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National Active and Retired Federal Employees Tennessee Federation of Chapters 62nd Annual Convention

Minutes Monday, April 16, 2018 – 9 a.m.

I. Carlos Henning opened with welcome and remarks noting that his wife Lynn was supposed to be the Chairman of this Convention but, was hospitalized to have a pacemaker operation. A. Thanked all who assisted: Chapter 519 members, Larry Henderson, Ed Evans and

Rhonda Mooney. B. Announcements:

1. Generous donors to our Convention: City of Jackson – $2,500; Jackson Energy Authority – $2,500.

2. All-day Hospitality Room – on the left down the hall. 3. Tuesday. April 17, 2019, 7 a.m., free buffet breakfast with the green ticket. 4. Three tickets: Green ticket for breakfast, blue raffle ticket for door prizes,

banquet ticket (white ticket for chicken or salmon colored ticket for salmon). 5. Rest rooms to the right in front of elevators.

II. Invocation offered by State Representative Johnny Shaw. III. Jimmy Eldridge, State Representative for 73rd District, TN General Assembly where he

has served for 16 years. (Had to leave early due to another engagement so spoke prior to the presentation of colors.) A. About to pass $37.5 billion budget as the Assembly shuts down for the summer. B. Father served in Air Force, thank all of you for your service. C. Appreciate what NARFE has done and have a great convention.

IV. Presentation of Colors by Jackson Fire Department Color Guard and National Anthem sung by and led by Battalion Chief Russell Downen, JFD.

V. Governor’s Proclamation presented to Tennessee Federation of NARFE honoring their 62nd Annual Convention a Day of Recognition on April 16, 2018: read by Carlos Henning.

VI. Welcome and Proclamation from Mayor Jerry Gist A. Welcome to our city and thank you for choosing our city of 68,000 people (where

150,000 come to work and shop) for your convention. B. Appreciate NARFE watching over our retired and active working federal

employees. C. Praying for Lynn’s quick recovery and commend her for all her work to set this

Convention up. D. Proclamation – Joint Jackson and Madison County – to NARFE. April 16. 2018

NARFE DAY. E. Proclamation – Honor Joyce Knott as secretary of the Jackson Chapter for 33

years – declare Monday, April 16, 2018, as Joyce M. Knott Day, and presented her with a stick-pin with Mayor’s seal.

F. Honored Barbara Sido, Executive Director of NARFE, with the coveted key to the city of Jackson, Tenn.

VII. Introduction of other Dignitaries and Remarks: A. Barbara Sido, Executive Director of NARFE. B. Marianne Dunavant, on behalf of 8th District Congressman David Kustoff.

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1. NARFE brings information and issues to us. We gather info from you to know how you want us to vote.

2. They call Joyce Knott to verify and find out information on Federal employees. 3. We need you to stay in direct communication with our office. We appreciate all

that you do. C. Ted Austin, Vice President of Customer Service, Jackson Energy Authority.

1. Thank you for your service and the Mayor for his leadership. 2. Welcome from the Jackson Energy Authority. It is our mission to bring value

and service to the community. 3. We are customer focused and highest and most knowledgeable in our field. 4. Find something wrong, tell us; find something right, tell everyone.

VIII. Memorial Service presented by Ed and Merilyn Evans.

15 Minute Break at 10 a.m.

IX. Rhonda Mooney called the meeting to order: A. Glad everyone came, without you there would be no Convention. We have a really

good program and a lot of good info for you. B. Committee assignments are posted by the Credentials Table. C. Officer Training: Hope to have a lot of interest – all who attend will be eligible for

$100 cash give-away drawing (must be present to win). D. Silence cell phones, please.

X. Region X Vice President William “Bill” Shackelford (See Attachment 1) XI. Alzheimer’s Region X Coordinator Donna Shackelford: (See Attachment 2).

A. Interested in a Trial Match Program, see Donna Shackelford. B. Alzheimer’s Poem (See Attachment 3).

Break for Lunch at 11:45 a.m. to resume at 1:15 p.m. for Barbara Sido.

XII. Executive Director Barbara Sido: (See Attachment 4)

Break at 1:45 pm. To resume with Committee Meetings at 2 p.m.

XIII. Committees met. Break at 3 p.m. To resume with Leadership Training at 3:15 p.m.

XIV. Leadership Training led by Larry Minniear assisted by Yvonne Hamilton and Ronnie Collins (See Attachment 5)

Break at 4:30 p.m. To resume with Banquet at 6 p.m.

XV. 6 p.m. Banquet: A. Tom Hay and Scott Myatt provided musical entertainment. B. Chaplain B.J. Godwin gave the Invocation. C. Steve Bowers, the Jackson Energy Authority TV Media Manager was the Master

of Ceremonies. D. Weida Whte Tolley Alzheimer’s Memorial Award was announced and presented. E. NARFE-PAC Leo Potts Memorial Award was announced and presented. F. Officer Recognition: outgoing Federation officers and Convention hosts were

recognized and thanked for their service.

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G. Door prize winners and the $100 Early Registration Drawing winner were announced and presented with their prizes.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

XVI. Welcome by Carlos Henning: A. Introduced and Recognized sponsor representatives: Stacy Ledridge and Karen

Wilson with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Shamyra Parker-Winston with GEHA, Sandy Escoville and Susan Allgood with Aetna/Mail Handlers, and Jeff Fisher with United Healthcare.

B. Jackson Chapter has developed a survey that they will make available on the table in the hallway for Convention attendees to pick up and fill out. It is an evaluation of this Convention for the next organizers to use as a guide to improve their Convention.

XVII. Invocation offered by Chaplain B.J. Godwin. XVIII. Opening Remarks by Rhonda Mooney:

A. Meeting was Called to Order. B. Mike Gates shared a Memorial Day Prayer: (See Attachment 6) C. Bill Shackelford said that now is really the time to contribute to NARFE-PAC,

because Tennessee is about to vote in their primaries and mid-term elections. We need to support those candidates who support us. This is the way we get their attention. Support those who support NARFE issues. Also, vote in August and vote in November.

XIX. Town Hall Meeting with Executive Director Barbara Sido: (See Attachment 7) XX. Credentials Report: Joyce Knott: we had 72 registrations, 36 delegates, 11 federation

officers, and 6 proxies, so we have 53 voting delegates and that is a quorum (1/3 of 72 = 24).(See Attachment 21)

XXI. Rules Committee: Wayne Baker chaired and Wayne Lanier was the only member. Rules committee has reviewed the current standing rules before the Tennessee Federation Convention. We did not recommend any changes nor have we received any suggestions or changes to the rules. With that being said, Wayne Baker made a motion that we accept the standing rules as presented. Herb Arnett seconded the motion. Passed by unanimous consent. (See Attachment 8)

XXII. Roll call of officers and chapters. (See Attachment 9) 15 minute break at 10:10 a.m.

XXIII. Rhonda thanked Carlos for stepping in for Lynn. Then she gave her Federation President’s Report (See Attachment 10).

XXIV. Treasurers Report – Norris Alderson (See Attachment 11) A. Audit, successful. B. This is your federation and your finances, I am bringing you up to date. C. Membership is critical.

XXV. Reading minutes. Motion made by Yvonne Hamilton, seconded by Joyce Knott, that we dispense with reading the minutes and accept them as posted on the narfetn.org website. Passed by unanimous consent.

XXVI. Committee Reports: A. Alzheimer’s – Joan Gates (See Attachment 12)

1. Members of her committee were Colin M Gates, Chapter 204; Mack Stanley, Chapter 806; and Patricia Stanley, Chapter 806.

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2. Winner of the Weida White Tolley Memorial Award was Dickson Chapter 727 with donations of $2,759.

3. A very close runner-up was Cleveland Chapter 860 with donations of $2,756, was awarded a plaque.

B. Ballots & Teller – Larry Cunningham (See Attachment 13) C. Constitution & Bylaws – Ronnie Collins (See Attachment 14)

Ronnie Collins made the motion that this report submitted by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee be approved. Approved by unanimous consent.

D. Credentials – Joyce Knott: Same as before (See Attachment 21) E. Financial Ways & Means & Audit – William Bolt (See Attachment 15)

1. I was surprised to see that every year there is such a large amount of money carried over from year to year. All the overhead is basically expended throughout the year.

2. I would like to see some of that funding used to further possibly some other NARFE projects.

3. If you have any suggestions, write them up and send them to the Board and we will discuss them.

F. Legislative – James Glenn (See Attachment 16) G. Membership – Yvonne Hamilton (See Attachment 17)

1. Members of the committee included: Mary Ballard, Chapter 1968; Dorothy Bolden, Chapter 1382; Oscar Krosnes, Chapter 1576; Mark Poley, Chapter 1678; J. Stephen Schroeder, Chapter 834; and Sandra Simms, Chapter 870.

2. Important to make widows of NARFE members part of our chapter meetings as well as talk about NARFE to everyone we meet and reach out to people with phone calls. That may be the only call they get.

H. NARFE-PAC – Larry Minniear 1. Committee members were: John Bowen, Chapter 834 and J. Dean McAlister,

Chapter 860. 2. Amount collected was $600, and any other donations can be given to Dean

McAlister today or send a check to Larry Minniear. 3. The winner of the Leo Potts Memorial Award was Crossville (Cumberland

County) Chapter 1719 with a donation of $685. I. Nominating Committee – John Harris (See Attachment 18) J. Public Relations – Ben Davis (See Attachment 19) K. Resolutions – B.J. Godwin

1. No general resolutions were submitted. 2. No report given.

L. Rules – Wayne Baker (See Attachment 8) 1. See Section XXI. 2. No report given.

M. Service Officer – Lorenzo Tyson (See Attachment 20) XXVII. Unfinished Business – None XXVIII. New Business

A. The Federation Board made a proposal to Revise our Federation Bylaws to bring them in line with the National Bylaws due to the passage and implementation of One Member One Vote and Optional Chapter Membership (See Attachment 14) 1. There were sent out to all the Chapter Presidents and posted on the Federation

website. 2. Committee chaired by Ronnie Collins with members Larry Cunningham and

Wayne Baker prepared the Constitution and Bylaws revisions and it will mean,

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if passed, we will have a totally new Constitution and Bylaws once approved by our members and by Headquarters.

3. Send to John Dowie at headquarters for approval. 4. Input from chapters were implemented into an amendment of the Resolution.

B. Ronnie made motion, seconded by Gail Jones, that we accept the proposed Constitution and Bylaws and along with the recommended amendments to the proposed Constitution and Bylaws. Passed by unanimous consent.

XXIX. Time & Place (2019) Larry Minniear: The Annual Meeting will be held in East Tennessee in the city of Chattanooga. A. The Chattanooga Chapter will host, assisted by the Cleveland Chapter. B. Two hotels will be available: The Marriott Residence Inn and the Marriott Towne

Place. C. More information will be available in the November Newsletter.

XXX. Time & Place (2020) – Ed Evans: The next Annual Meeting will be held in Middle, Tennessee.

XXXI. Credentials Final Report: Joyce Knott (See Attachment 21) A. Committee member: Ruth Atnipp. B. Joyce Knott made a motion, seconded by Ruth Atnipp, that the final report be

accepted as presented. Passed by unanimous consent. XXXII. Alzheimer’s Silent Auction: Collin Gates

A. Checks are to be made out to Alzheimer’s Research. B. $1,200 collected.

XXXIII. Nomination of Officers: (See Attachment 18) A. John Harris moved the following slate of officers be nominated for these

positions. President Rhonda Mooney 1st Vice President Ed Evans 2nd Vice President Wayne Baker 3rd Vice President B.J. Godwin Treasurer Norris Alderson Legislative Chair Larry Minniear Membership Chair Yvonne Hamilton Secretary Merilyn Evans

B. Norris Alderson made the motion that these nominations cease and we accept them by acclamation. Passed by unanimous consent.

