UIC UNITED: A Chapter of SUAA Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting April 7, 2008

Members Present: Marsha Borders, Judy Curry, Merrill Gassman, Carol Humble, Rose Kirk, John McCrosky, Irving Miller, Susan Sindelar, and Charles Stanislao

Members Absent: Richard Johnson, William Jones, Lawrence Poston, Marilyn Ruiz, Jacob Starks, and Frank Tachau

The meeting was called to order by President Irving Miller at 10:35am.

1. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Board meeting held on March 6, 2008 were approved with minor corrections.

2. Treasurer's Report (Chuck Stanislao): Account balances as of April 7, 2008 were as follows:
Credit Union 1 Savings: $  12,433.79
Credit Union 1 Checking:     2,271.78
Credit Union 1 Certificate: 27,122.97

Net assets: $41,828.54

3. SUAACTION: No report

4. President's Report on Meeting with SEIU (Irving Miller): President Miller, Judy Curry, and Richard Johnson met with Christine Boardman, President of SEIU local 73, to discuss the potential for working together on common organizational goals. Her response was very positive, and she indicated that there was potential for further dialogue. Phil Martini, from local 73, will attend the UIC UNITED Spring meeting and has agreed to participate in the forum on pensions this fall.

5. Spring SUAA Board Meeting, March 11, 2008: Delegate Judy Curry gave the following recap on the proceedings:

Legislative commentary was given with respect to various proposed and pending bills in the State House and Senate.
Dick Lockhart, the SUAA lobbyist, and the Legislative Committee informed chapter representatives of their activities and plans for future initiatives.

A graduate student conducting research for the SUAA Office presented an excellent seminar on the positive and negatives aspects of Domestic Partner Benefits.

An historical recap of Con Con was presented by David Kenny and Bob Butler, delegates to the 1969-70 convention, and Dick Lockhart, advisor to the Chair of the Con Con.

Bob Harper, a past president of the State organization, spoke on the topic of membership; he encouraged chapters to make greater strides in bolstering their numbers by working with other groups and making good-faith efforts to recruit all constituents on their campuses.

6. Lobby Day, April 9, 2008: SEIU offered space on their bus to UIC UNITED members who planned to attend the event. Several members of the Board rode with SEIU and found the experience to be a lot of fun. Irv indicated that the mostly symbolic event was well attended. However, he stressed that getting something done requires a face-to-face meeting with legislators in their home office.

7. Membership (Susan Sindelar): Sue reported that the most recent data on membership were not available because the online database was down. As of the March report, the Chapter membership count was 1,627. She felt that a better system for tracking memberships should be identified. It was agreed that this issue should be raised with the Executive Director in the very near future. In the meantime, Sue is continuing her effort to contact Membership chairs at universities with the largest memberships to determine how these numbers get reported to chapters. Chuck is contacting the Treasurers at these schools to determine how audits are conducted.

8. Program (Carol Humble, Rose Kirk): A preliminary program schedule for 2008-09 was presented for Board review.

September 2008: Forum on the Constitutional Convention (panel format). The event will be scheduled from 4-6 pm; a speaker is yet to be identified.

October 2008: Fall Chapter Meeting. Paul Green and the new Chancellor are being considered.

November 2008: Brown Bag on the aftermath of the November election. Dick Johnson will ask Dick Simpson to facilitate the event.

December 2008: Holiday Luncheon at Costa's in the first week of the month. The entertainment has not yet been determined.

March 2009: A Forum on Social Security, TIAA-CREF, or other retirement planning event featuring John McCrosky or Jeffrey Brown. The event will be scheduled from 4-6 pm.

March 2009: Annual Retirement Planning Conference

April 2009: Forum, possibly on SURS, with Fred Giertz as speaker

9. Annual Retirement Planning Conference - March 29th (Irving Miller): The Conference was quite a success, with over 230 participants in attendance. President Miller thanked the Board, Committee chairs, and volunteers for their assistance in helping the Conference to run smoothly and efficiently.

10. Newsletter (Judy Curry): There is ongoing discussion about which options should be pursued regarding the printing of our newsletter. Chuck indicated that we should get a clear understanding from Larry of what the issues were with Publication Services before moving to an outside vendor. Chuck also indicated that he plans to speak with Carla Beecher, the previous editor for COM publications, in the Office of Advancement about what's involved.

11. Nominating Committee (Sue Sindelar): The confirmed slate of candidates to be presented to the membership at the Spring meeting is as follows:

All slated candidates will receive an invitation to the Membership meeting.

12. New Business: The Social and Program chairs sought and were granted Board approval to use china at lunch and dinner events. It not only looks better but is environmentally friendly.

13. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:30am.

Respectfully submitted by Marsha Borders, Secretary

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