February Edition
By Chuck Cullen, President
It’s February. The snow has ended (maybe) and temperatures are moderating. The Reds will have their first spring training session on February 19. At Lowe’s last night, employees were stacking some of their resin plastic outdoor furniture in front of the storefront. I still don’t feel that warm yet, however, at least I’m not frozen.
As President, I made an executive decision. I decided to name my monthly posting The CMERA Chronicle. If you have a better name, let me know.
Did the amount of your retirement payment change in January and again in February? There are at least three times each year when the amount of your monthly retirement payment will likely change. The January payment reflects changes in withholding taxes. The February payment has updated medical, dental and eye care insurance costs. Also, once a year, you should receive a cost-of-living increase.
By now you should have received your Form 1099-R from the City. If not, call the Retirement Office at 513-352-3227.
Meanwhile, at 801 Plum Street…City Councilmembers are back to work after for 2024. They met on January 2. This was the first meeting of the newly elected or re-elected Councilmembers. Their first act was to officially be sworn into their new position and receive their committee assignments. They did pass one resolution that reflected their support for fair housing credit legislation that is currently before the US Congress. There were a lot of notices for establishments requesting liquor permits, and zoning hearings. On January 31, a Code of Conduct for Councilmembers was introduced and will be examined in a committee. Council also sent to a committee an ordinance to sell $23M in revenue bonds for the expansion of Convention Center.
The Retirement Board’s last meeting was February 1, 2024. They were introduced to about 170 pages of documents reporting on the fund’s investments, an update to the investment policy, the current market environment, and a few other reports. Their next meeting is May 2. You can get more information by exploring their website (https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/retirement/crs-board-of-trustees/board-meetings-minutes/) Also, their meetings can be viewed on Citicable www.cincinnati-oh.gov/media.
Mark this Date: The CMERA spring general meeting is Saturday May 11th at First Unitarian Church at the corner of Linton Avenue and Reading Road. The meeting starts at 10 a.m. and, as usual, a social hour with coffee and donuts will begin at 9 a.m.
The CMERA Executive Committee met on January 25 via Zoom. We discussed an assortment of topics including:
- Safe storage of documents (financial records, minutes, etc.)
- Accepting credit card payments for membership fees and donations
- 2023 financial report
- Updating the website
- Preliminary article assignments for spring newsletter
That’s it for February.