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FLETA Board Minutes - March 22, 2007

Annapolis, MD

I. Call to Order

Mr. John Moran, 1st Vice Chair, standing in for Sharon Henegan, Chair, called the members assembled to order to begin the meeting.

 

II. Welcoming Remarks and General Comments.

Mr. Moran called for the members and visitors to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. All Board members were asked to introduce themselves and the agency that they represented. The audience was also asked to introduce themselves and their respective agency.

 

In attendance:

Attendance sheet attached.

 

Total Official Voting Members or Designees for a Quorum*20.

 

Others Present:

OA Staff: Gary Mitchell, Dana O’Quinn, Don Smith, Cyndi Mann.

VIP Guests: IRS: Kevin Hanff, Janet Lanham, Sally Livingston, Mike Balas, Beth Vincent

 

 

III. Accreditation Awarding – Mr. Moran announced that the Board Review Committee had conducted a review of the IRS Basic Instructor/Facilitator Training Program (BIFT) the previous day. Following the review the Board went into Executive Session and voted upon the IRS BIFT program applying for accreditation.

 

IRS Basic Instructor/Facilitator Training Program (BIFT) – Mr. Moran called upon Board Member, Mark Fallon, to report the results of the IRS BIFT program review. Mark Fallon announced that the 2 week program had been approved for accreditation noting that the FLETC LEITP program was built upon the BIFT program.

 

Lane Timm, Director of IRS National Criminal Investigation Training Academy, stated that working towards the accreditation was painful and a lot more work than they had anticipated it to be, but that it was definitely worth it. Ms. Timm also announced that being accredited had already proven beneficial when IRS came before the Senate Committee hearing and was asked if they were accredited.

 

Mr. Moran invited the agency representatives to come forward and receive their framed Certificate awarding Accreditation. The Agency representatives were joined by their VIPs in attendance for the official presentation and photo session.

 

Assessors – Mr. Moran expressed his thanks and gratitude to the team leader and assessors who conducted the IRS assessment. Al Wheaton, U.S. Coast Guard, was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation. The other assessors were Team Leader Chris Graham, Bureau of Prisons and Tracy Bonner, FLETC, Artesia, NM.

 

Annual Reports – Mr. Moran reported that the Board had received an Annual Report from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Academy (USPIS), USPIS Postal Police Officer Basic Training Program (PPOBT), USPIS Basic Inspector Training Program (BIT) and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). All four annual reports were accepted and approved.

 

IV. Approval of Minutes

Mr. Moran called for the Board to approve the minutes of the last two meetings held November 16, 2006 and the telephonic Board meeting held February 6, 2007. The motion was made and approved for the minutes of both meetings.

 

V. Reports of Standing Committees

 

A. Bylaws Report – Gary Mitchell

Mr. Mitchell reported that there was no activity concerning the Bylaws to report.

 

B. Standards Steering Committee (SSC) –Gary Mitchell

 

Mr. Mitchell stated that since the November 2006 Board meeting the Standards Steering Committee had met on December 19, 2006, January 4, 2007 and January 19, 2007.

 

During the FLETA Board Special meeting on February 6, 2007 the Board approved the file duplication proposal. (see attached motion)

 

Mr. Mitchell presented a written proposal to the Board comprised of the modifications, additions and deletions to the current FLETA Standards obtained through a submission process during the summer of 2006. During the December 2006 and January 2007 the Standards Steering Committee reviewed the proposals and made the attached recommendations. (see attached motion)

 

The motion was made and approved to accept the proposed changes to the Standards Manual.

 

Mr. Mitchell stated that the changes would be posted on the FLETA website.

 

C. Membership Sub-Committee –Gary Mitchell

 

Mr. Mitchell reported that there was no activity concerning the Membership Sub-Committee to report.

 

 

 

 

VII. General Reports

 

Accreditation Manager’s Coalition – Liz Truesdell

 

Newly elected officers:

Liz Truesdell – Chair
Su Daly – Recorder
Steve Swanson – Website POC

 

Old Business:

Bulletin Board

 

How and when can the AM Coalition use the website for their communication?

 

Best Practices (criteria)

 

  • List of best practices
  • Why these are best practices
  • OA relay information from FLETA teams

 

New Business:

  • IRS & USCG have been approached to give a Best Practices presentation to the AM Coalition.
  • Question on Annual Report deadline to OA

AM Coalition requesting more clarification asked:

 

If your report is due in July – Is it due for the July Board meeting in which you would have to finalize the report 2 months before the July meeting or would it be due by the next Board meeting?

 

After further discussion, a motion was made and the Board approved that the 1st Annual Report be due within 30 days of the anniversary date of receiving accreditation.

 

FLETA Guide and Timelines

 

  • FLETA website show when FLETA assessments will take place
  • Want exact dates on calendar for FLETA assessments for better planning (more structure)
  • Give the assessor community a better idea on how to plan ahead
  • Need a 2-3 week period window for assessments

 

OA is working on posting more concise dates. The FLETA Board just approved the FLETA Guide yesterday which should help.

 

 

 

 

 

Assessor Issues

 

  • Availability of assessors - Discussion centered around using a more formal approach by requesting the assessors from a higher level to attain the needed assessors from each agency.
  • Number of assessments that one team can accomplish - OA office will work with the AM Coalition on resolving these issues. AM Coalition will form a committee to work with the OA office.

 

Board Minutes

 

  • The AM Coalition would like the Board minutes to be posted on the FLETA website.

 

Better Communication on FLETA Changes

 

  • After much discussion and comments the OA Staff agreed to report back to the FLETA Board within 60 days with an up-date.

 

Liz thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak before it and was looking forward to future meetings.

 

Office of Accreditation Updates – Gary Mitchell

 

A. Gary Mitchell gave a report on the FLETA Office of Accreditation Goals and Accomplishments from November 2006 to March 2007 noting that the office had conducted two FLETA Assessments using 6 assessors.

 

B. Mr. Mitchell gave a brief overview of the Congressional staff briefing that was presented by the FLETA Board Chairperson, Mrs. Sharon Henegan and the Executive Director on February 16, 2007. He felt that it had been a very productive meeting and was looking forward to doing more presentations to staffers as available.

 

C. Dana O’Quinn spoke on the various types of training programs that are being offered by the OA and that the office is planning on a CRC to be held on May 8-9, 2007.

 

VIII. Old Business

 

A. Accreditation Incentives ($300,000) – Gary Mitchell

 

This issue was discussed and centered around the possibility of paying for travel of the whole FLETA assessment team to attend the Board meeting versus only the team leader in the Executive Session on March 21, 2007. It was decided that the OA will present a new proposal and email all Board members to vote upon before the July Board meeting.

 

New Business

 

A. Schedule next meetings – The Board scheduled the following for 2007:

 

July 17-19, 2007 (Clearwater, FL)

November (Tentative – Houston, TX)

Brian Beckwith will check into holding the next Board meeting in Houston, TX with the possibility of touring NASA.

 

Adjournment of Open Session – Mr. Moran thanked all those present in the audience for joining us here today and adjourned the meeting.