Welcome and Lunch
In Fred's absence, Vice President Janet Simross brought the meeting to order, welcoming everyone and opening with words and moment of silence for Fred and his family, due to the tragic death of his wife Kay in a recent auto accident. Janet then led us in singing America the Beautiful and The Pledge of Allegiance and Innvocation Prayer.
A delicious buffet lunch was then served by the church cooking staff. Following lunch Janet had everyone applaud the lunch staff for their efforts.
Program
Eileen McNally introduced our speaker for the day, current ORTA President Dave Gynn. Dave explained that Eileen had been our area Trustee, but LCRTA no longer qualifies to have that by the wonderful volunteering that we teachers are known for, every time you volunteer you are in essence "voting" for the kind of community you want. He urged us all to keep track of our volunteering, and try to do just a little more than we did last year. Also, be sure to report your hours so they can be collected by our chapter, as ORTA combines the volunteer hours from all chapters and then converts these services to equivilant pay of about $21/hr.--over $10 million for all of our hours!
Retired teachers certainly contribute a lot!
Dave also shared that the new legislation has just been passed for the 5 Ohio Public Employment systems. No others alterations could take place while the current changes were in legislation for the past 3 years. This year there was bipartisan support for the legislation. Future retirees will have to pay more and will work longer in order to sustain a system of defined benefits. Our 3% COLA will NOT be given next year, and then reduced to 2% after that time. COLA is in control of STRS and can make changes when necessary.
ORTA and STRS have worked together well for about 65 years. They both want adequate health care for all. Healthcare has always been provided, and they want to continue to do so, but it is not a guarantee through the legislature. They continue to negotiate with several different companies to offer the best possibilities.
Remember, if you do leave STRS Healthcare, you can not come back to the system.
Recent questions have been brought up about changes with doctors and hospitals in-and-out of network and their co-pay options. Dave mentioned that there are several meetings to address these new healthcare changes-Oct.25 & Nov.9 in Columbus--but Eileen will check on these for everyone, as she thinks the meetings may already been filled. Dave stated that if we have enough interest, a representative may be able to come to Newark for a meeting to address our concerns.