REGION 1 NEB Comments – Mar  2009 

An NEB meeting was held 4-6 Mar 2009.  Below are informal notes, observations and comments. .

 Finance.  The investment managers addressed the NEB and discussed their respective investment portfolios for NARFE.  Although the portfolios were down, it was decided to “stay the course” at this time regarding NARFE’s investments. The entire NEB has taken many steps to save funds during this difficult period. This has included reducing travel and expenses in a number of areas and all the members of the NEB have agreed to a reduction in their overall budgets of 10%.

 Unified Dues Referendum. The NEB voted in favor of a referendum for Unified NARFE Dues that was approved by consensus.  Election Services Corporation (ESC) will handle the mailing and tabulation of the referendum at no cost to NARFE.  Ballots are scheduled to go out on or about September 1st to chapter secretaries, and the cut-off date of completed ballots returned to ESC is on or about December 2nd.  Articles concerning the referendum will appear in the NARFE magazine and in correspondence from NARFE HQ.

 Membership.  Director of Membership Development John R. Clements presented the membership plan updates for 2008 and 2009. New bookmarks have been prepared that can be used as handouts to assist with member recruitment efforts.

These may be obtained at no cost from the HQ Membership Services Department.

Silver Circle.  Due to its success, the program will continue. A New Silver Circle pin with no date is now available for a donation of $25 or more. Over $75,500.00 has been raised to date with 21 members donating $1000.00 or more.

Legislative Comments. A new Legislative handbook has been prepared and is now available from NARFE HQ. During the first week of June, 2009, at the beginning of Congressional Recess, a conference call among the Regional Vice Presidents, Federation Presidents and Federation Legislative Chairs within a region will take place. Schedule to be announced later.

Federation Presidents Meeting.  There will be a Federation President’s Meeting on 20 – 23 July, 2009 at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids, MI which is the site for the National Convention in 2010.

Miscellaneous Topics.  

Manuals and Reports. The need for Chapter/Federation Presidents to pass on manuals and reports to their successors was stressed. New Presidents should get a package from HQ. If not obtained it may be requested by calling HQ Chapter and Federation Services. If extra copies are obtained, pass them on to the Vice President.

F-7 and F-7A. Chapter and Federation presidents may now access the F-7 and F-7A forms online.  Chapter/Federation presidents may delegate this access to their secretary or other officers by giving them their last name (Chapter/Federation presidents) and NARFE membership ID number. To update the officer roster in your chapter or federation, please select one of the links below.  You will be asked to enter your last name and membership ID again to verify that you are a current Chapter or Federation president.  Your current officer information will be displayed on the online form.  Each officer position (unless vacant) will list the last name and member ID of the incumbent.  If none of them have changed, simply mark “no change” and submit.  If they have changed, mark “change” and fill in the last name and member ID of the new officer.  All changes/updates to the online officer rosters will be posted NLT the 15th of each month.

Also, as the Chapter/Federation president, you can request to stop receiving paper copies of NARFE reports.

Once you have logged into the proper form at the top of the page, you will be asked to select YES or NO to continue receiving paper reports.  If you select YES, your officers will continue to receive paper reports. And if you select NO, this means no officers in your Chapter/Federation will receive paper reports that are available on the website.  For example, we cannot honor requests to not send you the M-112 but continue to send a paper copy to your membership chair.  Please let your other Chapter/Federation officers know if you have chosen the “no paper report” option.

Presidents Serving as Treasurers.  The NEB reconsidered the statement made in the minutes of its meeting in November 2008 regarding a chapter president serving as chapter treasurer and the spouse of chapter president serving as treasurer.  By consensus, the NEB decided that the issue can best be dealt with by chapter and federation officials.  The NEB recommends that chapters and federations provide for an annual audit.  In addition, a statement to that effect should be included in their bylaws when they are revised. An audit checklist has been prepared and will be available on the NARFE site under the forms listing.

Photos Sent to NARFE. Photos sent to NARFE that could not be published in the magazine may be seen in the members section by clicking on the NARFE magazine, then on the Out & About Photo Gallery, and on the month of the issue in which it might have been available.

Slogan.  A revised slogan was adopted: “NARFE, Working For You”.

Alzheimer’s Association. Late breaking news, NARFE members have contributed over $8 million to Alzheimer’s.

 

Augie Stratoti, Regional Vice President Region I