Latest / The SEANC View / Live from the 41st Annual SEANC Convention!

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Live from the 41st Annual SEANC Convention! · The SEANC View

• 0:00
  Coming to you live from Greensboro, North Carolina, it's the Scenic View Podcast.
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  And I guess it's not really live by the time you listen to this,
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  but we are at the Curry Convention Center.
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  It may sound a little different, but we are here for this 41st annual Scenic Convention.
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  I'm here with the usual crowd, Suzanne Beasley, Government Relations Director,
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  Artis Watkins, Executive Director, Sam Klein, the esteemed podcast producer,
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  and myself, Jonathan Owens, the Director of Communications.
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  We don't have a lot of time. We've got to get back to work, but we ducked in
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  this little makeshift studio. Let's get down to business.
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  Music.
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  So we'll just have a short little discussion about what's going on at the convention.
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  I guess the top headline was right at the start.
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  Governor Josh Stein did join us. He had a pretty fiery speech compared to what he did last year.
• 1:00
  Because he was a candidate last year. He was actually attorney general when
• 1:03
  he spoke to us. But I enjoyed his speech. What did you guys think about it?
• 1:06
  Yeah, happy he could be here.
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  Yeah, I mean, he called on the legislature to pass a budget,
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  and obviously this entire crowd is sitting there without a pay raise,
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  and their health care's gone up. Right.
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  It would have been wonderful if he had mentioned retirees. That's what I'm hearing.
• 1:23
  Yeah, we heard that from a few people here. Other than that,
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  we had the state health plan came by for a presentation about the new Lantern program.
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  We had an awesome training yesterday from our membership staff.
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  And today has been mostly work, mostly business.
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  We've heard Secretary Buffalo. We had a visit from the DPS secretary.
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  Yeah, we got a whole slate of VIP visitors this afternoon. It was a busy day.
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  And we had one more yesterday, one
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  of my favorites, Office of State Human Resources Director Stacey Meyer.
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  Oh, yes. Who is working so hard to modernize the entire state employment system.
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  And the crowd really wanted to hear from her because they want those jobs.
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  They don't want to go through the amount of red tape they've got to go through
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  now. But they want to know it's done responsibly and looking out for the rights of state employees.
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  And Stacey Myers, the woman, for that job. She's doing it.
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  I noticed I'm not saying our delegation in years past has been,
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  you know, fumbling with their papers or not paying attention.
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  But they were very focused this year, it seemed like, on that speech and the
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  governor's speech and pretty much the whole time. I noticed that at the legislature.
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  Yeah. We're in committee meetings or even on the floor when there's discussion
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  and papers are being rustled and maybe even a little conversation in the background
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  going on. But when they get silent, you know, they're paying attention.
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  So, yeah, for the whole convention. And you guys, I think we've got about 700 people here this year.
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  So for the whole convention to be silent for a presentation,
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  you know, they were focused and appreciated the information.
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  And we have the retirement system coming today as well. We do.
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  We do. Lots of fun ahead. We got to, I guess we're about halfway point right now.
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  I guess this would be the halfway point. Friday at lunch. And then we got this
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  afternoon and Saturday.
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  So a lot of fun ahead. What are you guys hearing from the members out?
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  The state health plan presentation yesterday, which you guys have heard Thomas
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  Friedman, the executive director of the plan before on the podcast.
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  He's a volcano of information and he brought it yesterday, too.
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  But he also brought the representative from Lantern, which is that new program
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  we've told you guys about that the plan is going to utilize to help with the cost of health.
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  Health care. And I had a lot of people that were asking questions,
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  you know, because it sounded, you know, like something good.
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  So we're hopeful that, you know, moving forward, we'll realize some savings
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  within the plan and help people's pocketbooks.
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  I kind of feel like that program may be something you got to see or use to understand, you know.
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  I think it'll take some experience with it. I do sit on the floor kind of directly
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  in front of people so I can hear some of the whispers and chitter-chatter right behind me.
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  And I do still hear a little bit of concern slash reservations about Lantern
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  Project and what is moving forward with that.
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  But yeah, I think anything new is always tough.
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  But the other thing I've heard a lot about is the, or questions,
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  tons of questions, the 170 million
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  that we talked about last week that the treasurer staff discovered.
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  Okay, so everyone's asking me the questions that we were talking about last week.
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  What are they going to do with that? We need them to use it.
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  Give state employees, get something, give retirees something,
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  put it to the health plan.
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  Yeah, so you can not have premium increases so high.
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  And I'm trying to explain they can't do that. But we have looked into that 170
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  million more since last week.
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  And I just wasn't real positive over how it was found. Well, it was never lost.
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  It was always there. But it was interest-bearing. It wasn't squandered.
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  That money was bearing interest.
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  So, yeah, I think the headlines are really a little misleading on that,
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  and the reporting is misleading and confusing.
