We hope to see you at the Annual Membership Meeting tomorrow, May 8, 2024. It will be held at Ventura College in Guthrie Hall as well as via Zoom.
1. We are requesting Zoom attendees to log in at 1:00 pm for a session on Zoom Etiquette and using the Chat feature. Afterward you can either log off or stay logged in, turn off your video and audio for awhile or stay tuned in and visit with other Zoom attendees for awhile.
Log in information for the ZOOM meeting is included in my email of 05/07/2024 at 9:06 am.
2. In-Person attendees can show up as early as 1:00 pm for a bit of refreshments and socializing out in front of Guthrie.
Susan Bricker, President
Ventura County Community College District Retirees Association
The Ventura County Community College District Retirees Association (VCCCDRA) announces their 2023 General Membership Meeting for May 10, 2023 at 1 pm PDT, via ZOOM.
Below are the following documents needed for the meeting:
Below you will find the video recording of the 2022 Annual General Meeting divided into five sections. If after left clicking on a link the recording does not start playing right away, left click on the right arrow icon at the bottom of the screen.
INTRODUCTORYREMARKS BY RENE G. RODRIGUEZ, PRESIDENT, VCCCDRA
VCCCDRA retirees were very fortunate to be able to hold their Annual General Meeting on March 11, 2020, at the Wright Event Center on the Ventura College campus, one day before the Ventura County Health Officer declared a local health emergency in Ventura County, and nine days before Governor Newsom declared a Stay Well At Home order for the entire State of California.
Those who attended, 104 of us, were unaccustomed to greeting each other in these worrisome coronavirus times without the usual shaking of hands or embracing each other, instead, inventing ways to show how glad we were to see each other with the minimum of distance and touching. In spite of the unusual circumstances, the meeting proceeded fairly normally, resulting in fruitful and lengthy discussions on the matter at hand.
The focus of the meeting was on healthcare and the issues arising out of the District’s desire to push for a drastic change to our current health plans.
I asked Marie Soo Hoo, VCCCDRA Secretary, to give us a write up of the motions that were moved, seconded and passed near the conclusion of the meeting, that help to summarize what happened at the meeting.
Here is the information you requested. Pat confirmed that there were 104 attendees that signed in. MSH
Motions passed at Annual General Meeting – 3/11/2020
Al Miller moved that the Executive Board of the Retirees’ Association be authorized to take any legal action necessary against the District to prevent them from moving to the proposed CalPERS plans. The motion was seconded by Bill Thieman.
No vote was taken and more discussion took place as there were more members who had questions or wanted to make comments regarding the issue.
Rene, you also explained that before any legal action can be taken, there must be evidence of “harm” to the group.
Al Miller restated his first motion once again as follows (it had already been seconded) but I believe Lynn Fauth and several others said they seconded it also:
Al Miller moved to authorize the Executive Board to begin a campaign for a “war chest” of funds for the exploration of legal action against the District based on the proposed CalPERS plans and to file legal action against imposing an inferior benefits plan on the Retiree group.
Motion passed by a majority vote of the membership present.
Ruth Hemming’s motion:
Ruth moved that the members authorize the Executive Board to act on its behalf as it sees fit regarding its benefits. Motion was seconded by Ana Maria Valle Villa.
After lengthy discussion, the motion passed by a majority vote of the membership present.
The President of Ventura College, Dr. Kim Hoffmans, attended the meeting to give retirees a very warm welcome. She mentioned that Ventura College will be celebrating its 95th anniversary, and wanted retirees be part of it. Anne King, Executive Director of the Ventura College Foundation will be telling us more about it. Kim also was very gracious in wanting to welcome retirees to Ventura College in a very special way, which you can hear for yourself when you play the recording of her presentation. Here, I must beg Kim’s pardon, and yours, for remembering to turn the digital audio recorder on while she was in the middle of her presentation.
Below you will find the materials that were handed out, or displayed as a slide, as well as the audio recordings of the presenters.
