Minutes of CORE Meeting, December 13, 2007

December 13th, 2007

CORE met at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 in the cafeteria room behind the Sublett Room at STRS. Officers present were: Dave Parshall, President; Mary Ellen Angeletti, Vice President; Glenna Barr, Secretary; and C.J. Myers, Treasurer. Trustees present were: Chuck Angeletti, Kathie Bracy substituting for Betty Bell, Herman Fisher substituting for Chuck Chapman, Jim Reed substituting for Nancy Hamant, and Marie Fetters substituting for Nancy Boomhower.

Lou DiOrio was present as well as Herschell Grimm of OFT.

President Dave Parshall called the meeting to order. The November CORE meeting minutes were approved. C.J. Myers gave the Treasurer’s report.

Committee Reports: A. CORE Website had no updates. B. Contacts and Regional Reps had no updates as presented by Molly Janczyk.

Old Business:

A. House Bill 315: An informative discussion of this health care initiative bill was held by the membership. It is NOT moving from the FIRES (the committee on Financial Institutions, Real Estate, and Securities) Committee. Terri Bierdeman, Director of Governmental Relations at STRS, reported to the STRS Board that the bill was not likely to move or be scheduled for a hearing until after the first of the year. CORE members are encouraged to continue to send letters, postcards, and emails to the two representatives who will decide whether HB 315 moves or not. They are the Speaker of the Ohio House, Jon Husted, and the Chairman of the FIRES Committee, Representative Chris Widener. Both can be reached by mail at: The Riffe Center, 77 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43215-6111. Speaker Husted can be reached by email at District37@ohr.state.oh.us or by phone at (614) 644-6008. Representative Widener can be reached by email at District84@ohr.state.oh.us or by phone at (614) 466-1470. Members should also contact their own representatives for their districts. Postcards were again passed out to all members who attended the meeting so they could jot a note simply saying, “I am for House Bill 315. Please support this bill” and then sign their names. WE URGE ALL CORE MEMBERS WHO COULD NOT ATTEND TODAY’S MEETING TO SEND THEIR OWN POSTCARDS TO HUSTED AND WIDENER!!!!!!!! IF NOT NOW, WHEN? IF NOT YOU, THEN WHO? WE ARE THE ONES AFFECTED BY THE SUCCESS OF THIS BILL FOR OUR HEALTHCARE.

B. Vacant STRS Board Seat: The seat on the STRS Board which is a seat to be appointed jointly by the Speaker of the Ohio House, Jon Husted, and the President of the Ohio Senate, William Harris, has remained vacant for over a year. This is of great concern to CORE. An appointment was made originally but the person resigned. Senate Bill 133 calls for this seat to be filled in order to complete the STRS Board. CORE is recommending that Dr. Tom Hall, economics professor at Miami University (and an STRS member) be appointed to this seat as he is most qualified for the job. Many members have submitted his name and qualifications to the Speaker and President but no one has received an answer. Dave Parshall mentioned that since Speaker Husted cannot run for state representative in the next election, due to term limits, a new speaker will be chosen, and this person may be more supportive of our issues than any other candidate that Husted might appoint to the STRS Board. However, CORE urges members to contact Speaker Husted and Senate President Harris (Room 201, Statehouse, High Street, Columbus, OH 43215 or by email at sd19@mailr.sen.state.oh.us or by phone at (614) 466-8086) to encourage their appointment of Professor Tom Hall.

New Business:

A. John Lazares will not be running for re-election to his STRS Board seat. His seat becomes available in 2008. To date, there are five individuals who have shown an interest in becoming candidates for this contributing member seat on the STRS Board. CORE President Dave Parshall and Vice President Mary Ellen Angeletti have been making visits with various groups seeking consensus of support of a common candidate for this important upcoming election. One potential candidate contacted Dave before today’s CORE meeting and asked permission to meet with the CORE membership in order to obtain CORE’s support. At this point in the meeting, Mr. Dan Vincent was introduced as that candidate.

Dan Vincent is currently the Director of Curriculum with the Medina County Educational Service Center. He first ran for the STRS Board in 1995. He is from a family of STRS retirees. He is seeking feedback from CORE regarding our possible approval and support.

Points made by Vincent:

• A desire to work on the STRS Board for LONG TERM decision-making. He said he feels that the STRS Board needs to get as much information as possible in their search for a new Executive Director. He affirmed that he could serve many years if elected to the STRS Board to work on long term goals.

• Supports HB 315 as well as school districts picking up health care for rehires. He feels that all areas need to be researched for savings which could go to health care along with HB 315.

• Opposes HB 152, which requires additional options (in addition to defined benefit) for active teachers to select regarding the investment of their pension money taking money away from STRS pension funds.

• Imperative that STRS Board members carry out the STRS policies for the good of the retirees (3307.15). He feels that the next few years will be hard work with difficult decisions ahead regarding health care.

• Supports open communication and would advise the STRS Board beforehand of any issues which were to be discussed as he would not expect anyone to vote on an issue without prior knowledge if it was going to be introduced that day. “All want to know what they will be doing that day.”

• Is an independent thinker, and while considering all views to make a decision, his decisions would be solely his own, based on what is best for the membership. He feels he is up to this task with all of his experience in various positions from teacher to principal to Assistant Superintendent and now Director of Curriculum.

Following a question and answer period with Mr. Vincent, the CORE meeting was adjourned so that members could return to the STRS meeting for the Executive Director’s report and the Public Speaks portion of the meeting.

The CORE meeting later reconvened and Dave announced that he will be sending out a CORE Email Alert soon with more detail information on Dan Vincent. Chuck Angeletti made a motion that CORE support Dan Vincent’s candidacy, and the motion was seconded by Molly Janczyk. Following discussion by members, a vote was taken, and it was unanimous in favor of supporting Mr. Vincent. Petitions will need to be sent out and signed. A candidate needs 500 signatures from over the state with representation from 10 counties. Each county must have 20 valid active teacher signatures. The petitions cannot be duplicated. If more are needed, we must contact STRS to send them to us. The signed petitions are to be sent back into STRS no later than February 28th, 2008 or sooner.

B. Also under New Business: A discussion was held regarding the possible reimbursement for mileage for CORE Trustees and Officers who must travel long distances to attend the CORE meetings in Columbus. Lots of different ideas were considered (reimbursement for mileage at the federal level of $.41 per mile, members could submit their mileage bill, etc.). A motion made by Dave Parshall was finally amended that instead of mileage an option of $25.00 per meeting would be paid to the Trustees and Officers who requested it. Marie Fetters seconded the motion, and the motion was approved.

C. It was announced by Dave Parshall that Tim Myers, a possible OEA candidate for John Lazares’ STRS Board seat, has requested to speak to the CORE membership at its next meeting which will be on Thursday, January 17, at 11:45 a.m. at the STRS Building.

Respectfully submitted by Glenna Barr, Secretary