City of San Diego Retired Employees Association
February 14, 2017
General Meeting Minutes
The minutes for the November 2016 and January 2017 meetings and the January Treasurer’s Report were approved.
Cynthia Queen reported that all 1099s have been mailed out, although some have been returned because the address was not up to date. If members did not receive their 1099, they can call SDCERS or go online and download it. Cynthia also announced that members should have received the SDCERS Annual Report in the mail. The health care informational session will be held on April 5.
Charles Hogquist, the recently-elected retiree representative to the SDCERS Board, introduced himself and gave a brief report. He noted that the current 75% funding ratio would be considering excellent if it were a private-sector fund. He also pointed out that the unfunded balance is similar to payments still owed on a home mortgage.
Incoming Board members took the oath of office.
PROGRAM
The program was Scott Lewis, CEO of Voice of San Diego, who addressed the issue of “fake news”. His definition of the term is news that is deliberately fabricated for profit or political gain. There is usually an appeal to authority, either real (i.e., the Washington Post) or real-sounding but nonexistent (the Denver Guardian). Lewis made the distinction between such fake news and honest mistakes on the ground that mistakes are generally not deliberately fabricated. One also should not mistake satire – which is false but serves to make a larger point – with fake news. He advised members to check out the URL of any news source or to go to a fact-checking site such as Snopes to confirm any online stories for veracity.