News and Notes - From the Chapter President

Seattle Chapter’s February 3rd Meeting – It’s Barbara Benson!
“My bad!,” as they say these days. In the last edition of this publication, I said I’d be the speaker at the February 3rd chapter meeting. (I’m just over-eager, I guess.) I’ll be doing a presentation on Electronic Filing for King County Superior Court on March 3rd.

February 3rd features Barbara Benson of the University of Washington. Her subject will be “Document Imaging—the University of Washington Finance Department.” I know you’ll find Barbara to be an engaging and informative speaker. I’ll find hers a hard act to follow.*

I hope you are able to attend this meeting – we return to the evening format: socializing at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m., program and speaker around 7 p.m., adjournment by 8 p.m. The details about registering for the meeting are on our Web site at http://www.armaseattle.org/. Next month, on March 3 (a dinner meeting) I will present the new E-Filing service we are soon rolling out at the King County Superior Court. We have been preparing for this for a long time…

Chapter meetings are opportunities for networking—learning from one another within our ARMA chapters. The Puget Sound region has three different educational ARMA chapter meetings a month—in Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma. (See their meeting notices, below.) This is a rare opportunity.

Find links to the other ARMA chapters on the Greater Seattle Chapter’s Blog, the “Web Log,” at http://seattlearma.blogspot.com/. That’s where you can find out about their programs and make reservations to attend.

Attendance Incentive$ PLUS!
Attending at least four Seattle Chapter meetings during the period between December 2004 and June 2005 means YOUR NAME will be entered in special drawings in JUNE for gift certificates of $100, $50, and $25! For each meeting you attend beyond the minimum of four, an additional entry with YOUR NAME will increase your chances of winning. (You could have four chances to win one of the certificate$!)

And, now, a BONUS! As we prepare for the 2006 Great Northwest Region Conference, we’ll be needing volunteers for a wide variety of reasons. Fill out and turn in a Volunteer Information form and we’ll add YOUR NAME to the gift certificate drawing for yet another chance to WIN! Even if you assume “They know me and what I can do!” you should fill out this form. It may reveal interests and talents that we simply didn’t know you had. Also, the form is designed to find out something about when you are able to volunteer and various other preferences. (I hope to have this form set up for downloading, in PDF, and on our Web site soon.)

From Our Region Manager, Sue Lord:
Your Region Needs You!

I am very sorry to report that our Region Treasurer, Fred Pauls, is unable to continue his duties for the rest of the ARMA year. Fred has been a very competent Region Treasurer and he will be missed.

An application for this temporary position (until June, 2005) and a brief description of the Treasurer's duties will be sent via e-mail to all of the members in the Region. This is a great opportunity for an interested person to "try on" this duty for the next 6 months and decide whether to re-apply for the next term.

If you would like more information, please contact me at slord@vjglaw.com or 253-383-3791.

The 2006 Great Northwest Region Conference
We continue to plan the 2006 Great Northwest Regional Conference, to be held March 13-15, 2006. You are welcome (and needed!) to help with this great project.

Our co-chairs, Susan Priebe and Jenny Winkler, are leading us toward holding a fabulous educational event. The Conference is planned for the Best Western-Executive Inn near the Space Needle in Seattle. There will be very reasonable room rates, making this conference more affordable for those from outside the area. We hope to include parking, so folks from the area won’t be deterred by anxiety about Seattle’s infamous traffic. Help us minimize problems by anticipating and working around them.

WILL YOU HELP? Please contact Susan (susan.priebe@pemco.com) or Jenny (Jennifer.winkler@seattle.gov).

Program Ideas? I am heading the Program Committee and we are getting our ideas together about what the conference should include. There will, of course, be a call for proposals from presenters, but we want to give everyone guidance on the overall themes and purposes we hope the conference will serve. This is the perfect time for you to share your ideas. Contact me at roger.winters@metrokc.gov.

