CITY OF SAN DIEGO RETIRED EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION
BOARD MEETING MINUTES   September 11, 2007 

Present: President Nancy Acevedo, Joe Flynn, Ty Rogers, Carmen Lutes, Virginia Silverman, Maggie Smith, Terry Flynn , John Tsiknas, Ross McCollum, Sylvia Tatum, Bob West, Lynn Swanson, Patricia Karnes, Jean Hughes, Dora Garcia.
Guest: Dick Wilken -Alliance of Unrepresented Employees

Meeting called to order at 9:33a.m.
Minutes for August 14, 2007 CSDREA Board approved, Ross/Lynn.

COMMUNICATIONS: Nancy Acevedo
Nancy asked for suggestions for our CSDREA President's column in the next SDCERS' "FREE SPIRIT" issue. Ross emphasized telling retirees what we are all about and why they should join CSDREA, including our web site and Issue Papers. Tsiknas wanted to advertise for a web volunteer. Joe recommended the work of Virginia and Patti on advocacy issues and the need for more advocacy volunteers.

TREASURER'S REPORT- Sylvia Tatum

Grand Total Reserve-Operating Balance on 8/1/07 was $33,327.27
Receipts $1,923.48
Expenditures/Transfers $1,650.90
Operating Fund Ending Balance 8/31/07 was $4,481.12
Grand Total Reserve-Operating Fund on 8/31/07 was $34,524.19
Legal Fund Money Market ending balance on 8/31/07 was $24,964.82

Sylvia noted that check #1944 in July was to Phoenix Mail Service. There was a discussion of the number of copies.

ACTION ITEMS: Nancy Acevedo

Award Recognition Committee  Recommendations- Ruth Ann Hageman, Terry Flynn, and Maggie Smith
The committee selected Bill Sheffler to honor this year at the Holiday Party. Ross/Virgina moved/seconded. Unanimous approval.
Sheffler uses his professional actuarial skills to benefit the future of retirees. He was a member of the Pension Reform Committee, is the current Chair of the Disability Committee, refused to resign under political pressure, etc. He is also scheduled to be our November speaker.

Award Cost Proposal -Joe Flynn
Joe is ordering the traditional radio for approximately $130.

October Meeting Location Change/Lunch? - Dora Garcia
Floors are being re-done, so the October meeting will be at the Recital Hall, next to the Puppet Theater, at the AeroSpace Museum end of Balboa Park.

Dora asked if the lunch cost is effective? She reported CSDREA is                        averaging 20 lunches per month. Dora noted that the lunches are not effective in recruiting and people continue to cancel. The current caterer is the only caterer not to require 80 lunches. Virginia/Lynn moved/seconded to continue with current caterer in October. Passed unanimously.

Terry moved to discontinue lunches in January 2008. Discussion was continued to October to allow Jean Hughes to research food providers in the Balboa Park area, including subway type sandwiches. Patti was concerned about losing the networking if luncheons were cancelled.

Holiday Luncheon Subsidy Recommendation- Jean Hughes
Sylvia will set the price at last years ticket price.
Jean will mail an additional $500 check for our second deposit to Tom Ham's. This makes our total deposit so far $1000.
Joe pointed out that retirees with limited funds or mobility problems might not be interested in subsidizing the event.
Motion by John/Carmen to eliminate expense of door prizes and decorations, passed 10-4.

INFORMATION-DISCUSSION ITEMS:

Retired Fire and Police Access to Web Site- Sylvia Tatum
Lynn pointed out that fire and police retirees are notified of our speakers every month via newsletter distribution to groups. John encourages them to become members of CSDREA, however, they can request our web password from their President.

Status of Proposed Waterfall Revision -Virginia Silverman, Joe Flynn
This item is not appearing on the City Council's agenda.
Contingent benefits are now listed as liabilities at SDCERS, and the concept of "excess earnings" is no longer used to pay Corbett and the 13th check. Will the IRS require a revised Ordinance? How will this be cleaned-up?

CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE AND SDCERS BOARD- Joe Flynn and Patricia Karnes
The sub-committee of the City's Charter Review Committee was scheduled to discuss the composition of the SDCERS Board Charter on Sept. 7th.
Next meeting of the full Charter Committee is Sept. 27th.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

NOMINATING COMMITTEE UPDATE- Patricia Karnes, Ross McCollum, Mike Stepner
Ross reported he was gathering names.
It was noted that the two Vice-President Board members are in order to be the next President. Ty has expressed interest in remaining Chair of Advocacy.

Web Posting Board Policy Committee -John Tsiknas, Alan Hardtarfer, Ruth Ann Hageman, Virginia Silverman, Lynn Swanson , Patti Karnes, and Joe Flynn.
No meetings were scheduled because of Alan Hardtarfer's illness. John Tsiknas has been doing Alan's yupdates on the web site and needs help.

Program Committee- Ruth Ann Hageman
Sept 11 - Tom Hebrank, SDCERS new Board President.
Oct 9 - Veronica Glen, Southern Caregivers Resource Center, presenter Virginia Silverman.
Nov 13 - Bill Sheffler, SDCERS Board and private actuary, presenter Ross.
Dec 13 (second Thursday)- Holiday Party- Jean Hughes

Advocacy Committee- Ty Rogers,Chair. Virginia Silverman, John Casey, Patti Karnes, Ruth Ann Hageman (Joe Flynn and Carmen Lutes are consulted.)
No advocacy meetings were held.

Patricia reviewed topics of interest to City retirees:
1) Trial issues- Ty and Virginia
(Additional Notes from SDCERS September Board Packet:
- SDCERS vs. City for funds to cover MPI and MPII on Oct. 18th..
- Three judges upheld the right of the District Attorney's 1090 case of People of the State of California vs. Cathy Lexin, et al., to go forward.)

2) Revision of Waterfall Ordinance- Virginia, Joe, and Lynn.

3) Health Care- Joe and Nancy. (Additional Note: City presented options to set up a funding solution for retiree healthcare at the Sept. 12th Budget and Finance Committee. One possibility was similar to CalPers' solution. Terry Flynn had mentioned this as a possible solution.)

4) Aquirre's issues.

5) SEC issues. How will the City DISCLOSE pension and health care costs? Keller has hired a specialized CPA to exam SDCERS as more work needs to be done on SDCERS' internal controls for reporting pension debt.

6) IRS decisions on SDCERS tax-compliance and Voluntary Corrections program. Part of this is the IRS' time-line for the City to re-pay SDCERS $100 million for health care. Does the Council need to approve this settlement?

7) Technical Compliance Ordinance(s) requiring the Council's approval.

8) SDCERS proposed change of SDCERS from a multi-employer trust to a Group Trust. The City Council asked for more information and continued their vote until Sept. 24th.
Our Board discussed Roxanne Story Parks answers to Donna Frye's questions about the Group Trust, as well as, SDCERS' application for the IRS' Voluntary Compliance Program.


NEWSLETTER EDITOR -Lynn Swanson
No report.



ACTIVE EMPLOYEE ASSOC. REP. -Lynn Swanson
Lynn commented on legal actions and negotiations.

TREASURER /MEMBERSHIP SERVICES REORGANIZATION- Sylvia Tatum, John Tsiknas, Maggie Smith, and Karen Anderson(membership roster)
No report.

RETIREE ISSUES TASK FORCE: Joe Flynn
Ron Moskowitz, from retired Police and Fire, is Chair.
Joe recommended instead of re-starting the Health Advisory Committee, to use SDCERS' Business and Governance committees to discuss retiree issues.

PENDING ITEMS
Issue Papers -
Unanimous approval of Ross' motion to post "drafts" of Issue Papers, that are delayed due to the reviewing process at SDCERS.

RETIREMENT BOARD: Carmen Lutes
Carmen will contact Rebecca about what is happening with our Issue Papers.

SDCERS Fund Balance , closing as of September 11, 2007, was $4.964 billion, up $54 million since last month).

Meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
Submitted by P.Karnes October 2, 2007