AGM 2016-05-31 Minutes
TELEPHONE RETIREES ASSOCIATION OF MANITOBA INC.
BOX 23063 WINNIPEG, MB R3T 5S3
Minutes of the 16th Annual General Meeting of the Telephone Retirees Association of Manitoba Inc. (TRAM) held on Tuesday, May31st. 2016, at, the Masonic Memorial Temple 420 Corydon Avenue, Winnipeg Manitoba,
- The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by President Dave Gnutel
- Dave Gnutel led the meeting in the singing of O Canada
- President Dave Gnutel asked for “A Moment of Silence”, to observe the lives of members/beneficiaries who passed away in 2015. Dave noted that there were approximately 50 members who were deceased in 2015
- Dave Gnutel noted that due to the unfortunate and sudden death of Mrs. Susan Bilyk, the meeting did not have a scrutiner, and that the executive was unable to access mailed in documents from Mrs. Bilyk’s estate. Dave stated to the membership that there were 74members present, which did represent a quorum (as defined by the bye-laws).
He asked if those present were in favour of continuing the meeting or postponing the meeting to a later date after the proxies where recovered. The membership agreed that they would not consider this a problem and asked the executive to continue with the meeting.
Members attending 74
Proxies received 325
____
Total 399
Based on the total number of members named Dave Gnutel declared the meeting legally Constituted and thanked the members for their support.
NOTE: The TRAM executive received the total proxy votes after the meeting was held. These numbers are included in the appendix.
- Pension Committee Report
Larry Trach gave a brief report on the activities of the DB pension committee. Of note:
There is still $4.8 million to be distributed from the “surplus” fund
A cost of living Adjustment (COLA) of 1.07 % to be applied as of July which is 2/3 of the 2015 CPI of 1.64%
Mr. R.Pennycook has retired as chair of the Pension Committee and Mr. J. Smith has been appointed as the new chair.
(Full report is attached to the original)
6. Minutes of May 26th, 2015.
Due to an oversight a hard copy of the minutes of the May 26, 2015 meeting were not available.
Moved by Mr. T.Leonard seconded by, R. Ewashko, to approve the minutes of the May 26th, 2015 meeting as distributed CARRIED
7. Financial Report
Moved by Roberta Davis, seconded by, R. Ewashko, to receive the audited financial report for 2015, as circulated CARRIED
NOTE:
Roberta noted that there was still $11,498.00 in outstanding cheques to be handed out from the “legal trust fund” recovered funds, mainly to “un located” estates.
There are $2850.00 in stale dated cheques $1540.00 in funds which were returned. These will be re-issued if we obtain correct addresses.
MOTION
Moved by, Roberta Davis, seconded by R. Snider, to adopt the 2016 budget as circulated. CARRIED
MOTION
Moved by, Roberta Davis, seconded by, A.Barker to appoint Jo-Anne Pelzer and Linda Kszywisko as auditors for 2016. CARRIED
8. Election of Officers.
Nominations received by mail, none
Dave Gnutel stated that the position for 2nd Vice-President that would have been filled by Susan Bilyk needed to be filled and asked for nominations from the floor. After the third request with no nominations from the floor, Dave declared the position will remain vacant for the meeting and the Executive will appoint /fill the position at their choosing.
MOTION:
Moved by Dave Gnutel, seconded by, Tony Leonard, to approve and elect the amended slate of officers for 2016. (as follows) CARRIED
President Dave Gnutel 1st. Vice President James Burr
2nd Vice President Vacant 3rd, Vice President Debra Akisteer (nee Folwark)
Secretary Glen McCoubrey Treasurer Roberta Davis
9. Motion for Defined Benefits Pension Plan Retiree’s Representative
Dave Gnutel asked if there were any nominations from the floor for the position of DB pension plan Retiree Representative. As no additional nominations were received from the floor, Dave declared Mr. Larry Trach unanimously acclaimed as the DB pension plan representative MTS retirees.
