Third Period…1992-1995
1992 & 1993
At the January 20, 1992 Executive Committee meeting Jim Krusling, the new president, said that it was necessary to amend the By-Laws to conform with the ordinance passed on November 27, 1991. He appointed a committee to make this revision and see if any other changes were needed at this time. He asked that this be done quickly in order that the revisions would be ready for approval at the spring meeting.
At the membership meeting on May 23, 1992 Jim introduced Phil Metz, the new treasurer, and presented the revised Constitution and By-Laws to those in attendance. After some minor explanation as to why the changes were needed, a motion to approve was made. After a second the motion passed unanimously. The major change consisted in removing Section 5 of the By-Laws dealing with the responsibilities of the Retired Member Trustee. Other minor changes can be seen on Page 4a.
The newsletter for the fall meeting was sent out on October 24, 1992 together with a ballot for the election of the Vice President and Secretary. The membership was advised that the Board was still working hard to obtain additional benefits.
At the spring meeting on May 22, 1993 Jim Krusling introduced Helen Lingenfelter the new Vice President and Myrtle Stickels the Secretary. He mentioned that although the Board was working very hard there really was not much progress in obtaining any new benefits. Jim introduced Ezell Adams, the newly elected retiree member on the CRS Board of Trustees, and he said he would be cooperating with CMERA in trying to obtain the additional benefits that they were seeking.
At the August 19, 1993 Board of Directors meeting, Jim mentioned that the Benefits committee had recommended some benefit improvements, but these were voted down by the Board of Trustees. He said that this just meant that we would have to redouble our efforts.
The fall newsletter also contained a ballot for the office of the President and Treasurer. It also noted that there was no progress on any additional benefits.
On December 28, 1993 Jim Krusling and Tom Stitt had lunch at which time Jim turned over the gavel and CMERA files to Tom, the new president. He also brought Tom up to date on CMERA’s activities and their goals. He wished him luck.
1994 & 1995
On January 20, 1994 Tom Stitt met with the Officers and Directors to get to know each other, establish committees and set the course for the next two years, including a date for the spring meeting.
The spring membership meeting was held on May 21, 1994 at the Butterfield Center. Tom Stitt, the newly elected president, said that he and the Board would continue the efforts of the association to obtain added benefits. He also noted that the Finance Director Frank Dawson was seeking information from the William Mercer Company, about possible ways of financing the increase for older retirees. Frank was also contacting the University of Cincinnati (UC) about the increase, since they were not in a position to support the benefit at this time. Under new business Tom mentioned that the Board was trying to have direct depositing available instead of issuing monthly checks.
On July 8, 1994 Tom Stitt and Jim Krusling attended the Board of Trustees meeting and expressed CMERA’s frustration in the lack of progress in dealing with the request for an increase for the older retirees. Mr. Dawson mentioned that he is trying to meet with the president of UC to resolve their lack of support for this benefit.
Tom called an Executive Committee meeting for August 17, 1994. The main item at this
meeting dealt with UC not wanting to participate in giving older retirees another increase. The committee agreed that it would be wrong not to include UC retirees in any increase that city retirees might receive. It was indicated that the Board of Trustees were to meet with UC soon. If after that meeting the Retirement Board does not make a recommendation to City Council to provide an increase for older employees, CMERA would have to take this issue directly to City Council. At the end of the meeting Harvey Wilbekin advised everyone that his committee hoped to complete their work on revising the Constitution and By-Laws very soon.
On September 6, 1994 Ezell Adams was relected as the retired member of the CRS Board of Trustees. This occurred despite a strong effort by CMERA to have Ed Volpe elected.
On September 30, 1994 Tom held another CMERA Board meeting at which time he said UC had refused to participate in the increase for their older UC and hospital employees. It was subsequently agreed that CMERA should contact AFSCME and get them to join in a direct contact with City Council for this much needed benefit.
At the October 29 general meeting with over a hundred in attendance, Tom brought everyone up to date on the status of the request for additional benefits. He said the Board was going to solicit AFSCME’s help in going to City Council, and emphasized that it was extremely important to have a strong representation of retirees at these meetings.
