Mary
Ellen Angeletti's Minutes of STRS Board Retreat Day
1: angeletti@wowway.com
This is MY take on the happenings today,
PURPOSE OF RETREAT (as stated by Brown, Ramser,
Rider, & Asbury):
Review of STRS Ohio's
TRUSTING
AND RESPECT ARE PARAMOUNT:
1. In developing goals
2. In coming together as a Board
As soon as the Retreat agenda was available to
all Board members, John Lazares offered that he did
not know anything about having a facilitator until Friday, Jan. 27th as he had
been out of town. He requested more lead time for future agendas. He expressed
concern when he had not received any agenda for the Retreat earlier and was
suspicious of just this type of surprise, pre-planned agenda.
Following this, it was clarified that there would be no formal votes at the Retreat.
There could be consensus votes if so desired.
Dennis then asked who determined the agenda and the hiring of a facilitator,
& it was announced by Damon that the Bd. Chair Brown and Vice Chair Ramser had met the end of Dec. to do just this. I am
unclear if Damon joined them or not.
A solid, sound pension with affordable health care were
the goals for the Board to achieve. It was mentioned that this Board is
one of the most diverse Boards since it has elected members, 3 superintendents,
two unions (OEA, OFT), and appointed members.
Still they must represent ALL of their membership, not just the group who may have helped get them elected. They decided to explore what stands in their
way of achieving these goals.
Must learn
how to improve working
conditions of the Board so that
consensus could be reached by the end of the week of the Retreat. Must have shared goals.
Following this discussion, the remainder of the A.M. session consisted of a review
of the Board members' self-evaluation (a document given them to complete in the
autumn). This document consisted of a list of Guiding Principles which
represented the manner and method by which the Board would
conduct its operations, both present & future. Bd. members rated each of the 5
principles on a scale of 1 to 5 with 0 for "Don't Know". Only 10
Bd. members completed the Evaluation. Right off the bat, Dr. Leone challenged
the first Guiding Principle which stated the "Board honors & supports the
values, vision, and mission of STRS Ohio". He said that "in terms of expenditures"
he did not agree that this was being done. Buser volunteered
that they haven't reconciled the conflict of pension security and health care
versus member service. Buser stated,” If we
aren't at 30%, we have
certain restraints, and we may NOT support member service." Do we support
HC over pension? Lazares added, "People forget
about member service over money (pension)." Lazares said, "The ultimate goal is for us to provide the
best benefit STRS can."
Puckett reminded the Bd. that health care is part of the STRS mission now.
Security is pension and health care. Buser reminded
the Bd. that the current 10 year funding in health care was due to the last few
good years of good returns. Leone warned that the Bd. Has not planned for
external factors that might negate our pension. An earlier risk assessment
study said that there is a 1 in 6 chances of a significant
downturn in the economy. Fisher said that contingency planning needs to be done
for this possibility. Lazares said still the PENSION
CHECK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. Sandy Knoesel
reminded the Bd. members that they must communicate with membership as she reported
many anxious phone calls concerning the 35 year enhancement. Damon reminded
them that pension and health care (service) are not either/or issues. Brown
offered that contingency planning is okay as long as there is good
communication to members. Buser asked about
contingency planning for both negatives and positives.
Reacting to the third guiding principle, Flannagan
said that the Board needs to get to those problems which cause conflict and are
emotional. Lazares offered that it was not possible
for the Board to speak as one voice because Board members represent others.
History separates us. SB 133 came about
because of misconduct and resulted in ethics training, etc. THAT Board was
wrong so speaking with one voice may NOT always be the right thing to do. Flannagan emphasized the importance of the sunshine laws.
Chapman offered that diverse opinions haven't had respect so the Bd. is several
groups trying to form one group. Ramser added that the focus must be on the job and setting policy. Brown
added that the pros and cons of one voice need discussing. Lazares
emphasized that the main thing is 3307.15. The perception of the Bd. is that
there is more discussion going on now than ever before.
The 5th
guiding principle concerned conducting business in a courteous manner toward fellow Bd.
members. IT was mentioned that courtesy aided how cranky & inpatient Bd.
members became. Leone strongly disagreed with this principle. He was referring
to the anger displayed when he offered his substitute motion at the earlier
Board meeting. Fisher disagreed and said that lack of knowledge was what caused the problem.
Confusion was the cause of the cut off by Ramser of Leone's
substitute motion. Fisher suggested that a person be present at Bd. meetings to
rule on Roberts Rules. Dr. Asbury said that Bill _______?
(he was in attendance) would volunteer to help enforce
Roberts Rules at future Bd. meetings. Billirakis (who was absent at today's Retreat) had offered cliff notes
of Roberts Rules to the Bd.
