The next WARF meeting is on August 14, 2025.

All meetings start at 9:30 a.m. and are at the Montague House unless otherwise noted. 

Any WARF member can attend. 

WARF Bylaws, 4.1: WARF business shall be conducted by the Steering Committee at meetings open to any WARF member.

Steering Committee Members

• William (Bill) McCarty, Chair

• Christine Browning, Secretary

• Lowell Rinker, Member

• Robert Balik, Member

WARF Bylaws, 5.2: The Steering Committee shall select its officers annually at the January meeting. These include Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Information Officer. Self-nomination and prior discussion are expected. At the December meeting, that year’s Chair shall designate a retiring or continuing member of the Steering Committee to conduct the selection of new officers in January. Officers assume office immediately.

Several members of the WARF Steering Committee wish to step down as they are in their 80s. Would you be available to help WARF by becoming a member of the Steering Committee? If yes, use the contact link above to send WARF a message.

WESTERN’S ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED FACULTY

BY-LAWS

Revised  February 2025

ARTICLE I—NAME

1.1 This organization shall be known as Western’s Association of Retired Faculty (hereinafter referred to as WARF).

ARTICLE II—PURPOSE

2.1 The purpose of WARF is to advocate for the health care and other benefits of Western Michigan University faculty retirees that are negotiated or may be negotiated as part of the WMU-AAUP Agreement. In addition, the organization shall provide information related to retirement to retired faculty and their surviving spouses/partners and associate members. When information is deemed relevant to current faculty by the Steering Committee, such information shall be disseminated via the AAUP newsletter.

ARTICLE III—MEMBERSHIP AND DUES

3.1 Membership

3.1.1 Membership in WARF is open to those University retirees who meet the qualifications to retire as “faculty” as described in Article 35: Retirement of the current WMU-AAUP contract for their date of hire. These qualifications include the required full-time service in a Board-appointed, ranked faculty position and holding tenure in an academic department at the University prior to the effective date of retirement.

3.1.2 Associate Membership in WARF is open to surviving Spouses/Partners of WARF members and others invited by the Steering Committee. Associate members have all benefits of membership.

3.2 Dues

Members and Associate Members must pay annual dues for the period January through December. Dues are set by the WARF Steering Committee. Annual dues are to be payable to WARF and forwarded to the WMU-AAUP office. Members and Associate Members remain “active” as long as annual dues are paid.

ARTICLE IV—MEETINGS

4.1 WARF business shall be conducted by the Steering Committee at meetings open to any WARF member or guests invited by the Chair of the Steering Committee. WARF members may add to the agenda both items for discussion and motions for action. Minutes of all meetings shall be available to all members on the Meetings page of the WARF website.

4.1.1 Normally, regular Steering Committee meetings shall be held quarterly, on a designated weekday and week in the month (e.g. second Thursday). Notice of regular Steering Committee meetings shall be posted on the WARF website.

4.1.2 A quorum of the Steering Committee shall consist of a majority of members.

4.2 In addition to regular Steering Committee meetings, special SC meetings may be called by the Chair or by a majority vote of the Steering Committee, with notice posted on the web site.

4.3 When an issue arises that must be resolved quickly, the Chair may, with approval of a majority of the available members of the Steering Committee, take necessary action.

4.4 General Membership Meetings may be called by majority vote of the Steering Committee or by petition from 10% of WARF members. Notice shall be posted on the WARF website and sent by e-mail at least two weeks in advance of the meeting.

ARTICLE V—STEERING COMMITTEE AND OFFICERS

5.1 The WARF Steering Committee shall consist of four to nine members elected at large for three year staggered terms, beginning in January. There is no limit on consecutive terms.

5.2 The Steering Committee shall select its own officers annually at the January meeting. These include Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Information Officer. Self-nomination and prior discussion is expected. At the December meeting, that year’s Chair shall designate a retiring or continuing member of the Steering Committee to conduct the selection of new officers in January. Officers assume office immediately.

5.3 The Steering Committee shall establish ad hoc committees as needed. Committees may include people from the general WARF membership as well as from the Steering Committee.

5.4 The Steering Committee shall appoint persons to fill vacancies that occur between elections. Such appointments complete the term of the elected person they replace.

5.5 The Steering Committee shall maintain a website for its members. WARF may use a link on the WMU-AAUP website for this purpose.

DUTIES OF OFFICERS

5.6 WARF Chair shall preside at Steering Committee and general membership meetings.

5.7 The WARF Secretary shall keep minutes of the meetings of the Steering Committee and of the general membership.  These minutes, along with future meeting dates and the agenda for the upcoming Steering Committee meeting, shall be posted by the Secretary on the Meetings page of the WARF website. The Secretary shall keep records of all business of WARF, including the names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of all WARF members and of surviving spouses who wish to retain WARF association. The Secretary shall pass on the complete records to his/her successor.

5.8 WARF income and expenses shall be recorded, maintained, and disbursed through  WARF’s bank account. The WARF Treasurer shall track expenses disbursed and dues revenue received and report income and expenses to the Steering Committee. Any WARF expense over $500 must be signed or approved in writing by two Steering Committee members. The Treasurer will maintain records of income and expenses and pass these on to his/her successor.

5.9 The WARF Information Officer shall give timely notification of meetings to members. They shall prepare communications and monitor the content of the WARF website to assure timely and accurate postings. The Information Officer shall coordinate responses to media inquiries with the WARF Chair.

ARTICLE VI—ORDER OF BUSINESS FOR WARF STEERING COMMITTEE

6.1 The order of business for all meetings shall be:

Call to Order and Roll Call of Members

1. Approval of Agenda

2. Approval of Minutes

3. Reports of Officers and Committees as needed

4. Unfinished Business

5. New Business

6.2 All WARF business and meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the By-Laws and the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order.

ARTICLE VII--AMENDMENTS

7.1 Amendments to the By-Laws shall be conducted by an e-mail ballot to WARF members or by U.S. postal service if requested. A simple majority of those voting is required for passage.

