CITY OF SAN DIEGO RETIRED EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION
GENERAL MEETING MINUTES              July 10, 2007  11:00a.m.

Meeting called to order by Ruth Ann Hageman, filling in for Nancy Acevedo.

TREASURER'S REPORT- Sylvia Tatum
Grand Total Reserve-Operating Balance on 6/1/07 was $31,576.62
Receipts $2,007.40
Expenditures/Transfers $1,816.27
Operating Fund Ending Balance 6/30/07 was $4,476.75
Grand Total Reserve-Operating Fund on 6/30/07 was $32.687.44
Legal Fund Money Market ending balance on 6/30/07 was $23,140.20

Revised statement for May 31, 2007 due to check #1931, to Souper Bowl under total expenses, typo corrected to $200 from $100. Other entries remained the same.

SDCERS REPORT- Rebecca Wilson
Rebecca announced SDCERS' change in location:
FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING, the 'Columbia Center'
401 WEST A, SUITE 400, (4th Floor).

Parking access is on State Street. As it is an older building the spaces are tighter.
A trolley station is about two blocks away.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE- Ruth Ann Hageman
CSDREA Board Members Ross McCollum and Patricia Karnes, and General Member Mike Stepner, were moved, seconded and unanimously approved to be the Nominating Committee.
Ruth Ann announced that being on the CSDREA Board is a lot of fun, provides companionship and is interesting.
Retirees can contact the Nominating Committee via www.csdrea.com

SDCERS RETIREE REPRESENTATIVE- Carmen Lutes
Carmen said David Arce of SDCERS is researching if the date DROP participants signed up, or the date that participants left employment is the legal retirement date for lawsuit cases.

WATERFALL: Virginia Silverman
An Ordinance is needed to authorize paying the 13th Check and Corbett, if the City Council eliminates the concept "surplus undistributed earnings" as requested by the IRS.
While it was thought there was an agreement with Aguirre, the language was not there, so the City Council and SDCERS continue to work on a solution.
(Update Note: Check the City Council dockets starting September 4th.)

NEWSLETTER- Joe Flynn
Joe urged retirees to sign up for the email newsletter to get more information and save on the cost of postage ($400 month expense).

VOLUNTEER: FOLLOW COURT CASES AND DO PHONE BANK- Joe Flynn announced there are other volunteer activities instead of meetings to attend. Would you go to Court cases to show Judges we are interested? Or do a phone chain to alert members, especially those without computers (about 2/3 of retirees)?

MEETING ADJOURNED.
Draft submitted August 11, 2007 by P. Karnes


PROGRAM: ANDREW DONOHUE of the voiceofsandiego.org
(About 25% of the audience read the voiceofsandiego.org)
Neil Morgan started San Diego's on-line journal. Voiceofsandiego.org has been contacted by other cities wanting to know how to successfully start their own on-line news. The Voice needs readers and is not charging. Grants fund 50% of the cost and staff attempt to back fill the rest with donations. The Voice does not endorse candidates because it is a 501 © (3) charitable organization.
Competition drives journalism not to bury the news. There is a growing list of people in San Diego who do not answer calls from the Voice as they are not used to being asked tough questions. The Voice links to Court opinions that are posted on PDF.
The Voice likes to receive your responses. Blogs are fact checked, edited once, and may present opinions from the other side.
Andrew said the Voice must be selective as the City Attorney's press conferences are longer than high school classes and he wondered about the costs of the Mayor's active press machine. The Mayor has 5 press people in his office and 3 people in finance.
Andrew has heard that SDCERS would last 26 years if the City stopped paying into it, but there would be no money for current employees.