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Present:  Joe Dykstra, Ben Gaylor, John Roy Gray, Jackie Holloway, Ben Johnson, Marigrace Kirstowsky, Charlie Kuykendall, Tom Lemons, Dave Reichle, Mary Helen Rose, Joe Setaro, Troy Trotter, Bill Wilcox, Don Wood, Bob Worrell

1.      Opening Remarks.  Charlie Kuykendall stated that Steve Smith is the new Human Resources manager at BWXT-Y-12.  Smith has been given responsibility for not only Benefits Program but Public Relations.  Norm Sparks reports to Smith, as does Mark Neuhart, who is now manager of Public Relations.  Sandra Plant now reports to Neuhart. 

 2.      Secretary & Treasurer’s Report.  Mary Helen Rose highlighted her Treasurer’s report, copies of which had been distributed to board members.  Balance on hand April 30, 2003, was $38,783.42 with a total of about 1,791 Active Members.

 3.      Communications.  In Bob Wesley’s absence, Charlie reported on the status of our “CORRE Corner” in the Retiree News.  He said that Sandra Plant has volunteered to take on coordination with us on any problem resolution with our submission of CORRE Corner.  He has talked at length with her about setting forth guidelines as to what is acceptable for inclusion.  He expects the problem to be resolved soon, and that our CORRE Corner will appear again, hopefully in the next newsletter.

 4.      Website.  John Roy Gray stated that he has been out of town quite a bit, but has made some minor modifications. 

5.      Legislative Report.   Both Pete Lotts and John Jones were absent, but Lotts had sent word that we have not heard that there has been a reply to the Tennessee delegation letters.  Linda Ponce (Wamp’s office) checked last week, and someone told her that DOE was just finishing up the letter, that they were waiting on the development of one final point of the letter.  Lotts questioned whether we now want to ask for language to be put in a bill to request a study of equity among DOE facilities.   

6.      Tax-Exempt Status.  Ben Johnson provided information to the tax accountant, Willard Carr, to finalize our application.   The application was signed by Mary Helen Rose, Treasurer, and mailed on May 17, along with a $150 application fee.  The fee for the accountant will be $300.  Ben stated that the IRS may determine that the filing fee is $500, rather than $150.  In that event, the accountant advises that we go ahead and pay the balance instead of arguing with IRS.  A motion was made and passed by the Board to approve the application and payment of costs associated with it. 

7.  CORRE Membership Expansion.  Bob Worrell reported that he and Charlie met with a representative of Bechtel-Jacobs.  However, they are going to have to go back and get a meeting with the Human Resources and Benefits Manager to try to get the same information on their plan that we have been getting from Norm Sparks on ours. The people who were transferred took their share of our pension fund with them.  They were “grandfathered” and got the same adjustment as we did in 2001.  He said there is no pension plan for Bechtel people who were hired after the change.  Bob will schedule a meeting with Bechtel’s Human Resources and Benefits manager.

    8.      CORRE’s History.  Dave Reichle is drafting a list of major events, actions and accomplishments since CORRE was organized.  This will be useful to new board members and to put on our website.   He read the bulleted items from his draft, and received some suggestions.  He will update the draft, send to Mary Helen, who will distribute it to board members for review.

    9.      Strategy Discussion – Goals.  Charlie noted that a suggestion has been made that we might need to have another rally similar to the one that “kicked off” CORRE late in year 2000.  Some people are also questioning when another letter-writing campaign would be needed.  These will be considered at a later time, if it appears that we are at a standstill with our efforts.

    Joe Setaro discussed the recent communication that was sent to all retirees regarding possible changes in insurance benefits.  He will schedule a meeting for himself and Charlie to meet at UT-Battelle to discuss the possible changes. Trotter mentioned again that we need to insist that dental benefits be extended to retirees. 

10.  Nominating Committee .  Bob Worrell stated that the committee met prior to this board meeting, and that the slate is very near final.   They will have a final report at our June board meeting.

11.     2003 Annual Meeting.  The meeting was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, October 8, 2:00 p.m., at the Oak Ridge Civic Center gymnasium.  Mary Helen will try to reserve the gym and firm up the date.  Notices of the meeting, along with the slate of nominees, will need to be published in CORRE Corner at least a couple of times prior to the meeting.   

12.  Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m. 

                                                                        Mary Helen Rose, Board Secretary