RSA UPDATE MEA Family Retired Staff Association Newsletter May 1, 2017 corrected RSA Annual Meeting and Elections Issue Please take the time to read everything in this issue. It is your official notice of our upcoming general membership meeting and election. This year s meeting will have important business items that will need membership approval and input. Please take the time to be informed and come to the meeting. We will also have a procedure to allow for absentee voting. If you can t attend the meeting, read carefully to ensure you are able to vote absentee. RSA Annual Membership Meeting When: Tuesday, June 13, 2017 RSA Annual meeting starting at 1:00 pm We will open the doors for check-in at 12:00 pm. There is no charge to attend the RSA Meeting. RSA Members and Spouses only. Retiree Reunion (appetizers included) starting after the meeting about 3:00 pm. Cost = $15.00 Where: The University Club of MSU (online map click here) At the RSA meeting, you will: 1. Get up-to-date reports on the status of the MEA, MESSA, MEA FS, and our pension system. 2. Meet Andrew Stumpff, the Attorney retained by recently by RSA 2. Hear reports from the RSA's officers and committees. 3. Vote in the RSA Election of Officers and At-Large Executive Board members In This Update RSA Annual Meeting, Elections and Reunion Notice of Election Nominating Procedures and Candidate Statements Proposed 2017-18 Budget Proposed Bylaw Changes 2017-18 RSA Dues CASE Credit Union Info RSA Executive Board Directory (Continued on page 2) 1 Page 1
4. Vote on the 2016-17 Budget and Dues, and a Bylaw change proposal. At the Reunion, you may meet, greet, and enjoy a festive occasion with your former colleagues. Please Register in advance of the meeting so we can plan appropriately with the University Club. If you are coming to the meeting only, send an email to Mary Anne Adams at marybellemi@aol.com. If you will be staying for the Retiree Reunion, send your check for $15.00 to: Mary Anne Adams, 2588 Woodhill Drive, Okemos MI 48864 Checks need to be made out to Retired Staff Association or simply RSA. (Please do not make out to Mary Anne!) Notice of Elections Nominations are now officially open for the positions of RSA President, RSA Vice President, RSA Secretary, RSA Treasurer, and At-Large Executive Board Member (up to 10 positions will be elected). All are 1 year terms of office and the new terms will begin immediately upon election. (The responsibilities of these positions are detailed at the end of this newsletter.) The Election will be held at our Annual Meeting (general membership) on June 13, 2017. Bill Murray has announced that he will not run again for President. At this point, the following individuals have announced their candidacies as follows: President Mary Anne Adams, Vice President Lou Meyette, Secretary Julie Partee, Treasurer Deb Hahn. At this time, the following persons are running for Executive Board Member positions, Tom Fette, Candice Brandon-Watters, Janet Suriano-Taylor, Louis Diaz, Sharon Kelly, Beverly Wolkow, Stan Burnell, and Karen Murray. If you would like to nominate yourself for any of these positions, just contact any member of the Nominations Committee (no later than May 22) to have your name included on the ballot. While nominations will still be accepted at the Annual Meeting, absentee voters will only be able to vote for names appearing on the printed ballot. Page 2
Nominations Committee Members Tom Fette tfette1141@att.net 586-291-2117 Candy Brandon-Watters cbrandonwatters@gmail.com 517-393-9871 Karen Spotts kispotts@comcast.com 517-927-9764 Janet Suriano-Taylor janet.suriano55@gmail.com 517-643-6217 Beverly Wolkow bold31@aol.com 517-676-3579 Candidate Statements If you would like to have a statement sent to all members regarding who you are and why you are running for election, send an e-mail (no more than about 1/2 page) to capnbillchx@yahoo.com by Friday, May 19, 2017. All candidate statements will be e- mailed together on Monday, May 22, 2017. Proposed 2017-2018 Budget The printed budget proposal will be available at the meeting. The proposed budget is to extend the current budget for another year. RSA Dues It is time to start thinking about paying dues for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. RSA dues are an annual obligation unless you have elected the Lifetime Dues option. The current dues amount is $50.00 per year. It is still not too late to elect the lifetime dues option. Contact Mary Anne Adams for more information on this special offer. It is a good idea to pay your dues when you send your check to pay for the Meeting/ Reunion. You only need to write one check and RSA only has to deposit one check. (our bank fees are partially based on how many checks we deposit.) In any event, please send your check to: Mary Anne Adams, 2588 Woodhill Drive, Okemos MI 48864 Checks must be made out to Retired Staff Association or simply RSA. (Please do not make out to Mary Anne!) The Membership Committee has developed a great way to pay your dues if you are a CASE Credit Union member. There is more information on a later page in this newsletter on how to sign up for automatic payment of your dues each year. Page 3
