| RETIRED EMPLOYEES OF KERN COUNTY
MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING
June 14, 2005
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by President, Norman Briggs.
ROLL CALL: Jeanne Berkshire, Norman Briggs, Nettie Collins, John DeMario, Lois
Maujer, Ginger Mello, Earlene Smith, Walter Stewart and Elinor Wells
OTHERS PRESENT: Mary Lou Bennett, Belva Jared, Everett Julkowski and Blue
O’Connor
MOTION by Elinor Wells to approve the May Minutes as read, seconded by Jeanne
Berkshire and CARRIED.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
CRCEA – Everett Julkowski reported he had NO REPORT. President, Norman Briggs,
asked if CRCEA is going ahead with a PAC? Everett stated that CRCEA got the change to a
401 (c) and that they are working on a PAC.
CCAPE – CCAPE President requested Blue O’Connor to please find out
exactly how many retired employees that Kern County has? Wanda Castro, KCERA, stated that
her office has that information. John DeMario asked Blue O’Connor if beneficiaries
would also be included in that number? Blue stated that NO, they only want retirees.
HOST/HOSTESS PROGRAM – Mary Lou Bennett reported that for the month of May
there were 34 volunteers who worked 104 hours and assisted 1,168 visitors to the County
Administration Building.
MONTHLY PROGRAM – Jeanne Berkshire announced that today’s speaker is
William O’Rullian from Environmental Health. Mr. O’Rullian will be speaking on
West Nile Virus. For the July picnic we will have The Harley Criner Western Band and for
August, President, Norman Briggs will be contacting Anne Holdren, KCERA, to be our
speaker.
NEWSLETTER – President, Norman Briggs, announced that the hope is for the
newsletter to be at the printer on Friday, June 17, 2005. Everett Julkowski stated that he
will contact Vicki after this meeting to give her the menus for July and August. Everett
reminded that the July Picnic menu and NOR needs more space in the TREND this issue. This
issue needs to be out early because of the new retirees. This is the first issue that they
will receive. Also, Secretary, Ginger Mello will contact Vicki regarding a box with the
November 1st date (first week) which is a change from the regular date of
November 8th (second week).
KCERA – Wanda Castro announced that she had already given Blue
O’Connor the total of retired employees ONLY of Kern County – 4,161. The April
payroll for retirees was $9.5 million with SRBR being about $2.5 – 3 million of that.
The new safety member, Howard Eddy, is filling the term of Mike Bradley who retired and
the term expires December 31, 2006. KCERA will be holding a special election for the
second member seat which is a general employee and no time line is set as yet. A new
member from the Board of Supervisors will be coming on board after Barbara Patrick leaves
due to not running for another term.
Treasurer, John DeMario, gave the Treasurer’s Report. MOTION by Jeanne
Berkshire to approve the Claims Payable for May, seconded by Nettie Collins and CARRIED.
MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to approve the Treasurer’s Report for the month of
May, seconded by Lois Maujer and CARRIED. John DeMario announced that our books for
the 2004 year are with John Doty for the yearly audit. John also announced that there was
17 retirees and 9 joined and there were 3 beneficiaries with 2 of them joining. Our total
membership is now 3,412. After extensive discussion regarding membership, it was
determined that we are putting a considerable amount of time toward recruiting. We give a
presentation at the retirement seminars and we send a letter inviting the retiree who
doesn’t join at the time of their retirement, to join REOKC. CRCEA has requested that
each of the 20 counties have a membership chair. According to the CRCEA President, the
average membership is only 50% of eligible retirees and our membership is over 70%. Our
membership has always been between 68% and 70%. President, Norman Briggs, feels that what
we need is a good "salesman" for the position of Membership Chair. Wanda Castro,
KCERA, commented that the Retirement Office sent out a questionnaire to other retirement
offices and one of the questions was "Do you have outside speakers at your retirement
seminars, such as retirement associations?" Very few of the other questionnaires came
back stating YES. This may be why we have a higher percentage of membership. John DeMario
stated that not only does a Membership Chair need sales skill but they will also need
accounting skills. It is the Membership Chair who will be working with the labels for the
TREND. President, Norman Briggs, stated that we do need to keep working on a Membership
Chair.
