Minutes of Meeting of Board of Directors, December 5, 2001

Present: Ken Bernander, Frank Carringer, Bob Clouse, Joe Dykstra, Jackie Holloway, Julia Hoppe, Ben Johnson, Marigrace Kirstowsky, Ed Krieg, Charlie Kuykendall, Tom Lemons, Pete Lotts, Dave Reichle, Mary Helen Rose, Joe Setaro, Harwell Smith, Troy Trotter, Bob Wesley, Bill Wilcox, Don Wood

1. Opening. President Charlie Kuykendall welcomed new board members, Frank Carringer, Ben Johnson, Tom Lemons, Joe Setaro, Harwell Smith, and Don Wood. (Johnson and Wood have served briefly after appointment by Kuykendall, but were among those elected to serve two-year terms starting in 2002.) He expressed very great appreciation for the work of those who have chosen not to remain on the board but are willing serve as advisors.

Charlie appointed the following persons to serve on an Advisory Committee, as provided for in our bylaws:

Dale Bewley Gary Riser

Julia Hoppe Chris Travaglini

Ed Krieg Bill Wilcox

Chuck Landguth

Charlie reported that he has had a couple of meetings at the plant since our annual meeting, one with Maureen Mendez regarding the need for minimum pension data. He told her that minimum pensions would not cost very much, and would provide good publicity for BWXT. She seemed interesting in pursuing this, and Charlie will follow up with her.

2. Treasurer’s Report. Harry Carper was absent, but had sent his report that we have $10,353.08 in our account.
3. Membership Drive. Mary Helen Rose reported that we have 428 Active Members as of December 1. Copies of the Active Member list were circulated among board members. Tom Lemons suggested that we put the list on our Web site, and it was agreed that Mary Helen will forward the list to Pete Lotts for the Web site.
4. Communications. Bob Wesley stated that, assuming that the ORNL split will occur, he hopes that the contractors will still be responsible for publishing a retirees newsletter. Bob would like to get items of information from board members for the newsletter, especially from committee chairs.
5. Legislative Committee. Legislative contacts are being maintained for use as needed.
6. Benefit Plans Committee (Troy Trotter). Troy distributed copies and highlighted some of the statistics on summary pages of his preliminary analysis of pension fund audit reports for 1990-2000. He said the reports have now been turned over to Ben Johnson. Ben said he is going to make one more effort on a face-to-face basis to get DOE to furnish working papers and reports for specific years. He thinks it is clear that we are going to need legislative help. Frank Carringer cautioned that we need to carefully balance our requests for legislative help with the potential for developing adversarial relationships with plant management.

John Jones could not be at the meeting, but had left a message for Mary Helen that he still has not been able to talk with anyone at DOL about his letter of August 9 on ERISA issues.

He has made numerous attempts to reach Fred Long, who did attempt once to return John’s call, but John missed him. John will continue his attempts. Charlie asked Don Wood to help John in dealing with DOL on ERISA issues.

At Trotter’s request, Kuykendall disbanded the Benefits Review Committee (see list of new committees below) and expressed appreciation to Trotter for all his work with the committee.

7. Web Site. Problems with the KORR server were discussed, and a motion by Lotts passed that we go to a commercial Web server at a cost of up to $160/year.
8. 2002 Position Papers. Charlie stated that a major concern is how we will operate in the future in the event ORNL successfully pulls out of the current arrangement with BWXT. (See Troy Trotter’s earlier draft memo of questions which need to be addressed before such a split occurs.) Charlie appointed committees for position papers as shown below. The ORNL split seems to be most urgent, with the one on minimum pensions next. After the first of the year, we will attempt to prioritize the papers.
9. Meeting Schedules for 2002. Board meetings in 2002 will continue on third Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Senior Center. (First meeting January 16.)

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Mary Helen Rose

Attachment: List of Committees for 2002

Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 16, 2002, 2:00 p.m.

ERISA Issues/DOL John Jones, Chairman

Don Wood

Audit Reports Ben Johnson, Chairman

Legislative Interactions Dave Reichle, Chairman

John Jones

Pete Lotts

Position Paper on ORNL Split Dave Reichle, Chairman

(Principles Committee) Frank Carringer

Pete Lotts

Joe Setaro

Harwell Smith

2002 Position Paper on Minimum Pensions Bill Wilcox, Chairman

Charlie Kuykendall

Tom Lemons

Joe Setaro

2002 Position Paper on Annual COLAs To be announced

2002 Position Paper on Vested Pensions To be announced

2002 Position Paper on 420 Transfers To be announced

2002 Position Paper on Health Benefits To be announced

(Suggested by Don Wood)

2002 Membership Drive Chairman To be announced

Minutes of Annual Meeting of CORRE held October 29, 2001

Minutes of Annual Meeting

October 29, 2001, 2:00 p.m.

