MINUTES of the 48th ANNUAL STATE CONVENTION
Of the
SOUTH CAROLINA FEDERATION OF NARFE CHAPTERS
APRIL 9-11, 2012
Springmaid Beach Resort, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
The 48th annual Convention of the South Carolina NARFE Federation of Chapters was held at the Springmaid Beach Resort, Myrtle Beach, SC, April 9-11, 2012. The convention was hosted by the Myrtle Beach Chapter 1015 with assistance from the Pawley’s Island Chapter 1958. Sam Quade served as the convention’s host; Bill Nicol served as the convention’s chairperson.
Monday, April 9, 2012
President/Convention Chair Nicol called the delegates to order and opened the Convention in the Springmaid Beach Resort’s Convention Center at 4:10 pm on April 9, 2012. Chaplain Nellie Bodenhamer offered the invocation and a moment of silence.
The Charleston chapter of the Rolling Thunder of South Carolina made the presentation of the colors and posted the flags in the front of the Convention Center beside the speaker’s rostrum. Sam Quade led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
President Nicol welcomed the convention delegates and guests. He then introduced Brad Dean, President of the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Dean welcomed the attendees to Myrtle Beach and spoke about the conversion of the Myrtle Beach AFB to the new Market Commons and the addition of the new Boardwalk, the Sky Wheel, and Broadway at the Beach. He also thanked the attendees for their service to the United States.
President Nicol introduced the SC Federation officers Sally DePreker (1st VP), Kathryn Hensley (2d VP), and Joe McCarty (Treasurer). Pat Currie was introduced as acting convention secretary, in lieu of 2011 Federation Secretary, Esther Crandall, who had recently passed away. The President then introduced National Vice President Paul Carew, Region III Vice President Don Stewart, Margaret Baptiste, past National and SC Federation President, and John Geiger, past SC Federation President.
Acting Secretary Currie read the roll call and reported that all Federation officers, DFOs and Chapters were present or accounted for. A quorum was declared. The rules of the convention were presented and adopted. It was suggested that delegates from the same chapter should sit together to facilitate discussions.
President Nicol announced that the Minutes of the 2011 Convention had been distributed earlier via email. Bill Jaillet moved to waive the reading of the minutes and accept them as written; Margaret Baptiste seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Nominations Chair Bill Nicol reported that the Nominating Committee had seven candidates for the eight vacant positions. He indicated that the slate of nominees still needed someone to fill the secretary’s position. The candidates were:
President William Jaillet
1st Vice President Salle DePreker
2nd Vice President Kathryn Hensley
Treasurer Joe McCarty
Chaplain Nellie Bodenhamer
Historian Paul Donahue
Sergeant-At-Arms Charles Giavelli
Secretary Pat Currie (Tentative)
President Nicol asked the delegates from the Chapters in each district to meet and elect a District Field Officer to represent them. The selections were to be announced at Wednesday morning’s session.
President Nicol indicated that the convention’s objective was to help chapters achieve their objectives as they are the backbone of the organization.
National Vice President Carew greeted the delegates and passed on a message from National President Beaudoin and the other national officers. He gave a presentation on the problems NARFE is facing in terms of membership retention including addressing the aging membership, the lack of interest/involvement of active employees, and the appearance of competing organizations with similar representational interests. He indicated that increased membership will bring in more dollars which will enable NARFE to offer more programs which will bring in more membership and repeat the cycle.
National Vice President Carew presented a variety of statistics on the declining membership, ways to get dropped members to rejoin, and the creation of the national E-Chapter. He indicated that the E-Chapter had over 2500 members, including many active employees, and that Florida had started an additional E-Chapter. He indicated that he did not think the E-Chapter was the solution to the membership problem, and that chapters need to work harder on retaining and expanding their current membership.
National Vice President Carew also presented several advances being made by the national NARFE offices. The IT department has put many monthly reports on line and available to local chapters and state federations. They have also developed on-line activity modules (OAMs) that assist with membership information, monthly reports, and chapter activities.