ARTICLE VIII—ORGANIZATION AND DISSOLUTION

8.1 At the request of four or more members of the Steering Committee, the members of WARF shall be asked to vote on whether to dissolve the organization. Dissolution requires a majority of members voting.

8.2 In the event of dissolution any remaining assets shall be donated to one or more 501(c) 3 organizations selected by the Steering Committee and confirmed by a majority of members voting.

Minutes of the April 10, 2025 Meeting of Western’s Association of Retired Faculty

Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Bob Balik and Christine Browning.

The agenda had been distributed in an email from Bill and was approved.

The minutes of the January 9, 2025 meeting had been distributed by Christine, approved as distributed to the committee and are posted online.

Treasurer’s report: Bob reported that as of March 31st, the balance on the WARF account was $7354.10. There have been no financial transactions since November 2024. Bob will talk with Consumers Credit Union about our current interest and interest rate to determine if we need to switch to a different savings account. Bob also questioned what should be put on the check for name and address. We agreed to use WARF and the Montague House address.

Bylaws: Only one suggested edit was posted and that was regarding article 5.2. As a proposed change, the position of Vice Chair had been removed from the Steering Committee yet in this article, there was still a duty for the Vice Chair which needed to be amended. Bill suggested that the Chair be assigned the listed duty (designating a committee member to conduct the selection of new Steering Committee officers for the upcoming January election). This suggestion was agreed to by Bob and Christine and the Bylaws were so edited. As there were no other suggestions offered by the WARF members regarding the Bylaw changes prior to February 10, the membership letter indicated that all changes would be automatically approved. The revised Bylaws will be posted on the WARF website soon.

Navigating Healthcare 2025 Session: The date and time is not yet set as we're planning a fall meeting, but Lowell has commitments for a return from each of our 3 speakers, including himself. Lowell has asked Jasmine to see if 9/26 or 10/10 would be available but we need to wait until closer to Fall term to see if any classes will be assigned to CHHS Room 1010. If that does happen, then we may consider moving the session to Schneider Hall or another campus venue.

Retirement Financial Planning: Parts 1 and 2: We would like to hold repeat sessions on this topic but need to determine which semester might work best, Fall or Winter. This will be an item on the next meeting’s agenda.

Other suggestions:

• Perhaps have a 30-minute reception prior to the Fall Navigating Session to encourage more face-to-face attendance. This would have to be discussed with Jasmine to see what might be possible in the building. Another item for the August agenda.

• Bob suggested we may want to use roaming microphones for the question and answer period during the Fall session so that the audience questions are heard by those attending virtually.

• Perhaps ask Lori for a list of past AAUP officers that we could write and determine if there is any interest in their continued service to faculty by being an officer on the Steering Committee. (Update: Lori said she does have such a contact list and will forward it to Bill).

• Note: Lori indicated that the AAUP newsletter is sent out at the beginning of each month. We need to keep this in mind if we want to include notices about WARF activities in their newsletter.

Bob made a motion to adjourn. Bill seconded the motion. Motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned.

Future Meeting Dates: August 14, 2025; November 13, 2025.

Submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the January 9, 2025 Meeting of Western’s Association of Retired Faculty

Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Lowell Rinker and Christine Browning.

The agenda had been distributed in an email from Bill and was approved.

The minutes of the November 21st meeting had been distributed by Christine, approved as distributed to the committee and will be posted online.

Treasurer’s report: No treasurer’s report given Bob’s absence.

Addendum: Bob provided via email the current treasurer’s report. At the November 21, 2024 meeting, the WARF account balance was $7385.58. Christine was reimbursed $31.48 for refreshment costs for the November 15, 2024 Retirement Education session leaving the current balance of $7354.10

January 17 Retirement Session: What do we need? We will provide water and have a sign-in list for participants; Christine will take care of that, as well as check on the table needed for the outside of the CHHS 1010. Lowell will confirm with the technology office that someone will be there to help set up for the Zoom meeting. Lori (from AAUP office) will send a separate email with the session flyer to all AAUP membership regarding the meeting as well as the current WARF membership list. We need to get information to WMUToday regarding the January 17 session. Bill will check into what information WMUToday has and get a parking pass to Nick Bond, reminding him about having his presentation on a thumb drive.

Draft Letters to New and Current Members: New membership letter is almost ready. Membership letter for current members will be drafted after the January 17th Retirement session. Bill will send a draft January 24th with our feedback due by the 30th. Targeted date for distribution to the membership would be January 31st.

WARF By-Laws Revisions: Christine will work on a document with the revisions that can be sent with the membership letters (email) to the new and current membership. We will give a window of 2 weeks in which they can comment and ask questions regarding the proposed changes. After that time, if there are no major objections, the revisions will be accepted.

Working with Emeriti Council: Bill indicated that the Council is willing to work with us, based upon conversations with Mary Lagerway. Perhaps we can ask the Council to publish any WARF announcements when they publish their newsletter, providing us another media source.

Future Meeting Dates: April 10, 2025; August 14, 2025.

Christine made a motion to adjourn. Lowell seconded the motion. Motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned.

Minutes of the November 21, 2024 Meeting of Western’s Association of Retired Faculty

Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Lowell Rinker, Bob Balik and Christine Browning.

The agenda had been distributed in an email from Bill and was approved. Lowell provided information for our discussion relative to the agenda item, Plans for Navigating Health Care (2025 session). 

The minutes of the August 15, 2024 meeting had been distributed by Christine, approved as distributed to the committee and posted online.

Treasurer’s report: Bob reported a current balance of $7385.58 in the WARF account. Originally $7512.22 was deposited into the new account created this past year at Consumer’s Credit Union (CCU). In August, costs incurred to WARF were for a Zoom renewal ($118.64) and for WARF checks ($8.00), resulting in the current balance of $7385.58. He will reimburse Christine $31.48, for the refreshments provided at the Retirement Financial Education session.