The second
page of the self-evaluation involved Governing Style. During discussion of this part of the
evaluation, Ramser offered that there
is still a struggle, that control
issues seem most important. Leone said that one cannot delegate away their
fiduciary responsibility to the staff but instead Bd. members must take
personal responsibility. Damon said that fiduciary responsibility is at the
heart of the issue. He said Bd. Members must trust the staff but Bd.members must questions the answers the staff gives. Buser complained that managerial concerns monopolizes the Bd.'s
time. The legislature says we are responsible for every nickel. Fisher felt that Bd.members
should not be required to question the staff information. Puckett
said that oversight does not mean management. Leone reminded that the prior
Board did not provide oversight. Fisher said staff is ethical & honorable but
communication can be improved. Fisher said Board is micro-managed. Meyer said
areas of problems have been corrected.
Leone brought up the Vitec
ITcontract. He wants to know how the 64 million dollars
(of this contract) are going to be spent. Lazares did
not agree with
Meyer's contention that the Bd. should leave the contract formation to the
staff to do. He reminded the Bd. that this is public sector, not private
sector. He feels Meyer and some of the other appointed members of the Bd. have
great knowledge & experience about the private sector but this is now
public sector and is very different. Facilitator then said that oversight then
is verification?? It was asked if there was an IT Committee to which Damon said
that Puckett was on the IT Committee last year but the committee was dropped.
Damon offered that he felt he had the mission to do the selection of the vendor for
the IT contract and to develop the contract. Should committee construction be
renewed? Leone then suggested that future contracts be shaped similarly to
labor contracts in that only the NEW items are HIGHLIGHTED for the members to
review. Meyer liked this suggestion. Patterson (the attorney) offered that the
Board is a client but when members leave STRS on Friday, then they are
individuals. The facilitator said that the Board had voted to approve a project
and not a contract. Flannagan felt that Leone's view
was concern over fiduciary
responsibility. Buser asked if they did too much
voting on managerial items. Rather than a matter of oversight, it was felt that
the Bd. needed better
communication. Bd. members should not be reluctant to say, "I don't understand."
or "Let's just table this item or contract." Fisher
asked what governing with
excellence means. Damon said this was an ideal.
In Principle
#4, Fisher was bothered that 4 Bd. members rated it negatively. That is, four
members felt that not all Bd.members were competent, conscientious,
& effective. Leone responded that he held his position on the Bd. as
accountable to membership as a priority. He used the example of the BASA saying
"Beware, STRS Bd. will eliminate HC." and OEA saying "The OEA minority STRS Bd. is talking about ending
health care. This never occurred when OEA was in the majority on the
STRS Bd. This is a reason to vote for Ramser."
Leone stressed that accountability demands that one reacts to such untruths. Fisher said that OEA
and BASA inaccuracies are not pertinent and that Bd. policy and position has
not changed. Brown maintained that he represents ALL STRS membership, not just those
who encouraged him to run for the STRS
Bd. and not just actives or retirees. Chapman felt that the Bd. must address Board policy more
frequently.
The third page of the evaluation involved Board Job Description. Brown said that the link
was the STRS staff. Buser was concerned about Bd. policies saying that
perhaps the policies got in their way. Brown said that they don't have enough resources. Buser did not think that the policies were up to the tasks of the end. Leone
offered that the one disagreement voted on the Exec. Director limitations was his and was based on
the incident in which Damon paid the legal fee for the non-investment staff
suit against STRS without informing Leone. Leone expected Board discussion
before the fee was paid. He was the only Bd. member to NOT know about this. Damon added a process point explaining that
STRS had a legal responsibility
to pay the legal bill and that a
majority of the Bd. members felt it was a legal responsibility. BUT Buser, Leone, & Lazares all
felt that they wanted more information on this before the fee was to be paid
and that discussion would follow. It did not. Leone asked, "Is it wrong to
expect discussion on such important matters?" Lazares
suggested that perhaps making changes to the Executive Director's job
description might be in order after Damon's vacates the job BUT Fisher said if any changes
were needed that NOW was the time to do
it. .. . .at the Retreat.
There was an hour break for lunch.
Following
lunch, the facilitator assigned each Bd. member to one of the Nine Principles of Boardship (a booklet) with directions to respond to their
principle with positives and negatives as part of their evaluation of the
principle.
