Executive Board
Minutes
President Benson
called the meeting to order at
Greg McBride was
appointed by President Benson to serve as the Sergeant at Arms.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Ron Goldstein agreed
to have his member items removed as they were going to be addressed under the
President’s report. President Benson
also stated he would be addressing the AFL-CIO reorganization and the SEIU
proposal.
The agenda was
adopted as follows:
a)
Priorities
Update
b)
Approval
of USWA Contract/MC Benefits Synopsis
c)
Quality
Service Award
d)
OSC
Pension Fund Presentation
a)
Budget
Amendment
b)
Fiscal
Update
c)
Approval
of Hearing Ethics Panel
d)
Privatization
Contingency Fund Appropriation
e)
Contingency
Fund Approval for
Field Offices for voice-mail
Executive Board
Minutes
Page 2
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - continued
a)
Division
190 Appeal – Carusone vs. Besser
b)
Delegate
Apportionment
c)
Delegate
Election Rules
a)
Dealing
with Convention Resolutions
b)
Anti
Outsourcing Resolution
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
A motion was
presented, seconded and carried to approve the
A motion to approve
the
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Transit Chek
President Benson reported a contract had been negotiated with an outside provider that was to administer this benefit to the five boroughs, and it had cleared the Attorney General’s Office and was now being reviewed by the State Comptroller’s Office. He continued stating it would be signed in the very near future and was expected to be implemented in the next several months.
Job Security
President Benson reported that the administration was very proud that there had not been one state PEF member laid off against their will for the last seven and a half years and it was his intention that this remain in tact. He did report there were several agencies that would be under attack during the next several months, Corrections; OMH; and the Department of Labor and spoke on the issues regarding these agencies.
Executive Board Minutes
Page 3
Stronger Contracts
Reported on highlights of the contract, and stated he would be getting a team together to present to the Executive Board within six to nine months for thenext round of negotiations..
Mobilization
President Benson stated the administration would continue to focus on mobilization and that it would continue to be an administration priority.
He also reported that he along with the Secretary-Treasurer would strongly protect the contract war chest that was established as a result of the dues increase at the 2000 Convention.
Retirement Reform
Reported on retirement defaults and the seriousness of the retirement benefits that everyone is facing.
Politics
Spoke on national election and state elections and problems we will be facing on the national level and thanked the heroes who committed themselves in the swing states in the national election. Also commented on State elections.
Parole Fragmentation
Gave background on the fragmentation and updated and stated there would be three basic issues at the hearing scheduled and he would give updates as they occur.
AFL-CIO Restructuring
Referred to handout “Unite to Win” produced by SEIU and spoke on concerns with AFL-CIO and other union officials regarding the restructuring proposed plan.
OSC Pension Fund
President Benson answered questions on his report and introduced Tom Sanzillo, First Deputy Commission from the State Comptroller’s Office. Mr. Sanzillo gave an overview of the pension fund status
Laura Anglin, Deputy Commissioner,
Division of Retirement Services, gave an update on what had happened with the
contribution levels over the last few years and what has been the political
response from the Governor and the Legislature.
Mr. Sanzillo and Ms. Anglin
assured PEF that they are working very hard to protect the fund.
Executive Board Minutes
Page 4
Executive Board Meeting recessed for Lunch
Proceedings Resumed
President Benson answered questions presented from the Executive Board members and concluded his report.
ERC 2004-06 Edward Ryan vs. Jane Hallum
Donald Morgenstern, Chair of the Ethics Committee provided a summary of the case and a motion carried to hear the appeal.
Approval of the USWA Contract/ MC Benefit Synopsis
A motion was made, seconded and carried to go into Executive Session to discuss the contract.
Upon ending the Executive Session, a motion was made, seconded to approve the USWA contract. The motion carried. A motion also carried to approve the MC Benefits Synopsis.
SECRETARY-TREASURER’S
REPORT
Secretary-Treasurer Hallum began her report clarifying the roll of the Secretary-Treasurer, stating she served as a Comptroller and reported that the President did not have authority over her. She read from the Constitution other duties directed to her office. Ms. Hallum also spoke on prior notification for use of EOL and also reported that PEF was now in the process of helping to define division membership.
Budget Amendments
Secretary-Treasurer Hallum referred to the attached proposed budget amendments. She explained the rationale for the amendments. A motion was made, seconded and the budget amendments were adopted. (see attachment A)
Fiscal Update
Ms. Hallum gave an explanation of the “Executive Board Meeting Year to Date September 2004 Financial Statements”. She went over each section and answered questions from the Board members.
Approval of Ethics Hearing Panel
Ms. Hallum presented the following names to the Ethics
Hearing Panel: Jim Blake, Rich Ensminger, Bill Holthausen, Susan
Stepp and Mary Willis. She further stated there would be a new hearing
panel for each case. The names presented
were seconded and carried.
Executive Board Minutes
Page 5
SECRETARY-TREASURER’S REPORT – continued
Regarding the issue of the contingency appropriation to extend the first year’s dues to retirees, Ms. Hallum reported on what had transpired.