XXXIV. Region X Vice President Bill Shackelford swore in the newly elected officers. XXXV. Closing Remarks:

A. Thank You to the Convention Planning Committee, you did an excellent job. B. Officer Reports: (See Attachment 22) C. Motion made by John Harris, seconded by Wayne Baker, to adjourn. Passed by

unanimous consent.

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(Attachment 1) Region X Vice President Bill Shackelford’s Report: A. Background: 35 years with the FBI; joined NARFE in Fairfax, Va., in 2005, as an active

Federal employee. He served in several positions in his Chapter before becoming the Virginia Federation President. In 2014 he became the Region X Vice President.

B. Story behind how I became a NARFE member. My mother was a member of the Fairfax Chapter and my wife would drive her to meetings. When I retired she told me we were going to a NARFE meeting. I asked what is NARFE? As you can see, I found out.

C. Check out the FedCon18 ad in program book – all need to attend in Jacksonville, Fla., in August. We will have Joe Thiesman as a motivational speaker along with many other excellent speakers.

D. Region X has many members with diverse opinions, challenges on all levels, but need to all work together.

E. NARFE needs to change, but our core values are not going to change. Many things are in motion to bring NARFE forward.

F. Greatest decision NEB ever made was to hire Executive Director Barbara Sido. G. We are a trusted voice in the civilian community, but we must remain fiscally healthy to

continue to do this. H. Sometimes our “relationships” are based on what NARFE has done. In regard to unions,

ask them what they will do for the retiree. I. Next project to celebrate NARFE’s centennial anniversary. J. Need to change the attitude that people have about NARFE. We have to show that there

is value in being a member. K. Health of our chapters and federations:

1. 220 chapter closures because of reported death of members or because of lack of leadership (people not willing to hold office in the chapter). Those members from a closed chapter stay members of NARFE however.

2. Have been able to hold onto the members of those closed chapters either by transfer into another chapter or into the National Chapter.

3. Strong leaders keep a chapter going. 4. 24 of the 52 Federations are under 2,000 members – may need to merge some

Federations. 5. Purpose of a Federation is to serve all members as they need. 6. Federations are receiving 10% of the dues for each of their members. 7. In Region X, 46% of membership is National only members. 8. Federation’s role may change:

a. Federation may take care of legislation and membership and b. Congressional District Liaison (CDL) may take care of legislation and

advocacy. c. CDLs may possibly become a “Super Chapter” making sure that all

members are kept aware of legislation and what is happening on Capitol Hill as proposed by the Future of NARFE and may be in lieu of a Chapter President.

L. Know there is a lot of resentment about headquarters feeling they want to close chapters. Nothing could be further from the truth. Headquarters does not want to close chapters and is not “stealing” members for the National chapter. Reinstatement rate is at 80% currently. Some people are checking the wrong box because it is cheaper than being a member in a chapter. 1. How are “prospective members” obtained. Barb Sido explained they are gotten from

people who sign up for webinars, we buy prospect lists, from retirement lists, etc.

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2. Trying to make the application and renewal forms as simple and as easy as possible to understand trying to eliminate the possibility of someone being accidently moved out of their chapter and into the National Chapter.

3. The new renewal letter is an improvement – a lot better than the previous one. 4. The Standing Committees are member committees, not NEB committees, and they

are doing an excellent job. 5. If a chapter member makes a mistake when filling out a renewal form and they get

transferred to the National Chapter, you need to collect chapter dues right then when you transfer them back into a regular chapter.

6. To make sure you keep members either make them life members and they only have to pay chapter dues yearly or sign them up for dues withholding on their annuity check (which is $6 cheaper).

7. We need to get active federal employees to become recruiters since they have access to other working federal employees.

8. Good news is that membership loss has lessened and maybe even a slight tick upward. In 1985 mandatory chapter membership followed by National collecting the dues and chapters losing that personal contact was responsible for much of the loss of membership over the years. But, new initiatives are being planned, but I only ask for patience – nothing happens overnight.

M. NARFE-PAC – get to legislators through their pocketbooks. Donations up to $7,285; $46.10 average donation. Challenge you to do better than Virginia by giving to NARFE-PAC at least $10 per month. See Larry Minniear to do this. I would be proud to see Tennessee get up to between $8,000 to $8,500. By NARFE-PAC $1,000 given to Steve Cohen, TN Rep. here.

N. Social Media has become the way of the world. You can reach me by going to www.narferx.org. There you will find regional updates, NEB updates, and the directory for all the Presidents across Region X. There is also a Region X facebook page (enter Region X in the search box).

O. Next month, info on balloting and issues coming out. P. Members do make a difference, and your commitment counts and is crucial. We must

work together to meet these challenges. Q. Together, we move NARFE forward. RVP10@narfe.org for more info and if you have any

questions. R. Larry Henderson said that sometimes patience can be a liability for the survival of NARFE.

In many areas we need to speed up our move forward. Chapters is a place to start. 1. Changing from Chapters to Congressional Districts may be a challenge in some states,

because, like in California, it has 52 Congressional Districts. 2. National members used to be shown on the M112 but are now placed in Chapter 0000.

People transferred out of chapters into Chapter 0000 are not listed with the chapter they were previously in. J.C. asked if listing their previous chapter number there would make it easier to try to get them back into their chapter?

3. M112 will show who is transferred out of your chapter. 4. The 90% retention is made up of renewals and reinstatements.

S. I am elected by you and here to serve. If you have a problem, let me know and I will try to help you solve your problem. Thank you.

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(Attachment 2)

Types of Dementia

Alzheimer’s:

• Most common cause of dementia

• Accounts for 60-80% of dementia

• Approx half dementia cases involve solely Alzheimer’s; others called mixed pathology or

mixed dementia

• Difficulty remembering conversations, names or events

• Apathy & depression early symptoms

• Later characteristics include impaired communication, disorientation, confusion, poor

judgment, behavior changes

• Ultimately, difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking

• Hallmark pathologies are progressive accumulation of protein beta-amyloid (plaques)

outside neurons in brain and twisted strands of protein tau (tangles) inside neurons.

Changes eventually accompanied by damage and death of neurons Vascular dementia

• AKA post-stroke dementia

• Accounts for approx. 10% of dementia

• Very common in older individuals, about half of whom have pathologic evidence of silent

strokes

• Initial symptoms: impaired judgment, inability to make decisions, plan or organize

• Memory loss less likely than AD

• More likely to have difficulty with motor function (slow gait, poor balance)

• Usually occurs from blood vessel blockage or damage leading to strokes or bleeding in the

brain.

• Location, number & size of brain injuries determine if dementia will result & how the

thinking & physical functioning will be affected.

• Brain changes in AD and vascular dementia tend to co-exist Dementia with Lewy bodies

(DLB)

• Initial symptoms of sleep disturbances, visual hallucinations, slowness, gait imbalance, or

other parkinsonian movement features.

• Absence of memory impairment

• Lewy bodies are abnormal clumps of protein alpha-synuclein in neurons.

• Develop in cortex of brain

• Protein collects in brains of people with Parkinson’s disease

• People with both DLB & PD have Lewy bodies, onset of disease marked by motor

impairment in PD and cognitive impairment in DLB

• Symptoms may lead to confusion in diagnosis. Person is said to have mixed dementia

Mixed Dementia

• Definition: More than one kind of dementia

• More common than previously recognized

• About half of older people show evidence of more than one cause of dementia

• Likelihood of mixed dementia increases with age and highest in people 85+ Fronto-

temporal lobar degeneration

• Includes progressive aphasia, Picks disease, corticobasal degeneration & supranuclear

palsy

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• Early symptoms: marked changes in personality & behavior

• Difficulty in comprehending language

• Memory usually spared in early stages

• Nerve cells in front & side regions of brain especially affected

• Affected regions become shrunken

• Upper layers of cortex become soft & spongy

• Have abnormal protein (tau or transactive response DN-binding protein

• 60% people with FTL are 45-60 years; accounts for 10% of dementia cases Parkinson’s

disease

• Problems with movement (slow, rigid, tremor, changes in gait).

• Collections of alpha-synuclein appear deep in brain in substantia nigra. These aggregates

are thought to cause degeneration of nerve cells that produce dopamine

• Incidence of PD is about one-tenth of AD

• Results in dementia secondary to Lewy bodies in cortex or the beta-amyloid & tau tangles,

as in AD

Caregiving

More than 16 million unpaid 18.2 billion hours $230.1 billion

Assists w/daily living (bathing & dressing) paying bills, shopping, transportation

83% comes from family, friends, or other unpaid caregivers

Three reasons:

• Desire to keep family member at home (65%)

• Proximity (48%)

• Obligation (spouse or partner) 38%

Who are caregivers?

• 65+ years old

• Married, living with partner

• 66% Non-Hispanic white; 10% African American; 8% Hispanic 5% Asian

• 40% Have college degree or greater

• Household income of $50,000 or less

• “Sandwich generation” care for an aging parent and have children under 18

Costs

$259 billion in 2017

First year cost has surpassed ¼ of a trillion dollars (all dementias)

Total cost: $259 Billion (B) Medicare $131 B, 51%

Medicaid $44 B, 17%

Out of pocket $56 B, 22%

Other $28 B, 11%

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One group of researchers found that the incremental health care and nursing home costs for

those with dementia were $28,501 per person per year in 2010 dollars ($32,924 in 2016 dollars)

Use of Long-Term Care Services by Setting Most people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias who live at home receive unpaid help from family members and friends, but some also receive paid home- and community-based services, such as personal care and adult day care. A study of older people who needed help to perform daily activities — such as dressing, bathing, shopping and managing money — found that those who also had cognitive impairment were more than twice as likely as those who did not have cognitive impairment to receive paid home care. In addition, those who had cognitive impairment and received paid services used almost twice as many hours of care monthly as those who did not have cognitive impairment. People with Alzheimer’s or other dementias make up a large proportion of all elderly people who receive adult day services and nursing home care.

The U.S. has, since 2011, charted a national plan to address Alzheimer’s disease. The first of the plan’s five goals is to effectively treat and prevent the disease by 2025.

A biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition in the human body. Clinicians use biomarkers to diagnose the presence or absence of disease, assess the risk of developing a disease, or understand how a patient has responded to a treatment. For example, a high blood glucose level (blood sugar) may be diagnostic of diabetes and lowering that level can indicate the success of a prescribed diet or medication. Researchers are investigating several promising biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. These include, but are not limited to, the amount of accumulation of the proteins beta-amyloid and tau in the brain. These proteins can be measured using brain imaging or the levels in cerebrospinal fluid and blood. Another kind of biomarker is changes in brain size and activity.

Identifying and then validating biomarkers for Alzheimer’s is critical. They will facilitate early diagnosis and treatment. Many researchers believe that early intervention — either at the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage or even before symptoms appear — offers the best chance of slowing or stopping the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and therefore the best chance of preserving brain function.

Research on new strategies for earlier diagnosis, including ongoing efforts to identify and validate biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, is among the most active areas in Alzheimer’s science.

The latest research is now allowing us to envision a future in which Alzheimer’s is no

longer a disease leading to irrevocable cognitive and functional decline and death, but rather a

chronic condition like cardiovascular disease, AIDS or some cancers that can often be managed

with early intervention.