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  And so, again, I said it last week, and now I double down on it.
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  I sure hope journalists will ask a lot more questions about that.
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  But when I first saw that story, I started to feel a little concerned about,
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  I guess, thinking about what Thomas Freeman thought about that announcement.
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  Like, was he involved in that announcement? Because he would be like,
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  you made this announcement like a week after I voted to it.
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  Oh, yeah, after the health plan, yeah. I think he maybe had a little consternation about that.
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  Well, I mean, anytime money like that is found, the opportunity to use it,
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  you have to ask. But that money is specifically earmarked, I guess you would say.
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  It's for specific projects within the department. I mean, it sounds like the
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  General Assembly is like, we need that money.
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  I know. I mean, that's what's happened. That's what I was saying last week.
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  Found some way to launder that money. You have to stop saying launder because
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  that is, in fact, a different thing and illegal.
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  This is just, you know, the General Assembly wants, they're going to go to any
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  pot of money that's around and say, give it. That's right.
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  Because I don't even know, even then, if they'll get to a budget.
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  However, yeah, we'd like that. We would, like everyone else,
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  like that money spent on health plans.
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  It just sounds like a big bully who's coming to take your lunch money.
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  Instead of letting it go towards the state health plan. And it just sounds like
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  a bully who's walking over and is like, that money?
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  Yeah. Give it to me. To be clear, though, we don't know that that money was
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  for the state health plan. No, no, no, no, no. We're just saying it's going
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  to be used for something.
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  And so no matter what you're using it for. Yeah.
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  Look, the people here are seeing so many of them compared to just our board, which is quite large.
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  But seeing hundreds and hundreds of people, especially retirees,
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  they're tore out of their frame, man. Well, yeah.
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  Building on that, I mean, we do have a lot of retirees. And the number one thing
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  we're hearing, obviously, is they're not getting a COLA for another year for,
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  I guess, it's been, what, 10 years or so since. A long time.
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  There's a lot of frustration from we're all sensing that.
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  Yeah, I mean, it's they were led to believe it was going to be a lot different.
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  And the system was actually set up to be a lot different. The system was set
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  up to provide COLAs, and it was going to provide those from the undistributed
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  gains, basically the interest you make off of investments.
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  And for so many reasons, that didn't happen.
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  But I want to repeat, I can't repeat enough times on this podcast,
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  there were times the legislature put in nothing or next to nothing in terms of a contribution.
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  So even though the legislature is putting in a good contribution now,
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  as anyone knows with investments, you can't neglect it and not think that compounds
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  the same way money you put in compounds.
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  Right. We're going to cut to a short interview with Scenic President Kurt Montgomery
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  about the convention, and we'll be right back to talk a little more about what's going on.
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  Okay, I'm here with Kirk Montgomery, the scenic president. I have ambushed him
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  and taken him from his lunch just for a second.
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  Just wanted to get a little interview on your thoughts about the convention so far. How's it going?
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  I think the convention has been going very well. A lot of people don't understand
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  the work that we have to put in at this convention, dealing with our bylaws,
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  going through the process of, you know, doing elections and things of that nature.
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  But overall, this has been a very good convention.
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  We still have a lot of work ahead of us. But we had Governor Stein come in,
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  which was a great asset to us for him to speak to our delegation and so forth.
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  And so it was it's been great. A lot of enthusiasm for Stein.
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  It seemed like they brought the house. Was that a hard act to follow?
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  It was because, you know, I wanted to bring him in.
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  Normally, it's the president that opens up the convention.
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  But, you know, we were able to get him to come in and open it up for us.
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  And I was very thankful of that. Good surprise there.
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  And you, everyone's noticed you're on the little cart this week.
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  You have an accident at work and you're a little hobbled, but you're getting
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  through it, right? I am, yeah.
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  I tore my tendon from my patella.
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  And so I got a little bit of rehabilitation that I'm going to have to go through.
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  But overall, it's been good. I'm glad that I was able to come here and do my
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  duties here and serve the state employees. Awesome.
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  Now, this is, I guess, marks kind of the end of your presidency.
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  Are you going to be sad when it's over?
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  In a way, yes. But in a way, it's also a sign of relief. Yeah.
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  Because a lot of people do not understand the responsibilities of the president.
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  And it's very, I wouldn't say hard job, but it's very time consuming.
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  And you have a lot of things that you have to approach and work with,
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  you know, the staff, with the executive committee, with the board of governors
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  to ensure that we stay on point with what we're doing with the legislation.
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  You know, I do want to give kudos back to the staff because I have learned so
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  much being the president and understanding what staff has to do to keep this
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  organization running. Yeah.
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  And you had a good board with you sticking through the year. Yep, I did.
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  You know, there were a lot of, you know, headaches that we had or challenges,
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  I should say, not headaches, challenges.
