The UIC Chapter of SUAA Minutes of the Spring Meeting Thursday, April 16, 2009

President Irving Miller called the meeting to order at 10:20am.

1. Minutes of the Fall 2008 meeting were approved.

2. President's Report (Irving Miller): Over the past year UIC SUAA has been busy in educational and advocacy activities. Among these included:

• A forum debate on a possible 2010 Constitutional Convention
• Two membership meetings
• Several Brown Bag programs covering issues on Social Security, pensions, and the election
• Co-sponsorship of the annual UIC Retirement Planning Conference
• An active political action committee (PAC) addressing legislative issues important to the organization
• Appointment of a SUAA liaison to senatorial and legislative districts throughout the State
• Working with other like-minded organizations on issues important to us

The president expressed concern over the State budget and what is happening in Springfield. SURS lost 4.5% on investments over the past year, and the pension funding ratio declined 40%, making the unfunded liability one of the worst in the country. Other losses included the resignation of Dan Slack, Executive Director of SURS. The vacancy is currently being filled by an acting director while a permanent head is sought.

A law adopted by the General Assembly on April 3, 2009 provides for a new makeup of the SURS Board. The president of the SURS Board of Trustees will be the Chairperson of the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). Membership will consist of 11 trustees, 4 appointed by the Governor; 2 annuitants, and 4 current employees. The new board must be constituted by July 2009.

A bill that would have consolidated all State retirement systems failed.

In closing, President Miller informed the membership that he is stepping down as President but not leaving the organization. Serving as the Chapter President, he recounted, has been a rewarding experience.

3. SUAACTION Report (Bill Troyer and Richard Johnson): Bill Troyer, Legislative Chair, reported the following:

The political action committee supported several candidates financially. Currently, SUAACTION is working to identify at least one member of SUAA from each of the 59 senatorial and 118 legislative districts in the State to act as a legislative contact. The role of the contact person is to establish a personal relationship with their representatives and to share with them legislative goals and interests that are important to SUAA.

The organization set this year's fundraising goal at $175,000. The annual fundraising letter has been mailed to prospective donors.

Dick Johnson, President of SUAA, commented that SUAA is much more active in lobbying, and our name is getting around. To that end, Dick shared SUAA's position on the State budget. We oppose

• the Governor's proposals that would place much of the burden for closing the budget gap on the State's employees, including retirees
• an increase in employee pension contributions because of the State's failure to appropriately fund their share of the pension obligation
• a "pension holiday" which would further undermine the integrity of the public university/college pension system
• creation of a 2nd tier benefit system for future employees, when the evidence is clear that present benefits are neither extravagant compared to other public pensions nor unduly costly in comparison to the alternatives
• increased health insurance premiums, particularly those that would most adversely affect our oldest and most vulnerable retirees.

Dick added that a Leadership Workshop dealing with advocacy and chapter development is scheduled at the College of DuPage on Friday, April 24, 2009

4. Treasurer's Report (Charles Stanislao): Chuck gave the following financial report:

Savings Account	$  2,789.44
Checking Account	791.50
Certificate of Deposit	28,197.66
Total net assets	$31,778.60

5. Membership Report: President Miller reported the following on behalf of Sue Sindelar:

The current UIC UNITED membership is 1,623; non-renewals were 205. Sue is in the process of cleaning up the current list of renewals, verifying email and residential addresses, and is forwarding the information on to the SUAA central office.

Future goals include increasing enrollment and reformatting the current application to make it more relevant to UIC UNITED.

A meeting with the Chancellor regarding ongoing efforts to get dues deduction for current employees was positive. The Chancellor agreed to do what she could in support of our request.

6. Program and Social Report (Carol Humble and Rose Kirk): Carol and Rose reported on the UIC UNITED programs in which they played a key role in the coordination and management of events. These included: two forums, two Brown Bag events, the Holiday luncheon, a Flames basketball outing, the annual Retirement Planning Conference, and the Fall and Spring Membership Meetings.

Members were encouraged to email them with suggested topics and speakers for future meetings.

7. Newsletter Report (Larry Poston and Judy Curry) : Larry and Judy, Co-Editors, are working on the next newsletter and expect a May publication release date.

8. Nominating Committee Report: Larry Poston presented the slate of candidates to fill the following offices:

The slate was unanimously approved by the voting members present.

9. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:03am.

Respectfully submitted,

Marsha Borders, Acting Secretary

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