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Total Medicaid Costs for Americans Age 65 and Older Living with Alzheimer’s or Other Dementias by State TABLE 14

State

2017

(in millions

of dollars)

2025

(in millions

of dollars)

Percentage

Increase

State

2017

(in millions

of dollars)

2025

(in millions

of dollars)

Percentage

Increase

Alabama $797 $1,092 37.0 Montana $139 $197 41.8

Alaska 59 107 82.5 Nebraska 310 398 28.5

Arizona 332 530 59.7 Nevada 158 269 70.6

Arkansas 335 440 31.2 New Hampshire 225 325 44.6

California 3,464 5,085 46.8 New Jersey 1,887 2,534 34.3

Colorado 526 765 45.3 New Mexico 177 270 52.4

Connecticut 880 1,151 30.8 New York 4,598 6,128 33.3

Delaware 212 303 43.1 North Carolina 1,112 1,580 42.1

District of Columbia 115 131 13.7 North Dakota 166 209 25.7

Florida 2,279 3,347 46.9 Ohio 2,242 2,851 27.2

Georgia 1,038 1,544 48.7 Oklahoma 440 592 34.6

Hawaii 196 276 40.6 Oregon 222 308 38.6

Idaho 129 190 47.8 Pennsylvania 3,236 3,907 20.7

Illinois 1,565 2,134 36.4 Rhode Island 416 548 31.5

Indiana 913 1,196 30.9 South Carolina 544 793 45.8

Iowa 598 768 28.4 South Dakota 157 205 30.6

Kansas 403 526 30.7 Tennessee 939 1,335 42.1

Kentucky 685 920 34.3 Texas 2,493 3,832 53.7

Louisiana 658 905 37.6 Utah 152 228 50.5

Maine 187 266 42.1 Vermont 98 142 44.3

Maryland 1,042 1,488 42.8 Virginia 826 1,228 48.7

Massachusetts 1,550 1,970 27.1 Washington 461 669 45.0

Michigan 1,299 1,685 29.7 West Virginia 394 505 28.3

Minnesota 781 1,055 35.1 Wisconsin 687 897 30.6

Mississippi 536 707 31.8 Wyoming 71 108 52.1

Missouri 843 1,102 30.7 U.S. Total $43,570 $59,739 37.1

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(Attachment 3)

Alzheimers Awareness

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(Attachment 4) Executive Director Barbara Sido’s Report:

A. Update on what is happening at Headquarters: 1. Advocacy is the heart of NARFE

a. Reason we call it advocacy instead of legislation, which it used to be called, because it is a lot more than legislation.

b. Lobbying is also grassroots, the CDL program, it is state relations for those folks who are working tax legislation in the state capitols, state agency and executive branch relationships (that’s kind of a new emphasis), and, also, the PAC which we talked about a little earlier.

2. What have we done for you lately: The big one, right off the bat, was this two-tiered bi-partisan budget agreement. What’s great about this is that, you will probably remember, there was something like $300 billion in offsets that were built into that plan. We managed to get it so that there were no offset coming from the Federal community. Not one dollar came from you all. The reason this is a big deal is because, as you know, when you look at finances at the Federal government level, the Federal community retirement paid benefits, that is a big chunk of money sitting there, and they love to come after that. We were able to beat that back very successfully.

3. The Congressional District Leader (CDL) program – Bill talked a little about that earlier. I know that it is active here in Tennessee. We thank you for that. Over half of the Federations across the country have CDLs now. This really a critical device for us to activate people at the Congressional District level. We have done several dozen trainings already this year. Down in Florida they had a go-to-meeting, one of the electronic virtual meetings, for every region in the state. It is really very, very popular.

4. Here’s something I’m really excited about: You all know, better than I, that the Federal community does not have perhaps the best image. It is very misunderstood. People don’t understand what you all do. They don’t understand the contribution you make. There are all kinds of rumors and stories and myths about you all. So, one of the things we are doing this year is try to take a real aim at figuring out where is that coming from, who is promoting that idea and what can we do about it. So, we’re doing something that is called an Influence analysis where we are going out and studying our allies and our enemies in terms of where are they coming from, which think tanks are they getting their information from, and what media outlets are they using to promote their perspective. This is really critically important to us. One of the key findings in a preliminary report last week, is that any affiliations we have with unions is not viewed as a good thing. I hear a lot about we should be doing more with unions. That may be true, but I think we also need to be aware of the fact that there is more baggage that comes with that. The most important thing is that our allies, people who want kind of the same things we want in terms of what’s good for the Federal community, what’s going to make people feel good about Federal service and all that, are not particularly well organized. They are not aligned with each other, they are not particularly well-organized. As you might imagine, people who do not think very highly of the Federal government are extremely well-organized and in lock-step with each other, which is not surprising.

5. However, this year we have a little bit of breathing space, because it is an election year. What that means is that Congress is in town very little. Some people think that is a really good thing because they can’t do anything. But what this does is it presents an opportunity to really work on relationship building. That is where lobbying comes from. It’s really about relationships. So that’s what we’re doing up at headquarters, spending a lot of time going to see people, staff and elected officials who are up on the hill. It is also an opportunity for you, because they are all coming back to the district. So that is your opportunity to go and see them. Let them know what we want, really begin to build those relationships.

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B. Mid-term elections also present a great opportunity for NARFE-PAC. I’m wearing my Sustainer Pin; I hope some of you are wearing Sustainer Pins. It really is the best way we have to ensure our issues are heard. Money does talk as Bill mentioned earlier. We have a very healthy PAC. We’re looking to raise a little bit over a million dollars this year and give away upwards of $800,000. We run in cycles so that million dollars is through a two-year cycle, that will conclude with the elections in 2018. We have added to this base line a score card. The score card is how we decide who to give money to. We’ve added a couple of items to that list. One is, how people voted on the government shut-down. We have a lot of friends who voted not to open the government back up. There are people like Chris Van Holland, Senator from Maryland, who is the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, as you can imagine, he has many friends in the Federal community in Maryland, and he did not vote to reopen the government. So, when President Thissen went to the fund raiser to present a very nice check, he walked right up to him and said, “Chris, what happened?” They got the check, but they also got the message. So that is very, very helpful.

C. The other thing we’re going to put in the mix is the Postal Reform Bill. I’m not going to get into that because it is extremely complicated. But, what it basically is, is for you all and all of us to remember is that it opens the door for people to feel it’s okay to change retirement benefits after the fact. Once people are already retired, changing what they are entitled to, changing what they have to pay for, and they kind of figure it’s an opening door. Going after Postal retirees and then who knows who else.

D. Communications, you know a lot of things in communications is the most popular things that we do. You may have noticed on the narfe.org website, on the opening page, where the public goes first, has been redesigned – very popular – we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on that, more user friendly, easier to get around. I will tell you that the website needs a lot of improvement. I’m not the only one that thinks that I’m sure. Bill will tell you in the interview process, I actually had the nerve to say that you-all’s website needs a lot of help. Because it does. So, there’s more changes to come. We’re going to start working on the Member page which maybe you all are more familiar with. The reason is that it’s a little more complicated because there’s transactions going on where you go in and access records and all that. So, it’s a little more complicated. We’re going to have a new content management system which is the platform under which you manage the content.

E. The magazine just did a reader’s survey, which we like to do. Our advertisers like to know what you all think, we like to know what you all think. Very high marks across the board for the magazine. It’s award winning, it’s hugely popular. People tell me that this is the reason they joined. There are a lot of people who the only thing they want from NARFE is the magazine. So, we have an obligation to make that as current, as meaningful, as informative as possible. We’re coming up, hopefully this year, with a little bit of a redesign. You might agree that it’s a little dated looking, a new design, a new content strategy to go after a different kind of advertiser in addition to the ones we already have. Bill mentioned Velcro shoes, but if you want to appeal to the those who are still working and a slightly younger demographic. To do that you have to attract a different kind of advertiser.

F. Federal Benefits Institute: this is the Federal benefits information that you’re used to kind of under a new name. This is really kind of an organization construct where it sits in your organization. It continues to attract and retain new members. People love to be able to pick up the phone or send an email with their very specific questions about benefits or health care or my spouse just passed away or I’m getting divorced or I’m getting ready to retire and be able to get an answer to their question. Both active and retired feds find this very, very valuable. That’s important to us, too. We cover everything in the world on the webinars: Social Security, FEHB, we have a huge range of webinars. There’s one coming up Thursday. We had one last Fall that 3,000 people registered for. We talked about prospects earlier, we get a lot of prospects that way. People use these to recruit. We talk about what we can do to help chapters do better with membership. Webinars is one really important way. There are chapters that have a great deal of success when they build a program around a webinar. They invite people, they invite prospects, and they invite active

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employees. They run off of YouTube a webinar. Over 4,000 members have been recruited this way. It’s a very good recruiting tool. We encourage you to consider it.

G. Public Relations: this is a new emphasis for us this year. We actually do pretty well in terms of placement in the media. We get a lot of mentions in the press and people who are on TV, particularly inside the beltway. But we want to expand that a little bit, to do some new real messaging that positions NARFE to be the go-to resource. As the Congressmen’s District person said this morning, that they look to NARFE to be the source of information when they don’t understand an issue. Who do they call? They call NARFE. We want everybody to think that. We want the media to think that, every member of Congress to think that, we want members of other allied organizations to think that. We want to be the go-to.

H. NARFE Next: Bill talked a little about this. You may have seen in the Insider and the magazine I’ve been talking a lot about NARFE Next. So, what is that? You may ask yourself is the strategic initiative really pivoting off the fact that we have this centennial coming up in 2021. That sounds like it is a long way off; it is not. In order for us to really get in a position where we want to be able to jump from our first 100 years into our second 100 years as strongly as possible. Again, you see the words go to resource. That’s really the whole point is to reposition, maybe rebrand NARFE in that way. Part of what we’re doing there is coming up with some concepts for some new products and services. I hope tomorrow, when I have time to have a conversation with you all, we can talk a bit about those. I have some prototypes with me – there are things like pod casts, mobile aps you can use on your phone, premium services from the Federal Benefits Institute so that if somebody wanted an hour of scheduled dedicated time to get into a really in-depth discussion of a particular issue, they would have access to that. So, I hope we can talk about that tomorrow. That would be really helpful to me. I could take it back to the staff meeting and continue to further refine these ideas.

I. Another big part of this is business model innovation. What I like to say is that the business of NARFE cannot continue to be NARFE business. We spend a lot of time on NARFE business. So what we’re doing is we’re examining how we create and deliver value to members. That’s what we’re there to do. We’re not there to run a big administrative operation, we’re not there to have a lot of overhead. We’re there to deliver value to members. What I want to look at is how do we do that better? We need to allocate resources to do that. I will tell you that when I came in we put a lot of money toward administrative expenses. We’re beginning to move that back a little bit so there is more invested in program things like legislation, like the magazine, like the Federal Benefits Institute.

J. We’re in the process of looking for a new computer data base. It’s called an association management system (AMS), very, very common to all in membership organizations. There are a lot of off-the-shelf products that will work much better for us and for you than what we have now. There will be a field interface for you all to take a look at that. We’re looking to launch that at the end of the year. Be on the look-out for some stuff about that. So, if you hear me say, don’t get too invested in the OAM at this point. It is the tool that is available to you now, but, it’s going to change and it’s going to be better.

