NEW JERSEY STATE FEDERATION - NARFE EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING. July 10, 2018

Transcription

1 Barbara Silvers, President Chapter 411 NEW JERSEY STATE FEDERATION - NARFE EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING July 10, 2018 The Executive Board Meeting was held July 10, 2018 at the Prestige Diner, in North Brunswick, NJ. The meeting was called to order by President Rae Novak. Dr. Mary Jane Celli led the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: PRESENT President Rae Novak Regional Vice President Evelyn Kirby 2nd Vice President John Szyphulsky Treasurer Carl Fascio Secretary Judy Feltman District 3 VP Arnold Endick Finance Chair Jerry Maguire Past Presidents George Novak Mike Demski Legislative Chair Dr. Jerry Rubin Parliamentarian Dr. Mary Jane Celli Rodney Guishard, President Chapter 1664 Martha Oehling, President Chapter 1533 Walter Kain, guest of Martha Oehling

2 EXCUSED: Jim Newcomb Ed Gabel Lou Katz Codell Moore Elizabeth DeVincenzo Jim Newcomb Renee Miscione Total attendees: 15 The meeting was called to order by President Rae Novak. In the absence of the Chaplain, Dr. Mary Jane Celli gave the Invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Minutes of the February 15, 2018 Executive Board Meeting The minutes of the past executive board meeting were sent by to all of the Executive Board members and each of the chapter presidents. Extra copies were made available if anyone wanted to see them. No objections were made regarding the minutes. Opening Remarks, President Novak: Rae said she is going to keep her remarks short in the interest of time. All donations to Alzheimer s from chapters have to be sent directly to Elizabeth DeVincenzo. Carl asked whether chapters can donate through the Walk for Alzheimer s. He has formed a team and would like to be able to receive donations from chapters. Yes, they can as long as it is not from dues money. Donations from members can be sent to the Walk for Alzheimer s. Rae will not be running for the office of President again as she will be moving out of state. Someone will have to step up and run for the office. Rae reminded chapter presidents that Form F7 has to be updated after their election of officers. This can be done easily on the NARFE website. Send a copy to Secretary, Judy Feltman.

3 We also need to keep on top of the dropped member list. Maintaining membership is very important. Rae thanked Evelyn for all of her help as Regional Vice President. Rae provided copies of the Recruitment and Retention Journal which contained information about the recruitment incentive program. Sept. 1 - December 31 recruiters will receive $10 from headquarters for each new member and other incentives. In addition, the Federation gives a $10 discount to new members if the application is sent to Rae Novak. Regional Vice President - Evelyn Kirby The election is over. There was a very low turnout. Less than 7% of all members. Richard Thiessen was not elected in spite of the fact that he has served 16 years on the board. 26% of all votes were from national members (to be called association members). The national board will have a lot of new members. The Regional VP can not have more than 3 consecutive terms. Half of the board will be new members. There will be no institutional memory. There will be a second ballot for president. No one candidate received a sufficient number of votes. This will not happen again because preferential voting was passed. The ballot will be in the September magazine. Jon Dowie will not be running again. Three candidates - Steve Lenkart, Ted Van Hintum, and Ken Thomas Steve Lenkart lives in Alexandria so we would not have to pay moving expenses if he were elected. The March magazine contained their candidate statements and they will probably be sending out more information. We have to vote by September 30. Rodney complained about the complexity of the reading material concerning the ballot. The National Bylaws and Resolutions Committee is aware of that and will do better for the next election. Arnie asked whether any of the candidates has a better working relationship with the Executive Director. Evelyn explained how each interacts with Barbara Sido and is confident that each would be able to work very well with her. Dr. Jerry Rubin asked how the new structure of NARFE is working. It is doing very well. The Executive Director s business training is helping her to run the organiza-

4 tion as a business. In the past, it was run like the government. She executes the mission of the board. The President is now in the role of advocate not the details of operations. The Secretary/Treasurer position will be part-time with the salary being reduced accordingly beginning 11/1/2020. This was done in order to not interfere with the election. The latest magazine has a new section entitled NARFE across the country to let people know what is going on locally. Evelyn also thanked Carl for all of his work on the York Conference. The federation newsletter was great but Evelyn s article was obsolete because of the delay in issuing. She recommended that articles be removed if they are no longer relevant. Chapters have to conduct an audit of their books every year and submit the report to Carl Fascio. Chapter by-laws have to be revised to be in compliance. So far, the only chapters that have done so are 858, 1000, 988, 1182, 411, 637, 476, and FedCon 18 has 656 registrations to date. Headquarters had hoped it would be at least 700. Treasurer s Report - Carl Fascio Carl welcomed the chapter presidents. Copies of the financial report were given to each attendee. Carl went over some of the specific items on the budget.

