Minutes for the August 11, 2011 CORE Meeting

President Dave Parshall opened the August meeting of the Concerned Ohio Retired Educators (CORE) at 12:35 in the Sublett Room of the STRS Building in Columbus. After greeting the 13 in attendance, the president reminded them that the June minutes had been sent out, but copies were available in the room. Alice Faryna then moved to approve them; Jill Fetters seconded it. The minutes were approved by the membership.

The next item of business was President Parshall’s reading of the resignation letter of our treasurer, Carole DePaola. Since Dave Parshall’s name is still on the account, he will be able to function as treasurer. Carole’s resignation led into several comments from our president about CORE’s future.

As President Dave currently sees it, once the pension reform issue is complete, CORE can become inactive, reconstituted as needed in the future. (More than likely this will not happen before the summer.) In light of the group eventually becoming dormant, no more dues will be collected. We certainly will add names to our roster, but we’ll return any money sent in from this point on. (Right now we do have enough in the treasury to help with costs of postage and our web page, which is still good for a couple of years.) Also, in light of the eventual dissolution, CORE will have no fall election.

In other news, President Dave informed the members that the SB5 petitions had been accepted and counted and that the language on the ballot is okay. He also let the retirees know that the CORE letter in support of Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Protection Bureau had been sent. (Many look at him as a guardian of the Ohio pension systems due to his work on our behalf!)

President Parshall once again reminded retirees to be politically smart. He made a reference to a recent letter which attacked STRS and the financial team. He strongly urged retirees not to be critical of STRS, especially at this time.

Prior to our adjournment, Parshall suggested that some of us should meet again in the fall with STRS Executive Director Mike Nehf. From Dave’s point of view, this as a very important gathering as the pension fight gears up.

Our meeting adjourned at 1:20 so that some of the group could return upstairs to the afternoon session of the STRS Board Meeting.

Respectfully submitted,
Marie M. Fetters
CORE Secretary