CORRE BOARD MEETING
October 16, 2023

Attendees: Whitehead, McSpadden, Wasilko, McRae, Kibbe, Shirley Cox, Gibson, Petrie, Hightower
Visitor: Ed Lee

Meeting called to order at ~10:05 AM

Because of lack of quorum, approval of Minutes of September meeting postponed to November meeting.

Because of lack of quorum, approval of Treasurer report for September meeting was postponed to November meeting.

Contractor Contact Team Reports
Luther will send to each contractor an analysis of pension fund asset performance during 2022 and seek input to explain status of the plans since the last Annual Funding Notices.

CNS—Gibson/Whitley
• Alight had sent out an insert about Catastrophic Drug Coverage. Inflation Reduction Act phases out coinsurance requirements beginning in. 2024.

GOLDEN SERVICES LLC—Gibson/Burton
• Proposed deadline for contract rebid has passed. Whitehead may submit previous input on retiree spouse medical coverage.

UCOR—Gibson/Manrod
• (See Manrod report from John Hickey)

ORNL—Gibson/Hightower
• Letters went out on stipend and drug plan premiums for 2024.

Committee (and Task Team) Reports

Planning--Gibson
• Social Security and Civil Service Retirement System raises will be 3.2% in 2024. Federal Employees Retirement System will be 2.2%.
• Whitehead’s appearance on Alan Beauchamp’s TV program is a notable initiative.

Nominations--Wasilko
• Items are complete.

Communications—Kibbe
• All notices to the members have been/are being sent.
• Continue working with Communications Task Team.

Website—Hubbard
• No Report

Improving Communications Task Force—McSpadden
• An Action Plan has been prepared with several prioritized items. The highest priority currently is (1) an update to the CORRE brochure. An updated, temporary version should be ready for Annual Meeting. (2) E-mail situation. Testing continues through website for message dissemination, possible cost, shareable by no more than 2 or 3 to maintain accuracy. (3) Database – all information will be useful; much information left to be defined and added. (4) An effort to add new members -- need to list all Contributing members, identifying prospective Contributing Members, possible use of Facebook Groups to ID prospective members. (5) Discover unique links on Social Media. Health Care providers probably cannot help.

Other DOE Sites—Gibson/Standifer (interim)
• Two Idaho National Lab Retirees Association Board members who would have come to Oak Ridge to attend a DOE Environmental Management Site Specific Advisory Board Chairs meeting had the meeting cancelled because of the looming government shutdown that was resolved too late.
• Savannah River Mission Completion retirees are being transitioned to a different exchange and stipend reimbursement servicer than most other SRS retirees. In 2024, this segment of their retirees will not be allowed to file claims for expenses incurred in prior years, but will still retain all of their unused stipend money for future claims.

Governmental Relations—Whitley
• Shirley Cox talked to Fleischmann’s staff person (Cindy Boshears) and Fleischmann. Shirley was asked what CORRE wants, and indicated they would be working on our requests.
• A Fleischmann representative (Ian Merritt, Legislative Director) phoned Whitehead from Washington DC and had a 30-40 minute discussion about the plight of Oak Ridge retirees.
• Whitehead will appear on local Oak Ridge TV station on October 19th with Alan Beauchamp to discuss CORRE and our mission for retirees.
• Whitehead will make a short presentation regarding our lack of COLAs in the Pension Funds to the East Tennessee Economic Council at 0730 on November 17, 2023 at the UT Outreach Center

Annual Meeting—McRae
• Whitehead read through the Action Plan and filled several open slots.

Pension Fund Analysis—Gibson
• A complex-wide analysis of net asset losses as reported in Form 5500 filings for the 2022 plan year is being compiled. Oak Ridge plans lost about 21%.

Bylaws—Shelton
• No report.

Other Business
Annual Review of CORRE Treasurer Accounts—Donna Cox
• Cox has looked at the last 4 years of activity and although there were no issues or findings, she has noted a couple of things CORRE can consider doing differently. These potential changes will be assigned to the 2024 Bylaws committee for action. Main change would be to institute a 2-party approval for expenditures (either 2 signees on checks or approval by board action). She commented on the good reporting by the Treasurer!

Legislator Form Letter & Execution Plan Forward—Shelton
• The board members will be informed upon finalization of the form letters and will be asked to pass the information along to others.
• The Cold War Patriots event (Day of Remembrance) on October 30th in Oliver Springs was mentioned as an avenue for membership (and others) to send letters. However, vendors are not invited to be present at that event.

Authorization of BOD Expenditures/Reimbursements—Petrie
• One item (printing of brochure information) was approved for payment, cost of $66.48.

Dry Run of Presentation for Annual Meeting—Whitehead
• The dry run was accomplished at the UT Outreach Center. Equipment for the hybrid process to be used was tested.

Respectfully submitted
Judy Kibbe for the Secretary