OSURA Board Meeting Minutes
September, 2013
Present: Roy Arnold , Sue Borden, David Chilcote , Kelly DiCristina, Jack Drexler, Carol Kronstad, Jim Krueger,
Cheryl Lyons, Tom McClintock, Barbara Moon (recorder), Gerry Olson, Helen Polensek, Gordon Reistad ,Tom
Savage, (presiding), Terri Tower, Tony Van Vliet
Tom Savage opened the meeting at 10 am with introduction of board members.
Approval of Minutes:. Motion to approve June minutes by Tony Van Vliet, seconded by Tom McClintock.
Approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Cheryl Lyons indicated a budget committee meeting was held. The OSU Foundation
separates dues into two years due to a fiscal year change. $3370 this year. Concerns about posting of scholarship
dollars is resolved. There is a 5% charge on scholarship money, not on general fund dollars. We have $4999 in the
scholarship fund and $14, 582 in the general fund. There will be a November decision on how much we will
receive from the State for our overall budget. Some expressed concern that our budget may be reduced since we
have a larger carry over.
Roy Arnold motioned to approve treasurer’s report. Dave Chilcote seconded. Motion approved.
Old Business
Proposed budget for 2013-14: Anticipating $9000 for next year. Tom Savage noted that the committees will
have a small budget to use if needed. The budget was formulated by the finance sub-committee of Jim Krueger,
Terri Tower, Tom Savage., Kelly DiCristina, Gerry Olson and Cheryl Lyons. This budget is very similar to past
years. Jim K. said charges should go through Kelly to be paid with notification to Cheryl. No guest speaker
honorarium is being budgeted for this year. The NWRRA fall meeting has been canceled due to death of key leader
so that budget item will not be needed. Gordon Reistad pointed out that a truer budget would include “Other
Income” to reflect program income and costs. Terri suggested we designate money ahead of time to return to
University Relations so they can use the funds better. Jim K explained that our status as an affiliate of the OSU
foundation allows us to use their services and facilities which is a definite benefit. Our budget is a guideline and
allows some flexibility.
The budgeted expenses will total $14,900 for the new year.
Tony Van Vliet moved and Dave Chilcote seconded motion to approve budget. Motion carried.
AROPE & OSURA Listerve: Gerry Olson.: AROPE has existed for public employees, and OSURA was formed
as a complement. Non-OSU retirees can join AROPE, but not OSURA. A MOU was developed in March 2005
although an official signed copy has not been found. Gerry proposed the following motion:
That OSURA allow AROPE to announce their bimonthly meetings on the OSURA listserve.
Terri Tower seconded. Purpose of their meetings is to provide speakers about issues important to public employees.
OSURA would have the option to invite AROPE members to specific events, but it is not an open invitation to all
events. If OSURA members want to attend AROPE, they could do so by just paying for the lunch without
requirement to join AROPE. Four members of our board also belong to AROPE. Kelly suggested an explanation be
inserted on the listserve explaining why they are receiving the AROPE announcements. Terri suggested that the
original MOU be updated and signed. Jim clarified that only one notice per each of the 6 AROPE meetings be
permitted, with no follow up reminder notices. Motion carried.
Gerry moved that OSURA become a joint sponsor of the AROPE November 12 meeting with speaker from OPRI
talking about the COLA court case.
Tony seconded. After much discussion the motion failed.
OSURA Logo and Caps/Shirts The cap supply has been exhausted, so Terri Tower and Tony Van Vliet have
researched replacement options. Could we offer caps and/or visors A new logo design similar to one on the
brochure was proposed to use for shirts and any other embroidered wear. There has been a request to have
volunteer shirts that are lighter weight, cotton-poly blend and have a pocket. Shirt Circuit will do individual orders
for shirts that people may want at a cost of approx.. $30. OSURA will continue to provide volunteer shirts in
existing fabric with new logo (approx.. $26).
Caps: cost approx.. $15 each. Caps as a fundraiser for scholarships?
The logo design needs work, and must be of an approved style, font, etc. Consensus was to work first on the logo
for next meeting.
Further discussions regarding the caps and shirts was tabled until next meeting. Kelly said that ordering in bulk
from different vendors might really save.
Tom asked that we put out OSURA freebies at our events since we have an inventory of many items. Notify Kelly
in advance when we want to access the freebies.
Guest speakers:
Following lunch, Melinda Petersen of the OSU Alumni Association and Jenny Smrekar of the OSU Foundation
spoke to the board. Melinda outlined a proposal for a joint direct mail appeal to retired OSU faculty and staff 65
and over. This appeal would consist of a $700 OSUAA discounted life membership, $300 OSURA scholarship
endowment, and $20 OSURA annual membership which would total $1020 and qualify the person for OSU
President’s Circle. Dave Chilcote said at a future meeting we might discuss lifetime OSURA membership.
Question arose as to why the OSURA dues are not tax deductible. This will be important to clarify if we implement
a lifetime membership option.
Next step will be to come up with timing of this appeal, and Melinda will work with Tom Savage to prepare a draft
letter, etc. Terri Tower suggests using Gerry Olson and Jim Krueger as the sounding board for early drafts. Melinda
will find out if the OSURA brochure can be part of the mailing.
