STEAKOUT AND LOW COUNTRY BOIL:

 Rodney Boland & Barbara Whidden      12/04/2020

As of today, the Steakout is still scheduled, along with the new weekend kick-off on Friday night, the Low Country Boil! The cost to attend both events is $45. If you can’t make both, the boil on Friday night is $20 and the steakout at noon on Saturday is $25. Final decision will be on December 15 when the Florida Chapter will assess COVID restrictions to keep our members safe, and the number of registered attendees to determine the feasibility of the 2021 event. To avoid penalty, we must cancel contact with community center by 12/15 if it is decided to cancel and reschedule for 2022. As of today, 30 people are registered, and a few have verbally committed. The Florida Chapter is continually monitoring CDC guidelines, will adhere to recommendations, plus they are creatively preparing for safety of attendees (hand sanitizer, maybe plastic face shields or masks). Both National President Retired Rodney Boland and National President Dan Heins, along with First Ladies Mary Jane and Karen, are registered. Other national officers will also be present; all will be available to answer questions. So mark calendar now: Friday, January 29, Low Country Shrimp Boil, and Saturday, January 30, Steakout! Both events are independent of the other so you can choose both events or just one event. The Steakout includes your choice of filet mignon or chicken breast. PLUS, the later weekend avoids the MLK holiday and the Antique Extravaganza that creates a greater demand for hotel rooms.  Attached is the updated Steakout registration. Be sure to mail it to Barbara before 12/15 when we will make final decision on whether we should continue with planning. We sure hope to see you in January! 

UPMA Gold 11.8.2020

FROM THE DESK OF PRESIDENT RODNEY, NATIONAL PRESIDENT UPMA RETIRED:
Greetings UPMA friends,

The new year for UPMA Retired has gotten off to a good start. We completed the audit of the treasurer’s records last week. Everything went well and the audit committee will give their report at the national convention this year. The executive board also met and made plans for this fiscal year. Some of these plans will probably change as we get further into the year. Nothing stays the same so plans are always subject to revisions. Some of the items that we will put an emphasis on this year are the national convention, the scholarship program and membership. After not having business meetings and not attending the national convention this year we hope that retirees will be anxious to get back and see their friends. We have exceeded 500 in attendance for the last few years and we hope that we can return to that level of participation again this year. Start making your plans to attend. The next area of emphasis is the scholarship program. We need more involvement in helping to raise money to fund scholarships. We would like to be able to award more scholarships to deserving students so we need your help. The area where we will place the most emphasis this year is in membership. Every year our numbers decline and that will not sustain our retiree organization. We typically sign up about 10 percent of the postmasters who retire each year. Unfortunately, we lose more than that. The membership committee sends the state presidents a list of retiring postmasters each month. Typically in a given month no state has more than 5 UPMA members retiring so it wouldn't be a big task for 2 or 3 members to contact them. In states where new retirees are being personally contacted, many are signing up. It can be done IF we try.

November 11 is Veterans Day. This is the day that we honor the many veterans who have served in the armed forces protecting our way of life. They have done an outstanding job. In some past wars the entire country has had to participate by working in defense industries but we have never had to take up arms at home to defend our country. You can thank the veterans for that. So this week as we celebrate Veterans Day go out of your way to thank the veterans that you know. It really is the veterans who have defended the country, not the politicians.

Sincerely,
Rodney Boland, President UPMA Retired

ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR UPMA RETIRED NATIONAL OFFICE:

The UPMA Retired National Election Policy states in Item 2: "The period of official announcement for the position of National President, National Vice President, National Secretary and National Treasurer shall be no earlier than the last meeting of UPMA Retired at the National Convention preceding the convention at which the election shall take place." According to UPMA Retired Bylaws, Article 5, the President and Vice President will be elected in odd years. President Rodney announced in the July 16 edition of UPMA Gold that August 3 would have been the date of our last business session in St. Louis, therefore, the Retiree Board has set Monday, August 3^rd as the first official date to announce if you are interested in running for president or vice president to be elected in 2021. 

Dear UPMA Retiree,

     Hope this email finds you healthy and safe.  The UPMA State Convention was held July 18 and 19th in Columbus.  Our retiree meeting was held as usual during Convention.  It was sad to see such a small crowd this year but totally understandable with COVID-19.  For those of us that attended, face masks and all, it was nice to see everyone.  

