RETIRED EMPLOYEES OF KERN COUNTY

MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING

January 10, 2006

 

The meeting was called to order at 10:01 a.m. by President, Norman Briggs.

 

ROLL CALL:  Mary Lou Bennett, Jeanne Berkshire, Norman Briggs, Ginger Mello, Greg Salas, Earlene Smith, Walter Stewart and Elinor Wells

 

OTHERS PRESENT:  John DeMario, Mary Hancock, Belva Jared and Everett Julkowski

 

MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to approve the November 2005 minutes as read, seconded by Mary Lou Bennett and CARRIED.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

 

CRCEA – Dave Merritt was not in attendance due to pneumonia.  Everett Julkowski reminded everybody that there would be a Conference in Orange County in March.  Everett also made notice that Kern County has the conference in spring of 2008.

 

CCAPE – Mary Lou Bennett reported that she had spoken to Blue O’Connor and he stated that he would not be able to continue as the representative between CCAPE and REOKC due to poor health.  Blue is no longer able to drive.  It was suggested that the President, Norman Briggs, ask at the General Meeting who belongs to CCAPE.

 

HOST/HOSTESS PROGRAM – Mary Lou Bennett reported that for the month of November there were 33 volunteers who worked 102 hours and assisted 1,210 visitors to the County Administration Building.  For the month of December there were 30 volunteers who worked 92 hours and assisted 1,074 visitors to the County Administration Building.  For 2005 we assisted 14,145 visitors.  Since the program began in 1992 through December 2005 we have assisted 229,798 visitors to the County Administration Building.  For the year 2005, there was 1,237.5 hours spent at the information booth.  Earlene Smith brought up the fact that she has been able to get a cup of coffee free when she takes the Volunteer Ribbon into the coffee shop.  It seems that most of the volunteers at the Board Meeting were not aware of this. Jeanne Berkshire was to volunteer on Wednesday, January 11th and she was going to find out all about the coffee.

 

MONTHLY PROGRAM – Jeanne Berkshire announced that Rick Davis from Board of Trade would be speaking to our members today. 

 

NEWSLETTER – 1st Vice President, Jeanne Berkshire asked for the deadline for articles for the TREND.  President, Norman Briggs announced that it is the 15th of the month.  So for this next TREND, it would be the 15th of February.  Norman also reported that Vicki was quit sick and forgot to give it to the printer.  Vicki apologized and managed to get the TREND to the printer on the Monday, just a few days late.  Walter Stewart also asked if the Board is still interested in his Historical articles.  The answer is YES.  Walter has an article already written for the March/April issue.  Mary Lou commended Walter on the excellent job in writing his articles.  Mary Lou does the proof reading of the TREND and she feels very comfortable changing things in Normans’ column and always has to in Johns’ column, but Walter has his in top form.

 

KCERA – Wanda Castro was not in attendance.

 

TREASURER – Mary Lou Bennett gave the Treasurer’s Report for October, November and December 2005.  MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to approve October, November and December Treasurer’s Reports, seconded by Elinor Wells and CARRIED.  MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to approve the Claim Payable for October, November and December, seconded by Elinor Wells and CARRIED.  Mary Lou also presented the budget for 2006. MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to approve the Budget, seconded by Walter Stewart and CARRIED.  A discussion was held regarding an Audit for the 2005 books.  It was decided that Mary Lou is to contact John Doty to see if he is interested in doing the audit for us.  It was suggested that in the future, because of the amount of money that we have in our accounts, it might be time to take it to an auditor.  John DeMario stated that he felt it would cost between $500 and $1,000 for an audit by an auditor. 

 

COMMUNICATIONS – The President has received 1 Christmas card from Kern Federal Credit Union, 5 County Newsletters and a thank you note from the Bakersfield Rescue Mission. 

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

STATUS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE – Secretary, Ginger Mello will be speaking with Derek Robinson, President of the Firefighters Union to set a date and place for the meeting to be held in February which will be hosted by Firefighters.

 

WEB PAGE – President, Norman Briggs will put the 2006 Budget on the Web Page as soon as Mary Lou Bennett e-mails it to him.

 

PAC UPDATE – No report, it is the same as in November.

 

MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN POSITION – Mary Hancock is still volunteering on taking on the position. President, Norman Briggs feels that we need to put together a new handout to be given to the new retirees explaining exactly what REOKC is and how we can help them.  Norman stated that he would work with Mary on this idea.  Mary is a committee of one. 

 

COMPUTER GIVE AWAY – John DeMario stated that he has 2 computers ready for the give away and that they can pick them up from his house.

 

 

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

            Sponsor for two members – A member has volunteered to pay the membership for two worthy retirees and to challenge others to do the same.  Mary Lou Bennett commented regarding how we could possibly find out who would be worthy recipients because of the privacy act.  John DeMario stated that this Board has already taken action stating that if someone has a retirement check that is so small that they actually have nothing left to be able to pay the $1.00 dues per month they can still be a member.  John also stated that if you want to help somebody, do it through the PAC.  The PAC can help everybody and not just one individual. President, Norman Briggs, will contact the member and notify him that the PAC would be the better way for him to help the organization members. 

 

            President, Norman Briggs reported that Liberty Mutual chose not to put an advertisement in the TREND this issue which is fine.  He also stated that they would like to do a colorful brochure and send it directly to our members.  John DeMario stated that the only way it could be done would be through our organization because the addresses that we receive are highly confidential.  John stated that we have told people that we are not going to allow a mailing list and he thinks that we should stick with it.  John also stated that we could dress up our TREND with colors in the future. 

 

            President, Norman Briggs reported that he volunteers once a week for the Gleaners and they have just upgraded their computer system.  They purchased software from a non-profit organization called Tex Soup.  Tex Soup allows non-profit institutions (like the Gleaners) to purchase software at a reduced price.  They purchased Office Suite which is a $400 - $500 package for about $20.  You can only order once a year.  In the future we could order one time a year.  Norman states that he hasn’t applied but he sees no reason that we wouldn’t be approved as a non-profit. 

 

            Secretary, Ginger Mello ask for permission to purchase legal size folders to store particular important papers in the file cabinet that Doris Williams had stored at her house and is now at Gingers’ house.  MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire for Ginger to purchase a box of file folders if there are NO file folders in any of our REOKC belongings, but was not taken to the vote.

 

MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to adjourn the meeting at 11:23 a.m., seconded by Greg Salas and CARRIED.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

 

 

 

 

Ginger Mello, Secretary