K. FedCon18: This is the first example of what I refer to as NARFE Next Now. This is a new program, it’s a whole different thing, it is the premier conference. As you probably know, there is no convention anymore. There is now a conference. It’s going to be in Jacksonville in August. Yes, it’s going to be hot, but you all will be so busy you won’t have a chance to get out of the hotel. It is a Premier Training Conference, outstanding education sessions, nationally recognized speakers, industry experts, Bill mentioned Joe Theisman earlier, the other speaker we have to announce today is the new OPM Director Jeff Pon is coming to Jacksonville. I think it is a testament to how important NARFE is and how important you all are that he accepted the invitation almost immediately. He is going to come and talk about his vision for the Federal workforce, how knowledge can be better incorporated and how to basically modernize and keep things up to date. In the break-out training there’s going to be what we call tracks of training. There will be some on benefits. Tammy Flannigan, who you

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all probably heard of, is going to be one of the speakers. Then we’re going to have a whole track on advocacy-related things. There will be the legislative update, there will be 50 tips for grassroots mobilization, there will be some stuff on NARFE leadership, there’s going to be an emphasis on Chapter development and leadership development. For folks who want to learn how to be a really effective chapter president, how to be a really good local PR chair. There’s also things, like the people tell us they are interested in which is just getting together with other people like you. There is something to be said for this sense of community, this coming together, meeting old friends, making new friends, people are telling us this is what is really important to them. Also, there will be some bonus activities at very early hours of the morning. The local chapter down there is working on tours and things to get you exposed to what is going on in Jacksonville. I understand that it is the biggest Naval installation in the country down there, so there is a very significant Federal workforce there. And, we’re having a Gala, which used to be the banquet. It’s really a must be there event and I hope you all plan to attend. We’re going to have a great time.

L. Branding is another thing we are working on. You hear about this a lot. It was in the previous strategic plan. It’s back in this strategic plan. All that this is about is what do people think of when they hear the word NARFE? Do they think just retirement all the time? Do they think we are a union? This involves a little bit of research. My experience has been that when you talk to people in an organization, they think they know what the brand is and they may not in fact know what the brand is. A lot of times it’s something you don’t want to hear. So, we’re going to do some research and will think about what they are currently thinking versus what we want them to think. This ties back to the whole issue of image that we talked about a little bit ago. There’s the image of the Federal community that we’re going to work on and there’s also the image of NARFE that we’re going to work on. One of the things I was hired to do is to bring best practices and association management to bear on how we do things at NARFE, how we run the operations, how we operationalize strategy. So, there is something to be said for the organization’s reputation as well as the community.

M. A little bit more about the Centennial – literally, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. There’s a chance to do a membership drives, there’s a chance to maybe to do some kind of image enhancement campaign, there’s an opportunity to really get ourselves in front of Congress, get Presidential proclamations, there’s all kinds of stuff you can do with a centennial. I really want to celebrate this very proud past, but, move forward into a vibrant future.

N. My email address: execdir@narfe.org. I say to people all the time, and it is true, that I want to hear from members. There’s a reason I go out in the field. I want to hear from you. I cannot do my job if I do not know what you all are thinking, what kind of obstacles you are running into, what you have tried that worked really well, I want to hear praise, I want to hear concerns. Do not hesitate to email me. I would give you a phone number except that I am always in meetings and I am never by the phone. So, if you call me, you will never get me, I will guarantee you. No one can reach me on the phone, it’s not just members. I hope you will send me an email.

O. A little bit about Membership before I close – I want to encourage you, all membership organizations are experiencing challenges with membership. It’s not just NARFE. Everyone is having trouble. I will tell you, the only association I am aware of that is having consistent membership growth over the life of the organization is the Toastmasters. We’re all thinking to ourselves, what are they doing? What are they doing right? I think what they are doing right is they are staying relevant as time goes by. We can learn some lessons there. I want to encourage you, There are some good signs. Those things over which we have some control, renewal, reinstatements, recruitment was up 28%, retention is at 90% - should feel good about that. I conclude by saying, people say to me sometimes, “Barb, the glass is half full, or Barb, the glass is half empty.” What I want to say to you is, remember, the glass is refillable and that’s what we need to do for NARFE.

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(Attachment 5)

Officer Training I. Yvonne Hamilton: Everyone has wisdom and knowledge and should be willing to

share it. II. Larry Minniear discussed failing chapters:

A. Failing Leadership or leadership going stale. 1. Complaint that they can’t find anyone to take their job. 2. You have to ask one on one. 3. Mentoring is important 4. Rotation of officers is a good thing. 5. The F-10 is your bible.

B. Chapter Presidents: 1. You shouldn’t do everything – delegation is important. 2. Make NARFE to fit your group. 3. Establish a liaison with the Federation and National levels. 4. Appoint committees. 5. Because membership is key, encourage this. 6. Develop replacements for each position on committees. 7. Train your officers. 8. Motivate. 9. Represent your chapter at all events. 10. Reread past minutes. They can hold valuable information. 11. Have a current copy of Robert’s Rules of Order. 12. Be familiar with OAM. 13. Newsletters hold good information and are an excellent resource. 14. Your chapter’s Constitution and Bylaws should mirror National’s.

a. Use F-21 as a template. b. As you amend your Constitution and Bylaws, forward to National.

15. Preside in an orderly manner. 16. Plan programs and involve members.

a. Make them pertinent and interesting. b. Let members know what, where and when.

17. Follow the suggested order of business available on the narfetn.org website. 18. Keep Ronnie Collins, the narfetn.org’s webmaster, up-to-date with your

chapter information: meeting day, time and location; officers, events, etc. 19. Your vice president should be prepared to take over and preside over a

meeting or event when the president can’t be there. C. Chapter Treasurer:

1. Duties include taking the money, keeping accurate records, making financial reports like the IRS-990-N (ePostcard), and per capita tax.

2. Train a replacement. 3. Some of the other reports are the F-38 monthly report, the F-16 and F-16R

dues transmittals, M-112 and M-114 reports, the A-220 chapter dues activity report, M-130 and 131C recruit fee and activity reports, etc.

4. Have a receipt book with carbons. 5. Most importantly, keep PAC and Alzheimer’s dollars separate from chapter

money. 6. Maintain records, keep files and have an annual audit. 7. Don’t stockpile funds – use them to send your members to Conventions and

Training.

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D. Chapter Secretary: 1. Take minutes at each meeting, making sure to record motions, who seconded

it and what it was about. 2. Turn over all records to your successor. 3. Handle the supply requisition (F-18) which can be done fastest on line.

E. Everyone works membership. F. Everyone should be available to be a program chair. G. Keys to Success:

1. Be On Time or EARLY. 2. Make sure you have a quorum present. 3. End the meeting on time, as well.

H. Other items to keep track of: 1. F-7 report – keep them current with the website, with the Federation and with

National. This includes keeping deaths updated as well. 2. Telephone trees or postcards to members to remind them of meetings and to

keep tabs on what’s happening in their lives. 3. Property – keep track of where it is and keep an inventory.

I. Help is a phone call or email away – your chapter president, the Federation, National Headquarters.

J. All forms, bylaws, and letter templates are available on both Tennessee’s and National’s websites.

K. Public Relations (PR): more favorable publicity is needed in local newspapers, on TV, etc.

L. Service Officer: You can be especially helpful with benefits for surviving spouses. M. National Headquarters has a copy of your chapter’s Bylaws and a copy of your

chapter’s Charter.

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(Attachment 6)

Memorial Day Prayer By Captain Stephen Sword, Judge Advocate,

U.S. Army Reserve, Chaplain for American Legion Post 2 and Criminal Courts Judge in Knoxville

Heavenly Father, we gather here today to remember. We remember the Minute Man who grabbed his arms and ran to the sound of gunfire at the birth of a nation only to fall to the ball of the British musket. We do not know his name, but we remember him. We remember the boy in blue and the boy in gray who left home with nothing but the clothes on his back and his cause in his heart. They fell at places like Chicamaugwa, Shiloh, Spotsylvania, and Tiatoke. We do not know their names, but we remember them. And Father, we remember the Dough boy keeping watch in the trench, the fall of night also brought with it the fall of shouts. He would not wait to see the end of the war to end all wars. We don’t know his name, but we remember him. We remember the G.I. who kissed his girl good-bye and boarded a boat to fight in a country he had never seen. And we remember his brother who sailed from a different port, to hop from island to island to route out the entrenched cavity. Neither brother made it off that beach. Only their families know their names, but we remember them. And Lord, we remember the grisseled veteran who dusted off his fatigues in answer to his nation’s call once again. This time to fight on a divided peninsula. That morning, before the mission, he was told was called Hill 255. He would not live to hear its new name, Pork Chop Hill. We don’t know his name, but we remember him. We remember the 18-year-old, fresh from high school graduation. He came from places called Duluth, Gary, Bluefield, Knoxville. He never made it back. He fell at Aushau Valley, Dactau, Saigon, Makong Delta. We don’t know his name, but we remember him. And finally, dear Lord, we remember the National Guardsmen who faithfully followed his unit after being called up to a new global war. Gone were the days of weekend drill duty. His new full-time service would take him to a dessert. He didn’t know the name of the little boy who was caught in the crossfire, but he put his body between the enemy and the boy nonetheless. He never knew that boy’s name, but he exchanged his life for the boy anyway. We don’t know his name, but we remember him, too. Father, we remember him and all those like him, who have given their lives for the sake of freedom. They lie together today in graves marked and unmarked, the lie at the bottom of the sea, they have been scattered to the winds, so that we may live our lives free from fear and tierrany. Although we don’t know their names, Lord, you do, for you have counted every hair on their heads. Only you know the true depth of each and every sacrifice made. It was you, Lord, who taught us that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend. And, today, we remember that truth. The memory of these unknown men and women soothes our loss and girds our spirit for battles ahead until we reach that final day when every tear shall be wiped away and our memories will no longer be filled with loss, but with the undying joy of knowing the priceless treasure given to us by those who fought and died for this nation, conceived in liberty, and preserved with blood. Remember us now, Lord, as we remember them. In Your Holy Name we pray, Amen.

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(Attachment 7)

Town Hall Meeting with Executive Director Barbara Sido Barbara Sido: I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and I really want to hear from you. So, what I thought we would do this morning is I will answer anything you want to ask me. I will tell you I know, if I don’t know, I will tell you that. I’m not a big believer in trying to fudge my way through it. If I don’t know, I will find out and get answers back to Rhonda. I will take some questions from you, but I also want to talk some about these new ideas through the NARFE Next Project, some of the new products and offerings and services that we’re talking about adding to the portfolio of what we already offer. Question: Yvonne Hamilton said she knows some younger people who are looking at the magazine and they mention that they are not in Velcro shoes yet, but they are into hiking, natural and nature-type things, travel and health, etc. I suggest the editor needs to gear the magazine more to them. Answer: This is one of the things we talked about in the office, the young and active retired, people just a few years out from being retired. We have a lot of member perks programs that you read about in the magazine and we are partnered with hotels and a company called Roads Scholar which used to be known as Elder Hosta that organizes groups to travel all over for educational and cultural reasons. I encourage you to check out the member perks page in the magazine. Question: Ed Evans said we need to remind our Federal employees they are and will be federal employees forever which should put us in mind of other Federal employees. Maybe we need to gear magazine to underline the fact that we are Federal employees forever. Answer: We need to celebrate that you all and millions like you have devoted your entire lives and careers to serving the American people. That is a big message and a big deal. Part of our new Public Relations initiative is community relations where the Federal workforce goes out and does good deeds, raise a lot of money for Alzheimer’s, do a community service project, help with a Diabetes 5K, or whatever, that you get credit and acknowledgement for that. Let everyone know that you continue to serve even after you retire. Question: Larry Cunningham: Yesterday you talked about advocacy. I’m glad that you brought that up because that’s the most important thing we do. For the last several years it seems NARFE has been dealing with its infrastructure of the organization. That may be good and necessary, but I’d like to see more advocacy on things that I believe are important to me and others. Here are a couple of things. The WEP has been on the books for years, the back burner. Recently, I’ve been told that this will never be changed. If it stays on the back burner, for certain it will not change. Another thing, the hold harmless clause for Social Security recipients is very unfair to Civil Service retirees and needs to be changed to include Civil Service employees. There will be another time in the future when the Medicare Part B premium will increase and as in the past the Civil Service retiree will be stuck with that bill. That needs to be worked on. We need to get something on the books; we at least need to look at this and see what we can do about it. Answer: I will take that back and have it looked at. WEP is something I really don’t understand real thoroughly, but I do understand the politics of it a little bit. It’s a very complicated piece of public policy. I can tell you we bring it up every once in awhile and we are told in no uncertain terms by people like Senator Lindsey Graham has made it very clear to us that it is not going anywhere. We have only so much political capital. When you go up on Capital Hill, you can ask for only so many political favors. You have to be really smart about where you spend that political capital. You have to ask yourself, do you use it up on something we know is not going to go anywhere or do we save it for something we know we can have some impact on? I hear about this issue everywhere I go. I know it’s really important to you all

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and I know you people who are affected by it are not being treated right. I wish there was something we could do about it. Question: William Bolt, President of Chapter 204: Yesterday, you began your address talking about the misconception of the role and the jobs of Federal employees in this country. That really struck a cord with me. I could write a book about what I did in my Federal career and I served the Federal government for 36 years. In the past, I know NARFE National has requested little bios that we submit. I think it would be a great opportunity for us to get the information out to the public about what we actually do as Federal employees. We have people from the Postal Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Social Security. I myself was with DOD, Department of the Army, my entire career. I started as a chemist, but I ended my career as an environmental protection specialist. I did a lot of things in between. I made sure what they had worked, was safe for them to handle, transport, use and was effective. I think it would be helpful to make some presentations to the public, whether it’s newspaper articles, webinars, etc.