Election Procedures and proposed Bylaw Changes The RSA Executive Board has had many discussions on possible changes to the way we conduct our business. As a result of those discussions, we last year approved some changes to the Bylaws. Absentee Voting Last year, we approved the following language, 2. Article VI Quorum Ten percent (10%) of the membership of the Association shall be necessary for a quorum at any general membership or special meeting of the membership. The Executive Board may develop a process to allow absent members to vote. (add bold and underlined language) Over the last months, the Executive Board has had much discussion of this issue and has developed a procedure to allow members who can not attend the annual meeting to cast a vote for elected positions and Ballot issues known in advance of the meeting. In summary, the ballot will be emailed to all members in advance of the meeting and a member may print it, mark the ballot an mail it to RSA so it can be tabulated with votes cast at the meeting. The procedures to enable this process have been developed and will be set forth in detail at the time the ballot is distributed. Proxy Voting Additionally, the Executive Board has proposed a Bylaw change to allow limited Proxy voting. The language proposed is, Article V. Meetings. SECTION C. THE EXECUTIVE BOARD WILL PROVIDE A FORM TO ALLOW PROXY VOTES TO BE USED FOR ALL BUSINESS ITEMS THAT ARISE AT THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING REQUIRING A WRITTEN BALLOT AND ALL MEETINGS CALLED BY THE PRESIDENT. PROXY VOTES WILL NOT BE USED TO DETER- MINE THE TEN PERCENT (10%) NEEDED FOR A QUORUM. A PROXY VOTER MAY REPRE- SENT NO MORE THAN FIVE (5) ABSENT MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING. We will make the adoption of this our first order of business at the annual meeting with the understanding that if it passes, it will be given immediate effect. A proxy form with directions will be included in the materials sent to the members on May 22, 2017. Composition of the Executive Board We also adopted language last year that provided that the Executive Board shall consist of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, the immediate past president, two (2) Executive Board members for retirees from MEA, two (2) Executive Board members for retirees from MESSA, one (1) Executive Board members for retirees from MEA FS and up to five (5) At -Large Board Members. We have developed procedures to ensure that this requirement will be followed when tabulating the ballots. Additionally, the ballot will designate the company that each candidate retired from. Page 4 4
IRS Determination Last year, RSA applied to the IRS for recognition as a tax exempt organization. Following our application a and review we were granted the status of a 501(c)7 Exempt Organization. We are also registered as a non-profit corporation with the State of Michigan. At this point, our filings and fees are up-to-date with both agencies. Note: Tax treatment of donations. Donations (Dues) to exempt 501(c)7 Organizations are not deductible as charitable contributions on the donor's federal income tax return. Page 5 5
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Email, Facebook, and RSA communications All official RSA communications (including meeting notices, deaths, illnesses and other personal updates, regular newsletters, etc.) with RSA members are distributed using the e-mail address RetiredStaffAssociation@gmail.com (the address which sent you this newsletter). Please add it to your contact list so our notices won t end up in your junk/spam folder. All emails are sent to the email address you provide us. You did this when you completed your membership form. If you would like to change your address, just send a note to RetiredStaffAssociation@gmail.com. The RSA s web site can be accessed at http://iammea.org/retiredstaffassoc/. Introductory