5 Jan- June Jan-Dec Jan- Dec April May June Actual Budget Plus Min RECEIPTS Dues - 10% Fund 1, , , , , , Executive Board Meetings Federation Meeting 1, , , STATE CONVENTION Misc Total Receipts: 2, , , , , , DISBURSEMENTS National Convention 2018 President's Expense York Academy , On-Site National Convention Executive board Federation-stipends 2, , Other Meetings ADVOCACY MARKETING INCENTIVE PROGRAM DVP'S/ Pres Newsletter Insurance Miscellaneous Total Disbursements: 3, , , , , Cash Inc ( Decrease ) , , , , , Beginning Cash Bal 34, , , Ending Balance 34, , , Money Market 33, , , Combined Total 67, , , Jun-18 Carl Fascio, NJF Treasurer The 10% fund increased while chapter dues decreased. At the last meeting we increased the not-to-exceed reimbursement for FedCon 18 to $700 with the maximum set aside remaining at $8400. Chapters should help with the cost above reimbursement. Some of the chapters are taking this up. This is a mission-related activity which is what we are supposed to be spending our dues money on.

6 As for the York conference, we spent $3000 even though it was budgeted for $ people attended. We expected more. In the future, the federation may pay for a second night because of the length of the trip. We saved money, but Carl would rather see people attend. Carl is concerned about the mission-related items. Advocacy, marketing, incentive program. We are not using our resources to accomplish our purposes. We took in $1900 more than we spent. Carl has only received 8 of 16 audit reports. The audits are required to make sure that funds are being used appropriately. We discussed what can be done including having the federation take funds remaining in the chapter bank accounts and put into an escrow account until they can show how they are spending their funds. Another step could be to ask headquarters to suspend payment of dues. The reason Carl is so concerned is because there was a chapter that was closing that donated their funds to charity. Another had a dinner-dance. These are not appropriate use of funds. On October 20 Carl s team will be at Bradley Beach for a 2 mile walk for the Walk for Alzheimers. Walter Kain will be walking and raising money from chapter membership. The Alzheimers website contains information about the various walks. NARFE in NJ has 2 walks - in Bradley Beach and Overpeck Park. You can donate and/or participate. The scholarship program may or may not have the funds to pay scholarships. They are funded by donations. May be limited to 2 per federation rather than 6. Budget Chairman s Report - Budget for 2018: Jerry Maguire There will be a budget meeting in early October. First week in October. Members are the Chair, Treasurer, District VPs. Jerry asked everyone to let him know if you need money for next fiscal year. For example, marketing - flyers, legislation - mileage to attend legislative events. Go through Jerry Rubin first as Legislative chair. Evelyn also mentioned that headquarters has matching funds available for marketing. See if your project qualifies. Has every chapter filed the form 990N? She has received no feedback about noncompliance.

7 Second Vice President - John Szyphulsky John reported that the York Conference. The speakers were well-prepared and knowledgeable with up-to-date topics. The purpose is to bring information back to chapters. John is not running again for 2nd VP. He will probably be in Delaware so will no be available for any other positions either. The CDL handbook is awaiting approval from headquarters to streamline and consolidate the program. They want training at the Regional level to provide guidance from headquarters. Legislative Report: Dr. Jerry Rubin WE HAVE SOME LEGISLATIVE ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED FORTHWITH. We have 16 chapters to cover 40 New Jersey Legislative Districts and 12 New Jersey Congressional Districts and, with a few exceptions, are not doing a good job of legislative activism. Of our 12 Congressional Districts, we have no CDL for Mac- Arthur in 3, no one for Gottheimer in 5 (John Farrell just moved to South Carolina), no one for Lance in 7, and no one for Payne in 10. And of utmost importance, there is no legislative officer for chapters 988, 1182 and And, Lord knows, it is almost impossible to cover all 40 New Jersey Legislative Districts with our meager resources. And in many cases, the Legislative Officer is not a CDL which I believe he should be. All of this means that when we need activism on the state level, I need to marshal and meet with the Chapter Legislative Officers. For activism on the national level, I need to harness the CDLs. Now, I don t mind working with two separate teams as long as all agree to become activists and that is the issue all are not very active. So, the first order of business is to get a CDL for the missing four Congressional Districts and Legislative Officers for those three chapters that don t have one. And now we have to get busy on the state level. I m sure you all know that the New Jersey Estate Tax has been eliminated as of January 1, 2018, and that s a very good thing as it means all of our lifelong savings can now go to our families as opposed to the state. And as a part of that bill, the amount of income exclusion for state taxes has been increased 5-fold over a 4-