Answer: I agree. When I go out, this is my third convention this season so far and I’m going to five more, and I hear great stories like that everywhere I go. Everybody has a great story of things that you would have never guessed in a million years that the Federal government was even involved in let alone that people were actively working on. What I think is important is to gather these vignettes (is what I call them) and tell the story. There are great stories and there is a whole school of thought in Public Relations that’s built around storytelling and that’s what you pitch to the media. It’s not late breaking news necessarily, but a feature that tells a story or a series of stories. One of the reasons is Public Relations, Media Relations, the Press, used to be under Jessie Clement in what was the Legislation Department. I moved it out of there and now it’s in the Marketing and Resources Department because I want our outreach, our profile, our publicity to be about more than just legislation. It needs to be about more than that. It needs to be about stories. So, I absolutely agree with you. If I had a few million dollars, I’d be running a public education awareness campaign on TV right now. I think we have a strong message.

Question: Herb Arnett: Is it possible that our NARFE headquarters could encourage federal agencies to let us in for recruiting active employees, especially those near retirement age?

Answer: Yes, I agree it is really hard. When I first came aboard I realized that one of the challenges of recruiting after 9-11, all of a sudden, you could not get in. I will tell you that I recognize this as a serious problem. Face to face recruiting is always the most effective. One person asking another person is always the most effective. We have really good direct mail. Recruitment was up 28% last year, but face to face recruiting is always the best. I will tell you that I do hear stories, as I go around the country, some people do get in. As Bill mentioned yesterday, the trick is to go local, and to ask locally. If there’s an Air Force base in your area with a big civilian general population, I bet you know somebody who is still working there. They can help you find who you need to talk to there, who will let you come in and do a luncheon or a recruitment fair or something of that kind. It’s going to take a little bit more work to get your foot in the door, but I’m a big believer in the net-work that we all have. I just have to believe that, in a lot of places, you all know somebody who knows somebody who is still working there who is maybe five years out of retirement. I’ve been thinking about how we can help you with that. I’m not quite sure how we can do that.

Question: Yvonne Hamilton: The comment about running articles in the magazine, Nashville had a very good article in our local paper about the Federally employed. I would say start on that level on getting the word out about federal employees. It went so far as to compare a bookkeeper in private industry versus someone keeping the books in Federal government. It’s not the same. You know yourself you may have 500 jobs to do in addition to that. So the pay thing, everybody thinks we make all this money and we don’t do anything.

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They showed a really good comparison. Start on your level there, your local newspaper, and get an article in there first.

Answer: Well, I agree and one of the things I said to the staff, we need to talk to someone besides the Beltway Press. The beltway press is very important. The D.C. political chattering classes, as I call them, are very important, but one of the things I’m going to talk to you about is the influence analysis we’re about to do, one of the things we talked to them about is what is happening out in the country in places like Nashville or wherever. Where there is a very large concentration of Feds, we know where those places are. If there are so many Feds in Congressional District 7, say, and the person in Congress representing Congressional District 7 is not supportive of that, there’s something wrong there. Because there are thousands of constituents in his or her district he should be serving. And the best way to get to those people in a lot of cases in through your hometown press. The average member of Congress gets swamped. In the beltway press they don’t pay any attention, but the average Congressmen does pay attention to the hometown press. I guarantee they are clipping the local papers every day.

Question: Oscar Krosnes: I questioned you yesterday about spouses having a lower rate. You mentioned a Resolution already being centered to recognize this problem.

Answer: Yes, it’s not just for spouses. I can’t quote you the number, but there is either a Resolution or Bylaws change. They’re talking about creating a new category of membership for like Affiliates or Associates that would be friends of… you know, like spouses of… who are not directly eligible for membership but, who would want to be involved anyway. It’s a kind of friend of NARFE category. I believe it is an Affiliate as I think about it. Question: Larry Henderson: NARFE started in 1921 as an advocacy organization and its first issue was to increasing pensions, in Memphis it was $15 a month or something like that. Until the 1940s there were associate associations. I’m not sure how their role played in advocacy but it’s our ‘40s chapters that have been our advocacy avenue on the local level. One of NARFE’s great advantages, I have always thought, is the ability to have, at least, the structure to get boots on the floor in every conditional district office across the nation in short notice. Of course, we’re not really doing that but, we’re organized so that we could do that if we could develop or place emphasis on it. Chapters have lost about 30% of their member since One member one vote began just two years ago., So, chapter advocacy that was mentioned, I haven’t seen anything. Bill has talked about the development on the district level and that was good news. But, I would like to know how you feel about the progress that has been made so far in the development of some form of alternate organizational structure that would support the chapters or reflects the chapters in their efforts in their advocacy and do you have any ideas how you are going to do that? Answer: I do have some ideas. We do have this Congressional District Leadership (CDL) program that Bill and I talked about a little yesterday, which the whole idea is to organize around Congressional Districts, for example, the reason you just mentioned, that Constituents and elected officials want to hear from you all. They don’t necessarily want to hear from me, they don’t even necessarily want to hear from Bill. They want to hear from people who can actually vote for them. So the Congressional District Leader program is important. In terms of the future of chapters, I hear a lot about that when I go out into the field. I can guarantee you there is no organized orchestrated effort on the National level to get rid of chapters. I don’t get an extra ten bucks in my paycheck if I kill a chapter. So, there is no effort underway to get rid of chapters, there’s no intent to get rid of chapters. NARFE is a grassroots organization and always will be as far as I’m concerned. I used to be the Executive Director of a Chapter and I know how important they are. I think maybe what we need to be talking about is the role of a chapter in this organization. I think that is what needs to change. I think we all, including you all, need to be open to the possibility that we need to do things differently at the chapter level that perhaps they haven’t done in the past. We’re working on resources, manuals, and a video,

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and all kinds of tips and tools and resources for you all. If you all, out in the chapters, are not willing to take a look at how you are running your chapter then we’re not going to get very far. We all have to figure this out together. It’s not for us up in National to say, “Chapters, this is what you’re going to do.” I think that what programs are about, how your monthly meeting go – are they always the second Tuesday of the month – I think those are the kind of things that need looking at. We have one of the resources that we’re looking at, kind of a Meeting in a Box idea that would be a resource to chapters and also, at a higher level, for Federations; how to put together a really good meeting that is going to attract people, they are going to want to come, and, in that way you can kind of get your hooks in them and bring them into the chapter on the local level. But, you have to have something to sell. Just coming and hanging out with each other is not always enough for someone new. Those who have belonged for a long time and know each other for a long time – that’s a given. I understand why that’s attractive to you. You get to see your friends, you get to talk about what’s going on, you get to talk about what your Congressman is doing, all that kind of stuff. Sometimes you get a really interesting speaker, but you have to think about how attractive is that to somebody new who does not know you already. We need to work on that. But, I guess my message to you about that is that we are looking at different options while trying to support chapters that currently exist. I will tell you that there is more discussion in Strategic Planning about what to do with Federations than there is about Chapters. There is a lot of discussion about what is the role of the chapter, what should they be doing, what are they doing, do you really have to have 17 officers if you’re a Federation. If you are a Federation, all you technically have to have is a President and a Secretary/Treasurer. You don’t need a Membership Chair, etc. Some of you have leadership rosters that go on and on and on. Then, we wonder why we have chapters closing because they can’t find enough leaders. And that’s why chapters close. Yes, we have membership loss, but that’s not why chapters close, and it’s not money. There’s a lot of chapters that are sitting on a good amount of money, but the reason chapters close is because they can’t get anyone to step up and run it. So, if we can lessen the burden of being a leader of a chapter or at the federation level, the chances of people being willing to do it are greater. Part of what I’ve said to people for a while is we need to make your job easier. Part of my job is to make you job easier. We do that by making your job simpler. Right now, I can tell you, the chapter structure, the federation structure – there’s areas, there’s districts, there’s chapters, there’s federations, there’s regions – very, very complicated. I talked a little bit yesterday about moving resources from the back of the house to programs like advocacy, the magazine, the Federal Benefits Institute. It’s very difficult to dislodge that at NARFE because it is a very bureaucratic organization. Trying to get anything changed is very difficult. We can’t treat everyone the same. One size does not fit all. One thing won’t work for everyone. What works for Tennessee won’t work for Utah. This is a common problem in membership organizations. You set up models and rules and you expect everyone to fit in that box. It almost never works. You have to have some kind of flexible model where people can do things almost in tiers, almost like a menu. If you’re a federation, for example, maybe the basic, core responsibility is to communicate to members. That’s kind of like tier one. The number one tier always has to be advocacy at the federation level. Maybe up on top of that you do a newsletter. If you’re a real hip-hop happening federation maybe you do a big conference like FEDCON. There are some federations capable of doing that. And then there are some who say no, I don’t have the capability or have no interest in doing that. Why don’t we make it possible for people to plug into the organizational structure in a way that makes sense for them, not necessarily in a way that makes sense to us. Question: Larry Henderson: One thing that I haven’t heard anything about if you plan to incorporate national only members in these plans, and if so, how? Answer: National only members are a great puzzle to everyone because I think that when one member one vote came through we, perhaps, did not think it all the way through. When I first came aboard a year ago in May, I heard about optional chapter membership all day every

