REMEMBERING LAS VEGAS

Edward Everett, a Nineteenth Century American Statesman, said that “education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army”. The Pennsylvania Branch of the National League of Postmasters believes this to be true, and stands as a safeguard of your postal liberty, each and every day. By providing you with unparalleled educational materials, and offering you training no longer provided by the Postal Service, or anyone else, for that matter, the League’s role as “the education organization” has never been more relevant or important to the Postmasters in Pennsylvania and across the country.

During the last month, the Pennsylvania League blitzed the state with 3-digit meetings and a broadcast email system, to educate postmasters in important and timely postal issues such as Delivery Unit Optimization (DUO), and the importance of reviewing and maintaining your office’s Operations Complement Management tool, the PS From 150. As the end of year NPA process rapidly approaches, the State League will be providing postmasters with information on the NPA mitigation process. Take advantage of the opportunities that arise through 3-digit meetings. They provide not only education, but networking and a sense of community postmasters do not always have available to them.

“Unusual or unplanned events or conditions beyond the employee’s control may be taken into consideration towards achieving his/her overall performance rating.” This quote is taken directly from the 2010 Pay-for-Performance Program Administrative Rules for EAS Employees. Employees, who believe this to be the case, can submit a request and documentation for consideration to their evaluator. The key is documentation. The documentation must (1) prove your ability to achieve the NPA targets that impact the overall performance rating, (2) link your actual performance to the negative impact of the unusual or unplanned events or conditions, and (3) describe the steps you’ve taken to offset the occurrence.

During the next month, the League will offer advice and support to any member who believes that they meet the three criteria above. Call me, or any Pennsylvania League leader, for assistance or to answer questions.

The Pennsylvania League family is stronger than ever, and providing its members with the tools necessary to succeed in an ever-changing postal environment. If there are any training materials that you believe would make your job as postmaster, OIC, or PMR better, please contact me or any State Branch Officer.

With the National Convention behind us, the time is appropriate to reflect on the National League of Postmasters, and the Pennsylvania Chapter, and what this organization means to you and me. I joined the League to be part of an organization committed to education and superlative representation of its members. The League provides its members with unparalleled training and support, through its national magazine, the Advocate, through this newsletter, the Keystone Leaguer, through our continued use of 3-digit meetings state-wide, and through state and national conventions. Some of the less well-known benefits of the League are those things that I would hope none of you would ever need – the Adverse Action Program, for one. Through dedicated, knowledgeable volunteers nationwide, and an excellent attorney at the head of it all, the League represents its members in a whole host of situations. Adverse actions (discipline), post office closings, disputes with upper management, the adverse action counselors are available to help. If the need to speak to a counselor ever arises, you can find a list of counselors on the national website, www.postmasters.org. Our Legal Services Benefit offers reduced cost assistance with such things as wills, trusts, and other legal services. I would urge you to look into this useful and cost effective legal benefit.

As many of you know, due to personal issues, I was unable to attend this year’s National Convention, held in San Diego . As a result, I had to withdraw from the race for National Vice President. My commitment to the League remains strong, and three excellent Vice Presidents were elected to support the new president, Mark Strong. The National Vice Presidents elected this year are John Olson, Norma Powell, and Sean Acord. John is returning for his second two year term, and Norma and Sean are elected to their first terms. These officers have my full support and I believe they will represent the League in a positive manner, making changes necessary for the continued success of the League.

3-digit meetings will be held throughout the state in the coming months. If there are any topics that you would like to have discussed or any specific training you would like to receive, please let one of the State Officers know. You can find their names and contact information at our website, www.paleague.org.

And finally, now is the time to consider becoming a more active participant in your state branch. With the Legislative Forum in Washington DC in March, 2011, our state convention in the spring, 2011 (WHERE???), and the national convention in Albuquerque New Mexico next summer, there are many ways you can assist the state League and become an even more essential part of a successful state branch. Pennsylvania is a state to which many others are compared. That is a tremendous compliment, and a responsibility that we as Pennsylvania Leaguers need to maintain.