Review of Retirement Financial Education session: Attendance at the session was 15 people physically attending, with 10 online with Zoom. A small online group but given the glitch at the beginning with the Zoom link, we believe this was a good amount for the first session. The presenters, Nick Bond and Chuck Henrich, were pleased with the session and both said they would be happy to do this again. Nick also stated that Mercer would be very happy to hold a separate session for Estate/Will planning since he couldn’t attend to the topic during his 40 minute presentation that day. After much discussion on that offer, Lowell will email Nick and ask if he could give that presentation on January 17, 2025 in CHHS Room 1010. (See Minutes on the Navigating Healthcare session below). We will also ask Nick if there is time for him to address long-term health care issues during the 1.5 hour session.

Lori Maguire indicated she would need information regarding this new session on estate/will planning by the first week in December so that it could included in the upcoming AAUP email newsletter for faculty.

Bob is working on editing the current videos (we have two due to the reset of the Zoom session) and will post on the WARF website soon.

Based upon the positive comments from those attending, the Steering Committee (SC) will consider to continue to hold the Financial Education sessions but change up the topics each time until we have a collection of zoom videos posted on the WARF webpage that faculty can view anytime.

Bill mentioned that he may be able to get someone from the state-level AARP office to provide a presentation on topics related to social security, retirement, Medicare, etc. as well.

Brainstorming on the session:

Problems: 

1. Getting the word out to staff as well as faculty; 

2. Attending to questions from Zoom audience who have been muted.

Potential fixes: 

1. Make sure the notification to WMU News is complete and continue to get session information to AAUP early so they can post to all faculty.

2. Provide instructions on how to post questions in the chat box of Zoom.

We also want to get names and emails of those attending these sessions for further contact.

Christine will draft and send thank you notes to Nick and Chuck.

Plans for Navigating Healthcare: Given the change in the Federal administration and potential changes in Social Security and Medicare, we decided to delay the January session of Navigating Healthcare Session to the Fall of 2025. That allows us the opportunity to have Nick Bond fill that time slot with his presentation for faculty on estate/will planning. Lowell will contact the CHHS to let them know of our plans for next Fall regarding the Healthcare session, providing them a heads-up knowing we will not be able to schedule any rooms at this time.

Dues Notice to Members: We need to prepare the WARF newsletter. Bill made a motion that WARF not collect dues for the 2025 calendar year as we have sufficient funds given WARF’s current low budget.  Christine seconded the motion. Motion was approved. The SC will review the collection of dues again next Fall. We may also investigate how to implement paying the dues online.

Items to include in the newsletter include the waiving of annual dues for 2025, the workings of the SC, encouraging attendance at SC meetings, needing new members on the SC, delaying the 2025 Healthcare presentation until the Fall 2025, and WARF’s unchanging message on health insurance plans (based upon the minimal AAUP contract changes) from what was presented at the 2024 January session which is posted on our webpage.

Bob also mentioned he could post the 2025 dues information online under the membership section.

Working with Emeriti Council: Tabled until next meeting.

Future Meeting Dates: January 9, 2025; April 10, 2025; August 14, 2025.

Lowell made a motion to adjourn. Bob seconded the motion. Motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned.

Minutes of the August 15, 2024 Meeting of Western’s Association of Retired Faculty

Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Lowell Rinker, Christine Browning and Bob Balik.

The agenda had been distributed in an email from Bill. It was approved with a date change of the PreRetirement Session from November 1st to the 15th.

The minutes of the May 7th WebEx meeting had been distributed by Christine, approved as distributed by the committee and posted online.

Treasurer’s report: Bob reported that recent costs were for a Zoom renewal, $118.64, providing a balance of $7385.58 with $6000 of that total in savings. Bob made a motion to create a financial folder on our WARF google drive where we will house current and subsequent documents regarding our funds in the Consumers Credit Union account. Lowell seconded it. Vote was unanimous for Bob to create the folder.

Lowell raised the question that since we are now no longer under the umbrella of the AAUP’s accounts, are there any other tasks/actions we need to complete as an organization. Bill believes since we are an unincorporated, non-profit organization with less than $600 of annual interest income, we should not have to file any taxes. Bill will check on any further actions we need to take.

Revision of current Bylaws: Bill suggested we delay comments on the revisions of the Bylaws until our November 21st meeting. Prior to this November meeting, we will make our comments on the google drive document that Bob sent to us. A major focus will be on any additional language needed with respect to managing and using funds from WARF’s new bank account. Lowell raised the question of how many signatures are currently required to write a check from our account. Bob indicated just one. So we will need language to indicate that any check written over a certain amount, say $200 or perhaps $500, requires a second signature. Currently, both Bob and Bill have their names on the account, so a two person signature would not be a problem.

Pre-Retirement Session: Lowell will confirm with Sanford’s representatives regarding their presentations and Christine will confirm with Chuck Henrich that he can still present on November 15th since the meeting date was changed. Bill suggested that we get bullet points from each of the presenters so that a flyer can be created to distribute to AAUP department representatives (electronically) who will share the flyer with their colleagues at their departmental meetings. Lowell suggested we complete the flyer by the end of August.

Lowell also suggested we get the WMUToday announcement out early so that it can be posted well in advance of the meeting. He also thought he might contact Dr. Warren Hills, the Associate Vice President for Human Resources, to see if he would be interested in notifying faculty of this pre-retirement session and perhaps the Navigating Health Care session as well, through the HR office.

Bill will get parking permits for the speakers. Lowell and Christine will send addresses for the speakers to Bill so he can mail the permits.

Christine suggested an RSVP also be included on the flyer, for both virtual and face-to-face participants.

Bob provided a list of upcoming retirees from the Board of Trustee’s minutes that are posted online. Bob indicated he is willing to email these faculty individually regarding this session.

A zoom link for the meeting will be posted on the WARF webpage.