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day. What are we supposed to do, how are we supposed to deal with this? We could have done a better job preparing you all for that. Everybody said well, let’s just vote for it, let’s just go do it. It’s exponentially more complicated than that. National only members have no relationship with the chapter. They opted not to join a chapter. One of the questions I get is what’s their relationship to the federation and that’s no simple answer either because your federation is a federation of chapters, which a lot of federations are. If a National only member has no relationship to the chapter, then what is their relationship to the federation? On the other hand, the federation gets 10% of the dues for every member in national only or chapter. So, what’s the statutory requirement of how you treat national only members, what’s their financial obligation? What are you obligated to do for national members for that 10%? Question: Joyce Knott: How do you get younger members or younger retirees to sign up with NARFE because you try and try and they say, “I’ve got my retirement, why bother?” They don’t understand that we are doing the work for them to keep their benefits. Answer: One of the things that I’ve said is that the advocacy and the legislative effort has been extraordinarily successful. There’s been no rollback of benefits for you all for a long, long time. Here’s the problem with that. People get comfortable. They think there is no threat. We are the victim of our own success when it comes to that kind of thing. In terms of everything is great or we hear about shut-downs all the time. They’re not really going to happen and if they do, it’s only for a couple of days and why get all agitated about it. So, we really need to figure out a way to talk about it in a way that’s very real for people in terms of protecting earned benefits. I will also tell you that our market research shows that the legislative side is of a lot more interest to the older members than it is to younger members. Younger members or perspective members are much more interested, they tell us, in the Federal Benefits Institute. They are much more interested in having somebody they can pick up the phone and call and say “Here’s my situation, what should I do?” That’s what they value, it’s not the advocacy stuff. So, then, we’re kind of stuck in between about which one of this stuff should we work the most on because we need to continue to service our current members while also trying to get new people. It’s a bit of a conundrum for sure. Bill Shackelford said: If I could add a little something. What Joyce was saying, this came about before Barb came aboard, there was a series of focus groups held in the Alexandria, Virginia, area. It was one of these types where people were being interviewed on one side of a two-way glass and NARFE people were on the other side. Some of the people we interviewed were active employees. There was one question that was asked, “What do you know about NARFE and do you need NARFE?” If you can imagine Jessica Clement sitting on the back side of the one-way glass and the person responding to the question says, “I don’t need NARFE. I have my benefits and I’ve been grandfathered.” They don’t understand that what happens on Monday on Capitol Hill can be changed on Tuesday. When you think that your benefits are locked in and grandfathered, these are the younger, the people still working, we’ve got a barrier there we’ve got to break down some way. Through Barb and the staff at headquarters, what I can do, what federation presidents can do, right on down to the bottom, it’s a battle. Exactly like Joyce was saying, you’ve got to get them interested, you’ve got to get them passed the idea that they don’t need us. Primarily, they don’t understand. It’s an educational process. Barb Sido added: Getting back to national members, I also want to tell you that there are going to be national standing committees now, strategic planning that goes on, there’s a very concerted effort to involve national only members in those processes as decisions are being made about the future of the organization. Which prompts me to ask this question – “Is there a national only member in this room besides me?” Question: Ed Evans: The federation has discussed, and I think Rhonda is about to launch, a best practices program. There is a way to get solutions to things and some of our chapters have solved some of these problems, but we have no way of sharing them. So, that may be something that National wants to look at. The magazine has come out sometimes, and tasked

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people: This is the subject, what do you think about it? There may be a way to find out how chapters across the America are solving some of these problems – sharing best practices. Answer: I agree with you 100%. They say in adult learning that I have done Doctoral studies and they say that peer-on-peer learning is the most effective, so at FedCon18 for example, one of the break-out sessions that I talked about, is about recruitment. It is one that more people have signed up for by far. And, what’s great about it is one of our staff who runs recruitment and retention at the office, but there is also the number one recruiter in the NARFE nationwide is going to stand up there and talk about he does it. And, we’re going to find the chapter or federation from one of the federations that actually grew membership last year so you can stand up and say, “Here is how we did it, and here’s how you might chance it for your organization, here’s what worked for you and won’t work for you, here’s our special circumstances that this work in our particular situation.” People like to know it’s possible. It’s one thing for us to stand up there as national staff and say do this, go do that, go do that; it’s another thing for another member to tell you, try this, it really worked, or don’t try this, it didn’t work. Question: Steve Schrader: I would like to point out that I really got used to using the Recruiting and Retention Journal. Pass it on that they do a great job in our network. Answer: I will, they will be glad to hear that. That doesn’t get enough play, the Recruiting and Retention Journal. It took a while before I even knew we had it. We don’t do a very good job of promoting that. Question: Larry Henderson: I haven’t seen anything come out of national from the Strategic Planning Committee about chapters redevelopment. (Barbara Sido said I would agree with that and noted that it’s in the operating plan.) The next question I have is about federations. When I was a Federation President in an NEB meeting in Orlando in 2013, I proposed, I talked to a half dozen or so other federation presidents, about reorganizing federations and starting with Congressional District Leaders. North Carolina, I remember, said they would have to make some adjustments to do that, but they could do that. It was easy in Tennessee because all we had to do was rename them to Congressional District Leaders or Liaisons. We chose Liaisons. We made a serious effort to fill those positions. When we started, we only had one in position. When we offered a great trip to the Legislative Training Conference, saying anybody that would agree to take that position, by a survey before the convention, we didn’t get a single taker. We have one guy that was our Congressional District Officer, so he won by default. He wasn’t able to make the trip, but that’s not the point I wanted to make. It’s been almost five years since I made that suggestion and so far there has been no further development at the federation level. I’m not happy with how long we’ve had to wait. Talk about patience. I’ve always heard that patience is a virtue. It’s been five years since my proposal, patience has really become the logo for NARFE. Answer: I’m surprised to hear about the free offering that nobody took. What’s in the back of my mind is let’s get people to the National Legislative Conference for free or significantly reduced price to get more people there because when you go to Washington, D.C., on Lobby Day or Legislative Fly In where you send people to the Hill, you want to send in as many people as you can get, you want people to know you’re there. One of the ideas I had was to get people in for free, more people from federations. I’m really discouraged that nobody did that. Question: Larry Henderson: We had several District Officers positions when we started that were vacant and then filled by Vice Presidents. The first thing we did was our Legislative Officer contacted everybody that was an officer in a CDL position and remove them so everybody would know those positions were available. Then he called everyone that was currently serving and asked them if they would continue to serve. We ended up with one left. We made every effort to fill those positions, but, had no luck. Answer: I understand why you are frustrated about that. We’re in the process of updating all the information about CDL’s and we’re doing a lot of training. I mentioned the Operating Plan a little bit ago. That’s the tool I use, developed out of the strategic plan in terms of how we

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actually operationalize all this strategy. There is chapter development stuff in there. The federation stuff, we actually had a very robust talk about the future of federations at the most recent NEB meeting. There are some that are very weak and are looking to merge and that prompted a whole conversation about what the role of the federation is. In terms of being patient, I am not a patient person. What I have learned over the years is that sometimes if an is idea takes a long time to be implemented or not implemented at all, it may be because it’s not just something people want to do. Sometimes, just because we suggest something doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to embrace it and say, “Oh, yea, let’s go.” So, part of what I know, certain members of the organization that I talk to a great deal who are also very frustrated. I’ve had to say to them that sometimes people ignore you because they are too busy, sometimes ideas get ignored because there’s just not the culture for the change at the time and sometimes ideas are ignored because people don’t agree with it. So I don’t know whether that idea that I’ve heard, not just from you, about organizing around CDLs isn’t catching fire because we don’t have the resources for it yet, or it’s not catching fire because people don’t like it, or it’s not catching fire because this organization is so averse. It’s hard to know. It’s hard to know why things don’t happen. Question: Larry Henderson: I have said several times that the Strategic Planning Committee has done an excellent job of documenting the obvious, but not very much in the budget and imagination and a new structure. Answer: I can tell you one of the things, one of the committees that was created is Strategic and Planning Innovation Committee which I personally serve as the liaison. One of the things they are working on is making recommendations before the next cycle of the Strategic Planning on big, big ideas like the basic organizational model and what should the new structure be. Should we have a 501c3. These big, big ideas that we need to do due-diligence on before we just say let’s go do it. We need to run legal tracks, financial tracks, run a business model, before we take on some of these things Question: Larry Henderson: Just a quick comment, that’s just exactly what I’ve been wanting to say for at least the last two years. We need some feedback so at least we know which way to go. I suggested several different kinds of membership levels and let that develop and see which one takes off the best. We had an echapter that really took off. I always had the idea that they just liked the idea of belonging to an echapter. We had computer savvy people with email addresses and they just like the idea of that. I suggested that we have several membership categories and see which one really out did the other one. Answer: I’m a big fan of pilot programs, too. You have an idea, let’s try it. Whether the idea is that they came up with this whole notion of federations merging because they don’t feel like they’re strong enough to stand on their own. Our suggestion, on the staff, was to take this tiered model of your basic job as advocacy, then tier two you add a newsletter or whatever, then maybe you add a conference and pilot that. Go out and find some states who are struggling, federations who are struggling, and say, okay, we’ll support you in piloting this. We didn’t get very far with that. Question: Yvonne Hamilton: I’m sitting here hearing a lot of words like patience, being a family for better or worse. Everybody in this room has the same desire for this organization. So, in my opinion, you need to get excited and you need to be happy about what you do for your chapter, for your own paycheck or you’re not going to get someone else excited. So, if we start from that level at getting yourself and your chapter excited, I see a lot of good things coming out of headquarters. I think we’re headed in the right direction. But, it starts with your own chapter and with yourself first. Answer: I think you have to be patient and impatient at the same time. That’s really challenging. Question: Ronnie Collins: Yesterday much has been said over the years about chapter officer’s online reports. There are two sets of reports. The old reports have been there for a long

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time. The ORM reports, I’ve been told they are going away. I’ve been hearing that for about five years now. They haven’t gone away yet. And there’s the new reports, the OAM reports. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. As a chapter president, I use both. I’d like to see the OAM reports, which evidently are going to be continued, adopt the benefits of the old reports before the old reports go away. Who’s the person to contact. Answer: You are looking at her. Let me tell you what’s going on with the data base, reports and keeping track of officer rosters, people who are dropped off, and all that kind of stuff. There was the ORM, then there’s the OAM, acronym city that kind of drives me crazy. But, I can tell you that none of that works as well as it should as far as I’m concerned. It’s not useful for you all, out in the field it’s certainly not helpful and useful, and of course for all the people who are handling 210,000 member records, actually more than that when you add the prospects and stuff. So we are in the process of looking for a new system because it just is not working. It seriously impedes our ability to help you all, it seriously impedes our ability to kind of slice and dice the data and to figure out how to target the marketing message. It’s really a huge problem. It’s one of the first things I said had to go, I had to do something about this. The question then becomes, we have this new system, then what’s the field interface that you all will be using? We’re working with the Configuration Advisory Board, which is a group of mentors who use the OAM and stuff, that reports a great deal. We’re working with them. But, it’s going to be kind of a balance between what is the most effective tool for headquarters, where we have hundreds of thousands of records, and what’s the best tool at the chapter and federation level. So, we’re trying, as with many things, trying to work out along that line a little bit. But, I agree, they’re not quite what they could be. If you have ideas about what you would like in a field interface, lets not use OAM and ORM, but if you have ideas about what you’d like to see that do, you have my email address, just shoot me a note, okay, because we’re still in the process of selecting. We’re in second round demos at this point. There’s still time then. The Q & A session ended and Barbara Sido imparted some of the things in the works. NARFE Next: We talked a little about what these new product offerings. I’m going to throw some of these out there and see what you think, so, as we say, let’s throw the spaghetti against the wall and see if it sticks.

