CLEVELAND, May 27 — Oregon State Legislative Board Chairman Scott Palmer was reelected by acclamation to a third term of office at the Board’s Triennial meeting at the Benson Hotel in Portland on May 17-19, 2010.
First Vice Chairman Don Strong of Division 236 (Portland) and Secretary-Treasurer Rob Armstrong of Division 362 (La Grande) were also reelected by acclamation. Mike Neale of Division 416 (Salem) was elected as alternate Secretary-Treasurer and Gary Quick, also from Division 362, was elected as Second Vice Chairman.
BLET Vice President & National Legislative Representative John Tolman represented the National Division at the meeting. He sent the regrets of BLET National President Paul Sorrow who could not attend.
“I congratulate these Brothers on winning reelection and know they will continue doing an excellent job of representing our hardworking members in Oregon,” President Sorrow said. “Brother Palmer is the Brotherhood’s foremost authority on safety issues related to the transportation of radioactive material by rail and all members throughout the United States will continue to benefit from his knowledge and experience.”
Vice President Tolman gave a presentation on the importance of members leading their union as well as a legislative update.
“I would like to congratulate Scott and the rest of the Board on their elections,” Vice President Tolman said. “It has been a pleasure working with Scott, and I look forward to working with him in the future. Scott does a fantastic job for his members in the state, and those nationwide by being the BLET’s point person on nuclear issues. The update he gave on these issues was illuminating and illustrated the dire gaps in the regulations involving railroad workers.”
Tim Smith, California State Legislative Board Chairman, presided over a brief Legislative Representatives Training course for the attendees.
Also attending the meeting were: Becky Schneider, President of the BLET Auxiliary; Jim Dayton, BLET UP-Western Lines General Chairman; David Cameron, Assistant to the Director of the Teamsters Rail Conference; Tony Andrews, President of IBT Joint Council 37; Lynn Lehrback, Legislative Director of Joint Council 37; Mike Turnbull, FRA; and Phil Bentley, Chief Of Staff for Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney.
“We enjoyed political updates from the State and Federal level, union history and organization, and timely information on federal rulemaking process,” Chairman Palmer said.