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RETIRED EMPLOYEES OF KERN
COUNTY
MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING
October 14, 2003
President, David Merritt, called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.
ROLL CALL: Jeanne
Berkshire, Norman Briggs, Allan Choy, John DeMario, Opal Hargis, Tom McCarthy, Ginger
Mello, David Merritt, Joe Porter, Elinor Wells and Doris Williams
OTHERS PRESENT: Wanda
Castro, Dolores Christian, Nettie Collins, Jerry Dodd and Lois Maujer
MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to approve September minutes;
seconded by Opal Hargis and CARRIED.
Doris Williams gave the Treasurer’s Report of September
30, 2003; copies are on file. MOTION by John
DeMario to accept the Treasurer’s Report; seconded by Allan Choy and CARRIED. MOTION by John DeMario to pay the enumerated
bills; seconded by Elinor Wells and CARRIED.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
CRCEA – The
CRCEA conference is October 20 – 22, 2003. Other
than the conference, no report.
CCAPE –
Blue O’Connor was not in attendance. Blue
sent word by way of John DeMario that Ward Wolleson
is open to a meeting or anything that we need. John
DeMario stated that he feels that our PR Committee should meet with Ward Wolleson
regarding the stipend on health benefits because the union has not signed a contract at
this time and they are the ones who have the ability to try to get an increase in the
stipend.
Host/Hostess
Program – For the month of September, 33 volunteers worked 101 hours and assisted 1,486 visitors to the County
Administration Building.
Monthly Program
– For this month Claude Fiddler will be speaking about the Gleaners. President
David Merritt reported that he spoke to Robin at the Office on Aging. He reported that he told her that we couldn’t
have two long programs and she stated that she
would put brochures out. John DeMario asked
why wedidn’t have Paulanna Hodges from the health benefits office at our meeting this
month. We do have her scheduled for November. Jeanne Berkshire stated that she spoke to Paulanna regarding the November meeting and
she stated that she was to busy to come. Jeanne told her that she was being held on
standby.
Newsletter
– Joe Porter stated nothing new but a reminder that the articles for the next TREND needs to be to him no later than October 20,
2003.
COMMUNICATIONS: President,
David Merritt, received 12 County newsletters and 1 CRCEA Intercom. He also received 2 Bakersfield Homeless Shelter
Newsletters and 2 brochures from the Kern County Museum.
OLD BUSINESS:
Status of Public Relations Committee - Norman Briggs reported that he spoke to Mathew
Parks from Supervisor Don Mabens’ office who stated that Supervisor Maben would be more than happy to meet with the
committee. It was also suggested that the
committee meet with the union reps also.
During the Nominating Committee
meeting, Opal Hargis brought up the idea of a PAC
(Political Action Committee). As a 501C3 we
are explicitly prohibited from forming a PAC. Opal Hargis stated that the General Meeting is more
for a social gathering (that is what the people
want to come for). The other side of the
association is that if we keep wanting to influence the legislation to benefit everybody, then we are going to have to be
political in some form. That may be donating money or supporting candidates. This, of course, is something that this Board needs to discuss. Opal Hargis recommended that we disband the Public
Relations Committee and make it a permanent
committee and have people on that committee who have
an interest and an ability to move us in a direction of any political
clout. Norman Briggs stated that he knows an
attorney who is very well aware of the laws regarding 501C3 organizations and that he
would be happy to contact the attorney to see what it
would cost to see if we can develop a PAC. MOTION
by Tom McCarthy for Norman Briggs to contact the above attorney on a pro bono opinion so
that we would know what the word SUBSTANTIAL means to the IRS, and if not pro bono then
what the cost would be; seconded by Opal Hargis and
CARRIED.
Web Page – Norman Briggs reported that the Web Page is
still there. He also added that he has been
too busy to check how many hits are on it.
Monthly Luncheons –
John DeMario stated that he received 3 telephone calls
from people who wanted to pay for their spouses and they couldn’t
get that held out of their paychecks. The Board was in favor of allowing the members who wanted to pay for their spouse to write a check to REOKC
for the amount for a year. This will be announced at the General Meeting
today. We need to have a decision of who will be our caterer for the next year to
be at the same time as when our change in price of luncheons occur. Preferably in June so that it will fall on the
July paycheck.
