CITY OF SAN DIEGO
RETIRED EMPLOYEES
ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S MEETING
BOARD MEMBERS: All Board members present
RETIREE ISSUES TASK FORCE: Bob West
GUESTS: Ruth Ann Hageman, Patricia Karnes, and John Mattis
President Nancy Acevedo
called the meeting to order at 9:30 AM.
Nancy passed out copies of a letter she received from Patricia Karnes regarding a perceived conflict of interest between Callan (pension consultant) and Mercer (pension money managers) for the SDCERS. Tabled for Board review and possible discussion at next meeting.
The minutes of the Board of Director’s meeting of April 13, 2004 were approved as submitted.
Treasurer Sylvia Tatum reported a balance in the Operating Fund on April 1, 2004 of
$2,308.68. Income for April totaled $1,408.84 and expenses were $1,002,15. Operating Fund balance on April 30, 2004 was $2,715.37. Reserve accounts totaled $10,206.80 for a grand total of $12,922.17.
Vice President Adam Saling reported the
following programs:
MAY: Captain Joe O’Hagan, US
Coastguard, speaking on Homeland Security
JUNE: Health Care Plan representatives.
Dave Crow reported that there have been no recent meetings of the Task Force.
He said a committee of the
Task Force would soon meet to discuss all current retirement benefit issues.
John Casey reported that the Retirement Board, at its April meeting, voted to retain the Health Care Counsel for another year, thanks in part to the recommendations of the SDREA Board, the Health Advisory Committee and excellent testimony by Joe Flynn. Next meeting of the HAC will be July 16.
Joe Flynn reported that he had to date received only 75 e-mail addresses from members in his quest to send the Newsletter by e-mail to the estimated half of the membership (500) who have Internet access. He will make a plea at today’s meeting for more submittals. Every Newsletter sent out via e-mail saves 37 cents. Joe is working with John Tsiknas on formatting the newsletter so that it will be compatible with the Association’s new web site.
The matter of non-profit reduced mailing rates was again brought up. Adam Saling said that the Association’s request to the local Postmaster was turned down with the explanation that we are considered a “fraternal” organization, not an “educational” one. An appeal was also turned down. This in spite of the fact that the County Retired Employees Association’s Articles of Incorporation are almost identical to ours and they get reduced mailing rates. Adam will ask Alan Sumption, retired Deputy City Attorney to review the situation and possibly draft a letter to the Postmaster.
MEMBERSHIP
Charles Buchanan reported that the invitation letter and the Survivor’s booklet had been reprinted and that both documents were now recorded on CDs. He said that Phoenix Printing was very cooperative in the printing process.
ACTIVE EMPLOYEES LIAISON
Alice Anglim reported that the question of FY05 mandatory furloughs was still under discussion with a possible shut down of city offices between Christmas and New Years. Lost pay would be spread evenly over 26 paychecks.
ADVOCACY POLICY COMMITTEE
Adam Saling reported that the committee had conducted five meetings and completed a draft policy. The committee needs one more meeting to finalize the draft and it will be presented to the Board at the June meeting.
WEB SITE DEVELOPMENT
John Tsiknas report that the web site was up and running since April 19th and considerable progress has been made on fine-tuning.
· In addition to csdrea.com, $25 was paid to “protect” csdrea.org so that the two can be linked.
· “Mayor & Council” and “City Officials” will be linked to our web site
· “Sunshine Committee” section will be added to report birthdays of members over 80 and ill retirees. It was also suggested that an “In Memoriam” section be added.
· Still need a logo. Joe Flynn will try again to contact Steve Tallian.
· Membership application is now complete. User can fill out membership application on line. John Mattis had volunteered to accept applications from the web site until Sylvia gets on the Internet.
· “Archive” section will be added to store articles, issue papers, etc.
· All Association officers and Board members will be listed.
· There will be a “Members Only” section protected by password. It was agreed that the Newsletter, meeting minutes, issue papers and survivor benefits brochure be for members only as there must be some incentive for retirees to join the Association and pay dues.
· The roster of members will not be loaded on the web site. There will be a “Contact a Retiree” section whereby a user can request to be put in contact with a member. Webmaster will forward info to retiree who can contact user at his/her discretion.
· “Disclaimer” on Home Page will state that “Letters to the Association,”
E-mails, articles, etc. reflect only the author’s opinion and not that of the Association. All unsolicited contributions will be vetted for appropriateness
by John Tsiknas and Nancy Acevedo before being posted on the web site.
INFORMATION
– DISCUSSION ITEMS
RETIREMENT
SYSTEM REVIEW COMMITTEE
Judy Folsom, chair, Bob West, member. No meetings yet.
STATUS OF
LAWSUITS
Court Settlement and Fairness hearing set for May 26, 2004, Department 67.
10:00AM.
PENSION
REFORM COMMISSION
Meets weekly on Tuesdays at 4:00 PM in Retirement System Board Room.
Report to Mayor and Council tentatively set for June.
CORBETT
SETTLEMENT FUND TO ESTATES
February 9, 2004 response under review. Apparently the City Attorney agrees
that unpaid Corbett monies should go to retiree’s estate if there is no surviving
spouse and the City Auditor disagrees. Final decision pending.
STATUS OF
RETIREMENT FUND
Retirement Fund balance, as of May 10, 2004 was $3.121 Billion.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert E. Cain
Secretary