by Chuck Cullen, CMERA President
Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Chuck Cullen, and I was elected to serve as CMERA’s President for the next two years. For the past two years, I served as Treasurer.
I want to begin by thanking Kathy Rahtz for serving as our President for the past two years. She will continue to serve on the Executive Committee. Steve Dietrich will be our Vice President and Acting Treasurer. Tom Gamel will also continue to be on the Executive Committee. Together, along with the other Directors, we will stive to provide the leadership CMERA deserves. Paul Smith, after 30 years of service to CMERA, will be no longer active on the Executive Committee.
I am strong believer in communication. It is my sole goal for this year. I intend to issue a monthly posting on the website in addition to the usual announcements and general meetings. My postings may contain important information related to retirement benefits, perhaps some activity sponsored by CMERA, some news that impacts seniors, or even my grandma’s recipe for sugar cookies – but there will be a posting.
I began my City career as a Parking Attendant making $2.50 per hour in 1971. I retired in 2001 as Parking Superintendent making slightly more money. During that time, while working at the City’s parking facilities, I obtained a bachelor’s degree from Xavier University, married, and raised a family. After leaving the City, I worked for several firms as a Parking Consultant.
It was a few years after retiring from the City that it began its reduction and/or elimination of benefits that I was promised. And while I have come to accept the Collaborative Settlement Agreement, I will never forget the callous actions of the City. I will, however, be forever thankful for the heroic members of CMERA who fought the City and preserved much of what was promised to all of us.
Even today, there remains some outstanding pension and health care issues that are before the court awaiting resolution. So, it is important to monitor those issues, and that is one of the missions of CMERA.
I hope to carry on the tradition of CMERA of being a voice for retirees. I also want to explore some ideas that I have learned from being part of other organizations. There will be opportunities for all members to contribute to CMERA. More about those opportunities next month. For now, the role of Treasurer is vacant, and I hope you consider volunteering a little of your time to fill this role.Finally, I want to thank all active members who regularly pay their dues and even make donations to the organization. I look forward to writing to you again next month and seeing you at our next meeting in May.