Refreshments will be served. Coffee, water and cookies. Christine will pick up coffee from Panera’s again and set up the refreshments.

This session was given the title of Retirement Financial Education. The flyer used for the 2023 Navigating Health Care session will be used as template for this Financial Education session. Bob will forward that flyer to both Lowell and Christine for revision.

It was also suggested, at the end of this November session, we could let the attendees know of the upcoming Navigating Health Care session on January 17, 2025.

Final Comments/Thoughts: Bob will report on WARF website activity data at our November meeting.

Bob asked how many dues were paid this current year. Christine referred back to the February 15 minutes and found that we had received $170 in dues (34 members @ $5 dues). This is very low but we haven’t gotten an update from Lori Maguire since then.

The November Steering Committee meeting should also include nominations for new Steering Committee members. Current vacant positions include Vice-Chair and Information Officer. Recruitment is a continuing challenge and concern.

The current time limit we have for the first Retirement Financial Education session seems short at 1.5 hours. We plan to get feedback from the attendees asking 1) should WARF hold such a session next year and 2) should it be two sessions at 1.5 hours or one long session of 3 hours or so with a short break or some other format.

Future meetings: November 21, 2024 and January 9, 2025.

Bill made a motion to adjourn. Lowell seconded the motion. Motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned.

Minutes submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the May 7, 2024 of the Western Association of Retired Faculty

Webex Meeting

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Lowell Rinker, Christine Browning and Bob Balik.

This was an extra meeting called to discuss the Pre-Retirement Session tentatively to be offered this fall.

Other WARF business: The AAUP needs WARF to close out their account associated with AAUP soon. Lowell moved to have AAUP write a check for the current balance of our account ($7512.22 at our last meeting on April 18, 2024) into the new WARF account with Consumers Credit Union. Bob seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

Minutes: After a brief discussion of the previous meeting minutes, Lowell made a motion to approve the minutes of the April 18th meeting as edited. Bill seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

Pre-Retirement Session Discussion: Based upon previous discussions in past WARF meetings regarding a potential outreach in providing current faculty and staff near retirement with information related to potential retirement concerns, the Steering Committee (SC) has decided to move forward and plan a session focusing on relevant topics. Lowell suggested the session could be in held in late October or early November. Miranda Pearson, Regional MMAP Coordinator, agreed to discuss any issues with regards to Medicare but not Social Security, as that is not within her purview. Todd Sanford, or someone within the Mercer Advisors office, may be able to do that.

Suggested topics include financial planning strategies, investment options for retirement years, estate/will planning, long-term care insurance, and Social Security strategies. It is believed the Mercer office has people who can address most of these topics.

It was suggested the length of the session to be between 1 and 1.5 hours. Perhaps limit the number of topics to 3: Social security, financial planning strategies with investment options for retirement years, and estate/will planning.

Christine will stop at SS office in the next few weeks to see if there is a speaker available to discuss topics related to SS benefits. Lowell will check with Todd to see who might be able to speak from the Mercer office regarding the remaining topics.

Dissemination of information: Based upon discussions that Bill had with Whitney DeCamp, Whitney indicated that he would be willing to share information regarding the Pre-Retirement Session with department representatives at future monthly AAUP meetings. Ideally we would have a flyer that Whitney could share with the representatives.

Tentative date: Friday, November 1 at 2pm. Possible date for Navigating Health Care session: Friday, January 17, 2025 at 2pm with access to the room for both sessions at 1pm. Lowell will look into making reservations for Rm 1010, College of Health and Human Services. The SC realizes CHHS cannot truly confirm these dates until the Fall 2024 class schedule has been confirmed, but believe it is good to put a “place holder” on the space.

Bill suggested we have refreshments for both sessions, similar to what was done this past January for the Navigating Health Care session.

We need to develop a flyer providing names of the speakers, describing the session topics and requesting interested faculty to send an RSVP email to WARF.

Future business: The SC needs to examine the current By Laws and develop language for a new article regarding management issues of the new WARF bank account as well as determine if there needs to be any further updating of earlier articles. Bob will create a google doc of the current By Laws and share with the SC.

For the Pre-retirement and Navigating HealthCare sessions, we need to determine which video conferencing tool we want to use: Zoom or WebEx.

Bob made a motion to adjourn. Bill seconded the motion. Motion was approved and the meeting was adjourned.

Minutes submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the April 18, 2024 of the Western Association of Retired Faculty

Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Lowell Rinker, Emily Hoffman, Christine Browning and Bob Balik. Barbara Hemphill, from the Emeriti Council, was a guest.

The agenda had been distributed by Bill by email. It was approved as distributed.

The minutes of the February 15th meeting had been distributed by Christine, approved as distributed by the committee and will be posted online.

Treasurer’s report: Lori Maguire, from WMU AAUP office, shared that since the February meeting, deposits of $135 and $25 were made from membership dues and a cost of $11.16 was incurred from Namecheap, Inc for the domain renewal of the WARF website. WARF’s current balance is $7512.22.

Comments by Emily Hoffman: Emily is stepping down from her position on the Steering Committee. Bill asked her to share her experiences over her years in academia with the AAUP and WARF. Emily shared she is very liberal and pro union and has always been interested in the AAUP, being her department representative for several years. When denied tenure at Rutgers, the AAUP there supported her with her case. In the mid-1980s, the WMU AAUP helped her get tenure in the Economics Department. The WARF Steering Committee acknowledge and appreciate her years of service in WARF. Many thanks to Emily.

Review of steps taken to secure an EIN for WARF: The AAUP is restructuring and becoming a part of a larger, national union organization. As part of this restructuring, the AAUP is no longer able to keep WARF “on their books”, and have requested that we open our own bank account. Lowell and Bill talked to an attorney from Miller Canfield, Leo Goddeyne, who suggested we look at the IRS and secure an EIN (Employer Identification Number), which is possible even though we are not an organization. Having an EIN essentially allows WARF the minimal identification needed to open a bank account. Bill completed the process online, providing his own social security number and we were given a number as an unincorporated business, 99-2413964. Using this number, we can set up a bank account as an unincorporated association.

