REGION I RVP NOTES –
July 2007
An NEB meeting was held 23-26 July followed by a
Federation President’s
meeting.…Below are informal notes, observations and comments.
A.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
1. A
proposed resolution to combine the Secretary and Treasurer positions was
defeated by a vote of 9 to 3.
2. Action
on the One Member One Vote issue was put on hold until the November NEB meeting.
3. An
announcement was made that NARFE member, Paul Lamb, a registered parliamentarian
was appointed the NARFE parliamentarian.
4. Treasurer
Dick Ostergren reported that NARFE investments continue to perform well. Net
yield during the past 12 months has been in excess of 13%. Because NARFE is a
not-for-profit organization, it is liable for taxes on its profits. In 2006,
NARFE paid $355,958.39 in taxes. Chapters and Federations are reminded that
starting in 2008, all Chapters and Federations will have to file with the IRS.
Details will be provided in correspondence from the Treasurer’s office and
reported in the NARFE magazine.
5. The
Pre-Retirement Seminar (PRS) Program was discussed. NARFE member, Mary Pierson
of Gulfport, MS was selected as the Coordinator of the Pre-Retirement Seminar
Program. Mary Pierson may be contacted at: piersonm@bellsouth.net or 228-863-1484 or cell: 228-234-1484.
A reminder, the Region I PRS Coordinator is Mr. Bill Carroll, 5 Meadow Lane,
Lynnfield, MA 01940, telephone: 781-334-4366, E-mail: wpcarrollesq@comcast.net.
Anyone providing him with a lead that results in a signed contract will receive
a check for $100. The NEB approved that NARFE continue to support the PRS
Program and to continue efforts to get listed on the GSA Schedule, but did not
approve hiring legal staff to pursue GSA listing at this time. Ken Glass has
retired. His replacement as Director of Retirement Benefits is David Snell who
recently retired from OPM.
6. The revised Public Relations
Program budget was approved. A free
poster to publicize NARFE is now available and can be downloaded from the NARFE
Web site or it may be obtained from NARFE HQ.
The posters are
12” x 18” and are available FREE to all chapters and federations. The
number of posters will be limited to a MAXIMUM of FIVE per request. To order,
e-mail your request, with return mailing address, to: mailorder@narfe.org; or you can send your
request via USPS to: New Recruiting Poster, NARFE HQ, ATT’N: Mail
Room, 606 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314
A new form,
F-122 entitled, Your Future is Our Focus has been prepared to aid in publicizing
the importance of becoming a NARFE member. They may be ordered from NARFE HQ at
no cost.
7. The
NARFE Silver Circle Program is off to a great start As of the end of July, over
$30,000 has been donated to the program. Eleven members have donated $1000 and
will have their names listed on the walls of the NARFE HQ building. It should be
pointed out that contributions to the Silver Circle Program are not deductible
for Federal Income Tax purposes. An effort is underway to explore formation of a
non-profit subsidiary of NARFE. If this should become a reality, such
contributions might be tax deductible. The pros and cons of establishing the
non-profit subsidiary will be reviewed at the November NEB meeting for potential
action.
8. The
NEB voted to phase out the Current Federal Employees’ (CFE’s) incentive
program. [NOTE: The $8 finder’s fee will remain in effect, since the NEB did
not vote to discontinue it] Effective date is Jan. 1, 2008. At that point, all
members who join NARFE will pay the normal first year dues of $33 and renew at
$29 plus chapter dues of record. Multi-year dues will continue to be offered
after the first year. All CFE’s who joined at the incentive rate and are still
working for the government will be grandfathered and will continue to pay the
one year at $25; two years at $45 and three years at $60. Once they retire, they
will be billed at the $29 national dues, plus chapter dues of record, and of
course, offered the multi-year rate. This now provides a special opportunity to
recruit Current Federal Employees during these next 4 plus months by offering
this discounted rate that will no longer be available after 31 December, 2007.
It was also voted
to terminate the special incentive program with the NARFE Federal Credit Union.
Under this program, Credit Union members who were eligible for NARFE
membership were provided with a free NARFE first year membership. NARFE was
paid $15 for each of these members which resulted in us gaining some 3,300
members. This special incentive membership rate has been discontinued. The
Credit Union will
Members are reminded that the best deal is the dues
withholding program at a cost of $24.60 plus chapter dues of record per year.
