November 18, 2002

The TAP members for the Area Five Committee met via telephone on Monday, November 18, 2002.

Members in Attendance:

• Linda Bader
• Denise Bigger
• Patrick Castleberry
• Laura De Marais
• Dianne Glass
• Maria Hermann
• John Hollingsworth
• Kenneth Logan
• Tom Seuntjens
• Jeana Warren
• Nan Wilson
• Lillian Woo
   
• TAP Analysts: Jim McGurn and Mary Ann Delzer
• TAP Program Manager: Sandy McQuin
• Local Taxpayer Advocate/Brooklyn, NY: Randy Swartz
• Guests: Ken Eichner, Steve Bankler

Roll call was taken and minutes from 10/7/2002 approved without discussion. The recommendation was made to send meeting materials 10 days before each meeting.

Old Business:

Finalize dates, times and locations of meetings

• The date and place for a face-to-face meeting was discussed. Kansas City was chosen with the thought of a Service Center visit. Glass will explore the possibility of a service center tour. The dates proposed are February 6-7, 2003. Thursday would be a travel day, full day Friday meeting, and fly home on Saturday.
• The time for monthly teleconferences was set for the second Monday, 2:30-4:30 C.T. December 9, 2002 will be the next meeting scheduled.

New Business:

Establish a quorum
After discussion, a quorum was set at 8 members.

Election of temporary vice-chair
Castleberry volunteered to take on the job with the consent of the members.

Questions arose about status of the representation from Texas and Nebraska. One member form Texas is still waiting FBI clearance. Recruitment is under way in Nebraska.

Tracking outreach
McGurn will track with the help of the Speakers Report. Members should complete the report and forward to McGurn/Woo. This information will be included in the monthly committee report sent to the Joint Committee. The combined monthly report will share information from across the country and be a great source of outreach ideas.

Outreach activities

• Bader met with her media specialist and was featured on KMOX and in two newspapers.
• Bigger had a press release prepared and has been contacted by a taxpayer.
• Castleberry had a press release prepared and has gotten some taxpayer calls. He also spoke at a practitioner breakfast and will be speaking at a CPA conference the first week in December. He was also invited to the Area 5 TAS meeting.
• De Marais met with her LTA with Seuntjens.
• Hollingsworth will be meeting with the LTA in Aberdeen and participate in the Stakeholder Relationship Management Local Council meeting. He has also talked to his media specialist.
• Logan was able to attend a Taxpayer Education and Communication (TEC) meeting and speak on a panel about burden reduction. He was able to also meet the LTA. He has also been in contact with several Hispanic groups about issues related to the MLI committee.
• Seuntjens shared that he has met with the folks in his local IRS office and finds that this is a great relationship to build.
• Warren stated that she has been in contact with her media specialist and has had coverage in a few papers. She has not yet had any feedback from the articles.
• Wilson attended the TEC meeting with Logan. She found that the IRS employees had little knowledge about TAP but were interested in more interaction.
• Woo shared that she was fortunate to have radio coverage about her TAP membership.

Further ideas for outreach were discussed. McGurn will re-send the LTA information to encourage contact with the LTAs. Seuntjens reiterated that meeting the LTA was a great idea as well as other local IRS management. He also stated that professional groups were a great place to do outreach. Swartz cautioned that members consult the DFO prior to travel. Hollingsworth reminded the members as well to use the staff for travel arrangements, as they have to make any flight arrangements with the common carrier.

Wilson inquired about the availability of business cards. Robb will send out a template for the cards. The cards will include the toll free number and the TAP web address.

Prioritization and handling of issues
McGurn and Delzer discussed how the former CAPs prioritized issues and explained the use of the database. Seuntjens requested the staff create a form to capture issues from the members to ensure they are recorded on the database. Bader requested issue information be received 10 days before the scheduled meeting to review. Bigger questioned how to handle individual problems of taxpayers. McQuin discussed the role of TAS. Seuntjens suggested looking at three to five issues that would make the most impact.

Remaining Midwest CAP issues
To be discussed on the next call.

Miscellaneous
Castleberry shared he has done an outline for a ten minute speech. His talk is composed of three ideas: history of CAP and TAP mission, examples of types of issues and successes, how to contact the TAP. He will share his outline for others to use. Support staff will put together key messages to assist all members in their outreach efforts.

Public comment
Ken Eichner, a veteran tax practitioner from Houston, praised the members for doing a good job. He requested that the group set a standard time for the public to speak. He would also appreciate receiving in advance any materials to be discussed on the calls. He would also appreciate seeing the minutes. Eichner was advised that the minutes for all the TAP meetings are on the web site.

Steve Bankler is a practitioner from San Antonio. He would also appreciate seeing the minutes. He would also like the contact information for the people on the panel. He would like to call or drop them an email. He stated he would think public comment would be better at the beginning of the call rather than the end.

Next Scheduled meeting:

• December 9, 2002, 2:30 p.m. CT1.
  Midwest CAP issues
• January 13, 2003, 2:30 p.m. CT