Lowell mentioned that at the meeting with Leo Goddeyne other options were shared (such as an LLC or 501C3) but none quite fit our circumstances any better than attaining the EIN. However, we do not get any liability protection with the EIN as we would with an LLC. Fortunately WARF doesn’t have any “high risk” activities we are involved in so hopefully such protection is not warranted. WARF essentially provides information to WMU retirees. Lowell further shared that Leo provided his services to WARF pro bono.

Lowell made a motion to affirm the actions that Bill, on behalf of WARF, took to obtain an EIN, which was required to establish the needed bank account. As a result of these actions, the IRS issued WARF the following EIN: 99-2413964 on April 10, 2024. Christine seconded the motion. A unanimous vote of the Steering Committee approved the motion.

Discussion of possible credit union/bank account for WARF: AAUP is moving their account from PNC to Consumer’s Credit Union. Bill talked with an associate at CCU to determine what information they needed for WARF to open an account. We don’t anticipate a lot of activity with the account, only during a few times during the year, so there would be no charges to open an account there. We could open both a checking and savings account, where eventually we could deposit some from savings into a CD. Lowell had contacted Huntington bank; either institution seems reasonable to use. We think the Chair and the Treasurer should have their names on the account. Currently, we do not have a treasurer so we need a second name on the account. Lowell suggested Bob might be that other person and Bob agreed.

Discussion took place as to which banking institution we should use. In the end, Consumer’s Credit Union was chosen, mostly due to the fact that AAUP has their account there.

Christine made a motion that WARF proceed to open an account at Consumers Credit Union with Bill and Bob as authorized co-signers on the account. Emily seconded the motion. A unanimous vote of the Steering Committee approved the motion.

Bob and Bill will move forward with that action.

Given that WARF will have an account, we need to add details to the By Laws regarding issues related to having this account. We will discuss that at a later meeting.

Discussion with Emeriti Council Chair regarding Pre-retirement presentation: Bill talked with Mary Lagerway regarding the EC’s (Emeriti Council’s) involvement with the pre-retirement presentation. She expressed interest in working with WARF and thus, Barbara is at today’s meeting as a representative of the EC to make contributions to the discussion on the pre-retirement presentation and to consider other venues for developing a working relationship between the two groups.

Review of plans for Pre-retirement presentation: Where, when, who, what: We have been trying to find a means of communicating with pending or recent retirees and that has been difficult. Mary suggested viewing the Board of Trustee minutes to see the list of who is retiring. Bob checked online for these minutes and did find a list of faculty who will be retiring. In order to get some information on possible upcoming retirees, Bill will ask Whitney DeCamp if we can get email addresses of all of the department AAUP representatives so that they could ask if there is anyone interested in a pre-retirement session.

When and Where: WARF has used 1010 in Health and Human Services building for the Navigating Healthcare sessions and that room has worked well. We may plan for a session early in this coming year.

A question was raised regarding the frequency of this type of presentation. It was agreed that we needed to wait to assess the success of the first one that we have before making that decision.

Possible topics for the presentation: Emily noted one issue she had after she retired was connected with getting her first check from Social Security. She also mentioned SCOPE (Senior Citizens’ Opportunity Program in Education) at Western where people aged 62 or older can take a class for free, other than the cost of books and supplies. There was also mention of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) on Western’s campus.

Lowell indicated he would contact Todd Sanford and Miranda Pearson regarding what they feel would be important topics in a pre-retirement session.

Steering Committee (SC): During part of the meeting today, a side-bar discussion occurred that focused on the current membership of the SC. With Emily stepping down and Peter resigning, we need to fill vacancies. In examination of Article V of the By Laws, the SC members, consisting of six to nine people, are elected at large for three-year staggered terms, beginning in January. The SC then selects its own officers from the existing SC. We need to hold an emergency election prior to January of next year to get more members on the SC and then the SC can fill the vacant officer positions. Barbara Hemphill, Bob Balik and Bob Poel would be three people on the ballot for this emergency election to the SC.

Next meeting dates for 2024: August 15 and November 21.

Bill made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Lowell seconded. Motion approved.

Submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the February 15, 2024 of the Western Association of Retired Faculty

Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Lowell Rinker, Christine Browning, and Bob Balik. Absent was Emily Hoffman. Peter Krawutschke has stepped down from his position on the committee.

The agenda had been distributed by Bill by email. It was approved as distributed.

The minutes of the November 13, 2023 meeting had been distributed by Christine, approved as distributed by the committee and posted online.

Treasurer’s report: Peter has resigned as treasurer so no treasurer’s report was provided. We will need to appoint a person to fill his position. Subsequent to the meeting, Lori Maguire from WMU AAUP office, shared that during January 1 through February 20, 2024 we received $170 in dues and incurred $286.63 in costs (Lori’s honorarium and a reimbursement to Christine for refreshments at the 2024 Navigating Health Care session). WARF’s current balance is $7363.58.

WARF Survey Results: Bill provided the 2023 survey results in an earlier email. Only 14 responded to our current survey. All responding agreed health care is a major issue for WARF. Unfortunately, no new people stepped forward to participate on the steering committee. Lowell wondered about the waning interest of the membership. Bill conjectured that some might be due to the effectiveness of the Navigating Healthcare sessions; WARF has attended to the membership’s main concern so the membership is content. This is just a conjecture with no clear idea as to why interest is low,

Christine suggested a followup email to encourage more to respond to the survey with a March 1st deadline.

Review of WARF website developed by Bob: Bob presented his process, along with the resources he used, in creating a new website for WARF. We all agreed that he has done great work on revising the look and content of the warfwmu.org site. The edited Zoom video from the Navigating session was well done; the added descriptors Bob provided in the video were very helpful. Bob also noted that some Zoom participants neglected to turn off their audio, so their conversations were heard. He did his best to edit those out but a reminder needs to be made to Zoom participants next year to mute their audio and to provide their questions in the Zoom chat box.