A. Premium counseling services: I don’t like the word counseling, but it’s very early, it’s all subject to refinement. Some of these we may end up not doing at all. We may change things. What Premium counseling services is, is a 2-tier service out of the Federal Benefit Institute; Federal Benefits Solutions which is a one-hour scheduled session with one of the experts at headquarters. So, instead of picking up the phone and calling and hoping to catch someone, because there’s only two and a half of them, or emailing and hoping to catch someone you have a scheduled time, at Tuesday, the 23rd at 2 you’ll be talking to James Marshall about a specific item that need a little bit of a deep dive, it can’t be covered in a ten-minute phone call. So, you would be scheduled for an hour. You would get a questionnaire ahead of time to kind of lay out, kind of like when you go to the doctor for the first time they want you to fill out all the forms about your history, what meds you’re on, and all that kind of stuff. It would be similar to that so that the person you’re talking to has some background so you don’t waste time going through all of that. And then there would be a post call, recaps, you would have a report of what you talked about and that would be $125 an hour. The next tier up is for two hours or more. What we have found is there are people who need really hardcore intensive, personalized, customized help. One of the things I have learned is that when people call headquarters to talk about federal benefits, yes, there are general rules on the road, there are certain things you say about FEHB, but everybody’s situation is different. The solutions in a one-hour session is kind of personalized. The counseling, the full-blown counseling service where you pay by the hour for two hours or more is customized. You have a series of conversations, you talk to the expert at the office, they go off and they do research, they do the internet searching, they find the links, they pick up a phone, they call know at OPM or

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whatever. That would be at an hourly rate as well. So, those basically, are based on the assumption which we know to be true, that with the right advice, we can save a member sometimes tens of thousands of dollars because they are about to make the wrong decision about their health plan. They could be in the wrong plan altogether. At their agency we have been told many times that we have saved people significant amounts of money. We think this will be appealing to two different groups of people. One are people who are in the midst of a significant life change who need some advice because most of you all retired, you made all those decisions a while ago, you’re all set. But there are things that happen: your spouse dies, you get divorced, you maybe move to a different state, you may end up with dependent children who move back to your home, and that kind of stuff. You could be a young person whose about to turn 26 and who’s going to get booted off your parent’s insurance. So, there’s all kinds of life events that would cause people to seek out this service. We really want to focus on people who are still working and who are early to their career who need to start thinking about this and making some decisions now. So that’s kind of what we’re thinking about and like I said, it’s a very early prototype idea with you all. What do you all think? What do you like about it, what don’t you like about it? I want to hear what you don’t like about it, too.

Someone asked is there a fee? Yes there is. For a one hour session there’s a $125 and then for the extensive two or

more hours, (we are just testing these prices, it could be more or it could be less, I just wanted something for you all to react to) it would probably be $100 an hour. You compare that to a financial planner, who usually charges from $400 to $500 an hour.

Another person noted, I think that’s the way we should first market it. We have to show them the difference in what they would pay then I think that would work. That’s a good point. No, they’re not probably going to grab it because it is a fee, but you have to show them what they’re getting for it.

It’s important to remember we are not giving financial or legal advice which we cannot do. We would be liable, so we’re not doing that. So, that way, it’s different, but you want someone to sit down and come up with basically a life plan for you, which financial planners do for you, that’s what you would get with the intensive multi-hour, you’d get a plan afterwards.

Are we talking about current employees or retired employees or both, someone asked? The answer was both. He then stated, I am a Federation Service Officer. If I get someone with a question about

something that I don’t know so I have to call headquarters to get an answer. Are you saying we could no longer do that?

No. You can continue to have these very specific one off kind of things. This is more like general service, general information. The Solutions One-Hour sessions would be personalized for you, one hour, one on one with someone at the office scheduled time and the long ones would be actually customized for you, your situation, your marital situation, where you live, what your health conditions is, all that kind of stuff. Service officers provide a very important value in terms of being able to provide quick, personalized service. But, the F-100 is so complicated and it changes all the time. We want to make sure our people who are answering the phone up there are qualified. We’ve got people up there now, Al Reeves worked for decade for the Social Security Administration, James Marshall, who now runs the Federal Benefits Institute, has been presenting on these topics also for decades. Also, he has particular expertise, I will tell you, in helping people who started out their public service in the military and then transitioned to the civil service.

Bill Shackelford noted that Larry Cunningham mentioned the Service Officer. People look at the F-100. You’re supposed to have all your information in there for your next of kin. You’d be surprised at how many people can’t figure out how to fill that out. Larry can do it or a 15-

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minute call or email to headquarters – fine. When it gets down to the detailed information, that’s what we’re referring to here.

That’s kind of like what I was talking about even with just the chapter/federation model that we believe is in tiers. You have a basic level of service, then you rachet it up one level, and then you rachet it up one level, and so on and so on. What you or anyone would pay for it, that’s the key question.

I wish this had been around prior to my retirement another person stated. The only thing is the price initially seems a little high, maybe if you start a little lower like $75 for one hour and then charge a little more for the in-depth consultation and show people the cost benefit.

Right, that’s great. Another member said, “I like the idea, but I think you have to think very carefully about

how to implement it. It comes across to me as the same challenge we all have recruiting current employees. How to get that message to the audience that you want to help. If you don’t consider that very well up front you might fail.”

Yes, I agree. Along that same topic, that first person helped successfully, goes to other workers and

says, “I had success with NARFE. I’m going to tell my friends that this organization did this for me.” They brought this awareness among the active workforce.

You are exactly right. One of the things that we were thinking about with all these new ideas is how do we reach people who are still employed. We’re even having conversations about whether we should use the word active or current, because there are a lot of retirees who are very active.

You might want to rethink the costing, someone else stated. Maybe $50 for half hour. You can get a lot of information in a half hour telephone call.

Kind of related to this, we have this idea of a digital Decision Tree. Some of you have seen Decision Trees. A lot of times when you fly Delta they give you a survey and depending on how you answer each question, it will take you to a different follow-up question. So this would be things like where you go in say which FEHB plan is best for me, then it would say are you 65, yes or no. Then depending on your answer to that, it would give you another series of questions, yes, no, yes, no, that kind of trickles down, and then in the end, you would have the answer to your question. What’s the best date to retire would be a question that people would ask. Should I claim Social Security when…those kind of things. So this is for people who don’t like to get on the phone and talk to people. This is for people who just want to do it themselves, maybe in the evening and when it’s convenient for them, maybe who go through this process with the Decision Tree and then figure out that they still need more help. That might be a feeder into the things I was just talking about. This is definitely a digital thing, not a paper thing.

A lady remarked that it’s great for people who like to do digital things and I know a lot in the room may not. I know the longer you live the more you’re going to have to do digital things if you’re going to talk with your children and grandchildren.

You might want to come up with this Tree, you might want to contact one of the local chapters or any chapter to implement this on a trial basis. Make pilots.

Good idea. I’m telling the marketing staff at the office I’m big on market testing. Nothing goes out in terms of a direct mail letter or anything that has not been market tested. That’s how you get better bang for your buck.

Another idea that we have is an App for your phone. I’ve heard this since I started. People want an App. There are Apps, I guess for me. At the last convention there was an App that was pretty popular that people used to know what sessions are coming up next and what are my options, what should I go to, that kind of stuff. This would be more of an App about NARFE overall. There would be a number of options: one is advocate, one is join, one is learn,

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etc. and then you would click your way on your phone through that. It’s very popular to have an App. I know a lot of associations have an App now. We thought people would use it to manage their own personal membership experience, like what do I do to renew, how do I find out about the particular legislative alert, that kind of stuff. What somebody told me though, was that it was a great mobile way to recruit, because it gives you a tool, everybody’s got a phone you all, you just take out your phone and you start moving though the App and it’s very attractive and it’s very graphic – lots of pictures, lots of colors, not form after form after form You don’t have to go flip through the whole magazine, though the magazine may have it’s own App at some point. What do you think about that? You’ve got to like that kind of technology thing. A member added, I think yesterday when Bill was talking about everyone with a membership person, I think that would be great for them. Somebody said it would be great to put “What NARFE can do for me” and put that out in front of a person who is still working who is tech savvy. First of all, we’re the only ones advocating keeping benefits they have, that’s what they don’t realize. We’re not too old fashioned. We’re modern. We can talk to you and we can keep up with you. That’s exactly right. The last thing I want to talk to you about is POD cast. Are you all familiar with POD cast? It’s where you listen to a 20-minute interview or someone talks for a few minutes. We thought we might have members of Congress do that. We could have federal benefits experts like Tammy Flanagan might do something like that. We could get them sponsored. It’s another source of advertising sales. Again, that’s something you could do on your computer, you could do it while running around in your car. But, it also is mobile, it goes with you wherever you are. It’s kind of like books on tape but it’s NARFE topics. What do you think about that idea? Yes. Anything mobile I think is a good idea because you’re out and about. You’re out in the community, you’re out meeting people. You want to be able to show quickly, quickly, quickly. Anything else, any ideas you have that we haven’t talked about? There are some ideas that came through this process that were just kind of no brainers that we felt were so obvious that we really didn’t need to test market them, so they’re not on this list. One of those is a video, a recruitment video. So, we’re going to do that. It’s not going to be a fancy video. It’s probably going to be images and a voice-over and all that. It’s something you all can take to health fairs and recruitment fairs and play on a loop, so that people who are maybe walking by and aren’t sure yet whether they are actually want to talk to you can see the video out of the corner of their eye. Do we have some ideas on how to get people to Legislative Conferences and that kind of thing? You might want to make part of that video someone who is retiring, a younger person retiring, and have them writing a check or checking their bank account and it has a zero balance, showing they don’t have what they thought they’d have. You mentioned a lot of different ideas that headquarters is coming up with, Apps and things of that nature. I’d like to suggest that they consider the methods you’re going to use to implement these. Yes, that is a big part of it. We have a collaboration network of members that we are working with all around the country that I bring stuff to. One of my first questions is how are we going to pay for it. Then the second question is how are we going to know if it’s working or not. What does success look like for this App? How many people, how many downloads, you know, that kind of stuff. I’m a big believer in measures, that’s the reason we have an operating plan with key performance indicators. This was helpful you all. I will take this back to the office and you guys have my email address. If you have any other thoughts, just let me know, and I’ll listen to any other thoughts that may be on your mind. Thank you for having me and I had a great time. It’s been a pleasure.

31

(Attachment 8)

32

33

(Attachment 9)

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(Attachment 10) FEDERATION PRESIDENT REPORT This has been a busy year in NARFE – lots of changes and changes for the better, I believe. Two of the biggest changes: Implementation of Optional Chapter Membership (OCM) and One Member One Vote (OMOV) which was approved at the 2016 National Convention. We will be discussing and voting a little later today on revising our Federation bylaws to bring them in line with national bylaws due to the implementation of OCM and OMOV. In a nutshell - OMOV means that every member has a vote - no more delegates and proxies. OCM means that folks can join NARFE without joining a chapter - similar to eNARFE membership but eNARFE chapter no longer exist as not necessary with OCM. Folks who join NARFE but do not join a chapter are placed in a national division within the federation in which they reside. Bill S spoke yesterday about chapter closings. Unfortunately, we are experiencing some chapter closures in Tennessee. We closed one chapter in 2017 and have closed one in 2018. We are currently processing two additional chapter closures. When we close a chapter, the members have a choice of where to be transferred so hopefully that will strengthen chapters that receive these members. The chapters that we have closed are in close enough proximity to other chapters that members can attend a chapter meeting of their new chapter if they so choose. The main reason for the closures is that we are unable to find anyone to serve as officers. Chapters must have at a minimum a chapter president and chapter secretary/treasurer. I think some folks don't volunteer to be an officer because they feel they don't have the knowledge. Hopefully the Officer Training that was provided yesterday will be helpful -- and our Federation officers are available to offer support to chapter officers. There is an excellent article in NARFE's Recruiting & Retention Journal on pages 3 - 5 about helping your chapter prosper. Several of your chapter officers receive this publication and it is posted on the NARFE website. I believe that NARFE is more effective with chapters - especially in advocacy. I think that look-ing an elected official eyeball to eyeball gets the most attention. Congressman Kustoff's repre-sentative stated in her remarks yesterday in our opening ceremonies that Congressman Kustoff told her that he wants to talk to the NARFE group again - and that was before he even knew she was coming to speak to us. She said the information that they received from us when he spoke at our West Tennessee Joint Chapter Meeting in Jackson in August 2017 has been valuable to them. I am currently serving on a standing committee - Marketing and Member Resources Advisory Committee - which includes membership. This is my first time to serve on a national committee. There are five "field" members on the committee and a NEB rep, Helen Zajak, to lend guidance and a staff advisor, Bridget Boel, Staff VP of MMR. Included in our committee work plan is the review and possible revision of the renewal form and new member application. We are providing input on this and other issues from the field perspective. It is no secret that there has been issues with the renewal form – folks "accidentally" checking to renew as national division members because they weren't used to having to make a choice when they renewed. Our committee is addressing this and is making progress. We are also looking at a chapter development guide that would include best practices. Since becoming federation president, I have had the opportunity to attend the Joint Federation President/NEB Meeting in July and also the Region X Conference in October. I learned A LOT at both these meetings and I shared some of the information received in our Federation newsletter. In addition to the information presented at these meetings, I also learned a lot from talking with other federation presidents. In fact, I have my own little network of federation presidents that I discuss issues with. I am glad that I got to visit a few chapter meetings, Christmas luncheons and picnics, etc. and I enjoyed all of them. It's always nice getting to visit with NARFE members. Thank you for your continued membership and all you do to support NARFE. Respectfully Submitted, Rhonda Mooney, Federation President

