The meeting was called to order at 1pm by George Shal, President. He led the attendees in a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance

Guest Speaker:

Heather Yoder, Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate was our guest speaker this month. She spoke on electric utility choice and gave us general tips on savings for PECO customers. Her handouts will be available at the November meeting for those who were unable to attend the October meeting. She did mention that the suppliers are licensed by the State to participate in the Choice program but that they are to abide by the Do Not Call List so if you are getting calls from the suppliers just tell them that you are on the Do Not call list and they will not bother you further. She told us that PECO has different rates for summer and winter at this time but starting in 2013, the rates will be the same year round. The handout she gave us was a very good overview of all of the suppliers and if they charge for cancellation but she also mentioned another website that you could use to sort the information and that is www.papowerswitch.com which is from the Public Utility Commission. Heather reminded that Verizon is not delivering white pages any more and to be sure to call them if we want them. She also recommended that we take advantage of any of the incentive programs which PECO is offering ASAP because many of them are being reduced on November 1, 2011. All in all, it was an interesting presentation

Attendance: 17 Members and guests were present

The reading of the minutes of the meeting of August 6, 2011 were waived and approved as they appear on the website. There were no minutes from our meeting of Sept 10, 2011 as it was an outing to the Please Touch Museum.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Sy Nagle reported a balance of $4477.70. This was a combined report covering both August and September. A motion was made and seconded to accept the Treasurer’s Report

Membership Committee Report: Eileen Fitzgerald reported that there are 321 Chapter members, 27 NO members, and 5 Life Members for a Grand Total of 353 members. We had a loss of 5 members. George Shal requested that Eileen Fitzgerald balance the discrepancy in figures with the Federation Newsletter for the next time.

Legislative Report: As part of his legislative report, Ed Levandoski played the Hotline report for us from National on his phone. They are requesting that we send our messages to www.protectamericasheartbeat.org Health Insurance premiums will increase 3.8-4% next year. A 3.6% COLA is expected for retirees next year. The government is funded through 11-18-2011

Service/Newsletter: George Shal is waiting for input for the newsletter and Peg Bergman said she would get info about the holiday party to him after this meeting

Sunshine: Eileen Fitzgerald reported that one of our members Alan Berger passed away. A sympathy card was sent around for all of us to sign and send to the family.

Old Business Discussed

We had a successful, if not well attended, outing to the Please Touch museum on Sept 10, 2011 and those who attended did enjoy the event.

George Shal reminded the members about donations to the Alzheimer’s Fund.

George Shal mentioned that the State Convention will be held in Allentown, PA May 6-9, 2011. Raffle tickets will be sold, chapters may be donating baskets to benefit the event, and patron ads will be sold as well. A motion was made and seconded to buy 25 booklets of raffle tickets out of chapter funds in the name of the chapter at this time. The chapter will get two free booklets for buying these now. Any winnings from these tickets will go into the Chapter 372 treasury. The remainder of the booklets will be sold to our members at a later date. George also mentioned that we needed to decide if we want to donate a basket for raffling at the convention and what its theme should be so we could decide on how much we need to budget for that item. We will address this at a later meeting as we had no further discussion on the issue. Regarding partron ads George mentioned that there are various size ads, up to one page and as small as one name ads which could be placed. There was no further discussion on that issue at this time.

Peg Bergman told the group that the Holiday Party Committee had selected Westover Country Club for the our holiday party which will be held at noon on Dec 10, 2011. She had the group help finalize the menu and it will be tossed salad, a choice of either Capon Nicoli filled with a bland of wild rice, finished with light garlic and parmesan cheese OR Prime Rib of Beef OR Jumbo Lump Crab Cake and red bliss potatoes, glazed carrots, Vanilla Ice Cream with Strawberry Sauce, rolls and butter, and coffee, tea or decaf. A cash bar is available. The cost per person is $20 which includes tax and gratuity and entertainment. Payment is due to Si Nagel by December 2, 2011. Please make checks out to NARFE Chapter 372 and indicate the menu selection for each person attending. Si’s address is 262 Little Brook Lane, Pottstown, PA 19465. The room which we have reserved is on the lower level and is handicapped accessible. There are restrooms close to the room we have reserved. Enter the building by the door near Michael’s Resaurant.

George Shal reminded the members that there is a $10 rebate from the State Federation for signing up for Dues Withholding. This is being offered until Dec 31, 2011. The money must be sent directly to Maria Ritzman, Federation Coordintor. The following information taken from the August minutes, tells how to sign up and apply for this rebate:

The application must be sent through the PA Federation Coordinator (Maria Ritzman at 441 Mill Bridge Drive, Lebanon, PA17042; phone number 717-270-1119.) for the applicant to be eligible for the $10. Once she receives the application, the check for $10 will be mailed to the member.

If the application goes to National without going through the Federation Coordinator, the incentive will not be paid. This process is necessary to assure the accurate accounting of the funds and to ensure the member receives the reward in a timely manner.

The dues withholding will become effective in the current expiration month/year.

Also, the PA Federation Recruiting and Retention Contest which will continue until February 2012. Winners will be selected at the 2012 PA Federation Convention.

There will be three $100 prizes for Recruiters and two $100 prizes for members who join dues withholding. So, those taking advantage of the $10 incentive will also be eligible for a cash award in the R&R contest at the Federation Convention.

(Note: One of our members did mention a 15% savings which is offered by National for automatic dues withholding. That is IN ADDITION to the $10 rebate from the State Federation provided the sign up for Dues Withholding goes through Maria Ritzman as outlined above)

New Business Discussed:

Reimbursements: The following reimbursements were approved

Peg Bergman $200 deposit for Westover Country Club for the Holiday Party

Peg Bergman $7.55 for the speaker’s lunch

Eileen Fitzgerald $50 deposit for the holiday entertainment

George Shal $119.40 Website renewal fee

A motion was made and seconded to nominate the same slate of officers for the coming year. There were no other nominations made. George Shal said that nominations were still open until the next meeting and that if there was anyone wishing to run for office they should let him know. Also, if any of the current officers are unable to hold office for the next term, they should tell him before we hold elections next month.

Those who are nominated so far are as follows:

George Shal, President

Theodore Mason, 1^st VP

Margaret Bergman, 2^nd VP

J Al Henryson, Secretary

Simon Nagel, Treasurer

Ed Levandoski, Legislation

Eileen Fitzgerald, Public Relations

Eileen Fitzgerald, Membership

Joseph Patti, Service Officer

Joseph Patti, Newsletter

Gwendolyn Wilson, Sunshine

Ted Mason said that he would like to have a discussion on how we wanted him to represent our concerns about the current budget threats to our retirement, insurance and current employee salaries and benefits however we did not reach consensus. The chapter membership did not put its stamp of approval on the approach that National is taking either.

The members asked Peg Bergman to request the Blue Cross/Blue Shield booklets for this open season as the carriers are not sending them out automatically. She said she would.

A motion was made, seconded and approved to adjourn the meeting at 4:00pm

Next meeting will be held at the Old Country Buffet on Wednesday November 2, 2011

These minutes were prepared by Peg Bergman for our Secretary Al Henryson who was unable to attend this meeting.