Coalition of Oak Ridge Retirees (CORRE) Board of Directors Meeting
February 21, 2024
And Zoom Online Meeting

Attendees: Chilcoat, S. Cox, Gibson, Hightower, Jessen, Kibbe, McRae, McSpadden, Petrie, Randolf, Riggs, Shelton, Stocks, Whitley, Whitehead

• Call to Order by Whitehead

• January Board Meeting Minutes – Approved

• January Treasurer Report – Petrie, Approved; After CD discussion, the Board approved Petrie obtaining the best interest rate for CDs; Action; Petrie will negotiate best CD rates.

• Contractor Contact Team Reports

• CNS - A meeting is planned for the first week in August.

• Golden Services LLC – Gibson updated Golden Services is moving toward new contract but it could be awarded to them unless breaking news otherwise; also had discussions with Idaho and SRS.

• UCOR – A meeting is planned for July; Lenora Hennen retires at March end; Stephanie Strickland will be the contact.

• UT-Battelle – Hightower reported Scott McIntyre and Chris Dunaway are on for May 9 meeting.

• Committee (and Task Team) Reports

• Planning – Gibson led discussion on activities; Strategic Plan still good.

• Nominations - Gibson mentioned an SME needed for acting; process follows annual work plan.

• Communications – see below

• Website – see below

• Improving Communications Task Team – McSpadden combined communications, website and improving communications task team efforts; we need an estimate (one-time-fee) from Terry Byrd on the creation of the data base which is separate from his normal good work of website maintenance costs; McSpadden asked for a volunteer to do a quarterly/monthly newsletter as a new feature for the CORRE website in hopes to have a newsletter ready by April; It was agreed Board approval of the newsletter will be obtained before it is released. McSpadden discussed research of a Facebook page and we can join with already established local Facebook contact administrators to link our website or put a message about our newsletter on their Facebook pages; McSpadden asked for a volunteer to contact the local Social Media Administrators to get info on their websites; Discussion centered around CNS Cares contacting CORRE to do a newsletter and/or provide CORRE messages; planning is underway to consider this with CNS Cares; there are several other professional case management organizations in this area and what they purport to do for retired employees was discussed; Cold War Patriots is the only non-profit organization; Whitley can vet these organizations. Action – Riggs will resend Trinity information contact to McSpadden and Whitehead.

• Other DOE Sites – Stocks discussed updating contacts at other DOE sites and mentioned investment firms.

• Governmental Relations – Cox talked about monthly meeting with staffers; Action – She will research ETEC meeting climate and meeting areas.

• Annual Meeting – McRae contacted the UT Outreach Center and they are booked; New Hope asks for a $500 fee and separate charges apply to audio visual equipment, which were waived the last time we used it. Action – Dave will appeal to Diane Grooms; McRae wrote a request letter to his church. Action – Whitley will ask his church family life center if we may hold the annual meeting at that site. Action – McRae will ask the AMSE and Pollard Auditorium what they charge.

• Pension Fund Analysis – Gibson said the Annual Funding Notices come out 120 days from the end of the Plan Years; Action - he will ask Contractors for zip codes.

• Bylaws – Shelton has reviewed Donna Cox independent review and comments; Action - Shelton will send to the Bylaws committee for review of changes very soon.

• Executive (Pension Increase Initiative) – Whitehead reported that Wasilko and Ed Mee have been working on a candidate for a “poster retiree” in order to provide an example of economic need to our Congressionals; Action - Whitehead will keep our presentation slides updated.

• Other Business

• Financial Advisor Appointment Needed – Whitehead asked for all Board members to consider someone who can do this work.

• Authorization of BOD Expenditures/Reimbursements – nothing new to report.

• Adjournment at 11:45 a.m.