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(The meeting had to be moved to ORNL-FCU, because of a water-main break at the Senior Center.)

Present: Ken Cowser, Sandy Dean, Joe Dykstra, Dean Eyman, Ben Gaylor, John Gray, Ben Johnson, Charlie Kuykendall, Marigrace Kirstowsky, Tom Lemons, Mary Helen Rose, Joe Setaro, Troy Trotter

Opening Remarks. Vice President Joe Setaro presided, since Dave Reichle was out of town. Setaro expressed regrets that Pete Lotts has been in the hospital in the last few days, and will be unable to be with us for awhile. Ken Cowser will act as chairman of the Legislative Committee. Charlie Kuykendall stated that Bob Worrell is absent due to the fact that his wife has been very sick for a few days. Ben Gaylor was present, though he suffered a heart attack in December. Setaro noted the fact that members of retiree organizations are naturally beset with quite a few health problems.

Secretary & Treasurer’s Report. Mary Helen Rose highlighted her Treasurer’s report for December, copies of which had been distributed to board members. Balance on hand December 31, 2004, was $45,617.79, with a total of about 2,335 Active Members. The 2004 records have being given to for Ben Johnson for audit. She distributed copies of an updated board list, to which a column has been added to designate either board member or advisor. She said that many checks for Active Members have been received in response to the excellent article in BWXT Y-12 Retiree News which retirees received about January 1.

Meeting at ORNL. Setaro reported that he and Reichle met on December 16 with Steve Porter, Acting HR director at ORNL, and with Mark Wagner, head of ORNL Benefit Plans. He said they attempted to make Porter aware of the purpose and goals of CORRE, and to try to determine what his attitude toward CORRE will be. His attitude was perceived to be legalistic, since he is an attorney and head of ORNL’s legal department. Setaro said he and Reichle could not argue with the fact that we are getting everything we have been legally promised, though we certainly feel that we can argue for more fair and equitable treatment, as compared to other DOE facility retirees. They showed Steve Porter the letter written sometime ago regarding the spouse option. Porter suggested that we address future letters to heads of ORNL and BWXT separately rather one letter addressed to both. (Mary Helen will prepare for Dave Reichle’s consideration draft letters following up on the one sent to heads of ORNL and BWXT regarding the spouse option.)

Communications. Sandy Dean expressed gratitude that her article for the BWXT Y-12 Newsletter resulted in so many new Active Members. She said she had also submitted a write up about our Website, which John Roy Gray is managing, but only the article on membership was printed. She said the deadline was January 18 for the February issue. Gray asked her to try to get written permission from the new Oak Ridge Observer for him to put some of their articles on the Website.

Legislative Committee. As noted earlier, Cowser will act as head of this committee in Pete Lotts’ absence due to health problems. Setaro noted that the committee had questions that Lotts was going to send to Sen. Alexander for the confirmation hearings for the new Secretary of Energy, but that it is too late for that since the hearings are presently in progress. He said Lotts had earlier submitted to the Board a draft of proposed legislation. Charlie Kuykendall reported that he has ordered and received a copy of a Congressional Directory (he was reimbursed $65 for the cost). The directory was given to Dean Eyman, who will attempt to determine where we should send the draft legislation.

ORNL Benefits Advisory Committee. Joe Setaro stated that he had to miss the January meeting, since it was held early in January due to the Martin Luther King holiday. Kuykendall offered to attend in Setaro’s place when needed.

Website. John Gray said the site is up to date as far as he knows.

Bylaws Committee Report. Mary Helen Rose distributed copies of the complete revision of the Bylaws as approved December 15, 2004, noting that copies had also earlier been send by e-mail.

Appointment of Board Members/Advisors. Setaro proposed that we appoint two members to the Board, since we now have three openings. The recent revisions to the Bylaws increased the maximum number of Board members to 22 (rather than 21). We have had 20 since the last election, but John Jones will now serve as an Advisor rather than Board member, leaving 19. If we appoint two more, there will still be one opening that Dave Reichle will work with the Nominating Committee to fill when he gets back in town. A motion by Kuykendall, seconded by Cowser, passed unanimously to appoint Mike Bradshaw and Dean Eyman to the CORRE Board. (Reichle suggested that we go ahead and do this in his absence.)

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

Mary Helen Rose, CORRE Secretary