I look forward to seeing many of you throughout the coming months at 3-digit meetings. Feel free to contact me any time. (570) 267-8001 or timburke18411@gmail.com.

We as individuals and postmasters have successfully navigated the “aughts”, the first ten years of the new century. Many noteworthy events marked this time period. For instance:

And most important, to our League family in Pennsylvania, our State President, Darrell Pusateri, decided to retire in 2009. Now in 2010, the State has a new President, and I’d like to take a moment to tell you about me.

My name is Tim Burke. I’ve been a postal employee for 14 years. My career started as a city letter carrier in Scranton. My postmaster and mentor, Tim Primerano, asked me to be an acting supervisor for the customer service side of the operation. After several months, he suggested and I reluctantly agreed, to work as an acting supervisor in mail processing, on tour 1. I said yes, knowing that he was suggesting this detail in my best interest. During my time in mail processing, I applied for and was accepted into the inaugural ASP program for mail processing.

After that 16 week program, I was in the right place at the right time, and at the ASP graduation, the district manager at that time, Suzanne Medvidovich, asked me if I was interested in the ad hoc Communications Specialist position for the Harrisburg District. I was, and commuted 2 hours to the district office to be the “voice of Harrisburg” for the next ten months. That job was very interesting, reporting on everything from the “3 voices” to an office infested with snakes.

About a year later, a position in labor relations opened at the district office, and after being selected for the position, I relocated with my family to Central Pennsylvania. My education and previous experience was a good fit with the labor relations department. The Manager of Labor Relations was one of the smartest men I’ve met, and he taught me more about labor relations than I can even remember now. We had a great four year working relationship that ended when I decided that a postmaster position was where I thought I could best use my knowledge, skills and abilities.

After a detail to Hershey as OIC, I was selected as the Postmaster of Milford in 2002. Between these two positions, in October 2001, immediately after 9/11 and the anthrax crisis, I was asked to go to headquarters to work with their Unified Incident Command Center, the group created by the Postmaster General, to provide a plan to respond to future attacks against the Postal Service. After several years in Milford, an opportunity to work 50 miles closer to home presented itself, and as in life, my work came full circle, and I found myself back in Scranton, working for the postmaster who was responsible in large part for my success in the postal service. For the next five years, I was a Manager of Customer Services in the Scranton office, moving between the four stations and the main office as the postmaster had a need. In November 2007, the postmaster of Dalton retired, and I was selected for that position, allowing me to take an active role in the League.

I was selected to be an adverse action counselor, assisting postmasters during difficult periods in their lives and careers. This has been very rewarding to me. I also took a leadership role in the State League being elected Vice President in 2008, and selected as Executive Vice President. And now, hear I am, your new President.

This will be an exciting year for the League. Membership, 3-digit meetings, the State Convention in Scranton, and the National Convention in San Diego, will offer our state board both challenges and great opportunities to network with postmasters in Pennsylvania and across the country.

I challenge each and every League member to reach out to a neighboring postmaster and discuss the benefits of League membership. Relevant training, networking, and legal services, including adverse action representation, are just a few of the reasons that joining the League family pays significant dividends. Like life insurance, it’s good to know that some of the Leauge services are available, even though you will probably never need to take advantage of them. I challenge each of you to sign a new member. At this time, new members receive 90 days of free membership. New postmasters receive one year free membership.

The Postal Service is changing, more rapidly than any of us expected. You can count on the League to be there to weather these changes and provide you with the information and tools you need to be successful postmasters and associate members.

I look forward to serving as your State President, and can be reached at any time, for any reason, through the Pennsylvania League website. www.paleague.org. Use the website. Bob Crawford, our webmaster keeps the site updated with terrific information and tools.

I have made the decision to retire on January 1, 2010. My replacement, as League president, will be Tim Burke, the current executive vice president. My term as president would have ended at the next state convention in April 2010. Please allow me to travel down memory lane for a few moments.

