2004 Southwest Region Activity Report

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MICHIGAN FAMILY SUPPORT COUNCIL
22ND ANNUAL TRAINING CONFERENCE
Southwest Region
Annual Activity Report

Pres: Barbara Armitage, Kalamazoo Co FOC
Vice Pres: Matt Schmid, Ottawa Co FOC
Sec: Monica Morris-Moats, Calhoun Co PA
Tres: John Carpenter, St. Joseph Co PA

REGIONAL REPRESENTATION ON MFSC:
PA: Terri Bauer, Cass County PA
OCS: Emily Schmidt
FOC: Tom Miller, Ottawa County FOC
Pres SWMFSC: Barb Armitage, Kalamazoo County FOC

Also Serving On Board: Past Pres. Terry Novakoski, Kent County FOC; Matt Schmid, Ottawa County FOC; John Carpenter, St Joseph County PA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR SWMFSC:

Mollie Radtke, Allegan County FOC
Rolene Fadden, Branch County PA
Monica Morris-Moats, Calhoun County PA
Terri Bauer, Cass County PA
Cheryl Kane, Hillsdale County PA
Barbara Armitage, Kalamazoo County FOC
Terry Novakoski, Kent County FOC
Emily Schmidt, OCS,
Tom Miller and Matt Schmid Ottawa County FOC
John Carpenter, St. Joseph County PA
Stacey Rentfrow, VanBuren County FOC

Southwest MI Family Support Council enjoyed two Conferences this year.

The Winter Conference was held on January 29, 2004 at VanBuren Conference Center located in Lawrence, MI. There were 56 people who attended.

Stacey Rentfrow from VanBuren County FOC was our Site Coordinator and Desserts Unlimited catered the meals.

Speakers were:

• Judge Mark Feyen, Probate Judge assigned to Circuit Court in Ottawa County- Legislative Updates
  
• Jennifer Granzow, Asst Pros Atty, Kalamazoo County and David Taney, Asst. Atty General’s Office Child Support Division- Felony Warrants
  
• Roland Fancher, FOC, Kalamazoo County- Guidelines Updates
  
• Marilyn Mitchell- “Fish Philosophy”
  

The Spring Conference was held on May 20, 2004 at Binder Park Zoo located In Battle Creek, MI. There were 89 who attended that sunny day.

Monica Morris-Moats, Calhoun County PA Office was our Site Coordinator.

Several Board Members helped bring in food for the day from Sam’s, Gordon Foods and Blimpie Subs. The Board Members helped keep the cost down by delivering the food and cleaning up afterwards.

Speakers were:

• Jennifer Granzow, Asst. PA Kalamazoo County- Legislative Updates.
• Office Of Child Support Training And Policies Divisions, provided several experts from OCS. They did a panel discussion/Q&A time on problems/concerns about MiCSES, with an overview on MFIN screen and managing alerts, surcharges, what is a true IV-D case, and the family violence indictor.
• Judy Lawton, Calhoun Co PA Office, Jennifer Granzow, Asst. PA, Kalamazoo Co PA Office and Kim Summers - Update/Discussion of Document Generation Workgroup.
• Terri Bauer, Cass Co PA Office and John Carpenter, St Joseph PA Office – Update/Discussion Of Customer Service Workgroup.
• A special thanks to Gus Exarchos -MiCSES Partner Services Group
  Manager for answering several questions during the day.
  

We are looking forward to 2005 with the planning of a great conference again to meet the training needs of not only Southwest MI area but anyone in the State that would like to attend. If you have any suggestions for topics or speakers, please contact your County Director or one of the officers on the Board.

If you do not have a Director for your County and are interested in serving on the Board please contact Matt Schmid at Schmidm@Michigan.Gov or Barb Armitage at Brarmi@Kalcounty.Com. We are also looking for OCS Support Specialists from our area to serve on our Board.

Thank you everyone who participated this past year in making our training sessions successful.

Respectfully,
Barbara Armitage, President

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