1. Conni Ramser was assigned to
Principle #1. She shared that policies are okay but some operational issues are
problems. She felt that the Bd. Had a way to go to stay on big issues but it still
gets caught up on the day to day operational decisions. She said she needs to
step back & wear her STRS hat & listen to constituency groups but must
keep the mission of STRS & ignore issues that don't move STRS forward. She
needs to ask critical questions that help her understand issues. The she said,
"The past is past". Buser offered that they
must have priorities on governance issues (What is the main thing?) and instead
they use most of their time on managerial issues (details). Puckett referred to
Russell's 11 ratios of performance. He said they need more benchmarks of
measurement for other issues,
not just investments. Leone asked Damon, "Can Board members engage in
management activities?" Damon responded ,
"NO". Leone asked, "Can Board members ask questions? Can a Bd.
member question if a policy is in place that
allows Bd. members to get frequent flyer miles? "
Asking questions and getting information is essential. Leone continued,
"At an RTA meeting in
2.
Steven Puckett was assigned to Principle #2. He said that the Bd. Must stay on task and meet time restraints. Felt that there
were good intentions of staying on agenda topics. Could tighten up agenda more
& listen to one another better & more intently. Complexity of agenda
items is a problem. Need to listen to
member's problems.
3.
Meyer was assigned to Principle # 3. He agreed with this principle. What is
done correctly? The staff provides requested information. Must trust the staff and
ask questions..
4.
Fisher was assigned to Principle #4. Board must use the order of the Roberts Rules
in public sessions. But can speak more freely in Excecutive
Session.
She prefers exec. sessions. Bd. members MUST NOT be disrespectful. Some
feel that there is too much control. All opinions must be considered. She suggested that a summary of pros and cons
be a regular part of follow-up after discussions of principles. Need to
acknowledge an opposing opinion but member does not have to agree with it.
Encourage staff to
give their recommendations (staff's perspective). They could remind Bd. Members
of current policy so a moderator might inform Bd. members if their
recommendations go beyond policy
or radically change policy in some way. Buser offered that he is uncomfortable with the Board
format. He feels it is not effective to have such a strict format. Buser suggested an executive summary and then the Board
members would decide if they proceed or not.
5. Flannagan was assigned to Principle#5. She felt
that the Bd.'s view was to encourage debate as long as it
sticks to the topics and observes Roberts Rules. She said that these rules did not allow
Leone to submit a substitute motion in December. This was wrong. She said
members must listen actively and allow other members who request to
share information . . perhaps at a later time. Allow a
later 2 or 3 minutes opportunity to members to share. All Bd. members need to be open to this idea,
she said. Even if members
are out-of-order, this should occur . . perhaps at the
end of the day. Leone added that this encourages micro-management (problems?)
for Damon. Leone again encouraged Bd. members to respond (if they want to) to membership
concerns or questions raised during Public Speaks portion of the Bd. meeting.
Facilitator reminded members that this would be determined when the Bd. reviews
policy at a later time in the Retreat.
6.
Buser was assigned to Principle #6. He agrees with
this principle.
7.
Leone was assigned to Principle #7. He offered that the Board's
view was that he and Lazares have been problems for the Board. He emphasized that they spoke for
themselves and that they tried to speak clearly. Obstacles to this approach are members inability
to see that their actions may not be in sync with ORC 3307.15. Bd. members must
be able to express dissent. Members need
to explain their reasoning for Board votes. Fisher feels that
Bd. opinions being quoted in the
news media is wrong. The opinions must be identified. Chair of Communications
for STRS, Laura Ecklar offered that all messages for the mass media that have to do
with STRS go through her. She releases
them. She suggested that any STRS Board mass
media release should go through the
chair of the Bd. (Brown). She said that she and her staff would provide help to Dr. Brown if he
requested it and he said he was not in
favor of that. His take on this subject was that he alone should not represent
the Board in this way as he felt it violated freedom of
speech. Leone
then referred to Ecklar's "NO COMMENT"
statement to the media on Nov. 2nd when
she was asked questions regarding PBI inquiries. Ecklar
maintained that
there was "No information to share at that point." However, Leone pointed
out that the PBI lawyers released everything to the mass media and it made STRS look
bad. Damon agreed.
8.
Damon was assigned to Principle #8. He felt that the Board's view was that they
frequently revisit past decisions & are open. He said that no decision has
been overturned capriciously by the Board. He suggests that if decisions need
to be revisited, that the Bd. members approach the chair of the committee or
the Exec. Director.
9.
Brown was assigned to Principle #9 a and b. He shared
that the purpose of
the Board was to build by example. Must focus. Be
ethical. That shades of gray are okay. Too often they see issues as black &
white. Must caution against assuming to know what other Bd. members think. He
will try, as chair, to allow all sides to be heard. Leone cautioned that when decisions
are made by the Board, these decisions are setting an example. His example was
"Voting expenditures for non-investment staff members when membership is
HURTING."
10.
Lazares was assigned to Principle #9 c and d. He felt
this principle perpetuated how things have always been done at STRS by the Bd.
He added that
the Public Speaks portion of the Bd.meeting is
predominantly negative and that Board
members must not have a knee jerk response.