9. The
NEB voted to change Policy 408, subject Reinstated member. Currently it states
that members who rejoin within one year will be assigned new expiration dates 12
months from the date the reinstatements are processed. It has been changed to
read nine (9) months. The main reason is because of the 3 months they are
carried on the rolls before being dropped. Policy 310, subject Closing a Chapter
– Financial Disbursements has been updated and clarified. In the past, we have
had some misunderstandings on just what that paragraph means. The NEB also
approved a new Policy 509; subject – Closing a Chapter – Zip Code
Reassignment. Federation Presidents should have received updated revisions of
the Policy Book. The policy book is also available on the NARFE Web site
10. It
was also asked for and agreed to, that in addition to the current policy of
advising Federation Presidents (FPs) of members moving into their federation,
that NARFE notify the Regional VPs of Dropped members living in their area but
belonging to a chapter in another state. Currently, there is no way for the
Federation to know of someone living in say, Texas who belongs to a chapter in
Nevada and drops their membership. The Regional VPs will pass on the information
to their Federation Presidents.
11. Regarding
M112 and M114 reports, M112 reports will be sent Monthly to Chapter Presidents
and to the Membership Chairs. The M114s will continue to be mailed 2 times a
year, in the spring and in the fall. In addition they will be updated and posted
quarterly on the NARFE Web site.
12.
Acting on a suggestion from the Federation President’s meeting after
the NEB meeting and after receiving indications that a majority of the NEB
approved of forming a Restructuring Committee, President Margaret Baptiste, in
accordance with the Bylaws, selected and announced the formation of a
committee to look at the feasibility of restructuring NARFE. The members chosen
are listed below:
Charles
Brodigan, Immed. Past Pres. OR, Chair
Charles
C. Anderson, Pres. WI
Ann
M. Collins, Immed. Past Pres. VA
Darlene
J. Freeman, Pres. IA
John
L. Sheehy, Pres. WV
The Committee will conduct an overall evaluation of the organization from top to bottom to see if the way NARFE is organized and functions should be changed to make the organization more efficient and responsive to member needs now and in the future. They are to prepare recommendations, present them to the NEB at the November NEB meeting and ultimately to the 2008 Convention.
B.
LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
1.
PAC contributions for the first 6 months of the 2007-2008 cycle totaled
$130,490.15. In Region I, 265 contributors donated a total of $6130.60. All
Federations and Chapters are requested to publicize and encourage contributing
to the PAC fund. It has been a major factor in electing legislators who support
NARFE Initiatives. PAC pins are provided for contributions of $20 or more.
2.
The recent action by OPM to allow
retired federal safety officers a Premium Conversion type benefit may be a
positive step toward eventually getting Premium Conversion privileges for all
federal retirees. In addition, Representative Charlie Rangel of NY, Chairman of
the House Ways and Means Committee has indicated intent to hold hearings on GPO/WEP.
While no date has been set and the position Ways and Means would take is
uncertain, all efforts must be made to contact our legislators and keep them
abreast of the need to overturn the onerous provisions of GPO/WEP and the unfair
treatment of retired federal employees and retired military with regard to the
Premium Conversion issue.
C. FEDERATION
PRESIDENT’S MEETING: The
following is a summary of that meeting.
1.
Federation Presidents asked for the following: National to work on better
communications; [We are working on Virtual Chapters, a byproduct of the Blog
concept. The Congressional chapter in Washington, DC is the first to use this
method of meetings]. The FPs asked to expand the advertising budget; make the
web site more friendly; make GEMS accessible to the FPs [changes are in the
works to improve the website and make it more friendly]; to be invited to attend
NEB meetings [current policy allows NARFE members to attend any NEB meeting at
their own expense]; would like to expand the letters to the editor [it was
stated that we receive very few letters; maybe FPs could write an article for
the magazine]; would like a search area on the web site in the Q & A
section; would like to have more teleconferences; the FPs voted overwhelmingly
to move toward a single dues system – the NEB will forward suggested
resolutions to each FP and asked that the resolution come from the federations
or chapters, rather than from the NEB; wanted the M112 to go to both the chapter
president and membership chair [it has been agreed to do this]; wanted the M112
to be archived for 3 months – that is, be available on the web site for 3
months [this has been agreed to and the M114 will be available on-line
quarterly]; wanted Dr. Carew’s (NC FP) presentation available on disk [it will
be recorded at the upcoming Region X Conference]; wanted an updated letter book
[John Clements asked that chapters send him copies of letters that are used for
recruiting, retention, etc. for a potential update]; wanted a task force to
examine and make recommendations to restructure NARFE for the 21st
century[committee has been set up]; wanted to have a training program on
legislation in place [the FPs wanted the record to show that they think Judy
Park and staff do an amazing job]; wanted a state (state issues) clearing house
section on the web site; ask that they have earlier access to minutes from the
NEB meetings [National Secretary stated that they would be available online for
earlier review]; FPs asked that they have annual meetings [President Baptiste
suggested that Saturday (Sept. 6, 2008) before the convention would be an
opportune time to meet.]
Augie Stratoti, Regional Vice President Region I