10 Committee Reports.
10a, Membership report
Dave Gnutel reported that as of the meeting there were a little over 1700 active members as of March 1 2016.There were also 1051 deceased members as of this date. It was noted that there are many more ex MTS employees that have not registered with TRAM.
10b, Luncheon meeting report
There was no report available at this time. Dave asked for volunteers to submit their names to any of the executive after the meeting to assist with the 2016/2017 Christmas luncheon.
11. Presidents Report
Dave Gnutel gave a brief report on the state of the association. It was noted that the executive will be working on Health care plans and also look at the direction TRAM should be taking in the future.
12, New Business
Website
James Burr gave a brief report on the website. There were concerns over a MIA list on the site. James stated that he will look into this.
Blue Cross
Dave Gnutel reported that TRAM will continue to look into improvements into our” Blue Cross” health plans. Dave announces the stepping down of benefits committee representatives, Mr. Merv Cavers, Mr. Bill Shelest and Mrs. Carol Cockrell, As the TRAM representative Dave thanked them for their past contributions.
Motion
(Note this motion was available as part of the AGM notice mail out)
Whereas:
The TRAM Executive was directed by duly authorized motion at the 2015 AGM meeting to refund members who contributed to the Trust fund, the total amount contributed less $50.00 and:
Whereas:
A subsequent duly authorized motion stated: All legal and administrative costs associated with carrying out the above motion be deducted from those refunds and:
Whereas:
No individual member of TRAM executive or otherwise is to receive any income or profit in any way from the activities of TRAM, except for repayment of reasonable expenses duly authorized by the Executive and properly incurred on behalf of TRAM [per Constitution article 11 :
Therefore:
Be it resolved that in recognition of the extraordinary efforts and personal time, far exceeding those of normal volunteer hours acting as Officers, the reimbursement committee members consisting of Roberta Davis and Susan Bilyk, each be awarded ;an honorarium of $1500.00 as a token of appreciation from TRAM
Moved by Dave Gnutel, seconded by, Jo-Anne Pilzer, to approve the motion to compensate the “recovered funds reimbursement committee”
After a lengthy and detailed discussion the motion carried with the following numbers.
Votes in favor, 35, Votes against, 14, the motion carried.
Motion to Adjourn.
Moved by, L.Sykes to adjourn at 2; 45pm CARRIED.
THE NEXT AGM OF TRAM TO BE HELD ON THE LAST TUESDAY OF MAY 2017AT THE CALL OF THE CHAIR.
_________________________ __________________________
Dave Gnutel, President Glen McCoubrey, Secretary
Appendix 1
Questions arising
Chris Jawa asked: Will Bell or Super an. Still handle our pension after the takeover/buyout happens
Larry agreed to try and find an answer to this as soon as possible.
Tony L. asked if MTS will recognize TRAM as the official representative of all retirees
Larry mentioned that the motion to place him as TRAM representative of all retirees should have an impact on how MTS views us.
Questions were asked as to how TRAM will be affected by the Bell purchase of MTS
Most questions were answered by saying that the purchase is still too new to know all the details and that any changes will be circulated to the membership as they occur.
Concerns were raised as to the fact the MIA list on the WEB site was not easily accessed.
James said he would look into this. RESOLVED
Questions and concerns were raised concerning our Blue Cross membership rates and benefits.
Dave replied that the executive will continue to look into/negotiate changes to our plan.
The majority of the membership directed the executive to look into “blue cards”
Appendix 2.
Tony Lenard was granted time to present a dissenting view of the proposed motion to compensate members of the executive for their work on the “trust fund” recognition.
Appendix 3
Attachments
Mail outs and proxy forms
Motions
Original documents for financial reports.
Appendix 4
Proxy votes (received by the TRAM executive from the estate of Mrs. S Bilyk after the meeting)
Total proxies received, 325 valid proxies, 22 invalid proxies. Spoiled /unsigned 3
Designated Name / Count
Dave Gnutel 283
James Burr 16
Susan Bilyk 16
Roberta Davis 1
Glen McCoubrey 3
Larry Trach 3
Tony Leonard 1
Ted Scoles 1
Bill Hales 1
