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Present: Ken Cowser, Ben Gaylor, John Roy Gray, Julia Hoppe, Charlie Kuykendall, Tom Lemons, Dave Reichle, Mary Helen Rose, Joe Setaro, Troy Trotter, Don Wood, Bob Worrell

Opening Remarks. President Dave Reichle stated that our briefings have begun. He and Joe Setaro met on June 7 at ORNL, and a report will be given later on the agenda. Bob Worrell has scheduled a meeting at Y-12 for 9:30 a.m. on July 2 with Norm Sparks and Steve Smith (and hopefully Dennis Ruddy). Reichle will now set a date with Gerald Boyd at ORO, to follow the July 2 meeting.  After that, meetings with legislators can begin.

Secretary & Treasurer’s Report. Mary Helen Rose highlighted her Treasurer’s report, copies of which had been distributed to board members. Balance on hand May 31, 2004, was $45,776.81, with a total of about 2,219 Active Members.

Website. John Roy Gray reported that the website is up to date. He has been working on the format for minutes, etc.

Member Data Base. Tom Lemons stated he has all Active Members on a data base, which could be used for mailings. Reichle urged him to get e-mail addresses and telephone numbers when possible.

Meeting/Presentation at ORNL. Reichle reported that he and Joe Setaro met at ORNL on June 7 with Jeff Wadsworth, Director; Jeff Smith, Executive Director; Darryl Boykins, HR Director; and Mark Wagner, HR. Reichle said that the meeting went well, and Wadsworth worked hard at understanding the issues. Wadsworth said that the basic problem was that there was not a policy standard from which to operate, and was told by Reichle that this is exactly what CORRE is trying to present to them in its 2004 Position Paper and the presentation. Reichle said we didn’t get a commitment on anything but didn’t get an objection either, and all parties want to continue the dialog. Letters were given to Wadsworth transmitting CORRE’s 2004 Position Paper, copy of the presentation, and a petition containing 5,864 signatures.

ORNL Benefits Advisory Group. Joe Setaro stated that the meeting will be Monday following the board meeting this month. He has an agenda and mentioned that there will be a presentation on benefits.

Legislative Committee (Pete Lotts, Chairman; Ken Cowser, Kaye Johnson, John Jones, and Bob Keil; Dave Reichle and Joe Setaro, ex officio). Lotts was absent, and the committee had not met prior to the board meeting as some members expected. Troy Trotter distributed copies of two charts that John Jones and others had developed. One chart showed Cumulative Impact of Inflation on Pension Income, and the other showed Compound Impact of Inflation on Pension Income. Tom Lemons distributed copies of his table showing Pension Increases Needed to Recover 75% of Inflation Losses, and there was again extended discussion as to whether we should seek recovery for cumulative losses versus compound losses.

Reichle stated that he emphasized in his presentation at ORNL that the loss due to inflation is much greater when compound impact is used than cumulative impact. It was noted that John Jones, in his memo transmitting the charts, suggested to the Board "that CORRE would be better served by sticking with presenting the case for an increase based on cumulative numbers only, as has been done in the past by both CORRE and the contractors." Reichle stated that he wishes to use both the compounded and cumulated calculations as best serves CORRE’s interests in communicating with DOE and the Contractors in terms that they can understand and accept. He will use the figure showing the compounded data as his primary briefing viewgraph.

There was discussion as to whether we should use CPI-U rates of inflation, as in Jones’ charts, or CPI-W, as used by Lemons. It was eventually decided that we should use CPI-U. Reichle asked Lemons to revise his table to show CPI-U, and Lemons agreed to do so.

Trotter distributed copies and reviewed several pages of Pension Planning 2004 Goals. Reichle stated that the information will be very useful to him in answering possible questions as he makes presentations.

Reichle expressed much appreciation to Jones, Lemons, Kuykendall, Trotter, Wilcox, and others for their efforts in preparing charts and other materials. He expressed further the hope that we’re not working anyone too hard.

Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.

Mary Helen Rose, Board Secretary