Retirees Association Meeting Minutes

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

Meeting was called to order at 10:03 am by President-Elect Glark Hickman.  Connie Jeffries participated by phone due to illness.

I. Approval of Minutes:  The Minutes from December 12, 2025 were accepted as written.

II. Treasurer’s Report: 
- The report reflected a balance of 10,856.38.  This total does not include funds from the Alumni Association which will offset the Holiday luncheon expenses. 
- The report also includes an expenditure of $5,000 to purchase a CD with a 6-month maturity and a 3.65% APY.

III. Report of the Alumni Association 
Sarah Scribner, Director of Alumni Engagement provided information on the following:
Membership/Recruitment Campaign 
- The enrollment campaign runs from April 15th to May 31st.
- Postcards for membership are being mailed and will include updated enrollment page links.
- Postcards target current annual members, potential new members, and past members who have not renewed.
- Digital postcards and email reminders will be sent to various groups.

Website Accessibility and Content Update: 
- Retirees Association webpage will be cleaned up and outdated content removed.
- All new PDFs for the webpage must be ADA accessible.  This means the minutes, newsletters and other documents must be a Word document.  Past newsletters grandfathered.  Sue Baber discussed a concern with the newsletters which are currently sent via email as a PDF attachment.  In order to solve this issue, the newsletter may need to be reformatted. 
- The Director of Advancement Communication, Kala Dunn will email Lol Barton to discuss the implications of this new policy.  Sue Baber, Connie Jeffries and Clark Hickman asked to be copied on this communication. 

Other items:

- Kevin Smith is at home and doing well.
- The official opening of the Richter Center is scheduled for September 10, 2026.
- The 2026 UMSLRA Holiday luncheon will take place in the Richter Center.  The tentative date is December 11.  There will be a new campus caterer by that time.

IV. Report of the Activities Committee and Preparation for the Spring Luncheon

 Joel Glassman reported the following: 
- Both breakfast meeting were successful.
- There was a brief discussion of ideas to increase attendance.  Any increase in attendance may require moving the breakfast meeting from 411 Woods Hall, which can only hold 12-14 attendees.
- The details have been finalized for the April 28^th walking tour of Grand Center.  Joel will work with Connie to send out a detailed announcement to the membership. 

Susan Moody reported the following concerning the June 5^th Spring luncheon and General Meeting:
- Susan will reserve Glen Echo Country Club for a luncheon count of 70.
- She will work with the Alumni Association on the invitations.
- Clark Hickman reminded the board that the changes to the Bylaws will be a part of the lunch program. 
- Sue Baber will have information on the luncheon and possibly the bylaw changes in the upcoming newsletter.

 V. Report of the Membership Committee, Melissa Hattman:
Melissa (via FaceTime) reported the following:
- She has worked with Sarah and Kevin on the membership drive.
- Postcards will be sent to current members, potential new members, and previous annual members who haven’t renewed their membership.
- A digital version of the membership postcard will be placed on Facebook and our website.

 VI. Report of the Communications Committee, Sue Baber
Sue requested that all news items and announcements for newsletter should be sent to her by April 1^st.  The newsletter will be sent to members by the first week of May.

 VII.     Report of the Nominating Committee, Tom Eyssell

 Tom reported the following: 
- He has received one active and one pending submission for both categories (faculty and staff) for this year’s Retiree of Year award.  The next step will be to present these nominations to the Selection Committee.
- Tom needs one more nomination for the board in order to complete the slate which will be voted on at the Spring luncheon.

VIII. Old Business.

.  Finalize discussion of the Bylaws and Constitution merger, Clark Hickman 
A revised copy of the Bylaws changes was discussed.  

Bylaws and Membership Definition Revisions
- Proposed changes to bylaws regarding associate membership and pre-retiree inclusion.
- Discussion on defining 'retiree' due to UM system retirement program changes.
- Proposal to include retired employees, former employees (55+), and pre-retirees as regular members.

 Board Meeting and Committee Structure Updates
- Standing committees combined for clarity, terminology simplified.
- Clarification on suspension of bylaws and moderating social media platforms.
- Procedures for presidential and officer vacancies, and member attendance at board meetings, are updated.
- Revisions #4-15 from the Executive Summary were approved.
- The Purpose, Article I membership sections will be revised and discussed at the May 6^th board meeting.
- Membership must have 21 days to review these changes in order to be voted on at the June 5^th luncheon.

ix. New Business

 Melissa discussed the following:
Non-Member Engagement Strategy
- Proposed to allow non-members to attend events like the holiday luncheon for a higher fee.
- Aims to incentivize non-members to join by highlighting membership benefits.
- Facebook group members who are retirees but not RA members are a target group. 

Lifetime Membership Upgrade Incentive
- Proposal for annual members to upgrade to lifetime membership.
- Up to five years of annual dues can be applied towards the lifetime fee.
- Possibly announce this idea at the Spring luncheon during the President’s remarks.
- Melissa will start working fine-tune this initiative over the summer.

 The meeting was adjourned at 11:42 a.m.
Prepared by Candi Agnew, UMSLRA Secretary, 2025-2026 

Next meeting:  Wednesday, May 6 at 10:00 am in 411 Woods Hall