COMMUNICATIONS – President, Norman Briggs, received in the mail numerous
newsletters, a returned sympathy card, 1 Bakersfield Rescue Mission request, and
President, Norman Briggs also commented that he received information from the CAO’s
office regarding Health Care changes which he posted on our Web Site.
OLD BUSINESS:
STATUS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE - There was a meeting held on May 18, 2005
which was well attended. The main topic was the meeting held in the CAO’s conference
room on May 13, 2005 with the health care consultant. The next meeting will be held in
August at Marie Callender’s.
WEB PAGE – President, Norman Briggs is investigating a possibility of
jazzing up the Web Page but still keep it simple.
PAC UPDATE – It was stated that CRCEA is in the process of forming a PAC
for CRCEA. A discussion was held on whether we should contact the attorney and start
pursuing a PAC. MOTION by John DeMario for President, Norman Briggs to contact our
attorney to pursue forming a PAC, SECONDED by Lois Maujer and CARRIED.
RENTAL OF STORAGE FACILITY UPDATE – Everett Julkowski reported that he and
John DeMario rented a 5’ x 5’ x 8’ storage room for two (2) years. The
storage room is located at Fortress Self Storage, 3813 Mesa Grande. Fortress was
advertising rent for one month and get one month free. John asked if we could pay for a
one year rental and receive one year free, which is exactly what John did.
MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN POSITION – Please see under Treasurer’s Report for
this report.
JULY PICNIC – CATERING BY MOSSMAN’S – A discussion was held on
whether the Board would like to have Mossman’s cater the picnic. Everett Julkowski
contacted Mossman’s and got a menu and price of $5.00 per person. This will allow the
volunteers to enjoy the meal and entertainment. MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to have
Mossman’s cater the July Picnic, SECONDED by Earlene Smith and CARRIED.
Secretary, Ginger Mello reported that she had received a telephone call from Parks and
Recreation Office regarding the fact that we have been paying someone to set up for our
meetings. At this time, the Parks and Recreation Department would like to charge our
organization $20.00 per event to set up/take down for 25 – 150 people and $40.00 per
event for over 150 people. The Parks and Recreation Department will set up/take down at No
Charge for less than 25 people. This would be $20.00 for each month, August through
November and $40.00 for the July Picnic which would total $120.00. We have been paying
$40.00 per month and would save us $80.00 for August through November. MOTION by
Jeanne Berkshire, SECONDED by Elinor Wells and CARRIED.
Jeanne Berkshire stated that at the May General Meeting that Carol Rugnao had stated
that the June meeting would be her last meeting to decorate the tables. We will need a
replacement for her. Thelda Carnahan may be interested in helping but she doesn’t
want to be in charge. Also, Jeanne stated that she will have the list for fair volunteers
at the July Picnic.
NEW BUSINESS: President, Norman Briggs, stated that he spoke with Liberty Mutual
for personal insurance matters. During the conversation, the representative asked what
university did Norman go to and Norman answered San Jose State. San Jose State just
happens to be one of their "groups". After this conversation, Norman thought
just maybe REOKC could become one of their "groups" and our members could be
able to get a discount on their insurance needs (car, house, liability, etc.). The Liberty
Mutual representative is taking the request to their corporate office for approval of
REOKC to become a "group". MOTION by Elinor Wells for Norman to follow-up
on this Liberty Mutual agreement, seconded by Lois Maujer and CARRIED. MOTION
by John DeMario to adjourn our meeting at 11:35 a.m., seconded by Nettie Collins and CARRIED.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Ginger Mello, Sec. |