8 year period. However, the cap for eligibility remains at $100K, which means that an income over that amount cancels your eligibility for that tax break. Fortunately, a bill has been introduced in both the Assembly and Senate that removes the cap. A4052 has been introduced in the Assembly by Bucco-25, Bramnick-21 and DeCroce-26. The identical bill, S1537 has been introduced in the Senate by Brown-2 and Pennachio-26. Unfortunately, as of this date, there are no other co-sponsors which means the bills don t have popular support. But that s all right as we have some time to work on our legislators as this is the first year of the 2-year session. That means our work is cut out for us on the state level. We need to set up meetings with all of our own representatives and those in other districts as well as both party leaders and the Speaker of the Assembly and Senate President. The latter two are most important as they control the agendas and if they see that these bills have a large number of co-sponsors, there s a good chance they will be acted upon. My plan is to call a meeting of the Legislative Officers to get the activism started ASAP. National issues This is the final year of the 2-year 115th Congress with the election coming up in November for which all the House members and one-third of the Senate are up for re-election. In New Jersey, Senator Menendez and 11 of our 12 sitting Representatives are on the ballot. In the 11th District, Cong. Frelinghuysen is retiring and State Assemblyman Webber of the NJ 26th District has won the primary and will be the Republican candidate. We have met with Webber in the past so he is familiar with and knows about NARFE and has been a supporter of our issues and I would imagine that he will continue to do so when he gets to Washington (if he wins). So far, this Congress has not passed any bills that adversely affect workers or retirees, although it seems they keep trying. The issues that need to be monitored are postal reform, cut in federal benefits, pay freeze, COLA calculation, and WEP/ GPO repeal. Time is running out, so Congress needs to act fast if any of these issues are to be acted upon. It will be interesting to see how many of the same bills will be introduced in the next session of Congress. Jerry Rubin Legislative Chairman

9 At the meeting, Jerry emphasized certain points. CDLs are missing so we are not covering the legislative districts. Chapter legislative officers are not always CDLs but should be. Jerry needs them to be active. The estate tax has been eliminated - a good thing. The income exclusion has been increased but the $100,000 cap is still there. There are 2 bills to eliminate the $100,000 cap but there is little support. If we get a large number of cosponsors, we may be able to get them on the agenda. Jerry will call a meeting of the legislative chairs and CDLs. Jerry also went over the federal legislative issues, postal reform, changes in benefits. By-laws Committee - Mike Demski The by-laws committee is down one person because of John Farrell s move. Since I am supposed to be there as secretary, I volunteered to be a member. We need to clean up the by-laws. District Vice Presidents: District 3 - Arnie Endick District 3 Of notable mention, both Chapter 1000 and Chapter 411 have completed the F31 annual audits which have been submitted for review. In addition, Carl Fascio and Arnie Endick spent an evening with Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., on Thursday May 10, 2018 at Mike Bakers Barn (a political meetup facility in East Brunswick.) It was at this function that the Congressman advised that he will not support Postal Reform, pursuant to its adverse impact on the federal population. It should be noted that Carl provided very specific feedback on this congressional meeting to the Legislative Dept of NARFE, in the days following this event. Chapter 1000 There have been two meetings of Chapter 1000 since the last executive board meeting, (Wed. March 28 and Wed, May 23, 2018.) These were the 1 st and 2 nd chapter meetings for 2018.

10 Discussion led by President John Szpyhulsky, reflected upon the decline in membership over the past 3 years, and the reasons attributable to this condition affecting the chapter. John also addressed the increase in the COLA, as well as the need to ensure that there are beneficiary forms on record for the TSP accounts many of the constituents maintain. Information was also provided regarding the Advocacy Committee which John is a member of at Headquarters, which sends out notices on congressional activities, and advocates the actions NARFE has elected to promote. Information was also provided regarding the upcoming training seminar in York Pa. In conclusion, John addressed the upcoming National elections and the need to vote, as well as Fed Con 18 being held in Jacksonville Fl. In August Arnie spoke about planning for the needs of elderly persons, such as having a living will, power of attorney, standard wills, estate planning and nursing care. Discussion also explored the need to jumpstart membership recruitment, as well as the critical need to actively participate in meetings and programs sponsored by the federation and the greater organization. The Chapter 1000 meeting in May 2018 addressed the officers reports (President, Vice President and Secretary) as well as the committee reports (legislative, membership, and that of the service officer.) Discussion also revisited the promotion of the Region 2 training, and the pledged support of the chapter to help reduce the cost of travel, for those who desire to attend. Fed Con 18 was once again discussed, and the advocacy for attendance was suggested once again. It is with regret that no meetings were attended by the DVP for Chapter 411 since the last Executive Board meeting, however, it is projected that he will be attending the regularly scheduled meetings in the Fall of Respectfully Submitted by Arnie Endick, District 3 VP Rae asked the Chapter presidents if they have any questions or comments. Martha Oehling said that the executive board meeting is much more informative than the Federation meeting. There are fewer people and less confusion. Barbara Silver was also enthusiastic about attending.