Further suggestions were made on a few specifics regarding contents of some pages of the website, for instance:

• perhaps some minutes on the Meetings page would include a link to a PDF file so those who wanted to read them offline could print them;

• only post minutes from the previous year and keep the others in a folder on the Google drive;

• delete the total membership number on the Home page.

A question arose about who would maintain this new website. Bob noted that Whitney/AAUP would still have access to the page through google drive, but currently, Bob will be able to make edits, along with Christine posting minutes and agendas. In the future, it would be good to have someone on the steering committee who can assist in keeping the WARF page current.

Bob also asked about the item titled Health Care Myths on the information page of the website. Lowell provided background on its origin. It came from part of Dennis Simpson’s presentation 3 or 4 years ago during the Navigating Health Care session. Its primary intent was to get faculty fired up regarding retiree health care, contacting their AAUP representatives to keep that a major concern during contract negotiation. It hasn’t been used during the last couple of sessions since they were not presented during negotiation years. Unfortunately, if left on the website, there is no context for the myths. Christine suggested that on the first page Bob could add “Taken from the 2021 Navigating Health Care Session, D. Simpson.” (Subsequent to the meeting, Christine found this session was on October 15, 2021).

A motion to approve that Bob move forward with transferring the updated website information to Whitney was made by Lowell, seconded by Bill. Motion was approved.

Update on honorarium: we voted at our last meeting to confirm our earlier decision to give a $200.00 honorarium to Lori for her work during 2023. Bill will work with Lori today to get the check processed.

Review of Navigating Healthcare: This year’s session had about 25 attending in person with about 25 people participating through Zoom. Communication regarding the session was good this year, contacting the Emeriti group, WMU News, and the various union groups on campus. The January date and location of the session appear to work so no changes will be made there.

From this discussion emerged a suggestion to develop a pre-retirement session for those currently working at Western, to ready them for retirement, going beyond healthcare and including other topics, such as financial investments. This session would acquaint them with WARF (and possibly the Emeriti group), letting them know of their retirement resources and hopefully gaining more interest in participating in WARF itself.

Plans for the Future projects: Work on pre-retirement presentation. Possibly work with Sanford, Mercer and Greenleaf for resources.

Negotiation hotpoints for WARF: With contract negotiations beginning this summer, we suggest that the 90/10 split on co-insurance be kept as well as keeping the current caps on the out-of-pocket and deductible amounts.

Potential meeting dates for 2024: April 18, August 15 and November 21.

Bill made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was approved.

Submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the November 13, 2023 of the Western Association of Retired Faculty

Rm 3368 Schneider Hall

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Emily Hoffman, Lowell Rinker, and Christine Browning. Guest: Bob Malik. Meeting was in 3368 Schneider Hall (Montague House was having heating issues.)

The agenda had been distributed by Bill by email. It was approved as distributed and will be posted online at warfwmu.org.

The minutes of the September 21, 2023 meeting had been distributed by Christine and were approved as distributed and also posted online.

Treasurer’s report: Peter was unable to attend the meeting so Bill shared the treasurer’s report. No financial transactions this month. Our overall current balance is still $7470.01

Web site review: Bob shared his review of the WARF webpage. He followed guidelines he has found for website reviews. Many great suggestions were made through his critical eye of the WARF site and were discussed. We suggest that Bob meet with Whitney DeCamp and move forward with his suggested changes.

WARF’s Financials: Bill talked with Lori Maguire regarding the work of handling WARF’s financials. We can continue working with Lori as we work towards collecting our upcoming dues. We just need to assist her as needed.

WARF Survey: Christine recommended that we summarize data from the earlier survey prior to sending out another to the membership. Timeline for survey summary would be early January. The survey would be mailed and sent via email. Lowell and Bob volunteered to work with Christine in summarizing the data. The summary can help in crafting a new survey for the membership. A cover letter will be included with the newer survey that announces the new dues rate ($5 for 2024), a summary of the earlier survey, and the upcoming Navigating Health Care session.

Navigating Health Care Session: Lowell provided an update on the session. Room 1010 in CHHS is confirmed for 1 to 4 pm. Paul and Miranda have confirmed their attendance. Tech support is available as last year. We will use Zoom for those who want to attend virtually and will record the session to be posted later on the WARF page. Last year, Lowell contacted the leadership of university groups, such as APA, CTO, AFSCME, etc, to share the information on the session with their membership and will do so again for the 2024 session. Retired faculty premiums for health care will increase by 9% this year up to $1932. Premiums for spouses of retired faculty went up by 4%, $10,168 per year.

Bill suggested that a one page flyer be put together to announce the session. Lowell will collect all essential information for the session and Bill and/or Bob will put together a flyer. Bill will ask Whitney to see if the flyer could be posted on WMU Today.

Christine suggested, and it was agreed upon, that some light refreshments could be provided this year. Christine will look into catering costs and options.

We will meet on Dec 4th at 9:30 at Montague House to work on the survey summary.

Bill made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was approved.

Submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the September 21, 2023 of the Western Association of Retired Faculty

Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Emily Hoffman, Peter Krawutschke, Lowell Rinker, and Christine Browning. Guest: Bob Malik.

The agenda had been distributed by Bill by email. It was approved as distributed and posted online at warfwmu.org.

The minutes of the May 11, 2023 meeting had been distributed by Christine and were approved as distributed and also posted on WARF’s webpage.

Treasurer’s report: No financial transactions this month. Peter indicated WARF’s overall current balance is still $7470.01.