Save These Greater Seattle Chapter Meetings Dates in 2005!
Generally, we meet the first Thursday of each month, with a 5:30-6 p.m. social period followed by dinner and a program at the Rock Salt Café on Lake Union in Seattle. Activities conclude by 8 p.m. The dates for the remainder of this ARMA year are:
March 3: King County E-Filing (Roger Winters)
April 7: Outsourcing Records Storage (Dean Koga)
May 5: Our Cinco de Mayo Scholarship Auction!
June 2: Annual Awards Dinner (Speaker TBA)

ARMA International’s 50th Conference Is Coming
A high point of the year is the ARMA International Conference. This year, it will be ARMA’s 50th Conference and it will be held in Chicago, Illinois, in September. Will you be planning to go? (Don’t forget, you can apply to the chapter for scholarship support to provide some help in defraying the expenses! Also, the Chapter Member of the Year each year is sent to the Conference by the chapter, if there is no other source of funding.)

A Conference of Our Own: April 22, 2005 at SeaTac (The Radisson)
The three Puget Sound area ARMA chapters and the local chapter of AIIM will co-sponsor an all-day conference on Friday, April 22, 2005. Reserve that date on your calendar now. More details will be coming from the planning committee. This will be a great local opportunity for learning, networking, and checking in with local vendors on their products and services. The cost will be relatively low. Why not ask the Seattle Chapter for help with the cost of attending, if you need it, by submitting a Scholarship Application (see the Web site, http://www.armaseattle.org/)? Return the completed application to any of the Board members. The purpose of our scholarship program is to provide our members, ARMA professionals, with a resource to help them extend and expand their education.

Pictures of the Month
Here are photos from the ARMA International Conference in Long Beach last October.

On the left, Secretary Susan Priebe poses with Queen Mary on (where else?) the Queen Mary!

On the right, Chapter President Roger Winters and Past President Dean Koga, one of two Great Northwest Region Coordinators.

Make Your Vote Count!
Chapter elections will be this spring, as we again select officers to steer the activities and allocate the resources of our organization. Are you a potential candidate for President, VP-Programs, Secretary, Treasurer, or VP-Membership? Think about it! Job descriptions are available in the ARMA chapter bylaws and more information can be had by asking any of the current Board members about these opportunities for leadership. This is an opportunity to be involved, or at least to have a say in who will lead us during the exciting and outstanding times ahead in ARMA year 2005-2006.

This Just In!

Puget Sound Chapter’s February 9th Meeting
“Public Right to Know”
Wednesday, February 9, 2005 (register 6, dinner at 6:30, program 7:30)

Since the 1970's, the State of Washington Public Records Act has provided citizens an opportunity to request information regarding the actions of public agencies financed by their tax dollars. This law has been the center of both controversy and conflict as the debate continues on what is 'private and personal' and what information should be open to the public. Nancy Krier and Linda Moran, attorneys for the State Attorney General's office, will provide an overview of the Public Records Act and also recent developments involving the disclosure of information. We welcome Nancy & Linda back to speak to our Chapter and share new developments that will affect all of us as records management professionals.

Speakers:
Nancy Krier: Ms. Krier is an attorney in the Licensing and Administrative Law Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, where she serves as a section chief and is a Senior Counsel. She advises the Public Disclosure Commission and other agencies. Ms. Krier is a reviewer of state agency public records denials submitted to the AGO for review under the Public Records Act. Prior to her current assignment, she worked in the Criminal Justice Division on the civil rights team of attorneys responding to inmate civil rights lawsuits. She also advised Department of Corrections programs such as the budget office, public records office, and institutional industries. She received her B.A., summa cum laude, in political science and journalism from the University of North Dakota in 1982 and her J.D. from the UW in 1986.

Linda Moran: Ms. Moran is the division chief of the Licensing and Administrative Law Division of the Attorney General’s Office. This division provides legal services for several state agencies and advises various state boards and commissions. Linda’s primary legal assignment is to advise the Department of Licensing, and she has administrative oversight for attorneys and professional staff located in Olympia and Seattle. Linda is a 1983 graduate (magna cum laude) of Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island and a 1986 graduate (cum laude) of the Seattle University School of Law.
Make your reservations in several ways:
Call Chrissy Stroberger at: 253-926-5980, Fax: 866-560-0574,
register on-line at http://www.pugettsoundarma.org/
or e-mail Chrissy at cstroberger@rainierpac.com.