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(Attachment 11)

2017 FINANCIAL REPORT January 1 – December 31, 2017 Beginning Checking Account Balance $29,526.98 Revenues

National Dues Rebate $10,381.13 2017 Per Capita Dues $4,560.00 2017 Convention Profit $164.91 Suntrust Business Credit $200.00 Chapter 1950 Closing $1,620.16 Chapter 793 Closing $1,408.87 CD Redemption $3,538.13

Total $21,873.20

Beginning Balance $29,526.98 Expenses

Officer Vouchers $9,453.52 Newsletter $4,314.79 EB Meeting Lodging $556.32 EB Convention Lodging $2,315.52 Trans. Chap. 793 funds to Receiving Chap. $1,338.43 Liability Insurance $85.00 Bank of Tn Money Market $3,550.00 Miscellaneous $247.79

Total $21,861.37

Budget $18,325

Ending Checking Account Balance $29,538.81 CD US Bank $3,382.55 Money Market Bank of TN $3,565.94

Total Assets $36,487.30

END OF YEAR BALANCES

Year Balance

2014 $35,643.42

2015 $35,072.47

2016 $36,417.50

2017 $36,487.30

REVENUE BY YEAR

Year Revenue

2014 $19,512.94

2015 $21,194.78

2016 $16,409.58

2017 $21,873.20

EXPENSES BY YEAR

Year Expenses Vouchers

2015 $21,771.29 $11,563.57

2016 $15,068.98 $7,659.23

2017 $21,861.37 $9,453.52

36

TENNESSEE FEDERATION CHAPTER MEMBERS

Year Chapter Members

2014 2539

2015 2245

2016 2023

2017 1601

PER CAPITA DUES

Year Dues

2014 $6885

2015 $6780

2016 $5979

2017 $4560

NATIONAL DUES REBATE

Year Rebate

2014 $11,057.31

2015 $10,188.96

2016 $9,043.44

2017 $10,381.13

37

2018 1st Quarter Financial Report

January 1, 2018 - March 31, 2018

Beginning Balance - Checking account 1/1/2018 $29,763.81

REVENUES

National Dues Rebate - 10% Fund (2018) $ 1,540.20

National Dues Rebate - 10% Fund (2017) $ 1,140.52

2017 Per Capita Dues: Chapter 1382 $ 237.00

Chapter 859 Closing $ 1,046.04

Chapter 1603 Closing $ 729.81

Total Revenue $ 4,693.57

LESS EXPENSES:

Vouchers - Oficer's expense Officers Expense $ 1,157.57

Newsletter Expenses $ 1,563.70

Exec Board Meeting Lodging $ 347.70

2017 Check 1057 $ 225.00

Total Disbursed $ 3,293.97

3/31/2018 Balance $31,163.41

Suntrust Balance 3/31/2018 $31,163.41

CD US Bank $3,382.55

Bank of TN Money Market $3,573.15

Total Assets $38,119.11

38

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(Attachment 12)

40

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(Attachment 13) BALLOT & TELLER COMMITTEE REPORT The committee meeting was held on Monday April 16, 2018 and consisted of Larry Cunningham, Chapter 204 and George Bell, Chapter 519. We had ballots made up with all of the nominees listed. At this time there were no contested races but if someone gets nominated for a position prior to the election we have blank spaces on the ballots for write-ins. We are prepared to count the ballots if necessary. Ballot & Committee Chair, Larry Cunningham

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(Attachment 14)

44

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Three Recommended Changes to the Proposed Federation Bylaws Revision 1) In ARTICLE IV: OFFICERS, TERMS, AND DUTIES: Section 1 and the second sentence: Strike out majority and inserting plurality If approved the existing wording will be changed to: ARTICLE IV OFFICERS, TERMS, AND DUTIES Section 1. Elected officers of the Tennessee Federation shall be the President, First Vice President, Second Vice President, Third Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Legislative Chair, and Membership Chair. These officers shall be elected by a plurality vote of the members according to Article VIII. They shall be installed at the Annual Meeting of the Federation and shall hold office for one year or until their successors are elected and installed. The Immediate Past President shall be allowed officer status and benefits. The Executive Board shall be composed of the elected officers and the Immediate Past President. REASONING: To allow for a winner to be determined in the case of more than 2 candidates vying for the same officer position.

2) In ARTICLE VII: MEETINGS: Section 5 and the first sentence: Strike out the and inserting those and inserting to end of sentence voting on the resolution. If approved the existing wording will be changed to: ARTICLE VII MEETINGS Section 5. General resolutions that do not amend the Bylaws may be adopted by the majority vote of those members voting on the resolution. These resolutions must be submitted to the Federation Secretary by December 1st prior to the Annual Meeting. Resolutions shall be published in the Federation Newsletter and posted on the Federation website. They shall become effective upon adoption unless otherwise specified in the resolution or an accompanying proviso statement. REASONING: Clarification on how the voting outcome is to be determined.

3) In ARTICLE XII: AMENDMENTS: Section 1: Inserting to end of the sentence and shall be subject to a quorum of 20 ballots returned. If approved the existing wording will be changed to: ARTICLE XII AMENDMENTS Section 1. These Bylaws may be amended by a 2/3rds vote of members casting a vote on any resolution presented to the membership and shall be subject to a quorum of 20 ballots returned. REASONING: To set a minimum number of ballots needed to establish validity.

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47

48

49

50

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52

(Attachment 15)

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(Attachment 16)

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Legislative Chairman Report Jim Glenn

4/16/17 to 4/15/18

4/16/17 thru 4/18/17 Attended NARFE Federation Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Presided over Legislative committee and assisted by Jessica Klements, brought update to committee members. Introduced Jessica on the convention floor, then Jessica brought us up to date on happenings in D.C. on the national office as well as the proposed cuts to our benefits. 6/27/17 Participated in the Webinar “Chose your own advocacy Adventure: Preparing for August”. Webinar covered latest threats and how to work with legislative department in contacting our congressmen to address these threats. 7/19/17 Engaged with Mike Freeman of WMOT (NPR) in Nashville concerning the President’s Budget Proposal and the House budget talk would affect NARFE. The main thing I tried to stress was the unfairness of it all and how it breaks a contract with federal employees and retirees. I went over the latest release from President Thiesen along with the amount of cuts we have had previously. 7/20/17 Participated in the Webinar “NARFE Legislative Webinar” with Jessica Klements. Subject included the latest happenings in Washington. 7/24/17 Interview with Mike Freeman was aired on WMOT in Nashville. Using information from our interview he stressed our issues with the proposed budgets and used some of my quotes within the article. “Enough is Enough” was the title and main theme of the interview. The release was picked up and listed in our “News Clips” the next day. 7/28/17 Participated in the conference call “NARFE’s Grassroots Advocacy Month” by Molly Checksfield. The call was for Federation leaders and covered preparation for the August Grassroots initiatives. 8/14/17 to 8/15/17 Attended Federation Board meeting in Lebanon, Tennessee. 8/16/17 Attended the West Tennessee Joint Chapter meeting in Jackson, Tennessee. Discussed current NARFE issues with Congressman David Kustoff, who had a lot of questions and appeared to be receptive to the preservation of our earned benefits. We need to further pursue our relationship with him on a regular basis. 10/31/17 Participated in the Webinar “Congress’ plan for feds” with Jessica Klements and John Hatton. The recent budget victory was discussed and thanked all who sent letters to the legislators. Stressing all issues can be brought up in later legislation, but for now the threats are not in the tax reform bill put forth under the reconciliation provision. 11/20/17 Participated in the Webinar "Midterm Madness' NARFE PAC and the 2018 elections" with Max Goldman. The whole process was explained certain races were listed as probabilities for each party. 1/30/18 Participated in the Webinar "What's in store for the Federal Community with Jessica Klements. Threats from the past are still a probability for the year 2018. 3/27/18 Participated in the Webinar "Navigating Changes to NARFE's Legislative Action Center" by Molly Checksfield. How use the Action Center for contacting your legislators, staff members and all current bills active in the House and Senate was discussed and how to report your actions.

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(Attachment 17)

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(Attachment 18)

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(Attachment 19)

National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Tennessee Federation of Chapters

62nd Annual Convention Double Tree Hotel - Jackson, TN

April 16-17, 2018 Public Relations Committee Report

The Public Relations Committee convened for the NARFE Tennessee Federation of Chapters 62nd Annual Convention in Jackson, TN on April 16, 2018 at the Double Tree Hotel. A verbal

report was made on April 17, 2018, by Benjamin Davis, during the Committee Report Session.

The committee members were as follows: Benjamin Davis, Chairman, Chapter 108; Reba Collins, Chapter 1956; Ed Evans, Chapter 1576; Wyvonne Morningstar, Chapter 1719; Robert Wightman, Chapter 1678; Mary Nell Wooten,

Chapter 870.

The following recommendations are submitted as suggestive measures chapters may engage in to improve and sustain chapter membership, local presence, and growth.

• Communicate with Members by phone, email, text, and newsletters.

• Recruit Active and Retired Federal Employees.

• Recruit Friends of NARFE and Associate Members.

• Use emails, internal and external, to alert Members of upcoming meetings and events.

• Assign Chapter Members a roster to recruit and provide notices by telephone tree.

• Call to check on Members as extended family.

• Publish newsletters quarterly on chapter issues and news.

• Use Best practices to work on local projects with other agencies.

• Set aside a budget in chapters for mailers, newsletters, and other Public Relations activities.

• Initiate drawings at monthly meetings for raffles. (i.e. Cracker Barrel gift card).

• Invite speakers to meetings as a means to keep chapters alive. (Crucial)

• -Ed Evans will provide Public Relations Members with a list of possible speaker sources.

• Use Webinars – Online interactive chats about meetings, related updates, training/instructions.

• Work with local Ministries to provide Chapter visibility. (i.e. Food Banks, Missions)

• Highlight Federal Employees and Retirees Accomplishments and Contributions in local media.

• Promote NARFE in local media and community news.

• Invite local talent people to perform at monthly meetings.

• Enter NARFE sponsored persons in local races and competitions to increase Chapter visibility.

Respectfully Submitted By,

Benjamin F. Davis. Jr. Public Relations Committee Chairman

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(Attachment 20)

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(Attachment 21)

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(Attachment 22)

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