I joined the League of Postmasters shortly after I became a postmaster in 1991. Joe Romeo from DuBois signed me up as a member. Joe was very active in membership at that time. For the rest of the ‘90s I was not active in the League. In June 2001, three other postmasters and myself decided to travel to the eastern part of the state and the four of us attended our first state convention. That convention was held in Lancaster PA. During that convention, I was introduced to John DeFalco, our League attorney from Colorado. I also met our state officers and many postmasters from around our state. I realized that going to conventions was a great opportunity to meet other postmasters and to learn about topics that would help me run my office. I was so impressed with the state convention that I have not missed a state convention since attending in 2001.

As I began to attend state conventions, I had two postmasters “whisper in my ear” about running for a state vice president position. I told them that I was not interested & it would take a big commitment on my part plus I would have to write an article for our Keystone Leaguer. I would like to thank Nancy Gindlesberger and June Sheely for that gentle nudge because they started me on this great adventure within this tremendous organization. As you can see, I do not have a fear about writing articles for the Leaguer.

After a few years I began to get involved in the League at the state level. In 2005 I was the executive vice president under the leadership of our state president Mike Sheely. In the fall of 2005, Mike resigned as president & I filled his unexpired term as president until the 2006 state convention. I ran for president in 2006 & won. This was for a two-year term so in 2008 I ran for president for a second and final term. I also won that election & here I am as your president for the last four years.

I also began to attend national conventions. My first national convention was held in Keystone Colorado in 1997. I can remember the experience as it was “yesterday”. I flew with a fellow postmaster, John Deible, to Denver & then we rented a car to drive two hours west into the Rockies. At that convention I met postmasters from all across our nation. I could not believe that I was able to meet & talk to our national board postmasters too. I thought that they only wrote articles about the League in the Advocate and they were so high up in the organization that they did not care about me. I was completely wrong and truly impressed with the experience. That opportunity still exists today for anyone who attends a national convention. Your national officers are very helpful and accessible to you. They can and will give you advice for a situation in your office. Since that experience I have only missed two national conventions.

For the last two years, I have had postmasters at the national level approach me and ask me about running for a national VP office. Now that would take some real commitment of time plus the end of my postal career was in sight and I would not be able to fulfill my obligation to the League at a national level.

Traveling to various convention sights throughout the state of Pennsylvania and our great nation will be memories that I will never forget.

As I leave memory lane and return to real life, I want you to know that your state officers and your national officers are here to help you in anyway possible. I would like to express a big “THANK YOU” to the state officers of the last four years. We have had to make so hard decisions during that time and we have also had a lot of fun times. I will truly cherish our time together spent on telecoms, attending conventions or just sitting around and talking about our organization and our state and how we can make it better.

As a retiree, my plans are to continue to attend state and national conventions. I would not want to miss the time that I can share with fellow postmasters. As immediate past president, I will also be available for guidance to our current board. I realize that the Postal Service is going through a tough time. I have no doubt that within two years, the Postal Service will emerge a leaner and more efficient company.

As my 30-year career comes to a close some people are telling me that I am fortunate to be able to retire. I feel not only fortunate, but also blessed, to have had this great career and now, as I look to the next phase of my life, I wish all of you the best for the remainder of your careers. I will not be going away but I will be in the background giving advice as needed. See you at our state convention in Scranton on April 23-24, 2010.

In my last newsletter article, I talked about the District Manager’s Financial Control Scorecard. These same financial controls are the controls that will keep you out of trouble when it comes to SOX compliance.

Look over the spreadsheet & you will see how each Pennsylvania district is doing. Make sure your office is in compliance with these ten items. The scores are through August 2009. I will update the figures when the year-end figures come out in October.

