Retirees Association Meeting Minutes

Present: Candi Agnew, Sue Baber, Tom Eyssell, Dave Ganz, David Garin, Joel Glassman, Clark Hickman, Connie Jeffries, Faith Lucas, Susan Moody, Michael Murray
Ex-Officio Absent: Lol Barton

A. Meeting was called to order at 10:04 am by President Connie Jeffries.
B. The Minutes from June 6, 2025 , and Nov 5, 2025 were accepted as amended.
C. Board Reports:

• Alumni Association: No report.
  
  
• Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Faith Lucas presented the financial report, reporting a balance of $13,312.09.  This amount does not include expenditures/income from today’s Holiday Luncheon.
  
  
• Planning and Events: Joel Glassman reported that there are 57 attendees for today’s Holiday luncheon.  He confirmed the following breakfast seminars:
  
     February, 12. 2026:   Chris Spilling, Professor of Chemistry will discuss Reshoring Generic Drugs. 
     March, 10, 2026: Professor Emerita of English, Mary Troy will discuss "Why write Fiction?"
  
  

  Joel continues to plan the tour of Grand Center as a Spring outing and working with the necessary individuals to confirm the details.

   Sue Baber asked about the possibility of providing an option to attend future breakfast seminars via Zoom in order to increase attendance.  It was discussed that the downside could be the loss of in-person interactions and potential technology issues.  However, if we decide to move to an in-person plus Zoom model, we would need to move the events to the TJ Library which has better technology. 

• Membership: No Report.  

• Nominations:Tom Eyssell discussed his work on nominations for the Retiree of the Year (ROY) award committee and the nominations to the 26-27 UMSLRA board.  He has received a nomination from the Staff Association to the ROY committee, but has been unsuccessful obtaining a nomination to the committee from the Faculty Senate/University Assembly.  He will reach out to the FS/UA chair, Erika Gibb to obtain a name to the committee.  Tom expects to send out emails for nominations to the Board and nominations for the Retiree of the Year award in January/February.

  
  Old Business There was none. 
  
  New Business 

• Constitution and Bylaws revision.  Clark Hickman provided an Executive Summary of the proposed changes to these documents. 

  Clark indicated the importance of discussion and approval of the first three changes since those changes (especially #2 and #3) will impact the work of nominations chair.  It was moved to separate the discussion to the first three proposed change at this meeting.  The the remaining changes would be discussed at the March meeting.  This motion was seconded and approved.

   

  The following changes were discussed:

   

  1. Combine the Constitution and the Bylaws into one document.
  2. Eliminate the Secretary position.
  3. Expand Board positions from 6 to 8.

   Clark provided a rationale for each of these changes. 

   Change #1.  Provides a simplification and eliminates redundancy.

   Change #2.  Eliminating the Secretary position it would allow for another board member to serve on a standing committee.  Board meeting minutes would be comprised of the written reports from the committee chairs and board officers.  Membership meetings minutes would be recorded by the president at the Fall/Holiday luncheon.  The president-elect would document the business at the Spring meeting, including the election results.  All minutes would go to the UMSLRA webmaster for posting. 

   Change #3.  This would increase member participation.

               There was considerable discussion of each of these changes. 

   Each proposal was voted on separately as follows:

   Change #1.  Passed.

  Change #2:  Passed, 5-yes, 4-opposed, 1-abstained

  Change #3.  Tom Eyssell amended this change to add 1 new member in each of next two years.  The amendment was approved.  Following discussion, change #3 was approved with one abstention.

   As approved earlier, the remaining changes will be discussed at the March meeting.

• Member vs. Non-Member fees for UMSLRA events.  There was a brief discussion of this issue.  A full discussion will take place when Melissa is attendance.

• Purchase of a CD.  David Garin inquired if the board should consider purchasing another CD as was done in the past.  There was a motion to purchase another CD in the amount of $5,000 with an 18-month maturity.  This motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

  Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 11:13 am 

  Prepared by Candi Agnew, UMSLRA Secretary, 2025-2026

   Next meeting:  Wednesday, May 6 2026, 10:00 am, 411 Woods Hall.