11 NARFE-PAC Lou Katz is not here. But Rae was able to explain that contributions were sent to Bill Pascrell, Chris Smith, Sen. Bob Menendez and Jeff Van Drew. John Szyphulsky found that Sen. Booker s office does not appear to know about NARFE and our issues. Rodney wondered what NARFE is doing to put out the message about NARFE. Barbara wanted to know what is being done to let retiring federal employees know about NARFE. Help them know what is available to them. Rae explained about our limitations with regard to OPM and federal unions. How we do not have much access to current employees. Rodney wants to let public know more about NARFE to know about the public s perception of public service. What contributions federal service make to the running of the country. John Szyphulsky said the administration wants to get rid of the civil service, more privatization, which would get rid of our identity. NARFE will be in trouble if this happens. Unfinished business Rae said that the incentive program is slow lately. She encourages dues withholding. Take advantage of the incentive program. The recruiter gets $10 and the new member gets $10. New business Rae asked whether we should get rid of the DVPs. Carl explained - this goes along with merging chapters. Mike explained that there has to be a line of communication with chapters. Inviting chapter presidents to the executive board meetings may solve this. Maybe having 12 chapters aligned with CDLs might be a consideration. There would have to be a realignment every 10 years because of the census. Arnie pointed out that over half of the chapter presidents made the decision not to come to the board meeting. We have to become more proactive. Other federations do require chapter presidents to attend federation activities. We may consider requiring chapter presidents to attend federation functions.

12 John Szyphulsky made a motion to submit a resolution to change the by-laws to eliminate DVP positions. Carl seconded the motions. Discussion ensued about the procedure to do that. However, it became clear after a while that if we revise the whole by-laws by using the headquarters template, we do not have to worry about eliminating the DVP positions. The template does not provide for them. Therefore, John Szyphulsky withdrew his motion. The annual federation meeting will be Wednesday, April 17, October 9, 2018 will be the next executive board meeting. We have to notify all members including national members via website and NARFE magazine. A chapter can make a resolution, approved by chapter members, and send to Rae for approval. A minimum of 45 days notification. Revised by-laws have to be approved by headquarters prior to approval by members. Would be sent to Jon Dowie. Evelyn recommends just appointing CDLs - no election. We need volunteers for the nominating committee and for the annual meeting committee. We need a timeline for meetings, deadlines for submissions. The nominating committee should have something finalized by October. Codell and Arnie should be the nominating committee as the current DVPs per the by-laws. A consensus can not be reached with two people. A third person is needed. Lorraine Kearney volunteered to help. The annual meeting will be held at the Lakeside Manor. Everyone will be notified per the website. The secretary will notify Jim Newcomb, webmaster. Good of the Order: Arnie proposed a motion to have the meal at the executive board free for everyone. John Szyphulsky seconded. Discussion: Rae disagreed. Chapter Presidents are invited guests. The federation already pays for FedCon and York. Mary Jane pointed out that we have money in the treasury because we are very careful. John suggested a travel stipend in addition to meals for chapter presidents. Arnie feels it is a matter of principal. Vote was taken. 2 voted for the motion. The rest voted against so the motion was defeated. All national members will be notified of voting via website and .

13 Carl thanked all chapter presidents for being there. He also thanked Jerry Rubin for all of his efforts on state issues. Rep. Frank Pallone has agreed to be a speaker at the annual meeting. Barbara Silver volunteered to be on the annual meeting committee which John will be in charge of. He intends to have training such as teaching chapters their obligations with respect to audits and filing returns. Mary Jane conducted the benediction. Rae called for the adjournment of the meeting. Mike made the motion. John seconded. The motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Judith Feltman Secretary, NJ Federation of NARFE