City of San Diego Retired Employees Association
August 9, 2022
Board Meeting Minutes
NOTES: All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Dick Wilken at 9:35am.
Board Members Present: Mike Bresnahan, Shirley Hall, Joan Hernandez, Brad Jacobsen, Joan McNamara, Abby Salaiz, Mary Ann Stepnowsky, John Tsiknas, Dave Twomey, and Dick Wilken
Guests Present: Joe Flynn
Board members shared memories of Janet Wood, followed by a period of silence.
AGENDA: There were no additions or changes to the agenda.
MINUTES: Approval of the minutes of the May and July2022 Board meetings were approved
TREASURER’S REPORT: Due to a communication issue, Board members did not receive the report; Abby will re-send and approval will be in September. Abby reported that there were no unusual activities. Byron Frohn made a contribution, and we received invoices for two catered lunches: the June Board rendezvous and the July General Meeting.
Approval of the minutes of the May, June, and July 2022 Treasurer’s Reports was deferred to the September Board meeting.
INVESTMENT COMMITTEE REPORT: John reported that we recouped everything we lost in the stock market fluctuation. The appreciation for the Russell 3000 is 38.85% and 3.10% for the Money Market. The total value for the Legal Fund is $321,562.
RETIREMENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT: Charlie reported by email that the SDCERS Board is meeting in person again. At this time there are no indications that the enrollment of new SDCERS members from the Prop B unravelling will impact SDCERS services to retirees. As a result of the new members a new valuation study will be conducted to determine the City’s new cost for funding the Trust. On July 1st all plan sponsors made their full contribution payments to SDCERS.
COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ITEMS:
Dave updated the Board on the Image Enhancement Initiative.
The current project is a two-part Learn to Swim program at the Tierrasanta pool, which serves a high number of military families. Part One of the program is underway and is for 45 children ages 6 months to 3 years and their parents. Channel 8 covered the kick-off of the four-session class and got coverage of an enthusiastic Councilmember Raul Campillo; unfortunately, REA wasn’t mentioned but we also know have strong ties to Campillo and other councilmembers. Part Two of the Learn to Swim program will be another four-session class, this one open to as many as 100 children and their parents.
Dave reported that our June food drive raised over $5000, providing 20,000 meals. Our next food drive will be in November.
ACTION ITEMS:
1) A Nominating Committee needs to be formed; Joan McNamara and Shirley volunteered to serve. Dick will solicit a member from the General Membership. Joe Flynn volunteered to contact Ty Rogers about his intention to continue on the Board.
2) There was discussion about modifying our policy of providing proof of Covid vaccination to attend our in-person meetings.
M/S/C (1 abstention) to longer require proof of vaccination, with mask-wearing optional, unless County health authorities deem otherwise.
3) There was discussion about continuing the practice of sending out birthday cards to members over age 80 and sympathy cards to the surviving spouses of REA members. Mike volunteered to talk with SDPEBA to find out how these milestone events were relayed to Janet.
ADVOCACY COMMITTEE REPORT
Mike reported that the recruitment mailer will go out next week to approximately 2700 retirees who are not REA members. An Eblast will encourage REA members to ask their retired work friends to join REA. Our usual mailer will be included in SDCERS’ healthcare mailer in November.
The next Advocacy Committee meeting is Thursday August 25, at 9:30am via Zoom.
OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership: No report
Newsletter: Deadline for the next issue is August 19 at 8:00am.
OTHER RETIREE/ACTIVE EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION REPORTS
Retiree Issues Task Force (RITF): No report
Retirement Security Roundtable: The next meeting is October 5.
MEA: Dick, Mike, and Chris talked with Michael Zucchet about the Prop B situation
Other Retired Public Employee Associations: No report
PROGRAMS: Dave noted that Carl Luna is now semi-retired but is still on for our November meeting.
We have a PC that may be obsolete and may not connect to our projector. This needs to be resolved. Also, we should ask all speakers to bring their presentations on a thumbdrive or to download it to us.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:45am.
Respectfully submitted,
Brad Jacobsen
Secretary