RETIRED EMPLOYEES OF KERN COUNTY

MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING

October 12, 2004

President, Norman Briggs, called the meeting to order at 10:01 a.m.

ROLL CALL: Mary Lou Bennett, Jeanne Berkshire, Norman Briggs, John DeMario, Opal Hargis, Lois Maujer, Ginger Mello, David Merritt, Walter Stewart and Elinor Wells

OTHERS PRESENT: Belva Jared, Everett Julkowski and Sheila Roth

MOTION by David Merritt to approve the September minutes, seconded by Mary Lou Bennett and CARRIED.

Treasurer, John DeMario, gave the Treasurer’s Report for the month of September. MOTION by Mary Lou Bennett to approve the Treasurer’s Report for the month of September, seconded by Jeanne Berkshire and CARRIED. MOTION by Jeanne Berkshire to approve the Claims Payable as reported, seconded by Walter Stewart and CARRIED.

CRCEA – Everett Julkowski announced that the CRCEA Conference starts Monday, October 18 – 20, 2004 in Fresno. Everett reminded David Merritt and Norman Briggs that they are on the program for Tuesday, October 19, 2004. CRCEA President, Bill Kirkwood, called Everett and told him he was real pleased with the agenda for the conference because of all the different areas that is being addressed. There are 150 attendees registered for this conference which is the most they have ever had at a conference.

CCAPE – Blue O’Connor was not in attendance at the meeting

HOST/HOSTESS PROGRAM – For the month of September, 32 volunteers worked 97.5 hours and assisted 1,082 visitors to the County Administration Building. Mary Lou stated that a large number of her volunteers are getting older and they really do not know how much longer they will be able to continue volunteering in this capacity.

MONTHLY PROGRAM – President, Norman Briggs, announced that Eric Barthel will be in attendance today to speak to the Board and to the General Membership regarding Health Benefits for the coming year. Eric will be in at 11 a.m. to speak to the Board.

NEWSLETTER – The deadline for the TREND was moved up to October 14^th in place of October 15^th. President, Norman Briggs, announced that there will be an article from either Bill Douglas or Susan Wells in this issue of the TREND. A discussion was held regarding a column from Audrey Cochran which is a health issue. The decision was made to edit the article and delete any reference to how you vote on Proposition 71 and publish it in the TREND.

KCERA – Wanda Castro was not in attendance at this meeting.

COMMUNICATIONS – President, Norman Briggs, reported that he had received 7 County Newsletters, letter from Rescue Mission and Bakersfield Homeless Shelter.

STATUS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE - The next meeting will be held on November 3^rd at the Stockdale Country Club hosted by REOKC. At this meeting it will be decided on an alternate hosting schedule.

WEB PAGE – There is a new item on news and information on the home page. This is where you will find the news items that are important to the organization. If there is anything that you would like to have announced in this way, please just contact President, Norman Briggs and he will put it on the Web Page.

PAC UPDATE – President, Norman Briggs, received a memo from Sweeney, Davidian & Greene LLP, acknowledging the fact that REOKC is in fact a 501(c) (4). In this memo there were listed two alternatives that REOKC could follow. President, Norman Briggs stated that he felt that the option to set up a REOKC Political Action Committee would be the best way for REOKC to go. There was a discussion on alternative 1 which states that if REOKC receives or makes contributions in excess of $1,000 during a calendar year it will have filing obligations with the state. The PAC would use funds gathered from members to support political candidates and ballot measure committees. The monies would be collected and directly deposited into a PAC bank account. The PAC would be managed by it own board of directors – REOKC and the PAC could share directors. The PAC would only be supporting local and state candidates, No federal. The next step, if the Board agrees, would be for the attorney to prepare the paperwork to set up a PAC. The Board decided to publish an article in The TREND to inform the members of what we can do regarding the PAC and to bring it to the next meeting.

GUEST SPEAKER – ERIC BARTHEL – Kern County Consultant on Health Benefits At this time there are 4 different providers for retirees. It has been found that the premiums can be reduced if there are fewer providers. Today the members will hear the same information that the Board has heard. There is two providers who are giving almost identical services and have almost identical doctors in there plans. These two providers are PacifiCare and Health Net. The decision that needs to be made today at our special Board meeting after the General Meeting is one of the following:

Eliminate Health Net OR

Eliminate PacifiCare OR

Keep everything as it is.

Eric explained what the premiums would be for each of the two providers if they both were kept as providers; what it would be if PacifiCare was eliminated or what it would be if Health Net were eliminated. After Eric spoke, the meeting was continued where it was stopped and Eric ran an errand and was to be back in time to speak to our members at the General Meeting.

FEE INCREASE – Ginger Mello, Secretary stated that she had attended a Parks and Recreation meeting on Thursday, October 7, 2004 regarding the new fee schedule. This meeting was actually only giving changes to the rental of Community Buildings and Recreation Buildings. It was announced that the Board of Supervisors would discuss this item at their October 19, 2004 meeting.

GIFT FOR MEMBERSHIP – Everett Julkowski stated that he needs help in stuffing the cartons that the pens come in. It was decided that Everett will bring them to the November meeting and the Board will help stuff them during the meeting.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE – The current officers will be the slate of new officers. Earline Smith will be appointed by the Board to complete the term of Dolores Christian. There are three members who are going to be running for the open two spots as Directors. Those three members are Nettie Collins, Dut Dauwalder and Opal Hargis.

BOARD OF RETIREMENT – RETIREE POSITION - John DeMario and Norman Briggs are the only ones running for the above position. There will be NO election for this position.

FAIR REPORT – There were 35 volunteers who worked at the fair. Some volunteers worked 2, 3 and 4 shifts. There were 2 No Shows. One forgot and went on vacation and the other one had a heart attack

The meeting was recessed at this point and will reconvene after the General Meeting.

The meeting was reconvened at 1:44 p.m. A short discussion was held with different Board Members stating that they felt that the members at the General Meeting informed the Board on which health benefit plan should be eliminated. MOTION by Opal Hargis to eliminate PacifiCare, seconded by Mary Lou Bennett and CARRIED. MOTION by Opal Hargis to adjourn the meeting at 1:55 p.m., seconded by Elinor Wells and CARRIED.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

 Ginger Mello, Secretary