UIC Chapter of SUAA Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting March 28, 2006

Members Present: Merrill Gassman, Richard Johnson, William Jones, Irving Miller, Geraldine Piorkowski, Lawrence Poston, Jacob Starks, Frank Tachau

Members Absent: Mary Bertucci, Marsha Borders, Kathleen Crittenden, Wally Wadycki

The meeting was called to order by Irving Miller, President, at 9:40am.

1. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the meeting of February 14, 2006 were approved subject to amendments now available on the website.

2. Membership Report (Gerry Piorkowski): Gerry reported that the current chapter membership stood at 1310, up 13 from the numbers reported in February. A mailing is now going to those retiring at the end of this year.

3. Political Involvement Committee Issues and Legislative Report (Dick Johnson): Dick reported that the UIC PIC Committee had held its first meeting. Members of the Committee are Dave Bardack, Gersh Berkson, Kathleen Crittenden, Bill Jones, Kelvin Rodolfo, Jake Starks, Sue Sindelar, Frank Tachau, Irv Miller (ex officio), Dick Johnson (chair). The major issue under discussion was the lack of a clearly agreed-upon message for legislators. Insistence on full funding of the systems is counterproductive and might put at risk efforts to preserve present medical benefits.

The Lobby Day efforts were at best an indifferent success. Turnout was not what had been hoped for and relatively little direct contact time with individual legislators was scheduled. The division of labor between PIC and the Legislative Committee of SUAA is still unclear.

Discussion: Should SUAA on the State level, or UIC's chapter, send out questionnaires to candidates for state office? Should we do our own membership survey, establishing levels of social security benefits and providing vignettes about access to Medicare? Interest was voiced in both questions but they were not finally resolved.

4. Newsletter issues (Larry Poston): Larry reported that, after considerable delays, which had resulted in some published information no longer being timely, the newsletter was in print and either in, or on its way to, the mail room. He and Trenace Ford plan to discuss problems with the UIC Office of Publications in the hope that they could be averted. Support for soliciting other bids was voiced by members of the Board.

5. Program Issues (Irv Miller): The program announcement for the annual meeting was distributed. It was suggested that a more specific agenda be attached and advertised than was the case with the printed announcement that came through snailmail.

6. Report on Statewide SUAA Meeting of March 15 (subsumed under #3 above)

7. Constitution and Bylaws Revisions (Irv Miller): A draft of proposed revisions was distributed, and there was a discussion of additional refinements. It was agreed that language would be added, descriptive of the duties of the officers. Another version will be e-mailed to the Directors ASAP.

8. Nominating Committee (Merrill Gassman): The Board received a progress report from the Nominating Committee.

9. Announcements (Irv Miller): There was a brief update on matters pertaining to Treasury business.

10. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:00am.

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Poston, Acting Secretary

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