National Vice President Carew indicated that the national NARFE goal was to have a balanced budget in 2012. The Protect America’s Heartbeat program was expensive and a detriment to having a balanced budget. Retaining/Increasing membership and the resulting dues should assist in balancing the budget.
National Vice President Carew indicated that the last 18 months have not been kind to the federal community. Among other things, federal employees are viewed as lazy, making too much money, and having a too generous retirement. NARFE Headquarters spends most of its time countering these claims. He also discussed some of the current federal legislation that is being considered that will further affect active and retired federal employees. He indicated that NARFE posts a monthly fact sheet on its web site and updates it monthly on current legislative matters.
National Vice President Carew mentioned the upcoming national convention that will be held August 26-30, 2012, in Reno-Sparks, Nevada. There will be an opportunity to revise our organization’s current bylaws. These proposed changes should be discussed at chapter meetings so that the representatives can vote on the revisions at the convention. Additional information is available on the NARFE web site.
During a Questions/Answer session, President Nicol asked what other organizations were competing for our potential members. The Federal Managers Association, American Fire Fighters, and SES organizations were given as examples.
Ms. Baptiste expressed concerns for the E-Chapter, including how they will vote for the best person for an office. National Vice President Carew indicated that the national E-Chapter would soon hold elections for the chapter and that information on the possible candidates would be sent to the e-members. He also indicated that there were a number of members in the E-Chapter who wanted to attend the national convention as delegates. He felt the E-Chapter was as active as a normal chapter. He further indicated that baby boomers are not joiners and that NARFE is trying to make things easier for chapters to do business in real time and on line.
Mr. McCarty asked if the idea was for each federation to form an E-Chapter such as Florida did. The response was “yes” but that there was a lot work to keep the web site current and interesting. NARFE HQ currently maintains the web site for the national E-Chapter.
The session was adjourned at 5:23 pm. The President’s Reception was held in the adjoining function room in the Convention Center from 6:00 - 8:30 pm. The Hospitality Suite in Room 276 was open from 8:30 - 10:00 pm.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
President Chair Nicol called the delegates to order at 9:06 am. Chaplain Bodenhamer offered the invocation. Sam Quade led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. President Nicol made several announcements
Treasurer Joe McCarty presented the treasurer’s report. He indicated that the SC Federation was in good financial shape. During the last fiscal year, we started with a balance of $24,648.96 in our checking account and ended with a balance of $28,132.41. He reminded all chapters to send in the 990N post card form to renew their tax-exempt status. There was a motion to accept the report; the motion was seconded and approved.
Chaplain Bodenhamer conducted the Memorial Service by reading the names of members who had passed away since the last state convention. A special tribute in honor of Esther Crandall was made by Margaret Baptiste. Since 2006, Ms. Crandall had served as the federation vice president, president, and secretary. She was named as the recipient of the 2011 Judy Kemp Outstanding Service Award and was the Awards first winner. (Esther’s Outstanding Service write-up is included at the end of the minutes.)
Historian Paul Donahue announced that all past written materials have been bound into volumes. He also presented Chapter Anniversary Certificates to the following chapters:
Anderson 50th Anniversary
Beaufort 45th Anniversary
Charleston 45th Anniversary
Columbia 60th Anniversary
Myrtle Beach 45th Anniversary
North Charleston 60th Anniversary
Rock Hill 40th Anniversary (From last year’s convention)
Following a break, President Nicol made several announcements. He then introduced Chuck Timanus, Public Relations Officer, from the national NARFE office. Mr. Timanus gave a presentation on Public Relations 101. He indicated that each member should be working hard for NARFE. He reviewed information provided on the legislative action center on the NARFE web site and pointed out a media section that tells members what media outlets cover their chapter’s ZIP Codes. This will enable chapters to invite media personnel to meetings and other events.
Mr. Timanus discussed how internal public relations campaigns encourage continued membership. He presented statistics that reiterated the drop in membership over the last few years. He indicated that chapter newsletters are one way to update membership on issues. He also suggested using the NARFE magazine articles to further educate our members. He encouraged personal contact with members who drop their membership to encourage them to rejoin.