					FY 09 DISTRICT MANAGER'S FINANCIAL CONTROL (Final Report Card)			(FY 09 YEAR END)		

% POSTAGE STATEMENTS ON TIME (TARGET 98%)							NEGATIVE POSTALONE ACCOUNTS  (TARGET--0)				
	CENTRAL PA		99.36%					CENTRAL PA		0	
	PHILA METRO		98.97%					PHILA METRO		2	
	WESTERN PA		99.20%					WESTERN PA		2	

INACTIVE POSTALONE ACCTS (TARGET 0)			(TARGET--O)	0)			FINANCIAL DIFFERENCES--BANKING  				TARGET
	CENTRAL PA		0					CENTRAL PA		264	228
	PHILA METRO		6					PHILA METRO		123	121
	WESTERN PA		11					WESTERN PA		417	309

EMPLOYEE ITEMS-POS UNITS (TARGET 0)			(TARGET--0)				ACCTS RECEIVABLE--% IN COLLECTION  (TARGET--50%)				
	CENTRAL PA		1					CENTRAL PA		26.35%	
	PHILA METRO		27					PHILA METRO		58.14%	
	WESTERN PA		3					WESTERN PA		52.94%	

EXCESS STOCK-UNITS >$10K  (TARGET--0)			(TARGET--0)				EXCESS STOCK--WITHIN TARGET %  (TARGET 95%)					
	CENTRAL PA		0					CENTRAL PA		100.00%		
	PHILA METRO		1					PHILA METRO		97.47%		
	WESTERN PA		0					WESTERN PA		99.02%		

UNMATCHED SALARY ADV (AIC 554) (TARGET--0)							RA CASH COUNTS--POS UNITS   (TARGET--95%)					
	CENTRAL PA		0					CENTRAL PA		99.37%		
	PHILA METRO		8					PHILA METRO		98.24%		
	WESTERN PA		0					WESTERN PA		100.00%

I was fortunate to attend the League’s national convention in Buffalo August 3-6. There were great speakers and great workshop sessions. Deputy PMG Pat Donohue spoke. Some items he spoke about were:

Also speaking was David Williams from the OIG’s office. David’s office performed 390 investigations last year. These investigations included 69 arrests and 267 administrative actions. He also discussed Disability Fraud which is becoming a big problem.

Some items he touched on that the OIG’s office would be looking at during audits are:

These items pertain to the SOX, which we need to comply with by FY 2010. Please make sure your internal controls are up-to-date. Discipline will be hard to defend against if you are not properly managing when it comes to financial issues.

On August 12, 2009, I represented the League at a quarterly management meeting at the Western PA district office. District Manager Charles McCreadie told us that he gets a “DM Scorecard” every week. There are 10 items on his scorecard that he monitors very closely. Four of the items he talked about were:

As you can see, these items mirror the items listed above from the OIG’s office. The district manager said that discipline would be forthcoming if these issues are not identified and addressed. This is from the Western PA district but I’m sure the other two districts in PA will be addressing the same issues with the same intensity.

Another issue that the district manager talked about was the optimization of branches and stations and the closing of post offices. He named some branches/stations that he will be looking to close. He did say that he is not planning on closing any small post offices in the Western PA district unless the Postal Service is being “held hostage” with demand for outrageous rent increases in the lease. At that point, he will be looking for an alternative solution.

The Central PA district seems to be closing a lot of post offices with regularity. I know that, in most cases, the issues are either rent or safety. The League is here to make sure the districts are following the procedures set up for emergency suspensions/closures of post offices.

At this time the closing of post offices have not been a big issue in the Philadelphia Metro district.

In closing, I would like to tell you about a new program that your state branch is going to implement. The League officers currently receive a broadcast email from League HQ when issues need to be sent out to Leaguers throughout the country. Your state officers would like to set up the same process for just our League members in Pennsylvania. If you would like to receive a broadcast email from your state officers, please send an email to . You will need to provide us with your home email address, your name and post office (with zipcode). We will be willing to supply you with information as it happens. In our fast changing work environment, I don’t know why anyone would not want to know what is happening. We also are planning on putting out some training broadcast emails to help the Leaguers in the smaller offices with some well-needed training.

Until next time, remember to do the “right thing” in your office and if you need help, call one of your state officers.