Report of the Chair:

Health Care: Bill asked Lowell for an update on the Navigating Health Care session. Lowell suggested that the session take place in the same place as before, CHHS 1010. The date is still to be determined with a recommendation that we continue to hold the session in January. Lowell reminded us that we used to hold the meeting in the Fall around the open enrollment period, but since one can switch over to a United Health Care Plan at any time, it doesn’t seem necessary to have the session then. Peter reminded us about the issues with the microphone in CHHS 1010, in that people listening in on Zoom could not hear questions given by the attending audience. A simple fix might be to have the presenter repeat the question posed so all can hear. Based upon the timing of last year’s presentation, it was suggested to have next year’s session on January 19th at 2pm. Lowell will look into reserving the room and contacting the presenters (he will ask Miranda Pearson and Paul Minor who gave the presentations last year and, along with Lowell, did a great job). Jan Van der Kley supported Lowell with this type of presentation and may help with promoting and publicizing the session. As we decided earlier to not restrict the audience to faculty only, we can encourage anyone affiliated to Western interested in this health care information to attend our “WARF event.”

Sanford Center: Bill had a discussion with Todd Mora, Program Manager of the WMU Sanford Center, regarding having a presentation or seminar for faculty about to retire. Todd indicated what the Center does now is financial planning for students such as helping with taxes or budgeting. Primary audience has been students. WARF was thinking of focusing on Issues (in addition to health care) with faculty close to retirement such as those related to Social Security (how to work with social security, when to take it, what age, etc) and issues related to financial security. It may be possible that the Center could assist WARF. Lowell mentioned Tom Trish from TIAA-CREF might be interested in doing such a presentation. Asking Todd Sanford himself was also mentioned as he is a WMU alumnus and strong supporter of the university. Perhaps ask if HR would like to co-sponsor such a retirement seminar, then HR could email faculty/staff of such a pre-retirement presentation. We need to contact Jan to see if there is such an interest. Bill said that he will talk with Todd Mora again to see if they could provide a speaker and asked if Lowell would talk with Jan about having HR co-sponsor the seminar with WARF and perhaps even presenting. Lowell suggested that March is a good month for the seminar.

Other items of discussion:

WARF Survey: There was a draft survey sent to the Steering Committee (SC). One of the items on the survey addresses the issue of our annual dues. Much discussion ensued regarding WARF finances. We may decide to delete the item as the SC continues discussing WARF’s budget and finances.

We need to review and edit the items prior to our next meeting November 9th, possibly adding more items. Bill asked for edits by October 13th.

We believe Whitney DeCamp will help create and submit the survey to the WARF members.

A brief discussion ensued over who receives the information from the survey as it listed Christine as the contact person. Currently the Chair of the SC is the recipient of all email sent to WARF (warf@warfwmu.org). It was suggested, and agreed upon, that the secretary of the SC should also be added as a recipient to that email.

Elections for the Steering Committee (SC) will be held in January according to WARF’s By Laws. We need nominations for new officers as some on the current SC would like to step down. The SC needs to invite other retired faculty to our next meeting to determine if they would like to be more active in WARF and possibly be interested in a position on the SC.

Lowell made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was approved.

Submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the May 11, 2023, of the Western Association of Retired Faculty
Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Emily Hoffman, Peter Krawutschke, and Christine Browning. Associate member in attendance: Lowell Rinker.

The agenda had been distributed by Bill by email. It was approved as distributed and posted online at warfwmu.org.

The minutes of the March 21, 2023 meeting had been distributed by Christine and were approved as distributed and also posted online

Treasurer’s report: There were no financial transactions the past three months so no new updates.

Chair’s report: Bill shared that the outcome of the votes for the two amended articles was unanimous. Christine will update the bylaws.

Whitney DeCamp, current VP of WMU-AAUP, cannot determine who the respondents were who indicated interest in being on the Steering Committee (SC). It was decided that Bill would send out an email to the membership asking who is interested in participating more in WARF in addition to who would be willing to serve on the SC. Bill asked Christine to draft an email for the membership regarding this question.

Bill thought we might also ask about reactions to the January healthcare presentation. The SC felt the presentation was well received by those in attendance. The only issue Lowell thought of as he watched the posted video on the WARF website was the difficulty in hearing questions posed by those in the audience. Those questions raised by participants on Zoom were very clear. During next year’s presentation we will either have a microphone that can be used by audience members or have the presenter repeat the question.

Since the contract negotiations will commence in Summer of 2024, Lowell also mentioned he could expand his presentation to include an example of what could happen if the health package would include a 70-30 split. We are considering inviting the current WMU-AAUP officers and will encourage senior current faculty to attend, as they prepare for their retirement in the near future.

Other items of discussion/new business:

Peter suggested we might begin another seminar with a focus on getting ready for retirement with regards to insurance and other topics (investments, elder care). Lowell thought that Jan Van der Kley might be interested in supporting such a seminar. Perhaps find other sponsors such as Sanford Advisory. Bill will check with WMU’s Financial department to search for possible speakers as well as contacting Tom Trish.

We now can get analytics data from our Webpage. Christine will check with Whitney to see what they are for the past 2 months.

Mary Lagerway, Chair of the Emeriti Council, has talked with the Provost’s office about managing our financial records. The conversation has not been too productive. We are still searching for a campus office where we can move the WARF account.

A motion was made by Emily to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Peter and was approved.

The next meeting will be the Aug 17, 2023.

Submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the March 21, 2023, of the Western Association of Retired Faculty (WARF) Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Emily Hoffman, Peter Krawutschke, and Christine Browning. Associate member in attendance: Lowell Rinker.

The agenda had been distributed by Bill by email. It was approved as distributed.

The minutes of the September 22, 2022, meeting had been distributed by Christine and were approved as distributed.

Treasurer’s report:

Peter reported the expenses approval of the check made for WARF’s renewal of Zoom. The Steering Committee voted through email to support this purchase. The overall balance of the WARF account as of March 21, 2023, is $7620.01.

Peter made a motion to provide an honorarium to Lori of $200. Unanimously approved.

Bill will contact Lori to write the check.

Chair’s report:

Bill shared that as of March 14, 2023,138 retirees have renewed their WARF membership, with a total membership of 154 (includes 16 Associate members) in good standing.

