The UIC Chapter of SUAA Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting February 23, 2011

Members Present: Marsha Borders, Merrill Gassman, Michael Harms, Gloria Henderson, Richard Johnson, James Jones, Donna Knutson, Sue Sindelar, William Troyer

Members Absent: Judy Curry, Rose Kirk, Irv Miller, Lawrence Poston, Leonard Ramirez, Chuck Stanislao

The meeting was called to order by President Merrill Gassman at 10:00am in Room B16, Physical Plant Building, 1140 S. Morgan.

1. Approval of Minutes: The Minutes of the January 6, 2011 Board meeting were approved.

2. President's Report: Merrill reported on a presentation by William Atwood, Executive Director of the Illinois State Board of Investment, on February 22 at SIU on the State of Illinois pension systems and the failures of the Illinois legislature.  No further word has been received from President Hogan’s Chief of Staff Lisa Troyer on the issue of payroll dues deduction.  Merrill received an email from Linda Brookhart concerning UIC member non-renewals.  A meeting is being held on 2/26/11 in Springfield to discuss SUAA membership recruitment.  The issue of whether we should send the UIC UNITED newsletter to non-UIC important individuals, eg. Illinois politicians, was discussed.  Merrill has updated the SUAA section of the UIC Retiree Guide.  Prof. Darold Barnum has asked for UIC UNITED’s endorsement of faculty-bargaining initiatives.  The Board felt that it should not take a formal position on this issue. UIC NEWS and the Chicago Gazette have interviewed Merrill about proposed pension legislation.

3. Treasurer's Report: Actual expenditures for fiscal year 2010 and the proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 were reviewed.  The final budget for 2011 will be approved at the Spring general membership meeting.

4. Membership Report (Sue Sindelar): Current membership stands at 1595.  About ½ of the membership is on dues deduct, and our non-renewals are about 370 members.  Sue is concerned about renewal notices from the SUAA central office.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that they may not be sent or are sent late. She is also concerned about followup, if they are not returned.  She will discuss this with the central office.  Sue is sending letters to recent retirees who have not joined UIC UNITED.  Regarding our first-year incentive program, the SUAA central office has said that they will rebate the portion of the first-year dues that are being waived.  Sue and Judy Curry will be participating in the April UIC Retirement Planning Conference.  The ad hoc committee to review recruitment and retention of new members has been meeting, and Sue hopes to have a report at the next Board meeting.

5. Program Report (Donna Knutson): To date, 16 people have sent an RSVP for the March 15 brown bag meeting.  Merrill will place the meeting notice on ACADEMY and other UIC listservs.  Lt. Gov. Simon is unable to speak at the spring membership meeting, and Donna is exploring other speakers.  One suggestion is Bukola Bello, Director of the Illinois Retirement Security Initiative.  Also suggested was UIC Professor David Merriman.  The Board consensus was to invite Bello first, with Merriman as a backup.  She will be asked to speak on the topic, “How Secure are our Pensions?”

6. Newsletter (Judy Curry): The Winter edition has been mailed.  Merrill announced that Larry Poston and Judy Curry have decided to resign as newsletter editors.  Dick Johnson suggested that, at a future meeting, the Board should discuss the goals of newsletter publication.

7. Legislation/SUAAction Report (Bill Troyer and Dick Johnson): Bill met with the SUAAction Board to discuss the fundraising letter to be sent out April 1.  The goal this year is to raise $200,000 (last year $150,000 was raised).  Last year UIC raised $20,000, and UIUC, $22,000.  Bill would like to increase the funds raised by UIC.  Proposed pension legislation was discussed at the meeting.  Most of the legislative proposals seek to reduce current employee benefits.  Dick Johnson reported that, at the last SUAA Executive Committee meeting, establishment of a legal defense fund was discussed.  It is felt that SUAA should be prepared to entert into legal action if current retiree benefits are threatened.  Such legal action would likely be from a coalition that SUAA would join.

8. Old Business: The Nominating committee, consisting of Marsha Borders (chair), Donna Knutson, and Leonard Ramirez, reported as follows:  President, Merrill Gassman;  Second Vice President, William Troyer; Treasurer, Chuck Stanislao; Director-at-Large, Gloria Henderson.  The committee report was accepted and will be presented at the Spring membership meeting.

9. New Business: Gloria Henderson reported on a College of Nursing meeting with President Hogan.  He spoke for about 10 minutes and answered questions.  He wants to avoid future furlough days and is working to provide an FY 2012 compensation increase package.  He wants to preserve pension benefits and discussed the possibility of a supplemental program for new employees.  He believes that the new administrative structure will save money for all three campuses.  He said that building a new University Hospital was probably not financially feasible and that greater collaboration with other health centers will be required in the future.

10. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 12:25pm.

Respectfully submitted by Michael Harms, Secretary

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