Tom to Damon: When are we all going to row in the same direction?

From Tom Curtis, January 30, 2007

Subject: 013007 Curtis Resp To Asbury, Re Public Speaks Timing

Thank you Damon for your quick response.

I do understand and appreciate your position on this point. Might I suggest that when there are only a few speakers that the time constraint is extended? Obviously, there needs to be a limit, but what Connie Ramser did to Dr. Kay Fluke is ridiculous!

This kind of thing looks bad for all concerned, but she is oblivious to this fact. This is simply one more example of why I have always been concerned that she would become a board member, let alone the chairman. She is so lacking in common sense and financial knowledge. She is all about power and self-importance. She will not sit down and discuss difficult issues with her stakeholders. She runs from every difficult situation. Does this sound familiar? She apparently believes because she comes to the meeting so well read and prepared that she can handle the position. That is a false premise in my opinion.

As I stated in my last presentation, why isn't the STRS management more concerned about the level of background and knowledge needed to become a board member? A regular classroom teacher, whom has no experiences outside of academia and none in business or finance, has zero real qualifications for sitting on that board. Let's get real here. The job is beyond them!

Damon, you would not hire these people to do the work that people trained in those areas are hired to do, yet this type of person is elected to a board position they are incapable of understanding without many years of training. Is that what you are hoping for? If not, then let us make some changes to this process. It is outdated.

Let us not forget those that attend the board meetings and desire to speak to the board are the stakeholders. We are sincerely concerned and we feel ignored. Many people have told you this, many times, yet nothing changes. None of us are there to simply cause problems. I looked forward to my retirement and not having to work, because I always have lived within my means. I have the skills to maintain my property and do not need to hire others to perform the daily processes needed to live in my environment. I don't need the kind of income all of you greedy people need. How much is enough for your type, Damon?

Those of us that come to speak to the board are all educated people and sincere about attempting to improve the situation as we see it. As you well know, I do not see a rosy picture for the future of the STRS, considering what I have learned during the past four years. I wish you and others of your management staff could convince us that you truly know what appropriate action is needed to keep the STRS liquid for those following behind us. We are not convinced and you and your staff are not convincing. You have taught us how to treat you, due to your failure to provide the benefits we were all told we would have after retirement. I could go on, but you have heard it all before and are unable to bring about the necessary changes that have plagued our retirement system for the past 2 decades. Now you expect the legislature to bail you out. What will happen if that is not successful?

In the STRS newsletter of 1992 when Herb Dyer was named the new executive director, it states that a dedicated flow of income is needed for the HCSF. You are still using that term today. We provided that dedicated flow and what do we have to show for it? The STRS staff has not found that dedicated flow, but has continually improved their income level year after year and you have a huge staff. Has there ever been a year where the staff did not get raises of one type or another? I would doubt it, but please correct me if I am wrong. What do the stakeholders get in return for providing so well for the staff? That's right, we get the shaft! Where is the equality in this picture? It fails me to understand your attitude, other then greed.

Damon, I am a technologist. I am always looking for ways to improve processes and procedures when they fail to serve the intended purpose. Retirees have continued to lose ground concerning his/her benefits every year since the start of this decade.

When are we all going to row in the same direction, or does that only happen in a perfect world? The STRS has supposedly hired the best. You have the largest staff of all five of the retirement systems, yet we are in last place concerning our benefits. Further, there was no grandfathering. I will ask you again, as I have before, when are you and your staff going to put the stakeholder first and not yourselves and your own greed? The STRS system as it exists now is not fair and is partial to greedy people.

Thomas Curtis