Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC)
Issue Committee Minutes
August 26, 2008                                

Program Owner Staff
Leslye Baronich, Program Owner
Michelle Jones
Frank Nolden

Members Present
Craig Capehart
Dean Conder
Dan Fretheim
Louise McAulay
Jerry Melchior
David Monnier
Homer Sewell III
Ann Spiotto
Tommy Thompson
Wayne Whitehead, Chair

Members Absent
Bob Haines
Ed Johnson

TAP Staff
Judi L Nicholas, TAP Program Manager
Dave Coffman, TAP Analyst
Nina Pang, TAP Analyst
Marla Ofilas, TAP Secretary

Opening
Wayne opened the meeting.  Marla took roll and a quorum was met.

Introductions
Wayne introduced the newly appointed Field Assistance Director, Leslye Baronich and the new Chief of Headquarters Staff, Frank Nolden. 

Leslye, a 28-year employee with the IRS, currently reports to the director of Customer Assistance, Relationships and Education (CARE).  Leslye previously served as director of Stakeholders Partnerships Education & Communication (SPEC) Field Operations.  She also served as the SPEC area director in New Orleans.

Leslye introduced Chief of Headquarters Staff, Frank Nolden, a 20-year employee who began his career as a Revenue Officer.  Frank joined Field Assistance as a group manager and most recently served as a territory manager in Las Vegas.

Minutes Approval
The committee had an opportunity to review the minutes from the July 22, 2008 meeting.
DECISION: The committee approved the July 22, 2008 minutes as presented.  

Mock-up Review

• Review Edits

Wayne reported that the intent of today’s meeting is not to review the document line by line, but to discuss both versions of the report and to determine which version the committee would like to pursue.

Dave informed the committee that the edits he received from the members were both grammatical and structural.  Nina condensed the edits into two mock-ups.  Mock-up A reflects the structural changes and mock-up B reflects the grammatical changes.  Dave also explained that Nina inserted comments of what was deleted in each mock-up.   

Wayne recommended using mock-up A as the primary document, blending in the changes from mock-up B into mock-up A.  Wayne asked Dave and Nina to continue blending in both reports and send a draft out to the committee members in a couple of weeks. He also asked Dave and Nina to include the information from page 5 of the Summary of TAC Observations with the heading, "While not directly related to the return preparation process, these observations may have an effect on the return preparation process:”   Office space, layout, accessibility and parking; privacy problems within the TAC; and self-help services/kiosks. Wayne felt that the observations would assist field assistance management with their long-term planning. 
DECISION: All committee members agreed with Wayne’s proposal.  Dave and Nina will contact Wayne if questions arise regarding the consolidation of the two reports.
ACTION: Dave and Nina will provide the members with a draft of the consolidated report by mid-September.   

Wayne would like the committee to review the consolidated report in September.  In addition, the executive summary and table of contents needs to be included with the report.  The final document should be ready to send to the printers in November.    

The final grammar review will be conducted by Wayne, Nina, Judi and Dave.  Wayne felt that having too many people involved could slow the editing process.

• Theme

Wayne felt that the underlying theme of the report should recognize the importance of the TAC customer’s time.  The report should also recognize methods to streamline the tax return preparation process, given the constraints that currently exist.  Wayne also suggested the report contain the most important recommendations toward the beginning of the document, and the less important recommendations toward the end. 

Judi asked the committee to consider an author for the executive summary.  Wayne would like Dave and Nina to draft the executive summary. In addition, Wayne would like the committee to adopt the format used in the last report for the acknowledgements section.   

• Printing Update

Michelle confirmed the printing style with the members.  The members decided on the following:

• Spiral binding
• Same quality paper that was used in last year’s report
• Back-to-back printing
• 150 copies
• Approved graphics will appear on the cover page
• All members who are retiring will receive a copy of the report

Program Owner Comments
Michelle had no additional comments.

Member Comments
The members made no additional comments.

Closing
Wayne thanked everyone for participating and closed the meeting.