're doing the approach they're doing, like with the Dave
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  Act and things of that nature.
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  They're trying to take away things and get rid of positions that are much needed.
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  People came here for the benefits and also to provide a service for the state. And that was a big thing.
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  The Gen Z, they want to come in and they want to make things happen.
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  They want to make changes.
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  And we need to bring them in and give them an opportunity to speak and to stand up. That's awesome.
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  Well, it's May now. So this is the time of year that the president starts thinking
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  about the convention that comes up.
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  You're kind of in charge of the convention. It's a big task. You can kind of.
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  The convention is the president. It is your convention. So what kind of excitement
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  are you bringing to it this year?
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  And I know you have a theme picked out and we're going to. Yeah,
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  I'm going to keep a few things close to my chest at the moment.
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  Brenda and I are still working on things.
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  But I want it to be fun. But we have a lot of business that we have to take care of.
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  The convention is a time for the delegates and everyone to come together and
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  look at the options that we have for state employees. And, you know,
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  look at our bylaws, look at the process.
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  But it's also a time for us to have the camaraderie. Because at CENIC,
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  we consider ourselves as family.
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  You know, that's good and bad at times, but it's a thing that we stand for and
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  that we love this organization.
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  We love state employees and we'll focus more so on trying to make sure things are better.
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  The convention is a time for us to focus on those things, put in some training,
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  ensure that all the business is
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  taken care of, and to look at what we have done in the past year or two.
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  He's an busy man. Our president runs IT for the city of Mebane,
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  and I'm wondering if they have something going on right now,
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  but hopefully not. But things beep on him sometimes.
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  Yes, that's actually one of my vendors calling me now about some stuff.
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  But that's something I want to talk about, too.
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  Being the president of SYNC is something that I have truly enjoyed.
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  It's been a little bit difficult for me because I do have a full-time job, but it's been good.
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  It has really been good. There's some things that I couldn't push my agenda
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  as much as I wanted to because of my limited time frame that I had being the
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  president and working full-time.
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  But the staff has been very supportive. We've got a lot of things going,
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  and I hope to work with the next president to see, you know,
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  they will have their own agenda.
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  But if there's things that I can help and assist to kind of push some other
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  items, then I will do that.
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  So I have the question I ask every president.
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  All of our past presidents talk about how much they enjoy being president,
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  but how much better they like being a past president.
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  And towards the end, they always say, I can't wait to be a past president. Are you there yet? Yes.
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  That's so funny to me. You were just saying, I mean, it's a huge commitment
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  for two years of your life.
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  It is. But we appreciate you doing it, obviously. And the convention...
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  Like, other organizations have events like this, but it always strikes me.
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  People are just like, I mean, why are you worried about it? It's just a convention,
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  right? You just get together.
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  It's like, no, this is, like, very important. You know, this is,
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  at a time, this was the only time that CNET members got together way back in
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  the day. It was way back in the day. Yeah.
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  So, I mean, we do a lot of work at the convention.
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  Yeah, we do a lot of work. I mean, it is a lot of work.
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  We're tired. Staff is tired. officers are tired
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  but you know we do have fun and we
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  do enjoy but it's not all about fun and we want people
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  to understand that we have business that we take care of
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  every day that we're at convention yeah i mean this is where
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  you check out your your bylaws do you want to make
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  amendments are there new bylaws to consider your policy platform
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  objectives that's your directive everything we do yeah
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  we're not going and just yeah a couple hours exactly
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  and then going to party because they're long i mean they're eight nine
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  ten ten hour days i mean we've been in so i
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  mean but if you look at how broad you were talking about your experience
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  in state government you've worked a little bit of everywhere and if you look
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  at how broad everything is that we deal with it would take a while just to get
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  through your bylaws and it it does but it's good it's an interesting conversation
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  and i think we have what usually about 800 delegates so they come from all All
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  over the state. It's a big crowd of people.
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  Vigorous debate. Vigorous debate. Always.
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  Because President Montgomery's right. We're a family, but like families fight. Exactly.
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  We fight each other, but nobody better fight. That's right. Nobody from outside
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  better fight us. It's always interesting. That's when we become unified. That's when we, yeah.
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  It's always interesting to me that 800 people seem to know each other,
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  like all of them. It is weird.
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  I think lots of them, they just wait until September because this is,
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  you know, our big deal. It's a reunion.
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  Yeah. Yeah, it is. So we're excited about that. And we're excited to have you
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  here this weekend. I know it's going to be a busy one.
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  Yeah, we have a few things on the agenda that we need to address.
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  And so I'm just ready for us to meet and go through that process and get things done.
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  All right. Well, thanks for coming in, giving us, I know you got probably four calls on there.
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  You got to return, but thanks for coming in, giving us a few minutes and we'll
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  see you out in the board meeting. Thank you so much.