Board Meeting Minutes Academic Year 2009-2010

Board Minutes

Glenn Irvin and Barry Bruns

Meeting DateMajor Topics
5/13/2009 New budget for 2009-2010 was approved. Amount of annual Student Scholarship was increased from $5,000 to $6,500. Membership Enrollment Form for 2010 was approved. Increase of annual membership donation to $20 was approved. Lonnie Ostrom suggested more vigorous advertising and fund-raising for the organization. Purchase of equipment for Video History project was approved. Appointments for committee and sub-committee chairs for 2009-2010 were ratified.
9/9/2009 Eric Sloan briefed the Board on State budget issues that affect ASU. No golf tournament again this year. Verde Canyon Railroad trip for this fall sold out. Sixty people attended Dick Murra's briefings on health insurance. Obituaries will be sent via e-mail and posted on the Web, with just a summary printed in Prime Times. Budget indicates a need for fund-raising to support our scholarship, Video History, and Adopt-a-Family programs.
10/14/2009 We will explore use of digital voice recording equipment to transcribe our Video History interviews. Holiday Potluck luncheon is planned for December. Hugh Downs likely speaker at this year's Retirees Day. A March "Spring Fling" day trip is being planned. ASRS is considering adding fees for certain services. The Tri-University Legislative Liaison meeting will take place 10/19/2009 and lunch for presenters and attendees will be paid for by the ASURA. Obituary announcements are now available on the ASURA Web site. ASURA's officers may send the membership some announcements that are thought to be of interest to members, though not directly about ASURA business. ASU retirees may purchase a gold ASU parking decal at Parking Services for $280 per year. A retiree Sun Card will serve as proof of eligibility.
11/18/2009 Adopt-a-Family provided Halloween baskets for a family. We are leasing 3TB of space from ASU for the Video History Project. Donations made to the Foundation for ASURA with unspecified purpose will be counted as donations to the ASURA Operations fund. ASRS is considering reducing the percentage of employer contributions that are paid out to individuals who withdraw from the system prior to retirement. Barbara Bradford Eschbach is planning our Breakfast/Fashion Show for January 12.
12/09/2009 January interviews are scheduled for the Video History Project. Holidy Pot Luck is December 17. Hugh Downs will be luncheon speaker at Retirees Day. The Board Nominations committee is being formed. Finance Committee presented a report that will be discussed in a special meeting January 27, 2010. Breakfast/Fashion Show is scheduled for January 12.
01/13/2010 Members will be encouraged to join Sun Devil Advocates to assist ASU in influencing public opinion and the State government. The current-year budget was revised. Doug Johnson replaces Lonnie Ostrom on the Board.
01/27/2010 Management and use of endowed accounts was discussed, and some decisions were made, in particular regarding the existing ASURA Scholarship Endowment account. A motion regarding financial management of ASURA travel events was passed. An initial fundraising committee (Joyce Hartman Diaz and Doug Johnson) was appointed.
02/10/2010 Our phone bill is going up considerably. Positions on several Legislative bills were decided upon (HB2389 - reduction in the amount of employer contributions for employees that will be returned upon termination by means other than retirement; HB 2390 - Alternate Contributions for ASRS members who have returned to work; HB 2341 - LTD premiums paid by employees; SB 1011 - faculty members allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus).
03/10/2010 Portions of the Foundation agreement on the ASURA Scholarship Endowment were approved. ASURA will begin having a representative attend each pre-retirement meeting that ASU Human Resources conducts, and our application form will be included in the packet that is given to pre-retirees. ASURA has a new projector. The election for 2010-2011 Board members completed successfully, and officers for the upcoming year were approved by the Board. ASURA will review the possibility/advisability of using a non-Foundation account for its funds other than the Scholarship Endowment fund.
03/24/2010 Final criteria for the Foundation agreement on the ASURA Scholarship Endowment were agreed upon. Since there was not a quorum, and since there had been adequate discussion at earlier meetings, an e-mail voting process will be used to vote on the final criteria.
04/17/2010 Presentations by our scholarship recipient and by our Living Video History Project committee were enjoyed. Lattie Coor gave the luncheon address on "The Arizona We Want". The  ASURA Annual Report for 2009-2010 was distributed.