The board consensus was that this is a win-win proposal and to proceed. Before it is finalized, we will vote on it.
It might be worthwhile to find out if the “one contact” rule can be changed, but it might also be dangerous to bring
it up.
Gordon Reistad suggested that the OSURA scholarship be designated without the “endowment” label.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Program – Helen Polensek reported they have had no meeting since June. Winter term ’14 will have 2 athletic
events and a theater event. The Summer ’13 Bard on the Quad had 26 people participate.
Communications/Newsletter –Terri Tower asked for ideas for the fall newsletter. Carol Kronstad will provide info
on golf tournament. Newsletter will come out mid-late October.
Member Services (MS) Gordon Reistad- MS met on August 20. John Byrne was guest. Human resources asked
for retirement program at training days, and this was denied. It will be provided only once in Spring. The next
program will be on Affordable Care act on Oct. 17 3-4:30. In Winter term ‘14 a program on exercise will be
offered. John Byrne suggested a retirement resource directory be developed. Consensus was that this may already
be offered through other providers.
Volunteer Sue Borden said web site lists volunteers of the year, and other volunteer opportunities. She has a full
contingent for University Day. The Oct. 9 & 17 flu clinics need 2 more on the 17th. Career fairs Oct. 23-24 need 10
more to fill afternoon slots. Training Days also needs volunteers, and members were sent link to their website.
Golf -- Carol Kronstad reported that we had 45 golfers and 68 for the golf and dinner combined. Many of the
golfers did not sign up til the week before and committee members had to recruit participants. Carol says maybe it
is time to stop the golf tournament since only about 15 of the participants were OSURA members. The speaker
from athletic catering, Raul Vera, was very interesting. Bottom line, the event was successful but it was not easy
and may not be worth the work. She requested that the president Tom write thank you letters to the sponsors. Jim
will pass along the template for the letters. Suggested to make a discount for early registration to encourage
participation. Roy Arnold asked the committee to make a recommendation for the future.
History – no report
Membership –Dave. A meeting will be scheduled soon. There was a need to clarify associate member status. Dave
Chilcote’s committee will be discussing lifetime membership, and how to do the accounting . Also they will
discuss charging more to non-members for events. Terri Tower: do we want to have yet another category of
membership?
Special Interest Group, Travelshare – Jim Krueger: There is a small interested group Oct. 29 or Nov. 5 is the
possible new date for next meeting. There are some other interest groups that may be started later.
Staff report – Kelly DiCristina – working on the publication of the retiree directory to be distributed in January .
Need photos for cover and back cover. Would like volunteer to come and select the photos in next 10 days (Tony
Van Vliet, Gerry, Terri). She makes deposits to Foundation once a month. Possible union strike could start Sept. 23.
New Business
OSURA display at University Day expo Thurs. Sept. 19 from noon-2:00 Set up between 8-10:30 am. Terri is
updating the display board. Some of our freebies will be distributed there.
University Events: Soliciting a $1000 contribution for Nov. 1 Dick Butkus talk. Barb Moon moved that we
allocate $1000 to university events for them to use at their discretion. Roy Arnold seconded. Motion passed. We do
not want to be listed on the program as a sponsor.
Suggested speakers for future board meetings:
Dave Dodson
Kevin Ahern, the Singing prof (He is talking at ALL in Oct.)
Parking services ( Steve Clark will be talking on Oct. 3 at the TRIAD meeting about parking)
Karen Hooker
Director of HR, David Blake
Jock Mills
Dean,College of Liberal Arts- Direction of the Arts Program
Institutional Planner
Academic Learning Services
Terri Tower suggested limiting the number of speakers, since we have a time limitation at board meetings. Some of
these ideas would be good for the overall membership. Jim Krueger suggested if we have a speaker at board
meeting we could open it to members for the speaker following the meeting. We would need to meet at the
Foundation.
Reflections: Topics briefly discussed following the Board’s business meeting in a mini-retreat:
Are we satisfied with what OSURA currently offers?
Scholarships- should we add to the endowment yearly? Should we increase the number or amount of scholarships?
What activities or services should OSURA consider?
Are we making an appropriate out-reach to OSU retirees?
Kelly DiCristina noted that nothing was sent to retirees during the last year. It was suggested that it might be good
to wait at least 6 months after an OSU retiree date before sending something out so as not to overload new retirees.
Are we a service or an educational/social organization? Are we trying to do too much? We might not be doing that
much to reach out to a wider community.
Where are we with the one free year of membership?If we get them to sign up for a free year, then we can mail to
them. If they are in the retiree directory, then they can be on the listserve if they so indicate.
Jim- can we get on the agenda at department meetings to talk about OSURA?
Maybe we need to have an outside speaker again? David Sarahson might be good. Suggested that Jim contact him.
Could we cooperate with the Center for Healthy Aging?
We need to look for opportunities to serve where there is a gap.
Meeting adjourned at 2:55pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Moon
Board meetings: Fridays, 10:00 A.M, Cascade Hall: Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6, Jan 10, Feb 7, Mar 7, Apr 4, May 2;
May 7 Ann. Mtg.