Merry Christmas!

From our Christmas letter this year...

Greetings!  Minnesota has turned white this year, we’re worked through another political recount (for Governor of Minnesota), and Christmas and the holidays are quickly approaching.  Our fondest thoughts and wishes go out to each of you as we prepare for 2011.

For fun and entertainment – or those something elses – this past year, we got to a Minnesota Twins game at the new Target Field, attended a much-praised production of Macbeth at the Guthrie Theater, saw the Benjamin Franklin exhibit at the History Center (and Wes continues to go to history forums there), joined thousands to view the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum, and took a short train trip in the St. Croix Valley, out of Osceola, Wisconsin.  Wes had his front tooth (the crown was deteriorating) repaired by actually having both front teeth replaced in January.  Both of us (mostly) survived nasty colds this year around the end of the Boston trip, and again following Thanksgiving.  Morning aches and pains and the increasing gray around Wes’s temples remind us of that which we try to avoid noticing.  J     Keeping us as young as we can be is our little Sasha, of course.  Although she had a few trips to the vet this year for some blood and digestive disorders, taking care of her and enjoying her snuggles is a joy.

At work, much remains the same in 2010 – Cheryl continues as the Lead Worker in the Business Office of Ramsey County’s Mental Health Center.  Working with a new manager, changes in the staff, and new billing systems have made this an interesting – and at times – challenging year for Cheryl.   Wes is still with the Staff Development – training – Unit in Hennepin County’s Human Services & Public Health Department.  HSPHD has continued its integration of ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) as it looks at de-centralizing to regional locations between 2011 and 2015 and at changes in its administrative structure again (about the 4^th time in Wes’s 20 years with the County).  ROWE has allowed Wes to work from home on a regular basis – he reports to County offices for training classes, meetings and other activity or event days, but can also determine days he works from home, instead of commuting to the Minneapolis office.  ROWE suggests that the where and when work is done, is less important than getting the work done – and done timely and accurately.

In 2010, Wes acted on a childhood dream – he ran for office; he filed for Andover City Council in mid-August, and he and Cheryl conducted a campaign for the first time – which resulted in his finishing 7^th of 8 contenders, with 1400 votes.  L  Together, we visited every part of our large city, posting about 95 lawn signs (and only getting @50 back), placing our campaign literature in nearly every newspaper box – or attached to mailbox posts.  Wes walked the streets of several neighborhoods, doing the in-person, door-to-door campaigning, too.  We designed ads that ran in two local shoppers and the Anoka County Union, as well as the October issue of a labor newspaper. Wes completed voter guide questions, attended three screenings for endorsements, and participated in a candidate forum on local Cable TV.  But all was for naught – in conservative, Republican Andover, Wes’s views, even in a non-partisan, multi-candidate race, did not prevail.   Wes has been attending Andover City Council meetings regularly since August, and having lost the Council race, has applied for city commission vacancies on Park & Recreation and Planning & Zoning for 2011. 

On the other hand, within AFSCME, this was an exciting year for Wes.  He got chosen to participate in a two-year Union Leadership Program that the University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Service conducts; we meet quarterly to discuss economic issues, unionism, and the impact of other issues on labor.

In late-June, Wes, Cheryl and Lillian flew to Boston, where Wes represented Local 34 at the national AFSCME convention that chose a new #2 for the Union (his third national convention).  After trips together to Plymouth Rock, Cape Cod and Providence, Rhode Island, and to Lexington and Concord, as well as taking in a Boston Red Sox game at historic Fenway Park, Cheryl and Lillian got to visit much more of Boston and the New England coast. Then, after Lillian flew home early, Wes and Cheryl stayed on to see more of Massachusetts (including Salem), New Hampshire (America’s Stonehenge) and the Boston area (Bunker Hill, harbor cruise, Paul Revere and Boston’s patriotic walking trail).  We spent this Fourth of July watching the Boston Pops concert live on the Charles River and visiting the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Presidents John and John Quincy Adams’ family historic sites in Quincy.

In the fall, at the state’s AFSCME Council 5 Convention in Bloomington, Wes ran as a candidate for the Council’s Executive Board, to replace a long-time Local 34 leader at the Council who was retiring from AFSCME and Hennepin County.  Wes was successful, and in October and November attended his first meetings in a two-year term of office.  He continues as Vice President of Local 34, continues on the County’s Health Insurance Labor-Management Committee, chaired monthly meetings of the Labor-Management Meet & Confer in the Human Services Department, and prepared for next year’s likely-difficult contract negotiations.  He still writes for and edits the Local 34 monthly newsletter, which you can read at the AFSCME Local 34 web site –  http://afscmelocal34.org/newsletter_on_line.htm.

Merry Christmas and Best wishes for 2011!