Fair Report – Jeanne Berkshire reported that it takes 50
people to do a 40 hour shift (5 days x 2 shifts per day x 5 hours). We only had 42 people but Blue O’Connor and
Ann Farrell worked 2 shifts each, Walter Stewart worked a total of 3 shifts and Ken Berkshire worked a total of 5 shifts. This way we had all shifts covered. MOTION by David Merritt if you are on payroll
deduction for your luncheons and you volunteer at the
fair, you are going to get $10.00 cash back from REOKC as a reimbursement for your payroll
deduction; seconded by John DeMario and CARRIED.
Nominating Committee Report – Tom McCarthy, chairman, gave
the following Report::
President
-
Norman Briggs
1st Vice President - Jeanne Berkshire
2nd Vice President –
Elinor Wells
Treasurer
-
John DeMario
Director
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Walter Stewart
Director
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Dolores Christian
Director
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Lois Maujer
Sunshine
-
Belva Jarad
Decorations - Ann Farrell
The Nominating Committee
could not find a person with the skills to do the
TREND. Norman
Briggs knows of a college student who needs a part-time job and
would like to earn a little extra money and knows what she is doing. It was suggested
that the stipend be increased from $100 an issue to $175 an issue. President,
David Merritt, stated that he thinks you need to sit down some duties and responsibilities for the TREND editor so that they
have a very clear understanding of what it is they
have to do and when they have to do it by and in what
form and then you can probably make a decision on whether you want it quarterly. Quarterly
doesn’t necessarily mean by quarters but by your calendar for the year. MOTION by Opal Hargis that Norman Briggs be
authorized to etain this young lady and that we increase the stipend to $175 each
publication; seconded by Tom McCarthy and CARRIED. MOTION by Tom McCarthy to have John DeMario and
Norman Briggs meet to work out the details and if necessary,
authorize them to purchase the software to meet our Treasurer’s bookkeeping needs,
not to exceed $500.00; seconded by Jeanne Berkshire and CARRIED.
Meeting Room Schedule for 2004 – Ginger Mello, Secretary,
has secured the 3 rooms that we use at Southwest
Veterans Hall for 2004 except the months of July and December. Also secured Norris Road Veterans Hall for July
13, 2004 for our Barbecue. All meeting dates
including the Barbecue will be on the second Tuesday
of each month.
NEW BUSINESS:
President, David Merritt,
was finally given a time to look at the computers and he got there about an hour after the
gentleman he was to see had left on vacation. The
computers are stacked in the file room. The
computers consist of 5 CPU’s, probably 4 of
them work; 5 keyboards, 2 mice and maybe a couple more monitors. They were not sure if the extra monitors would go. David needs to write a letter to David Deutsch
which he plans to do in time for the November meeting. If there are modems on the motherboard then the
drives will be totally scrubbed. There won’t even be a basic operating system
on it. There are 5 units at $25 each and if the other monitors go, give $5 a piece
for them. John DeMario approached the subject of
sending invitations to the Retirement Board for our
Christmas Luncheon. After discussion, it was
decided to send the invitations with an RSVP and who ever responds will be included in the
count for lunch.
John DeMario also suggested that after the new President gets in, we
need to re-look at the makeup of our
Board. John stated that he feels that the
Retiree on the Board of Retirement needs to be a member of REOKC Board automatically
similar to the Past President. John was
stating that he will not always be the retiree representative on the Retirement Board and
he feels that it is imperative that that person and REOKC have a close relationship. The position that John DeMario has on the
Retirement Board is a KCERA retiree but not necessarily a member of REOKC. This is a
subject that John feels should be discussed further in a Board Meeting after the first of
the year. Wanda Castro, KCERA representative, stated that there will be a Retirement
Seminar in early December. Wanda stated that
all responses have been very favorable on David’s presentations. President, David Merritt, stated that Norman
Briggs is the next one coming up to do the seminars and that he will give the power point
presentation to Norman. KCERA is moving along
with the Ventura decision. KCERA is
approximately 64% completed on the Ventura and they figure about another year.
MOTION to adjourn at 11:55 a.m. made by Norman Briggs; seconded by
Tom McCarthy and CARRIED.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
Ginger
Mello, Secretary
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