Tom Curtis' speech to STRS Board 1/19/06

Good afternoon board members, executive staff and guests. My name is Thomas Curtis. I am speaking today on my own behalf. I am an STRS disability retiree with 27 years of service.

Today I wish to address issues concerning the board that are very unsettling to members who have personally witnessed such, since September 2005.

In my opinion, both the Chair and Vice-Chair of this board have attempted to silence both Dennis Leone and John Lazares from presenting any motion they do not find acceptable. This is inexcusable and unprofessional behavior on their part and must be addressed by the entire board and ended from this date forward.

In October, Dr. Leone attempted to respond to a public speaker. He was immediately ruled "out of order" by the Chairman. Dr. Leone was not restricted by board policy, as the Chairman indicated, of responding to a public speaker. This action by the Chairman caused for much lost time by the entire board; involved a vote for a motion that was not needed; was not justified and made the entire board look foolish in the eyes of many in the audience.

In my opinion, this board needs to step back to the very basic nature of the reason each of you exists in your capacity. I am asking you to step back and find an interpretation of ORC 3307.15 that each and every one of you can agree upon. This is what each board member, executive staff and staff member of this retirement system is charged to abide with by law and should be the only determining factor when motions are voted upon.

Therefore, I make a motion that this issue be added to the agenda and held a high priority topic at the February 2006 retreat, until such has been accomplished.

On November 2, 2005, a meeting was called so the board could vote on the acceptance of an offer to approve an agreement concerning the payment of the 2002-2003 non-investment staff bonuses. No such document existed at any time during that meeting. Yet, the motion was made to accept it, seconded and passed by the board, by I believe a 7-3 vote. Was there an objection to the motion, yes? Did the objection keep the Chair and Vice-Chair from going forward with the vote, NO! What I just described I believe to be illegal.

Because of this unprofessional circumstance, additional language was included in the final document that was not part of the discussion at this meeting and cost the membership yet more money.

In addition, the board would not permit the public or the media to be present for this meeting. This I believe was a violation of the Sunshine law.

I would like to remind the Chair and Vice-Chair that the two board members you have attempted to silence were placed on this board by the vote of the membership to do exactly what you have attempted to censure.

Both of you were appointed to this board by a highly OEA influenced board and not by the membership. That highly OEA influenced board abused our funds and either has or hopefully will be charged with ethics violations very soon. Vice-Chair, you have been trained by and supported the OEA your entire career. You have failed to denounce those of your OEA membership who sat on this board and repeatedly abused our funds.

Her only response to me was that Dr. Leone’s motion had nothing to do with the motion on the table. This is absolutely untrue!

My last concern is why these two board members hold these two key positions? They were not elected by the membership and two other board members were eligible to hold those positions, Mike Billirakis and John Lazares.

Mike Billirakis is the senior member of this board and is the only one with any longevity of one year or more experience on the board. He clearly holds the responsibility to be the Board Chair and should be.

Thank you for the time to offer my concerns.