The January Navigating Health Care session went very well. Guest speakers gave informative presentations well received by those attending, physically and virtually. We agreed this session should be repeated next year. It was suggested that we get word of this session to current faculty near retirement too. The AAUP may send an email to those faculty before our next Navigating session in 2024.

Survey data was reviewed briefly. The Steering Committee (SC) believes it is an effective way to stay connected with membership. Many positive suggestions were provided in the open question 10 (What suggestions would you make to WARF and the Emeriti Council to better serve WMU termed faculty?) that need to be followed up in subsequent SC meetings, e.g. how to be an active member but not be on the SC, providing regular communication, providing information on Sindecuse services available to retirees, I am interested in being on the SC, etc. Christine will contact Whitney DeCamp to see if we can determine who the respondents were who indicated interest in being on the SC for follow-up contact and communication.

The discussion of the survey data prompted a question of how many hits the WARF webpage gets. Christine will ask Whitney if the AAUP has any analytics to respond to this.

Other items of discussion/new business:

WARF Bylaws:

Bill moved that we change the language of Article 4.1.1, “Normally, regular Steering Committee meetings shall be held monthly on a designated weekday and week in the month (e.g., second Thursday)” to the SC meeting quarterly rather than monthly. Seconded by Peter. Unanimous approval. 

Emily proposed the following months: Feb, May, August, and November. Bill will determine tentative dates for the next meetings and submit those via email to confirm them or suggest alternative dates when conflicts arise.

It was noted this article also indicates the dates of the SC meetings should be posted on the WARF website. Once we have a tentative confirmation of proposed meeting dates, Christine will contact the AAUP office so the dates, along with tentative agendas as they are developed, can be posted online for the membership.

Article 3.1.2 indicates that “Associate Members have all benefits of membership except voting and serving as board members.” Peter moved that we delete all language relating to the exceptions. Christine seconded that motion. After a brief discussion on the original intent of this language and the benefits of the proposed change, the motion was unanimously approved.

Christine will develop a draft ballot of the proposed changes to these two articles. The draft will be distributed to the SC by email for review and then sent to Lori for distribution to the membership for a vote. Lowell noted that the ballot should include language that mentions the SC has approved the proposed changes.

Peter proposed at our next meeting that the SC discuss a potential addition to our bylaws that clarifies language on voting by email. For example, if there needs to be a debate over the topic that is being voted on, how is that handled?

A motion was made by Peter to adjourn the meeting and was approved.

Submitted by Christine Browning

Minutes of the September 15, 2022, of the Western Association of Retired Faculty
Montague House

Bill McCarty called the meeting to order. Those in attendance were Emily Hoffman, Peter Krawutschke, and Christine Browning. Invited guest: Lowell Rinker.

Treasurer’s report: Peter reported the expenses ($217.12) and income ($1,235) for the period of Jan 1 through 12 September 2022, yielding a net income of $1,017.88. Expenses were for website update and maintenance. It was noted that WARF is not currently being charged any administrative fees by the AAUP.

Over the life of WARF, total expenses have been $36,323.68, with a total income of $42,890.90, providing an overall balance of $6,567.22.

Given that our current expenses are low and membership dues are providing a sufficient income, Emily suggested that all members could have a one-year membership “holiday” or that dues be reduced from $10 to $5. No vote was taken at this meeting as several matters need to be examined by the Steering Committee as we plan for the best use of WARF funds.

Report of the Chair: Bill reported that the letters to new retirees and to renewals and potential new members need to be updated. He volunteered to work on the letter to new retirees, Lowell and Christine will work on the renewal/potential members' letter. Emily volunteered to work on the letter for spouses of faculty retirees. Bill suggested the completion of drafts within the next ten days. We plan to send these letters out by Nov 1. As we plan to have another Navigating Health Care session, we should include that date in the letters once it is determined. It was also suggested that the data from last year’s meeting on health care be included in the letters.

As of June 2022, we had 104 paid members and 17 surviving spouses. There are many more retired faculty (over 200) who are not members of WARF. All retired faculty are sent the email newsletter regarding membership however some requests have been made by retirees to have the newsletter sent through regular mail. Given that the cost of a single mailing to all retired faculty would not be that costly given WARF’s current overall balance, it 

was decided to send one mailing and see if that promotes an increase in total membership

Other items of discussion:

Health Care: Lowell shared information regarding the health insurance plans and costs for retired faculty and spouses from the 2021 Navigating Health Care session with Jan Van Der Kley. She was interested in discussing the information with Lowell but would not be able to meet until late October 28th. Given that, as well as several other factors regarding leaving/switching health care programs, new social security and Medicare rates, new health care plans for WMU, etc., it was proposed that the session be held in mid to late January.

Lowell will talk with CHHS to find out what Fridays are available in January. Peter and Bill worked with a local insurance agent, Paul Minor, when they switched out their health care plans. Bill offered to see if Paul would be interested in being a speaker at the January session, with the understanding that our bias is towards Medigap plan G. Lowell would contact the Agency on Aging to see who would be able to represent that group at the January session. An honorarium will be offered to all speakers, although in the past they have been declined.

Emeriti Council: Chair of the Council is Mary Lagerway. She wondered if the two groups could do more collaboration. A common goal between both would be to get a good emeriti/retired faculty list. A closer relationship between the two groups might be helpful.

Bill will set up a meeting with Mary to discuss possible collaborations.

A motion was made (Peter) and approved unanimously to meet quarterly. Typically, meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 9:30 am. We also agreed that a lot of decision making can be done electronically prior to a FTF meeting.

Article 4.1.1 of the Bylaws will need to be amended to reflect this change in the frequency of the meetings.

Our next meeting will be held sometime before the January session.

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting and was approved.

Submitted by Christine Browning

For minutes for prior meetings contact WARF. To contact WARF send an email to warf@warfwmu.org or select Contact on the  navigation bar at the top of the webpage.