On December 15, 1994 Tom wrote to Sol Marble, president of AFSCME, requesting a meeting to develop a uniform strategy for going to City Council for additional benefits. The meeting was held and was very successful.
On January 10, 1995 Chuck Haley, chairman of the Nominating Committee, advised Tom that Helen Lingenfelter was elected Vice President and Ron Metz was elected Secretary. These officers will serve for the next two years.
Later in January Tom and Joe Bischof met with Dwight Tillery, chairman of Council’s Finance Committee. As chairman of that committee he also held an important seat on the CRS Board of Trustees. The purpose of the meeting was to solicit his help in obtaining the Board of Trustees approval for the increase for older employees. The meeting went well and he agreed to support our position.
At the February 1, 1995 Board of Trustees meeting Mr. Tillery made a motion to increase older retirees benefits by 2% a year, starting with those that retired before January 1, 1983, with a maximum of 24%. This motion included UC and hospital retirees with the City picking up UC’s cost amounting to a little over $400,000. This motion failed. He then made a second motion excluding UC and hospital retirees and this motion passed. It should be noted that there were 1,063 City and MSD, 309 UC and 281 hospital retirees involved in this decision.
On March 20, 1995 the Finance Committee held its meeting before a crowd of retirees overflowing Council Chamber. At this meeting Tom Stitt presented a three page report stating that CMERA had been working with the Board of Trustees since June 1, 1990 relative to the older retirees need’s for an increase in their pension. This report gave detailed information as to why this increase was needed, and made the following recommendations.
- Urged the committee to support the passage of an ordinance that would increase older retirees benefits by 2% a year for each year retired before January 1, 1983, with a maximum of 24%, even though this excluded UC and hospital retirees.
- Urged the committee to have City Council pass a resolution requesting the Board of the Directors of the University of Cincinnati to grant the same benefit increase to their 590 retirees in the city retirement system.
On March 22, 1995, before a standing room crowd in Council Chamber, and after a similar presentation by Tom Stitt, Council by a 7-2 vote authorized the City Manager to prepare an ordinance providing the benefit increase for older retirees as recommended by the Finance Committee. While CMERA thanked Council for this action, Thelma Merritt, a former hospital employee and other UC retirees, complained about being left out of this benefit.
Subsequent to the above success, CMERA’s Legislative Committee began working on another revision to the Constitution and By-Laws. It had been decided that it was becoming too difficult to recruit someone to run for the President’s office. This problem was caused by the fact that this usually required a person to come in and manage the association without any knowledge as to what was going on. Therefore the Vice President position should be replaced with President-Elect. In addition to this change there were other modifications that were needed.
The spring membership meeting was held on May 20, 1995. Tom Stitt brought everyone up to date on City Council’s action of asking the City Manager to prepare an ordinance that would increase older City and MSD retirees benefits by 2% a year, starting with those that retired before January 1, 1983, with a maximum of 24%. Although this ordinance would not include UC and hospital retirees, they should not be discouraged since the City Manager, Council members and CMERA officers were all pushing the University of Cincinnati to give their retirees the same benefit.
At the June 21, 1995 City Council meeting, Tom Stitt addressed Council in support of the ordinance before them that would increase older City and MSD retirees benefits by 2% a year, starting with those that retired before January 1, 1983, with a maximum of 24%. Ordinance No. 215-1995 was passed on this date thanks especially to Dwight Tillery who took the lead in having this benefit approved.
On July 27, 1995 Omer Trippel resigned as one of CMERA’s Directors. He had served
on the Board for many years and was one of the key figures in pursuing additional
benefits. His background allowed him to gather valuable information that was
incorporated into his letters to City Council and the CRS Board of Trustees for added benefits, especially dealing with older retiree’s needs. In addition he had testified before various committees to reinforce CMERA’s position on these matters. CMERA extended their sincere thanks to him for all his years of faithful work.
At the fall membership meeting held on October 19, 1995, Tom outlined the details of the above legislation and again assured the UC and hospital retirees that everyone was still pressing the university to provide the same benefit. He also identified who was running for president and treasurer and reminded everyone that all ballots had to be returned by November 30, 1995.