Bellevue-Eastside Chapter’s February 8 Program
Information Retrieval - “The New Paradigm”
Tuesday, February 8, 2005 (register 5:30, dinner at 6, program 7)

Speaker: Patrick Sokolan, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for Arcessa
Mr. Sokolan will examine the current world of information retrieval and help us understand how we need to shift our approaches and use of technologies to solve the current and future critical issues with retrieval. His presentation will help us understand the products and technologies supporting information retrieval. Mr. Sokolan will discuss the new paradigm in effectively identifying and solving the information retrieval problems and issues facing many organizations today.

Mr. Sokolan’s background includes more than 21 years of management and large-scale information technology experience. In his current capacity as CTO and VP at Arcessa, he is responsible for the design and delivery of terabyte to petabyte information retrieval systems in the Federal Government space.

Prior to joining Arcessa, as President of SST Consulting, he provided information and knowledge management services to a broad range of companies in the banking, education, retail and manufacturing sectors. As a management consultant he has worked with companies like EpicEdge, the Spiegel Group, Eddie Bauer and Motorola. His list of successfully completed projects is long and includes assignments like the “Webification” of the Washington State Court system, migration and data unification of 100,000+ node networks, and several “merging of disparate systems” following complex multi-company acquisition events. His typical involvements are driven by the need to join, fuse and analyze large amounts of disparate and geographically disperse data in complex environments.

Board Member Contact Information
Here’s how to reach the six members of the Greater Seattle Chapter Board:
* Roger Winters, President: roger.winters@metrokc.gov or (206) 296-7838
* Dean Koga, Past President: dkoga@stoel.com or (206) 386-7508
* Andrea Bettger, VP-Programs: andrea.bettger@seattle.gov or (206) 615-1609
* Shelley Boogaard, VP-Membership: mailto:sboogaard@riddellwilliams.comor (206) 389-1637
* Susan Priebe, Secretary: mailto:susan.priebe@pfcenter.com or (206) 628-7292
* Clifford Moon, Treasurer: cliff@fileboxseattle.com or (206) 328-5688

Have You Looked at the Blogs Lately?
The Great Northwest Region chapters are collaborating on records and information related job announcements and messages from job seekers, so all this information can be maintained in one place, but used by everyone. The place to look is the “ARMA Jobs Northwest” WeB LOG” (blog), which is located on the Web at http://armajobsnw.blogspot.com/. If you have job openings information, be sure to let your chapter’s job information representative know, or at least send the information to me at roger.winters@metrokc.gov.

The Greater Seattle Chapter has its own “blog” for general purposes. It is located at http://seattlearma.blogspot.com/. This blog serves us somewhat like a Web page does and somewhat like a Newsletter would—it’s somewhere in between. You may not realize it, but you can post comments on our blog! For any particular message, there’s a small “comments” link—click on it and say your piece! There’s also a little envelope icon—use it to e-mail the particular message to someone else.

* ON A PERSONAL NOTE …
I will miss the February 3 meeting, so I’ll not have the enjoyment of hearing Barbara Benson’s presentation. In another part of my life, I’ve been appointed to a national advisory board for support groups for the Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Foundation. I’m a co-coordinator of the Seattle Area RLS Support Group. RLS is a sleep disorder—as bedtime approaches, sensations arise in the legs (usually the calves) that, while hard to describe (“creepy-crawly,” “building tension,” “electric”), can only be relieved by moving the legs; you can’t sleep or sit still until the condition resolves itself, often not until 3 or later in the morning. RLS is widespread, but unrecognized by those afflicted with it and by their doctors. It often runs in families and, left untreated, can be very disruptive of sleep, relationships, and more. The advisory board is being brought together in Pittsboro, North Carolina, for meetings February 2-5. For more information about RLS, see the foundation’s Web site at http://www.rls.org/, or contact me (rwinters@seanet.com or 206-296-7838-work).