information about RSA and a membership form can be reached by non-members at this address. The full site may be accessed only by current RSA members using a password. The RSA website is where you will find nearly all of our official communications, governance documents, directories, reports on the activities of the SRPB, etc. on-line. RSA members can access all this information from any web enabled computer. If you need a password, contact the webmaster at retiredstaffassociation@gmail.com. If non-members ask you about joining RSA, please direct them to the website. The membership form and contact info is on the sign-in page of the site no password is required for such access. Facebook If you are a Facebook user, sign up for access to the RSA s Facebook page. This is a closed group only RSA members will be granted access to the page. To get access, while logged into Facebook, search for MEA Family Retired Staff Association (RSA). You should be taken to a page where you can ask to join the page. RSA will approve your request ASAP and you will then have complete access from your Facebook account. If you have questions, contact the webmaster at retiredstaffassociation@gmail.com. RSA Web Site http://iammea.org/retiredstaffassoc 7 Page 7
2016-2017 RSA Executive Board Members Officers Bill Murray President capnbillchx@yahoo.com 248 974-8218 Lou Meyette Vice President lmeyette@chartermi.net (989) 751-9700 Julie Partee Secretary thepartees@tds.net 517-675-5735 Mary Anne Adams Treasurer marybellemi@aol.com (517) 336-9278 Executive Board Members Zan Alley zalley3421@yahoo.com 248-909-0490 Stan Burnell smburnell@comcast.net 231-766-3906 Lou Diaz lddiaz@me.com 231-459-4007 Tom Fette tfette1141@att.net 586-291-2117 Sharon Kelly shkelly723@gmail.com 517-337-8332 Candice Brandon-Watters cbrandonwatters@gmail.com 517-393-9871 Karen Murray karenpetemurray@yahoo.com 248-894-9503 Karen Spotts kispotts@comcast.net 517-927-9764 Janet Suriano-Taylor janetsuriano55@gmail.com 517-643-6217 Beverly Wolkow bold31@aol.com 517-676-3579 8
Article VIII Duties of Officers, Executive Board and Committees Section A. The President shall: 1. preside at all meetings of the Association and Executive Board. 2. be an ex-officio member of all committees. 3. represent the membership before the public. 4. perform all functions attributed to this office. Section B. The Vice President shall: 1. carry out responsibilities as assigned by the President. 2. have, in the absence of the President, all the powers and prerogatives of the President. Section C. The Secretary shall: 1. record all resolutions and proceedings of the Association meetings. 2. issue notices of Association meetings. 3. distribute minutes of all meetings. 4. conduct correspondence relating to the Association as directed by the President. Section D. The Treasurer shall: 1. receive all monies payable to the Association.. 2. maintain an accurate record of all receipts and disbursements. 3. disburse allocated funds as requested on budget line items in an approved budget. Should the budget require any adjustments, the Treasurer will bring this to the attention of the Executive Board. 4. pay all accounts payable by the Association that are not included within an approved budget upon authorization by the Executive Board 5. prepare and distribute copies of a financial report at all regularly scheduled meetings of the Association and a yearly financial report at the end of the fiscal year which shall be provided each member of the Association. 6. cause a financial review to be conducted by an independent person at the conclusion of each fiscal year. Section E. The Executive Board shall: 9 consist of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, the immediate past president, and up to ten (10) At-Large Board Members. The Executive Board (Continued on page 10)
will meet as needed and will serve as the governing body of the Association between general membership meetings. develop an annual budget prior to the annual general membership meeting and present the budget to the membership for discussion and approval. monitor: a. the funding of the staff retirement system. b. the actions of the staff retirement board and the Employers as those actions impact the retirement benefits and/or provision of insurance benefits to members of the Association. c. any threat to the continued full payment of retirement benefits and the provision of insurance benefits to members of the Association. 4. inform the Association membership regarding the foregoing. 10