The
following are occasional comments from the president and other officers and
board members of the College of DuPage
Annuitants Association. They are intended to help keep our members
informed, but they are not office statements on behalf of the association.
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State of the association, March, 2008 from Ron Lemme
The College Insurance Program Legislation
Is Introduced
On February 14, 2008, legislation was proposed to amend the College
Insurance Program that applies to retirees of community college districts.
Three of the provisions are: 1) Increases the continuing appropriation
contribution that the State pays to the College Insurance Program in order
to maintain the fiscal health of the College Insurance Program for all
participants statewide; 2) Exempts the Community College Health Insurance
Security fund from “fund sweeping” and administrative charge-backs; and 3)
Includes the City Colleges of Chicago (currently excluded) for participation
in the College Insurance Program. Check the SUAA webpage, www.suaa.org for
more information.
SUAA Representation CDAA is well represented at SUAA. CDAA officers
including Ron Lemme, Ron Kapper, Steve Mansfield and Joe Rorke have attended
SUAA meetings statewide. Ron Lemme serves of the statewide SUAAction, while
Ron Kapper is vice-president of the SUAA Foundation. The next SUAA board
meeting will be on March 11, 2008, at Southern Illinois University. Ron
Lemme will attend.
CDAA and The COD Foundation You recently should have received a letter urging
you to consider making a contribution to the COD Foundation. CDAA has
established a special Retiree’s Fund where you have the opportunity to make
a donation and give back to the College for that special program or service
that you are most interested in helping. Hopefully with many of our
contributions we will see this Fund grow. It’s not too late to make your
contribution. Please send it to The College of DuPage Foundation and
indicate how you wish your donation to be used. Please indicate that it is
part of the Retiree’s Fund.
New CDAA Officers To Be Elected
You may recall that our CDAA officers are elected to two-year terms. The
two-year term for our current president and vice-president are set to expire
on July 1, 2008. The terms for our secretary and treasurer don’t expire
until July 2009. Current Vice-President Ron Kapper has decided not to seek
the office of president. Therefore, we will be electing a new president and
vice-president at our Spring Meeting/Luncheon on May 1, 2008. These are
important times for our organization. We need people willing to serve. If
you are interested in finding out more as to what is involved, please
contact Ron Lemme,
COD Board of Trustees We need to assure that we have excellent
candidates who will run for the COD Board of Trustees in April 2009. There
will be four openings. Please consider whom you know that would make a good
board member. Perhaps you might consider this important position yourself.
Watch our website,
www.codretirees.org for more on this later.
All
College Retirees Reception The All College Retirees Reception to honor the
“new” retirees will be on Wednesday, May 7, from 11:30am to 1:30pm. The
President’s Office will send out an announcement of this reception towards
the end of March to all CDAA members, but mark your calendars now. This is a
great opportunity to honor our new retirees (and new CDAA members) and get a
chance to see all your former colleagues.
SUAAction Fundraising
As you know, SURS employees and retirees face increasing threats to their
pension and health benefits. SUAAction was established in 2005 to address
this challenge: To protect your pension and healthcare benefits. Ron Lemme
is a member of the statewide SUAAction Committee. Soon, if you haven’t
already, you will receive a request for your yearly contribution. Last year
was the first formal year for SUAAction fund raising. Most of you
contributed, making our chapter one of the leading fund raising chapters in
the state.
The State of Illinois is in serious debt, and your
benefits will continue to be a target. You cannot afford to sit on the
sidelines. Join your peers and support a common cause. Your contributions
are invaluable. Suggested contributions are $1.00 for each $1,000 of salary
or pension. If you haven’t already, make your contribution today. Checks
should be payable to SUAAction and mailed to SUAA, Suite 301, 3085 Stevenson
Drive, Springfield, IL 62703.
Thank You Irma After many, many years of outstanding service to
CDAA, Irma Pittroff has “retired” from the CDAA Board. Irma has been one of
CDAA’s greatest contributors, making our organizations one of the most
active SUAA chapters in the state. We on the Board will miss Irma insights,
wisdom, hard work and most of all her sense of humor. Thank you Irma!