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  You know, we did the IT upgrade. We had some issues with our building that we're working through.
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  You know, then we also had the big issue with the hurricane healing.
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  Yeah. But scenic stood steadfast and we, you know, we worked together, we got supplies to them.
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  And that was a great situation for us to be able to support scenic members in
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  the West as well as other people. So not to say that it's been dead the last few years.
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  I mean, every convention is different, but it seems like this year there's a lot of enthusiasm.
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  I think maybe a lot of the business that we're doing is bringing that on,
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  but it seems like people are very engaged this year. And they are.
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  I mean, because, you know, we, well, I don't know if I need to say everything
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  that's happening right now, but we have some big ticket items that we're trying
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  to address to ensure that, you know, the scenic stays viable in the future.
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  And the elections always bring up a lot of, luckily, you don't have to do that
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  this year, right? I do not.
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  So, you know, I will still be on the board. I will still be in the executive
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  committee. I'll be the immediate past president.
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  Yeah. And I will be here to help the new president when they come in and also always support Scenic.
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  Awesome. Well, thank you for your time and let you get back to life. All right. Thank you.
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  And congratulations, Sam, for your knees holding out to this point.
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  Sam crawls all over the floor in front of the stage to take all these pictures.
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  I couldn't do it for 10 minutes. She's fascinating to watch because she runs
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  from one location to the other. She has knee pads, y'all.
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  So she hits the floor and slides.
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  It's fun to watch. Good job, Sam. It's been a lot of fun.
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  I've also gotten a lot of members who will look at me and they're like,
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  you're sprinting everywhere. And I'm like, I got to go. I got to move.
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  So she told me last night at dinner, we went to dinner with Baloo,
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  our IT director and a few other.
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  Tiana was there from the instrument. Well, Suzanne and I were not invited. Go ahead. Do tell.
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  Baloo set this up. I'm throwing him under the bus. Well, we know who to get.
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  But she told me last night, what was it that you hurt your hip or something?
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  Yeah, I did have one slide where I slid so far past that I ended up leaning
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  back and slamming my hip onto the floor.
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  I think somebody caught that on video, didn't they? Probably.
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  Probably Allie. I think your friend caught that on video. Oh, we got to get that. Yeah.
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  Yeah, that's got to go in the blooper reel. Yeah, she was saying we need to
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  have a whole video of just me sliding and crawling across the floor.
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  Oh, she got that one on the... I think so.
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  Sam Cam. I was struck by how many media members came for the governor's speech yesterday.
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  Yeah. I wasn't expecting them to put a release out or anything.
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  I mean, the governor comes basically every year. That was fun, though.
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  But that was awesome. We got some pub out of it. So our bylaws chair,
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  Kim Martin, was in a picture used by one of those media outlets.
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  So that's awesome when our dedicated members and our big turtle logo behind it. Yes.
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  So the looks awesome, especially in photos.
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  Yeah. Because it brightens up the background every now and then.
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  We've had some darker themed and you'll hear President Montgomery who picked
• 13:29
  that theme as part of one of your. Yeah.
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  The theme was strength in unity. And I guess Ohana is kind of the theme. Yeah.
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  So, Sam, you're a big Hawaii person. Yeah. Slash Lilo and Stitch.
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  Yeah. What does Ohana mean? I have an Ohana tattoo.
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  So Ohana at its most simple form when you're talking about Lilo and Stitch is
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  Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.
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  But when you're actually talking about the culture of Hawaii,
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  Ohana is not just family that is blood.
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  It's family that you've created. It's the culture that you've created.
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  And it's really the support that you surround yourself with.
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  So I feel like that's a great representation of our membership and our family.
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  Yeah, I think there's definitely a sentiment of family amongst our members.
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  I don't want it to exclude people who aren't part of that family,
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  though. We want even more members.
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  Yeah, we want to grow the family. It includes our podcast family. It includes art.
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  We're inclusive, so we need more and more scenic members to join and be part of the convention.
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  One thing I will say before we wrap up, the photojournalist from,
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  I think it was the News and Record here in Greensboro came, and he saw the logo.
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  And I was, like, helping him with lights, you know, lighting and things.
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  And he was like, what is this organization? Like, is it like a marine thing?
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  Marine biology? or something? I was like, no, it's the State Employees Association
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  of North Carolina. I was like, don't ask.
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  But we do have marine biologists who are state employees. People love that logo, though.
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  They're asking, some of them have asked President Montgomery if we have t-shirts
• 15:12
  with it on. We should have made some merch. We should start doing that yearly for the themes.
• 15:16
  That'd be cool. Get a themed t-shirt.
• 15:20
  Put that on the list. We have a huge list coming out of the convention every year.
• 15:24
  Well, I think that was a good episode for us to just highlight some of the things
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  going on at convention and we'll see you next week for a regular episode.
• 15:34
  Music.