Privatization Contingency Fund Appropriation
President Benson referred to the Accountability Campaign that had been mailed to the Executive Board and gave background on the issue. The proposal was moved and seconded.
Charlie Kelefant moved to amend the proposal to have it implemented immediately; to add $50,000 to the $150,000 which would provide for grants from agencies or divisions to the job security committee. The grants to be funded at a maximum of $50,000 and the total appropriation would be $200,000. This amendment received a second.
Both Mr. Kelefant and Mr. Keenan’s amendments failed.
The main motion, to accept the first three months of the privatization outsourcing shadow agency campaign for $150,000 as described in the handout carried. Also a proposal for $850,000 would be presented at the March Executive Board meeting.
Meeting recessed at
Meeting Reconvened at
President Benson called the meeting to order and members joined in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Executive Board Minutes
Page 6
SECRETARY-TREASURER’S
REPORT – continued
Contingency Fund Approval for
Secretary-Treasurer Hallum referred to the
document regarding addition of
Voicemail to
$7291.08 and also web server for Divisions Migration to Web
Based Reports Among Other Initiatives. The rack based server would be $1585 and the server would be $4,610.65 for a total
amount of $21,425.71.
This contingency fund approval was moved, seconded and carried.
The Secretary-Treasurer’s report was concluded.
Quality Service Award
President Benson introduced Senator Mary Lou Rath, recipient of the Quality Service Award. Senator Rath addressed the Board and thanked them for this award.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Division 190 Appeal – Carusone vs. Bessser
Frank Besser, Chair of the Divisions Committee gave the background for this case and the issue of timeliness of the appeal. The committee had ruled that the appeal had not been received with a thirty day time limit.
After debating this issue, the committee’s ruling was overturned and the decision would be referred back to the committee for decision on the merit.
At this time Bernie Kahn moved that it be the policy of PEF that appeal notices be mailed certified and the thirty day time frame start upon receipt of the signatures of such documents being received, There was a second to this motion.
President Benson stated it would be premature to pass a
motion regarding the start of the thirty days, and asked for the board’s
approval to remove that from the motion regarding certified mail and he would
put together a small committee to report back to the Board on the issue of time
frame. There was no objection to this
request from Mr. Kahn. After debate, this entire issue of time and certified
mail was referred to an ad hoc committee.
Executive Board Minutes
Page 7
Delegate Apportionment
Gail Stallone, Chair of the Delegate Elections Committee
referred to the document that had been previously mailed out. A motion was made to adopt the delegate
apportionment and it received a second.
A motion carried to adopt the constituencies as presented with the exception to the following: 179, 176, 173, 174, 323, 367, 249, 250, 251, 373, 311, 309 and 381.
Ron Manuli moved that 179 stay separate from 176, received a second and it carried.
Tom Donahue moved that 173 be Gabriels,
Moriah and Chateaugay and
Bill Crotty moved that OASAS be removed from 367 to 323. This was seconded and carried.
Bernice Jones moved to combine 249, 250, 251 and 373. This was seconded and carried.
Don Morgenstern moved that to combine 311 and 309. This was seconded and it failed.
Charlie Kelefant moved to move 381 out of DOT Main Office and given them their own constituency in Region 10. This was seconded and carried.
Reconsideration was made to constituency 110. Neila Cardus moved that 110 be separated, one seat for Region 8 and one for Region 9. This was seconded and carried
Reconsideration was made to constituency 228 and 229. Steve Sherokey
moved to change the
The delegate apportionment was adopted as amended. (Attachment B)
Executive Board Minutes
Page 8
Delegate Election Rules
Gail Stallone, Chair of the Delegate Elections Committee presented the Delegate Rules for the 2005 Convention that had been previously mailed to the Executive Board.
to include in the last line, “only members submitting a petition have a right to appeal the election of the delegates.” This amendment to the amendment was seconded and carried as were as the amendment to post on the PEF’s web site in adobe format.
The delegate election rules were adopted with the inclusion
of the two amendments. (Attachment C)
Ethics Case 2004-06 Ryan vs. Hallum
Don Morgernstern, Chair of the Ethics Committee provided background on the case as to the denial of the charges. A motion carried to allow both parties to respond.
Mr. Ryan presented his case and Ms. Hallum presented her case.
After debating this case, the Executive Board voted to sustain the committee’s recommendation to deny all charges.
MEMBER ITEMS
Dealing with Convention Resolutions
Gary Coopersmith brought up the procedure of voting on convention resolutions and some confusion on the issue. President Benson reported that Convention Delegates would be voting on the text of the resolution, not the committee recommendations, and the body could also choose to accept the resolution committee’s resolution.
Executive Board Minutes
Page 9
Anti Outsourcing Resolution
A motion was made, seconded and carried to adjourn.
The meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
JANE HALLUM
Secretary Treasurer
Attach.
THE MINUTES WERE ADOPTED AS PRINTED ON