Letter from the Director

linda

Linda Dunshee,

Executive Director

I am fully and officially ready for this legislative session to be over with. Although we do not have any legislative actions on the table that would cost money, this year it has been a long battle just to get a bill on the floor that would provide a consistent definition for billing. I have spent many hours at the capital and we are fortunate to have many Senators and Representatives that are strong advocates for our industry. By the time you read this the session should be over as it is anticipated to close by Saturday the 27th.

I and our board of directors are continuing to aggressively work on earning enough money to purchase, renovate and relocate to the new building. On March 3rd, 4th & 5th I was in Washington DC and met with staff from Senator Harkin's office to submit a federal assistance request. Although the request was large, the staff took a lot of time meeting with me and discussing the project and exactly how dollars, if awarded would be spent. I have been told that the request meets all of the necessary definitions and will be included in proposed legislation. If it makes the "mark up" (The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation) in June it will have a strong chance of being funded. We have received the appraisal on both the new building and this building to we can continue with the planning process. As I told everyone in the staff meetings if you want to buy this building we can make you a great deal. On a serious note if you know of any company interested have them call us and we are happy to coordinate showing them the property. What this building lacks for us is sometimes perfect for a different business. The proximity to the interstate, the parking and warehouse space along with the loading docks make this a great location for a company that may not be serving the number of people we do, but a company that needs a large and open space. We are waiting to hear back on a $100,000 request that I presented to the Des Moines Community Foundation and we have about 30 requests being considered at this time by corporations, individuals and foundations. Renate Shotwell has put in an incredible amount of time and energy working on grant requests and she has made a huge impact on this project. Thanks Renate.

Along with spring comes a number of routine business duties. One major project is the preparation of the budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. All department heads are working hard to put together proposals for the next year. We have good and bad news about that process. In December we took a 2.5% rate reduction for all Medicaid programs. I have been very worried that we will have additional cuts. The good news is that there are no new cuts on the table, but the bad news is we will have to enter the next fiscal year with 2.5% less than we did this year. In easy numbers that means we have at least $215,826 less on July 1, 2010 than we did on July 1, 2009. Obviously this makes for some very difficult decisions. Link's primary mission is to ensure that those we support have the quality and quality of services they need and equally important is that the staff we employ have the best work environment possible. Legislatively we have fought year after year to help our elected officials understand that when you cut critical funding you not only cut services but the living wage of the citizens who choose care giving as a career. I know that it can seem intimidating to visit with an elected official, but unless all of us get out there and speak up for ourselves we will never get that message across. Each of you have the elected officials holding public meetings and forums – stop in sometime and just share your career and your wage with them.

In addition to the budget it is the time that we start reviewing the employee handbook and propose any necessary changes for the board to review. If you have any thoughts about items in the handbook or items you would like to have considered for the handbook please let me know as soon as possible. You can e-mail me at ldunshee@linkassociates.org or give me a call. The board of directors (we have a 19 member board) is also working on nominations for new members as well as identifying and presenting a slate of officers. That vote will actually occur in May. I think all of us will be more than ready to see the grass green up and leaves back on trees.

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