General Meeting Minutes – 9/10/2024

Vice-President – Programs Clay Bingham informed members that longtime member John Tsiknas recently celebrated his 100^th birthday. He reminded members that there are several vacancies on the REA Board; anyone interested in running for one of the offices or serving on the Nominating Committee should contact him. He also solicited feedback on our new lunch caterers.

Clay reported that the REA Board’s Advocacy Committee discussed whether REA should endorse the City of San Diego’s Measure E which will be on the November ballot.  The measure proposes increasing the City’s sales tax by 1%. The full Board voted not to endorse the measure and encourages REA members to read the available ballot materials on the measure.

The SDPEBA Benefits Open Enrollment Fair for 2025 will be held in Balboa Park on October 30th. REA will have representatives at this event and all retirees are encouraged to attend.

Clay introduced Natasha Collura, SDCERS’ new Director of Member Services. She reported that the new Benefits administrator, BOS, will be operating under the name of “City of San Diego Retiree Health Service Center.” The Open Enrollment booklet should be arriving in the mail by the end of October and will also be available online.

PROGRAM

The program was Charlie Hogquist with a presentation about Medal of Honor winners and their connections to San Diego. He pointed out that many new warships stationed here are named for local MOH winners, including the USS Admiral Kidd – yes, there really was an Admiral Kidd, and his namesake ship is the only Navy vessel allowed to fly the Jolly Roger.