Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees (CORRE) Board of Directors Meeting
January 15, 2025

Attendees: Angelelli, Brown, Burton, Chilcoat, Franco, Gibson, Green, Hightower, Jessen, Kibbe, Livengood, McRae, McSpadden, Petrie, Riggs, Shelton, Steward, Wasilko, Whitehead

• Call to order 10:00 A.M. – Whitehead

• December 2024 Meeting Minutes – Riggs, Approved

• December 2024 Treasurer Report – Petrie, Approved

• Contractor Contact Team Reports

• CNS – Wasilko reported Pantex contract separated from Y-12 contract; CNS has 3-year contract extension (9/30/2027); discussion centered on new VIA contract and issues for retirees; confusion of elderly and information necessary from Social Security for Medicare supplement premium amounts to be reported to VIA for stipend, etc., also some confusion existed for change of record notation of certain insurors; need for better instructions to retirees and we need to work through our CNS contractor contacts.

• Simmons and Golden Security LLC – Burton would like for Simmons to attend our next meeting with them in 2025.

• UCOR – Riggs reported the K-25 Reunion Committee meeting was moved to 1/17/25 due to snow last Friday; a sponsorship package was forwarded to CORRE Board if interested. UCOR’s Strickland was in contact with 85 retirees/spouses regarding unused large balances greater than $5K and the possibility of having to forfeit monies in their Retiree Reimbursement Account (RRA) as of January 7, 2025; she reported to the AGRE team that $204K has been claimed and paid out and $161K is in denial or pending review status. AGRE and Strickland will meet again to continue to work this on February 4, 2025 . Several retirees have had their RRA stipends delayed as a result of New Year’s Day falling on Wednesday for which these funds should be deposited by January 7th.

• UT- Battelle – Hightower reported he will contact Scott McIntyre to ask about the Contract ending on 3/31/2025.

• Committee and Task Team Reports

• Planning – Gibson will kick off a Planning Committee meeting on February 5th at 10 a.m. with a work plan for the new Committee members; the meeting will last about 2 hours and will be held at the ATLC Building. All CORRE Board members will be invited.

• Nominations – Franco will be in contact with Wasilko and obtain help from Whitehead to ask 2025 Board members who will continue to serve in 2026.

• Communications – McSpadden spoke of a Communications Committee detailed report which describes the three areas that need to be addressed this year and gives recommendations for how to proceed; this was emailed to committee members with various methods, media types, etc. and progress made; a searchable database is completed; Greg Livengood interjected discussion on the DOE Office Worker Protection Program; he will be glad to submit a FOIA request for retirees information which has become the property of the Government; this will be pursued. The CORRE Winter Newsletter is ready for final review, but we want to add another page to include information about the K-25 Reunion scheduled for the last Saturday in April (April 26). He added we should invite contractors to submit brief articles similar to the Retiree Reimbursement Account information from Stephanie Strickland (UCOR), when they want to communicate with retirees; the Board suggested that this could be discussed during the planned contractor committee meetings. McSpadden continued with status of numbers of retirees/surviving spouses, CORRE contributing members, email addresses and postal mail updates.

• Website – McSpadden said the website is the solution; Byrd needs to be involved and attend Communication Committee meetings; the plan is for Birk to chair the Website committee.

• Other DOE Sites – Gibson said there was nothing new to report; he will attend the SRS April meeting; he previously sent out clarifying information on the Idaho IRS Fine forgiveness; he will work on the Pension Plan 2023 data.

• Government Relations – Discussion took place among members that with the new Presidential election and new cabinet members, there are new Committee political activities; the rumor is Jacobs and Blackburn are both running to be the new Tennessee Governor.

• Annual Meeting – McRae will obtain the application to schedule Friday, November 7, 2025, for the Annual CORRE Meeting at the New Hope Center.

• Pension Fund Analysis – Gibson discussed Pension Plans in the DOE Complex with different Contractors; each plan actuary will have to decide how to report and comply with newly required information.

• Bylaws – Shelton encouraged new and in-place Board members to familiarize themselves with the CORRE Charter and Bylaws.

• Executive (Pension Increase Initiative) – Whitehead reported on an additional Pension Increase Initiative being pursued; and we remain optimistic so please stay tuned. Brown will wait to hear more about this new initiative before proceeding with his plan to put a letter writing team together.

• Other Business

• Guideline for accepting and accounting for new members and contributions is in place; Terry Byrd is asked to establish on the website for Board members only to access.

• Financial Advisor – John Clayton will do the next independent review – Franco will contact Clayton to see if he needs anything.

• Authorization of BOD Expenditures/Reimbursements – Nothing new to approve. Terry Byrd has been paid in advance for 2025 work.

• 2025 CORRE Board Annual Work Plan - Whitehead sent the 2025 Work Plan by email; he is working on new committee planning and preparedness.

• Final 2025 CORRE Board Committee Organization chart was sent electronically attached to the CORRE Board Meeting announcement.

• 2025 CORRE Board Roster including Advisors was sent by Riggs email.

• Whitehead asked that if any Committee wants to schedule a Zoom Meeting to please contact him.

• Adjournment – 11:41 a.m.