     During our meeting we had a discussion about whether or not we should hold the annual Fall Luncheon due to the COVID-19.  As much as we enjoy this event it was voted to cancel this year's 2020 Fall Luncheon at the Der Dutchman restaurant in Plain City.  We have already reserved next year's Luncheon for the first Wednesday in October as usual.  So mark your calendar for October 6, 2021 to be at the, Der Dutchman in Plain City. 

     I want to thank those that were in attendance at the Convention to allow me to continue another term as your Secretary/Treasurer.

     Again I hope all of you are healthy and safe!

Sincerely,
 
Anita Rieger

UPMA Retired and Friends,                                                                                 6/19/2020

There seems to be a lot of confusion about this year's national convention and retirees participation in it so let me make a few comments.  Since the Covid 19 pandemic began President Dan and I have been in almost constant communication concerning the national convention and the safety of our members.  A lot of factors went into decisions that were made.  UPMA had the entire Marriott Hotel reserved for the entire week of our convention.  If we had just cancelled the convention the cancellation fee for their loss of income would have been in excess of $477,000.00.  However the virus changed everyone's plans.  The hotel negotiated with us for a date in 2022, a business meeting in October and a cancellation fee of $30,000.00.  We are the ones who requested to change our plans and the hotel did have time and money invested in planning this year's convention which is only right that they be compensated for. Another point that everyone needs to remember is that President Heins did not make these decisions, the national executive board voted for everything that was done so any criticism of him is way off base.  President Heins did not create this mess, he just inherited it. 

Since this all started your retiree executive board has met by telecom every two weeks and for over a month we have met at least every week. We have looked at all of the issues related to retirees participation and their safety and welfare at the national convention.  If the social distancing measures remained in place there would be no luncheon, banquet, hospitality room and possibly not enough seats in the meeting room for everyone.  The retirees had no bylaw changes submitted, there will be no time and place voting this year, no proposed dues changes to vote on either.  All that retirees would do is vote for a secretary and treasurer.  Our retiree bylaws state that officers will serve for two years OR until their replacement is elected so it will be business as usual until their replacements are elected.  Over 20 retirees contacted me before any decisions were made and were in favor of cancelling retiree attendance at this year's convention.  Also, over 30 had requested a refund of registration so that's over 50 retirees who expressed their opinion.  Remember, retirees are the high risk group.

Decisions had to be made by the national board and the retiree board well in advance of August 1st so that members could make plans for plane reservations and arrangements that just can't wait until the last minute.  We didn't know if tours would run, if restaurants would be open or if local places of interest would be open.  With so much uncertainty and with the virus still out there the decisions were made to scale way back on the convention and eliminate retiree participation, mainly out of concern for your health and safety.  If we have erred, it was on the side of your safety .

I hope that everyone stays safe and I look forward to seeing you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Rodney Boland, President UPMA Retired

Click on this Link to the Federal Retirement Newsletter:

https://www.myfederalretirement.com/ira-contirbutions-secure-act/

Retiree report from the 2020 Legislative Summit

     LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT RETIREE MEETING:  notes from Linda Carter
National President UPMA Retired Rodney Boland led an informal retiree meeting on Sunday afternoon. Highlights included:
- No issues affecting Retirees at the Active Executive Board meeting.
- Membership: Overall membership in Actives remains stable, however worth noting is that Supervisors membership is growing; Postmasters membership is decreasing.
- Retiree membership is declining. 8992 in February 2020, down from 9559 in February 2019.
- Recently retired list helpful in Gold. Will request from Frank Augustosky at UPMA.
- Request assistance from Chapter Presidents about who is getting ready to retire; contact prospective retiree before he/she leaves office.
- Proposed Bylaw changes should be sent to Louise Nix.
- Discussed entertainment at Retiree luncheon at National Convention.
- Scholarship application is on website. 145 applications in 2019; gave only 9 based on funds raised. Need to initiate ways to raise more funds.
- Invitation to SOC in October. Registration goes up March 1.
- Brainstormed ideas to consider, ie: Health Benefits booklet before open season, Medicare training, Travel Planner for retirees,