Rooms A&B, Oak Ridge Civic Center

The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by President Charlie Kuykendall, with approximately 110 retirees present. The agenda was as follows:

1. Opening Remarks Charlie Kuykendall, President

2. Treasurer’s Report Harry Carper, Treasurer

3. Benefits Committee Report (Goals) John E. Jones Jr., for Committee

4. Legislative Interactions Report A. L. (Pete) Lotts, for Committee

5. Web Site and Communications Bob Wesley, Communications

6. Nominating Committee Report Ed Krieg, Committee Chair

and Election of Board Members

7. Question and Answer Period

Harry Carper reported that CORRE’s current balance is $8,028.08. John Jones distributed copies of his report on Goals and Actions.

Ed Krieg presented the nominating committee’s recommended slate. Two names were removed from the committee’s published list, because those two nominees did not meet the bylaws requirement that they be Active Members. Since there were no nominations from the floor, a motion passed that nominations be closed, and that the slate be approved by acclamation.

 

Elected to the Board of CORRE for 2002 and 2003

Officers Organizational Contacts

President Charlie Kuykendall            ATLC Jackie Holloway

1^st Vice President Dave Reichle       PACE Ben Gaylor

2^nd Vice President Jackie Holloway  K-25 Joe Dykstra

Secretary Mary Helen Rose              Y-12 Ken Bernander

Treasurer Harry Carper                   ORNL John E. Jones Jr.

Communications Bob Wesley           Central Staff Marigrace Kirstowsky

 

Board Members at Large

        Frank Carringer 

        A. L. (Pete) Lotts 

        Joe Setaro

        Ben Johnson 

        Troy Trotter 

        Harwell Smith

        Tom Lemons 

        John Sergent 

        Don Wood

The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

Mary Helen Rose, Secretary

Charlie Kuykendall, President

From meeting of the CORRE Board of Directors  (October 17, 2001)

Present: Ken Bernander, Harry Carper, Joe Dykstra, Ben Gaylor, John Jones, Marigrace Kirstowsky, Charlie Kuykendall, Jackie Holloway, Mary Helen Rose, Troy Trotter, Don Wood

1. Announcements/News. Charlie said he was glad to have both union representatives (Gaylor and Holloway) present for the meeting. He talked about calls he has had from some union members who are unhappy with what CORRE has accomplished. He asked whether there is more that we could be doing to interact with union members.
2. Treasurer’s Report. Harry Carper reported that we have over $7,000 in the bank, and he has received more today.
3. Membership Drive. Mary Helen Rose reported that we have about 310 Active Members.
4. Legislative Committee. John Jones stated that he has not talked with Pete Lotts, and he knows of no activity this month.
5. Benefit Plans Committee (Troy Trotter). On getting retiree demographics data (page 14 of the committee’s handout at July meeting), Charlie noted that Gary Riser had volunteered to work on the effort in the six weeks he expects to be here. However, Norm Sparks would not agree to have "non-employees" look at the records. Charlie will need to pursue this with John Mitchell or ORO. Regarding audit reports, Mary Helen has called DOL-Washington again, and was assured that the 1992 report would be mailed promptly. Since DOL does not have 1999 and 2000 reports, she was asked to write Norm Sparks and request those reports. She was also asked by Troy Trotter to call DOL again about reports prior to 1990 (which were originally requested but not received).

John Jones has still had no reply from the DOL Washington Office on his request for an opinion on ERISA issues. At his request, Mary Helen called DOL to track down the letter, and talked to Jeanette Carter, who could find no record of receiving the letter. She asked Mary Helen to fax another copy. Ms. Carter received the fax and said she will give the letter to her supervisor to determine who will handle it.

Troy distributed copies and highlighted his writeup on ORNL’s possible breakout from our pension plan. He posed several questions regarding how such a split would be handled, and both he and Joe Dykstra felt strongly that CORRE needs to take a position on the matter. Charlie asked board members to study the writeup, and he may appoint a committee after our annual meeting and the new board is in place.

