City of San Diego Retired Employees Association

November 8, 2022 

Board Meeting Minutes

NOTES: All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Vice-President for Advocacy Mike Bresnahan at 9:35am.

Board Members Present: Jim Baross, Mike Bresnahan, Chris Brewster, Shirley Hall (at 10:15), Joan Hernandez, Charlie Hogquist, Brad Jacobsen, Joan McNamara, Abby Salaiz, Mary Ann Stepnowsky, John Tsiknas, and Dave Twomey

Guests Present: Liza Crisafi, Joe Flynn

AGENDA: There were no additions or changes to the agenda.

MINUTES: Brad reported that due to lacks of a quorum, the May, July, and August Minutes could not be approved. The September Minutes were approved in October.

M/S/C to approve the Minutes of the May, July, August, and October meetings were approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Abby reported that the only unusual activity was a $3155 expenditure for printing our flyer to be included in SDCERS’ benefits mailer.

Brad reported that due to lacks of a quorum, the May, July, and August Treasurer’s Reports could not be approved; the September report was approved in October.

M/S/C to approve the May, July, August, and October Treasurer’s Reports.

INVESTMENT COMMITTEE REPORT: John reported that the appreciation for the Russell 3000 is 29.78% and 3.60% for the Money Market. The total value for the legal defense fund is $318,268.

RETIREMENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT: Charlie reported that the Annual Supplemental Benefit was approved and should go out on November 30. The City owes $73M to cover Prop B employees and will discuss the payment in January. Finally, he reported that four SDCERS Board seats are up for reelection, including his.

COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ITEMS: 

1) Dave reported that our annual food drive will continue until November 23. He is having trouble tracking our donations on the Food Bank’s website, so he has no idea how much REA members have contributed or how close we are to our $5000 goal.

2) Dave also reported that we need 68 attendees for the Holiday Party to break even. After discussion, it was decided that there are too many games at the party.

ACTION ITEMS:

1) Brad reported that an informal poll of Board members unanimously proposed that Karen Butler be the recipient of our recognition award at the Holiday Party.

M/S/C to present Karen Butler with the recognition award.

Abby said that she already has a radio; she and Brad will arrange for a pickup and Brad will have it engraved.

2) Mike reported that the Retired Fire & Police Association was not notified in time to be able to include their recruitment flyer in the healthcare mailing, although REA’s was included. SDCERS has offered to mail their flyer in January when an annual mailing about taxes is sent. (It will be sent only to police, fire, and lifeguard retirees.) They have also offered to send our flyer out a second time during this mailing if we wish. This would entail a cost of approximately $3500 to reprint our recruitment flyer. There was discussion about the cost-effectiveness of this effort coming so soon after the healthcare mailing.

M//S/C (12-1-0) to decline to reprint the flyer for the SDCERS mailing

ADVOCACY COMMITTEE REPORT

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the next Advocacy Committee meeting is Thursday November 17, at 9:30am via Zoom.

OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS

Membership: No report.

Newsletter: Deadline for the next issue is November 18 at 8:00am.

OTHER RETIREE/ACTIVE EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION REPORTS

Retiree Issues Task Force (RITF): SDCERS employed a temporary worker and got a second worker on loan from Risk Management to help with the year-end healthcare renewals. They are confident this is sufficient to process requests in a timely manner. Medicare Part B premiums are dropping and it will be critical for retirees to notify SDCERS of their reduced premiums so that they are not overpaid. SDCERS and REA will both help notify members. Health plans will be renegotiated next year, for a five year period commencing January 2024 and REA can give input to Risk Management. Chris Brewster will follow up on the process to do so.

Retirement Security Roundtable: Next meeting is March 2023.

MEA: No report.

Other Retired Public Employee Associations: No report.

PROGRAMS: Dave will reach out to Scott Lewis of Voice of San Diego for our January program. The remainder of the programs/speakers will be developed at the Board retreat.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 10:45am.

Respectfully submitted,

Brad Jacobsen

Secretary