The President of Ventura College, Dr. Kim Hoffmans, attended the meeting to give retirees a very warm welcome. She mentioned that Ventura College will be celebrating its 95th and 100th anniversaries, and wanted retirees be part of them. Anne King, Executive Director of the Ventura College Foundation will be telling us more about it. Kim also was very gracious in wanting to welcome retirees to Ventura College in a very special way, by giving gifts to the first retiree who walked in the door for this meeting (MoDean McCullough), and to the person who is having a birthday near or around her birthday, May 29, and there was one retiree (Jim Merrill). It lightened the spirits of all present and made for a very nice welcoming to Ventura College. Thank you, Kim!
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02-Approval of the Minutes and Treasurers Reports (length 1:24):
07-John Woolley conducts elections for Secretary and Treasurer (Length 4:29)
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08-Question regarding having two Members-at-Large on the Exec Board (length 40 seconds)
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09-Main part of the Program begins with Gary Johnson, introduced as Moderator of the Panel (length 1:07:38)
The following two slides, “09 HANDOUT Martas Bullet Points for Annual Meeting V2” represent the absolute minimum that you should know about the proposed CalPERS health insurance plans. The first slide is for those who have both Medicare A and B, and the second is for those who don’t have both. 09 HANDOUT Martas Bullet Points for Annual Meeting V2
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10-Al Miller makes a motion; is discussed, amended and passed (length 13:24)
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11-Further thoughts from Gary Johnson and Marta Freixas (length 10:58)
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12-Ruth Hemming makes a second motion; discussion ensues, passes (length 8:49)
This is to remind you of the important upcoming VCCCDRA Annual General Meeting.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 TIME: 1:00 pm WHERE: Wright Event Center, 57 Day Road, Ventura (corner of Day and Telegraph Roads) PARKING:a Parking Permit will be issued to attendees at the welcoming table
Below you will find the link to original email announcing the meeting and a ‘homework assignment’ for the meeting; and for further details on the March 11 meeting, see the article in “The Monitor – Spring 2020” by clicking on http://vcccdra.org/html/documents/MonitorSpring2020final.pdf
I look forward to seeing you there!
Rene G. Rodriguez
President, VCCCDRA
For the original email regarding the General Meeting and ‘homework assignment’, go to BLOG post of February 21, 2020, here.
The email below was sent to the membership for whom VCCCDRA has email addresses by Rene Rodriguez, President.
Dear VCCCDRA retiree,
AT A SPECIAL VCCCDRA MEMBERSHIP MEETING attended by 113 retirees, held on February 5 at the Wright Event Center on the Ventura College campus, the leadership of the VCCCDRA, headed by Benefits Committee Chair, Gary Johnson, began the process of informing the general membership of its findings, thus far, regarding the District’s proposal to replace our current Anthem/Blue Cross and Kaiser plans with CalPERS Health Plans.
The handouts can be viewed on your computer while you listen to the related presentations. THIS IS THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY FOR THE GENERAL VCCCDRA MEMBERSHIP TO BECOME INFORMED ON WHAT THE DISTRICT IS PROPOSING AS A REPLACEMENT TO OUR CURRENT HEALTH PLANS, AND WE URGE YOU TO BEGIN THE PROCESS OF INFORMING YOURSELVES NOW, BY LISTENING TO THESE RECORDINGS, AND VIEWING THESE HANDOUTS.
The next VCCCDRA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING will take place in about three weeks, on Wednesday, March 11. It will be held at the Wright Event Center, at 57 Day Road, located on the Ventura College campus at the corner of Day and Telegraph roads, starting at 1 p.m. The Monitor – Spring 2020 will be sent out soon with more details.
We will see if Ventura College can waive the need for parking permits for that afternoon. If this is not possible, parking permits will be made available to you at the door when you arrive. We will let you know one way or the other.
