SPOTLIGHT
SEPTEMBER 19, 2020
The Board of Governors met via Zoom conference on Sept. 19.
HIGHLIGHTS
The board approved meeting dates for the coming year. The meetings will be held in person at the SEANC office if the state is allowing crowds. The meeting dates are:
November 13/14
February 19/20
May 21/22
July 23/24
Sept. 8 @ convention
The SEANC Staff will continue to work from home until Gov. Roy Cooper moves the state to Phase 3 and it is safe to reopen.
INSURANCE
Open enrollment for state employees is Oct. 15-31. This is a perfect time for members to review all of their supplemental plans and see if SEANC can save them money! SEANC has plans to promote this throughout the month of October.
The board approved trauma insurance through Aflac that includes critical illness and life plans pending contract negotiations.
The board approved renewal of two-year contract with SEANC’s dental and vision carriers.
The dental insurance includes a 3% increase for 2021.
SEANC will soon start sending refunds of 50% of May premiums for dental insurance.
EMPAC
EMPAC Chairman Mark Dearmon reviewed the list of endorsed candidates, including the choice of Roy Cooper for a second term as governor. The endorsements can be found at seancvotes.org
MEMBERSHIP
Membership Chairman Spillman Grice announced the top three recruiters for
First Place ($400) Jacque Chatman, District 20 recruited 114 new members
Second Place ($300) Ron Fields, District 20, recruited 106 new members
Third Place ($200) LaDonna Hamer, District 40, recruited 73 new members
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RETIREE COUNCIL
Retiree Council Chairman Benny Brigman announced that Laura Overstreet is the recipient of the Bob Hopper Award for 2020.
He added that SEANC is nearing 20,000 retiree members and has added 383 for the year
EMERGING LEADERS
Emerging Leaders Chairwoman Emily Jones announced that Selena Rodriguez-Guzman was nominated by SEANC and accepted into in the LeadershipNC program.
SCHOLARSHIP
Scholarship Foundation Chairman Mike Bell announced the three winners of the annual Cash Raffle, which was held Friday and can be seen on SEANC’s Facebook page:
Grand Prize: $5,000 (Darnell Walker, District 21)
First Prize: $3,000 (Angelica Gatherings, District 62)
Second Prize: $2,000 (District 7; prize will go to district Scholarship Fund)
MISCELLANEOUS
Director of Operations Brenda Johnson announced that the City of Raleigh is attempting to rezone the property where the SEANC Office stands from commercial to Medium Density Residential. This will negatively affect SEANC’s property values. SEANC’s attorneys are investigating remedies.
DIRECTOR REPORTS
Executive Director Ardis Watkins asked each member of the management team to explain the accomplishments of their departments since March. In addition to items mentioned in the Highlights section:
Membership: Lynn Cote
Created SEANC Cares as a way for members to reach a member of staff quickly to get answers they needed.
Recruited 1,023 new members and 55 new recruiters to our recruiter network
Awarded over $8500 in membership incentives, special drawings, challenges and awards
Processed 149 membership incentive checks
186 less cancellations and 2,536 less delinquent members than 2019
1,304 returned mail pieces processed
15,000 members called to update contact information
Government Relations: Suzanne Beasley
The lobbying team completed the short session and special session by “virtual lobbying.” Legislative Services at the GA asked all lobbyists to limit their visits to the building unless absolutely necessary and the number of people allowed in the building was limited.
The General Assembly held meetings via WebEx, so that the public still had access and we got through the session with a number of successes. The most notable of these was the second installment of the 5 percent pay increase that was approved in a mini-budget in 2019 stayed in place.
Tony Booe completed several research projects including going through state RFPs and identifying all the vendors who do business with the state.
Worked with the Member Relations to help answer calls and emails from the SEANC Cares initiative pertaining to specific facilities and work sites where proper COVID safety protocols were not being followed.
The State Health Plan Board and the Retirement Systems Board have continued to meet virtually and we have covered all of those meetings. The retirement system has record high funding at more than $108 billion and the system experienced investment gains of 6.38 percent in the second quarter of 2020 which is unheard of in our current economic climate. North Carolina is the 9th largest retirement fund in the nation.
Endorsements: We held 95 candidate interviews via the Zoom platform and all the Area meetings. This was actually a pretty smooth and efficient way of interviewing candidates and every Area was able to have one of us on their meetings.
Communications: Jonathan Owens
Created a new process for onboarding new members, that includes a series of three emails and a webpage at seanc.org/newmember
Created, printed and sent four issues of the Reporter
Created an online portal for enrolling in SEANC Insurance products
Created “Heroes Work Here” signs for members to display at their jobs.
Created SEANCVotes.org to help members navigate election season
Created an EMPAC training site
Finance: Gwen Kea
Finance has been able to maintain continued operations since March when we began to work from home. We have adopted the process of Bill Pay, which is a system utilized by State Employees Credit Union in order to keep our Accounts Payable afloat. T
The Finance department has been tasked with checking the mail three days a week and ensuring that all mail is distributed to the appropriate departments as well as continuing in a safe manner to make the daily bank deposits.
The Finance Team has continued to provide data and support for the staff and members of SEANC as if we were working in our office on a day to day basis.
The team has successfully competed in a timely manner the completion of all SEANC tax returns to include the Scholarship Foundation as well as AHNC.
Finance is heavily involved in the implementation of the new Financial Management System (FMS) with RSM. This includes providing historical data and completing all of the necessary templates to ensure that all beginning balances flow smoothly into the new system.
Motions from Board of Governors
KEY MOTIONS
PASSED: For the Insurance Board of Trustees to retain excess funds in the IBT account because of the timing of COVID and the amount of revenue lost on policy deductions.
PASSED: Amotion to recommendation from the Insurance Board of Trustees to offer a Trauma policy from AFLAC, which will be customized for SEANC.
PASSED: Amotion to donate $2,000 to SEIU Wildfire Relief and to encourage districts to donate funds as well.
