[Emeritiassoc] webcast re STRS OPERS controversies

[Rossiter, Rosemary]

Dear Emeriti:

The staff at STRS and OPERS have been concerned about what they view as misinformation in newspapers about the financial health and financial activities of the systems.  To be transparent with all retirees, staff have offered to visit campuses and answer questions that might be on the minds of retirees.  A meeting of this sort would not be the usual meeting about how to plan for retirement.  Rather there would be discussion about issues such as the following:

-what is the financial health of the systems
-to what extent do the systems invest in private equity
-why do the systems give bonus payments to the top financial staff
-do retirees receive pension payments which exceed what was paid in during employment
-what is current STRS policy about COLA's?  what is OPERS policy about COLA's?
-what is the future of the health care plans provided by the systems
-what are current discussions in the Ohio legislature about the retirement systems

A visit to Athens would be in the form of a meeting which would be held in the Baker Center theater and offered to all retirees through a webcast.  Retirees could attend in person or watch the webcast through a web address and ask questions in person or via the webcast.  The date for the meeting/webcast would be March 28 at 1pm.  The meeting would also be archived so it could be watched at a later date.  The reason for the March 28 date is to allow Ohio Event Services to provide a professional webcast.  In other words this is not a Zoom event and hopefully there will be no technical issues.

But before the Emeriti Board proceeds with arranging for the webcast, we want to gauge the interest level of the Association.  If the interest level is low, either for in-person or viewing the webcast, the Board will not proceed with arrangements.  Thus if you are interested in attending in person or viewing the webcast from  your home, please email me at rossiter at ohio.edu<mailto:rossiter at ohio.edu>.

Best regards,
Rose Rossiter
Em Prof of Economics
President, Ohio University Emeriti Assc

P.S.  The Ohio Council of Higher Education Retirees (OCHER) is a group which meets with STRS and OPERS staff on a quarterly basis.  Ohio University has a representative on OCHER, who is also a member of the Ohio Emeriti Assc Board.  If you are interested in serving as Ohio's OCHER representative, please contact Dave Thomas (thomasda at ohio.edu) , chair of our nominating committee.
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