The purpose of the meeting will be to further educate the general membership regarding the comparison of the CalPERS Health Plans to the current Anthem/Blue Cross and Kaiser plans, and also for a panel of Benefits Committee members to answer questions regarding these health plans.
In this regard, I would HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU to read the CalPERS Health Plan that you would fall under, so that you can be prepared to ask questions and judge for yourself how you would fare under that CalPERS Health Plan.
The District is offering two plans to retirees, the PERS Choice Supplement Plan, and the PERS Choice Basic Plan.
You would fall under the PERS Choice Supplement Plan if you are currently enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B.
You would fall under the PERS Choice Basic Plan
a. If you are under the age of 65
b. If you are 65 or older but do not qualify for Medicare
c. If you live outside of the United States
d. If you are enrolled in Part A only, you would be required to enroll in Medicare Part B within a year.
e. If you qualify for Medicare but are not currently enrolled, you would be required to enroll in Medicare Parts A and B within a year.
ATTACHED find a copy of the PERS Choice Supplement Plan AND a copy of the PERS Choice Basic Plan. Download and print the appropriate plan for you.
Now it may seem like a BIG job to read one of these plans.
Here is what I did.
I printed the Supplement plan and started by reading the Table of Contents, looking for anything that struck a bell. One thing stuck out… hearing aids on pages 9 and 10, so I read that section and found that what CalPERS offers is far inferior to what Anthem/Blue Cross offers. Strike one.
Then, I decided to just peruse the entire plan, page by page, looking at the headings in boldface type. I found another problem, Self-injectable drugs on page 14 under “General Exclusions”. Strike two. I take a self-injectable drug. See my presentation to the Board of Trustees regarding these two topics at http://www.blog.vcccdra.org/rene-rodriguez-presentation-to-the-vcccd-board-of-trustees-september-10-2019/ (Note: at a later Board of Trustees meeting, a Burnham rep explained that the self-injectable drug I mentioned at the previous meeting is covered under the OptumRx pharmacy plan. I questioned the appearance of this “General Exclusion” in the CalPERS Choice Supplement Plan, and whether it took precedence over the OptumRx pharmacy plan, and that there might be a delayed reaction on the part of OptumRx)
There is an even more serious problem with both plans that I encountered while perusing the Supplement plan, and that involves a section early on in each plan that is titled IMPORTANT INFORMATION in boldface type. I have made this the subject of several meetings including two Board of Trustees presentations, but is too involved to get into here, but which I addressed in my presentation at the February 5 meeting. See http://www.blog.vcccdra.org/audio-recordings-and-pdfs-of-membership-meeting-on-february-5-2020/
Gary Johnson has been our leader-in-chief in this and all health issues that have come to the VCCCDRA. For the broadest and most thorough understanding of what the district proposal entails, you must listen to Gary’s presentation at the February 5 meeting at http://www.blog.vcccdra.org/audio-recordings-and-pdfs-of-membership-meeting-on-february-5-2020/ and also to all of his presentations to the Board of Trustees which can be found in the VCCCDRA blog at blog.vcccdra.org by searching “Gary Johnson”.
This may seem like a lot to ask of you, but it is most certainly in your self-interest to look into the appropriate plan that would apply to you to see how you would fare if the District insists on this direction.
There is also the question regarding whether the District would have to violate contractual and settlement agreements to enter into an agreement with CalPERS. We are looking into these legal questions as we study the District’s proposal.
I look forward to seeing those of you who can manage to attend the upcoming VCCCDRA Annual General Meeting. We need to hear from you regarding what you think of these CalPERS Health Plans. At some point, we will have to take a formal position regarding whether to support or oppose the District’s proposal, and you can help us make an informed decision.
Warmest regards to all,
Rene G. Rodriguez
VCCCDRA President
In this post are links to pdf files for the Approved Annual Meeting Minutes for 2011 through 2019. Please click on each date to view the meeting minutes file for that meeting.