6. Nominating Committee. In Ed Krieg’s absence (out of town), Mary Helen noted that Ed had finalized the nominations in time for the October 10 letters to be sent out. Charlie emphasized that all nominees should be "Active Members" before the annual meeting, or they could not be nominated. Mary Helen will check the list to verify.
7. Annual Meeting. A final agenda was reviewed. John Jones distributed copies of his planned presentation, and the actions and goals were reviewed. He will distribute copies at the annual meeting. There was again discussion of how many people might attend the meeting, but it was decided to stay with plans to have the A&B rooms at the Civic Center.
8. Meeting Schedules for Holidays. Since the November meeting would fall on the day before Thanksgiving, the Board decided to skip the November 21 meeting and have a joint November-December meeting on December 5, the first Wednesday.

The meeting was adjourned at 3.25 p.m.

Mary Helen Rose/Charlie Kuykendall

Annual Meeting: Monday, October 29, 2:00 PM

From meeting of the CORRE Board of Directors  (September 26, 2001)

Present: Harry Carper, Joe Dykstra, Julia Hoppe, Ben Johnson, John Jones, Ed Krieg, Charlie Kuykendall, Pete Lotts, Gary Riser, Mary Helen Rose, Troy Trotter, Bill Wilcox

1. Announcements/News. Charlie Kuykendall welcomed Gary Riser, who is back in the area for a few weeks; and Ben Johnson, who is helping Troy Trotter review some audit reports. Riser talked about his experience with Sandia people, stating that Paul Stanford will be a good contact for CORRE. He pointed out that we were not successful with minimum pensions because we did not have needed data to make a good case.

Charlie reported on his meeting with Leah Dever, Manager of ORO, and Bob Folker. He also met with Chris Hill.

There was discussion of the possibility that ORNL may be approved to split off from our pension fund. Lotts stated that he thinks we should evaluate the case for such a split and then make a decision about what position we want to take.

2. Treasurer’s Report. Harry Carper reported that we have $6,878.45 in the bank, and he has received several checks today. 
3. Membership Drive. Mary Helen Rose reported that we have 268 Active Members as of today. Charlie has sent an article to BWXT Retiree News regarding plans for our annual meeting and included information on how to become an active member.
4. Legislative Committee. Lotts reported on his meeting with a staffer in Senator Thompson’s office. He said he thinks he has an open door to the office, and expects good cooperation.
5. Benefit Plans Committee. Troy Trotter distributed and highlighted copies of his review of the audit reports received from DOL. Ben Johnson has also reviewed the reports and stated that we need to get reports for years prior to 1990 and to get the 1992 report which was omitted from the batch we received from DOL. Mary Helen has reordered the 1992 report along with 1999 and 2000 reports, but has had no response as yet to her letter of Sept. 5.

Troy noted that we still need to get information on retiree demographics (page 14 of the committee’s handout at July meeting). Charlie talked about his unsuccessful efforts to do so. Gary Riser volunteered to work on the effort in the six weeks he expects to be here. Charlie will try to clear the way for him to do so.

John Jones has had no reply from the DOL Washington Office on his request for an opinion on ERISA issues.

6. Nominating Committee. Ed Krieg, Chairman, thanked other committee members, Julia Hoppe, John Jones, Troy Trotter, and Bill Wilcox for their effort. Motion, made by Wilcox and seconded by Hoppe, passed that the Board approve the slate as submitted, and that

Active Members be given notice of the slate of nominees two weeks prior to our Annual Meeting as required in our bylaws. Nominees for the Board of CORRE for 2002 and 2003 are as shown below.

Officers / Organizational Contacts

President Charlie Kuykendall                 ATLC Jackie Holloway

1^st Vice President Dave Reichle*           PACE Ben Gaylor

2^nd Vice President Jackie Holloway        K-25 Joe Dykstra

Secretary Mary Helen Rose Y-12             Ken Bernander

Treasurer Harry Carper                         ORNL John E. Jones Jr.

Communications Bob Wesley          Central Staff Marigrace  Kirstowsky

Board Members at Large

Emerson Arnold 

Tom Lemons 

Joe Setaro

Frank Carringer 

A. L. (Pete) Lotts 

Harwell Smith

Ben Johnson 

Troy Trotter 

Don Wood

Fred Jones 

John Sergent

*Pending Confirmation

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Mary Helen Rose/Charlie Kuykendall

Annual Meeting: Monday, October 29, 2:00PM