| CITY OF SAN DIEGO RETIRED EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION Meeting called to order at 9:30 a.m. Minutes for the January 9, 2008 Board Meeting and minutes for the January 22, 2008 Board Retreat were approved. COMMUNICATIONS: Nancy Acevedo Nancy and Ron Moskowitz, President of Retired Fire & Police (RF&P), representing the Retiree Issues Task Force will be meeting with David Wescoe on February 22, 2008. Patti Karnes will attend the City Employee Retirement System (CERS) meetings on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 14 and 15. Dave Hall, a retired police officer, has indicated an interest in filling the vacant position on the Board, and the Association Board agreed that he is a good choice. TREASURER’S REPORT: Sylvia Tatum (the Treasurer’s Report is attached) ACTION ITEMS: Nancy Acevedo There was some discussion of the “Death and Survivor Benefits Information Paper” (copy of Nancy‘s memo regarding this paper is attached); Ruth Ann Hageman and Maggie Smith found the wording regarding the “options” to be confusing, but Lynn Swanson and Jean Struiksma said that such wording is part of the Municipal Code and could not be changed. Nancy had suggested that the paper include “Date Prepared” and “Date Reviewed,” and a motion (Hageman/Smith) passed unanimously to that effect. PROGRAMS: Patti Karnes John Tsiknas completed a study of the number of meals served at the Association General Meetings. The Board would like to determine why the numbers of members staying for meals are dwindling. Patti will add speakers to the study to see if the choice of speaker has had an impact. Norma Damashek, President of the League of Women Voters (LWV) will be the speaker at next meeting to discuss proposed charter changes. Norma would like to have audience participation. Patti also mentioned that LWV is going to do a study of average pensions. Regarding the two panels featuring the candidates for the City Attorney (April 8) and for the Mayor (May 13), Andrew Donohue has agreed to be the moderator for both the panels. Patti received many suggestions from board members on format, for instance, timing the candidates responses and using the format of the SD Demo Club. Retired fire and police will participate. Discussion of audio for last debate. Sylvia will find invoice in 2005 records. Audience members were given the opportunity to fill out 3 X 5cards which were collected and given to moderator. Joe suggested using the existing podium microphone for the moderator and using the two microphones gratis from Retired Fire and Police Association (RF&P). John Tsiknas and others said that that added to the quality of the event. Retired Police & Fire (RF&P) have two mikes. Lynn suggested each candidate given 3 min. for opening statement. One minute to rebut. Nancy: can questioner indicate which person the question is to be directed to. After all of these suggestions, Nancy said that we can let Patti work it out. Budget Table skirting costs were discussed. Fliers: $350. Send out fliers right away. Joe said to put in extra flier with the newsletter. Nancy: make master available to RP&F. Get it into their website. Lynn will do blast mail along with Jean. Candidate forum needs: timer, check out microphones: Nancy: two might not be enough microphones. Advantage of having professional audio person. M/S (Smith/Hageman) to use the same sound system as in the previous debate. Patti will send info as she develops it. Notice will be sent: just say who has been invited. Patti asked that someone volunteer to pick up the table skirts. It was suggested that Karen Anderson be asked to be the timer for the debates. OTHER PROGRAM: Alyse: The man she has been talking to said he would do a talk on travel. July might work out for this program. WEBSITE: John Tsiknas. Review of design of website and the benefits of paying for a Dog & Rooster program, as suggested by Lynn Swanson. John reviewed the fact that our website was designed by the whole group. Motion (Hageman/Smith): Keep same design with same webmaster. During the discussion, Maggie asked if we could archive older articles so people can easily get to the new articles. Is all the history in the way? John said that readers can go to the press articles section where you can go right down to see what you want to see. Lynn suggested putting the old stuff on discs because for her, having the old stuff on the website is frustrating and cumbersome. John pointed out that there are 13,000 to 16,000 hits a month. John and Alan Hardtarfer met with Lynn and the man who does the Dog and Rooster website that we would pay for as suggested by Lynn. John found that there was no means of converting our own system. Patti: do a “this is new this month” page. Alan wrote a nice report on the Dog and Rooster proposal. Motion to keep the current on-line website passed with one against and one abstention. CSDREA FAVORS: Joe Flynn looked into this. Wide array of items, pricing. Pen 39 cents with 4 lines of copy. Many types/prices. Also cups. 6 lines. The vendor is local, and he has a website. Meet with people at retirement seminars. Many ideas for using these pens. Lynn’s point is that the nicer pen with the laser could be dangerous for children. Joe could find one without the laser. Thermos cup for car. Coffee cups at $1.79 each. When asking if any new members, give cup. Motion was made by Flynn/Swanson to go ahead with 100 pens (plus 100 gratis pens) and 36 mugs. Joe will order these items. Audit deadline is March, but Hageman may not be ready at that time, and we will need to slip the deadline at least one month. There was not enough time for committee reports Meeting adjourned at 10:55 a.m. Ruth Ann Hageman, Secretary |