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Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees Minutes of Board Meeting August 17, 2005 2:00 p.m. Oak Ridge Senior Center Present: Mike Bradshaw, Ken Cowser, Sandy Dean, Joe Dykstra, Ben Gaylor, Clyde Hopkins, Ben Johnson, Bob Keil, Marigrace Kirstowsky, Charlie Kuykendall, Tom Lemons, Pete Lotts, Fred Postma, Dave Reichle, Mary Helen Rose, Joe Setaro, Troy Trotter, Don Wood, Bob Worrell Opening Remarks. President Dave Reiche mentioned that a few days ago State Rep. Dennis Ferguson held an open meeting, and that Teresa Riggs attended on behalf of CORRE and was quoted in the Roane County News. On August 10, Reichle, Bob Keil, and Mary Helen Rose attended Congressman Lincoln Davis’ town meeting at Roane State Harriman, and Reichle was able to highlight CORRE issues during the meeting then speak with Congressman Davis after the meeting. Sen. Bill Frist spoke on August 16 at the Kingston Rotary Club, and Reichle also had the opportunity to speak briefly with him about CORRE. Meeting at DOE-ORO. Dave Reichle reported on a meeting he and Joe Setaro attended on August 11 with Gerald Boyd, Manager, DOE-ORO. Boyd again confirmed that the Secretary of Energy has formed a group that is reviewing pension issues and that Boyd has submitted the CORRE 2005 Position Paper for consideration. Boyd agreed to meet again with CORRE after the report of the study is completed. He acknowledged that Secretary Bodman has been receiving many letters from retirees, as well as from Reps. Lincoln Davis and Jimmy Duncan and from Sen. Alexander. Secretary/Treasurer’s Report. Mary Helen Rose highlighted her Treasurer’s report for July, copies of which had been distributed to board members. Balance on hand July 31, 2005, was $47,259.31, with a total of about 2,456 Active Members. She reported that "Join CORRE" ads were run in The Oak Ridger, The Oak Ridge Observer, and Roane County News a few days ago, but there is no sign of response from the ads as yet. Several contributions for membership have been received after retirees received BWXT Y-12 Retiree News with our "CORRE Corner" writeup last week. Communications. Sandy Dean noted that our June submission to Retiree News was published last week, and she has sent an article for the next edition. She said plans are underway for the CORRE Annual Meeting/Rally on October 28, and a meeting of the planning committee will be held soon. There will be emphasis on news coverage. Website. John Roy Gray was absent because his mother was in hospital in Memphis. Reichle introduced Fred Postma and expressed our great appreciation to him for agreeing to be the new webmaster. Gray is in the process of transferred the site to Postma, who is getting some new software and hopes to have the transition made in a month or so. Legislative Committee. Pete Lotts reported that the Committee met prior to the board meeting. They are working with local and Washington staffers. He said their assessment as a committee is that we need to continue to work on letter writing, try to raise the level of concern. We need letters to the editor and news articles. Ken Cowser will take the lead in setting these things up for interviews with officers. We cannot be in the role of waiting until reports are out, etc. Lotts and Reichle had a meeting with Jeff Muhs of Sen. Alexander’s D. C. staff. (He is on loan from ORNL to Sen. Alexander’s staff.) Muhs will be reporting his analysis of pension issues to the staff director. ORNL Benefits Advisory Committee. Joe Setaro stated that the committee met twice since our last board meeting. Discussions had to do with the open enrollment period for medical insurance. This is the insurance that retirees under 65 are provided by the Company. There were discussions regarding Medicare Part D, which takes effect for people over 65 on January 1. He said there is a lot of confusion coming up about the Part D. The contractors plan to hold information meetings later. He said the trend is that medical costs are continuing to rise, but at a slower rate. Nominating Committee. Bob Worrell submitted the Committee’s report (shown below), and motion passed to accept the report. Congressional Contact Facilitation. Don Woods reported that his efforts to facilitate contacts in Washington have proven to be fruitless, and he doesn’t plan to pursue it further. He stated that his contacts believed that our efforts are on the right track. Ad Campaign. Motion by Lotts passed that we start editing the information ads, making them very simple, and start submitting them to newspapers, with the first to be sent to Board members for approval within the next few days, so that it can be published prior to our next Board meeting. (Up to $7,000 was approved for ads at the June Board meeting.) Bechtel Jacobs & Wackenhut. In Teresa Riggs’ absence, Reichle stated that she has received from Bechtel Jacobs a response to her requests, and they will furnish her some of the pension fund information that she requested. Mike Bradshaw stated that he has not yet received information on Wackenhut’s pension fund. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m. Mary Helen Rose, CORRE Secretary
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