OSU EMERITI ASSOCIATION COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

Monday, November 27, 2017

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Anne Matoy, Ron Elliott, Tana Rutan, Dennis Bertholf, Russ Wright, Sharon Nivens

COMMITTEE CHAIRS/REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Dolores Willett, Althea Wright, Clem Ward, Kay Keys, Zane Quible, Jack Dillwith, Doug Aichele, Bob Wettemann, Kent Olson, Charles Leider, Judy Lewis, Mike Lorenz

Agenda: Approved

Council Minutes: Approved as submitted. Approval of October 1-31

Treasurer’s Report: Approved by: Ron Elliott, Treasurer

One couple joined with a lifetime membership paying $250.00. Per policy this money goes to the savings account. Paul and Alice Richardson made a donation of $2,000.00 to the scholarship fund, in memory of Ed Long, Bob Henrickson, Ray Eikenbary and Eddy Basler. Total sum of cash balances $35,943.39. Chuck made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report and Anne seconded and motion passed.

Reports and Updates

President-Elect

Sharon Nivens

Membership Report and Update

Twenty-two new members joined this year. Total membership is approximately 500-550 retirees.

Vice-President Activities

Dennis Bertholf

December Dinner Meeting

Russ Wright and Clem Ward

The December 4th Dinner meeting will be at Meditations with Stillwater High Choral group providing the entertainment. Kent made a motion to donate $100.00 to Stillwater High School. Althea seconded and motion passed. Clem and Russ have made arrangements for all of the Dinner Meetings and Speakers for several months coming up. Room Charges at the Alumni Center for use of a room for Dinner Meetings was discussed and Russ will research the archives to show we do have an agreement in the past stating Emeriti Association will not be charged for the room.

Council Invitation to Misty

A motion was made by Doug Aichele, to invite Misty and her spouse as our guest to this December Dinner meeting and will include future December Dinner meetings as well. This will stand for anyone in the same capacity as Misty, as our assistant and helper. Motion was seconded by Dennis and passed.

Over 90 Recognition and Poinsettias.

For the December 4th Dinner Meeting we will have 8 people to a table. The final count for attendees is not in at this time. When the count comes in Anne will pick up Poinsettias for the tables and extra ones for the Over 90 Recognitions. Russ will take care of the paper name tags. Anne suggested the use of a card stating “Reserved” could be picked up at the name tag table so that people can hold their place at a table while they walk around and chat with other retirees and get back to their table of choice later.

Travel Update

The Branson trip did make but only about 11 Emeriti people signed up. The Stouts then had to find other folks in the community to go in order to fill the buss. We discussed not having travel opportunities due to lack of Emeriti interest in the trips.

Interest Groups

Zane mentioned he has several future speakers lined up. The next Making the Most of Retirement presentation will be January 17, 2018. The speaker is Daryl Nord presenting “A Tour of Israel”. February 21, 2018 Doug and Kathryn Castle Aichele will present “Sled Dawgs and Their Tales-It’s All About the Dawgs!”

Annual Contribution to Stillwater Public Library: Zane has the $100.00 contribution to give to the Library.

Meeting with Human Resources on November 15, 2017:

Three items were discussed:

Retirees under age 65 who have an OSU employed spouse can elect to be covered as a spouse instead of individual coverage. Several have made this request and it is less expensive for the insured unit. The retiree will have to give up their $100 +subsidy from OTR, but it can be reinstated when the retiree becomes 65 and moves to a Medicare plan.
With the conversion of Banner, survivors of deceased employees were coded the same as retirees. HR wants to clean this up and asks for our assistance with communications. We outlined our resources: update, newsletter, email, etc., we are always glad to help.
HR discussed and wanted our input on the following plan: Since Chard Snyder is billing for the Dental and Vision at a cost of $3.00 per retiree per month the university would like the retirees to pay this administrative fee as OSU is paying it now. Eventually the University plans for Chard Snyder to also bill for the Medical as well. This way the Bursar is removed as the middle man. Also a software package “Benefit Focus” will be used for Retirees to make enrollment changes. This cost to a retiree will be about $2.37 per month in addition to the $3.00 mentioned above. It seems HR, IT and the Bursar will benefit from these changes. Retirees are fine with the process just as it is and for some retirees a new enrollment process will create difficulty. The “Benefit Focus” is being used for employees at this time so it was discussed that this would be fine for new retirees since they are already used to using this method of enrollment/changes.

As the Emeriti Council discussed these possible changes they mentioned the fact that Retirees are active in offering help to the University, such as teaching a class, helping at Commencement and are generally available to help out in many areas. Also mentioned they support OSU Foundation with their monetary donations yearly and they are opposed to paying an administrative service fee for billing of their insurance. After discussion a motion by Bob Wettemann was made to have Anne draft a letter, sending out to the Council for our preview. This letter will state we are opposed to the proposal of the plan mentioned in item 3. This letter will then go out to HR. Judy Lewis seconded and motion was passed.

Meeting with Alumni Association Leadership

Amanda Harrison, 744-1548, the new director of the Alumni Association met with Anne Matoy and Sharon Nivens. At this meeting they learned that all maintenance will be sub-contracted out. Also the Association would like to use the Emeriti office for their operation and suggested we take the upstairs office or possible rooms at the front of the building. We would like to work with them any way we can but are not sure about the loss of our office space so convenient to the Council meeting room. We need to make sure our meeting schedule is on the Alumni Web Site. Anne will get a response back to Amanda about the change in office space.

Communications – Update

Include in the update: Mention the donation from the Richardson’s, age 90 and over, end of year contributions, remember to pay dues, no meeting in January, list of new officers for next year and the need for volunteers.

Ambassadors

Russ has coverage for the December Commencement but it would be great to have 1 or 2 more to help out.

Past President

Russ Wright

Officers and Committee Chairs for 2018

President, Sharon Nivens, President Elect, Chuck Leider, Past President Anne Matoy, Treasurer, Ron Elliott, Secretary, Tana Rutan. Council Members, Doug Aichele, Bob Wettemann, Mike Lorenz.

Approval of Michael Lorenz as Councilor: Russ made a motion we approve Michael Lorenz as a council member. Clem seconded and motion approved.

University/Faculty Standing Committee Reports

Barbara Miller reported items of interest: They are again proposing security check for new faculty before hiring. It was referred to health and safety area to draw up a proposal before council considers it. Pres. Hargis mentioned another 2 ½ percent cut but they had been expecting 3 ½ so we are holding our own.

Adjournment

Chuck Leider made a motion to adjourn at 3:30 and Ron seconded.

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tana Ru