Wyoming Chapter
Association of Records Managers and Administrators
Chapter Meeting
March 11, 2004
Lexie's Mesa Grille, 218 East 17th St., Cheyenne, WY

Members Present: Tony Adams, Kristy Anderson, Ramona Christensen, Donna Crock, Wendy Kinkade, Vicki Seals, Deanne Widauf and Rich Wilson

Guests: Wendy Madsen, Legislative Service Office

Speaker: Mary Bienz, Outreach Director, Community Action of Laramie County and Executive Director Cheyenne Respite Program

Kristy Anderson opened the meeting and everyone introduced themselves. Kristy announced RIMM (Records and Information Management Month) is the month of April 2004. In observance, the Wyoming Chapter is working with Wyoming State Archives for the week of April 25 through May 1. Records Management displays will be in the lobby of the Barrett Building. Proclamations have been issued by the Mayor and Governor declaring April 2004 National Records and Information Management Month. Kristy also presented a plaque from ARMA International recognizing the Wyoming Chapter for 25 years as a Chapter.

Kristy introduced the guest speaker, Mary Bienz. Mary has extensive experience in records management. She has been with Community Action of Laramie County for 10 years and Outreach Director for 7 years. She has also worked for 10 years with the Respite Program. During her time with these two programs, Mary has been responsible for insuring all records are managed effectively and documentation is available for grant applications and reviews.

Community Action of Laramie County is a non profit agency with a Board of Directors . Mary deals with low income clients to provide housing and other necessary services to help them. This program includes sponsoring the Farmer's Market, Head Start Program, Health Care for the homeless, Outreach Program and Recovering Kids Program. She maintains records alphabetically on all applications filed. Approximately $140,000 in grant money is used each year to fund the programs. This amount includes 5 to 7 grants. To facilitate the recordkeeping of these programs, Mary keeps records using Microsoft Excel. She must be accountable for all money spent. By keeping accurate records, verification of the entire process is a must. She also has CM Tools to track records. This application is an Access database that contains files on all clients. Records are maintained for 3 years, then shredded. The program serves over 3,000 people each year. Workshops are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays on various topics to help the clients. Anyone can attend these workshops.

In addition to Community Action, Mary is in charge of the Respite Program to help disabled children. This program has a Tripartide Board, which includes members from Low Income, the Public and the Business sectors. Approximately $50,000 a year is used to fund this program. She must keep track of all hours on this program since she is accountable for all money spent which requires a large amount of recordkeeping also. She keeps a file on each child. There are 40 children in this program. All records are shredded at the end of 3 years for both programs, per federal guideline retention schedules.

Submitted by,

Ramona Christensen
Acting Chapter Secretary