Mr. Timanus discussed the Matching Funds program. National NARFE will match half of what local chapters spend on advertising, recruiting, and retaining members. In addition, they also have a graphic artist available to help chapters with ideas and a table top display available to loan out to them. With 5.2 million employees, retirees, and federal annuitants, Mr. Timanus felt it was important that we work hard to increase our current 6% share of the possible membership.
Mr. Timanus presented a slide show on ideas that NARFE has put together for chapters, including banner ads, white papers on membership benefits, and Mike Causey’s radio and televisions ads. He explained that the white paper is available on the web site (www.narfe.org/now). He suggested that Mr. Causey’s ad could be used as a local Public Service Announcement.
Mr. Timanus suggested included having a flyer insert in local newspapers. He did indicate that this was more successful in areas with a large population of federal employees. Ms. DePreker mentioned the Hilton Head membership plan and indicated that it succeeded because people worked at it. Mr. Timanus thought the E-Chapters were a good idea. He indicated that the Florida chapter sends lots of e-mails to its members to keep them informed of issues.
Mr. Timanus answered several questions concerning what to say when a prospective member offers objections to joining NARFE. He indicated that the best response was that NARFE does the most to protect their benefits. He also suggested that we need to become a part of pre-retirement counseling.
When asked about the status of the NARFE General Store, Mr. Timanus indicated that NARFE is arranging with a firm to do the NARFE logo now and that they would have a vendor soon for the General Store.
When asked if a military retiree dies and the spouse gets an annuity, can he/she become a member? The answer is “no”; only spouses eligible to receive now or in the future a survivor annuity based on Federal civilian service are eligible for NARFE membership.
When asked about presenting information to new/existing employees, Mr. Timanus indicated that we are at the mercy of the employing agency. When asked about the cost of a newspaper insert, it was agreed that this would be an expensive option and many chapters could not afford it.
There was also a discussion of the non-partisan appearance of the organization. Many topics are politicized; this often causes problems with prospective membership. Mr. Timanus acknowledged this was a problem, and we would have to work on this issue.
When asked about the opportunity to have NARFE use social media, Mr. Timanus indicated that NARFE members could use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch. When asked about using the NARFE logo, Mr. Timanus indicated that any member can use the logo for matters that pertain to the organization.
When asked about the blogs on the NARFE websites, Mr. Timanus indicated that NARFE HQ maintains the blog for the national E-Chapter. The Florida E-Chapter maintains its own blog. Mr. Timanus indicated that many blogs and web sites are dormant and have outdated information on them. Mr. Donahue indicated that he maintains the SC Federation web site for $60.40/year. He also asked that local chapters send him the updated F7 forms so he can update the individual chapter information sheets that are on the web-site.
Vice President Kathryn Hensley passed out a survey on the SC State Newsletter and asked that members complete the surveys and leave them on the front table.
The meeting adjourned for lunch at 11:56 am.
President Chair Nicol reconvened the meeting at 1:30 pm. A presentation by the vendors GEHA and BC/BS presented door prizes to many delegates via a ticket drawing.
John Geiger presented the Legislative Action Plan with a handout highlighting the roles of Federation and Chapters in the lobbying process. The legislative focus at the Grassroots level: the Federation focuses on the Senators; Chapters focus on the Congressional District in which they are located with assistance from adjacent Chapters. The Federation is considering appointing a single Point of Contact for each Congressional District. For those willing to take this additional duty, please see him. Chapters need to report meetings with Congressional members (and their staffs) to the Federation, NARFE National Headquarters, and those other Chapters in their Congressional District. Chapters need to share legislative successes with NARFE. Finally, Chapters need to hold Congressional members accountable for what they say they will do.
Mr. Geiger reviewed his handout and explained several items in his handout. He commented on several pending pieces of legislature that would affect the number of federal employees, the effect of on-the-job injuries on potential retirement benefits, and possible tax increases. He reported that five people in the NARFE national office are counted as lobbyists.