GCEA Director’s Meeting November 2024

GCEA BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING

The regular meeting of the Board of Directors was held on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, in person and Teams. Meeting was called to order by Sean Toro, President at 12:06 pm and roll was called.

Guest in attendance: James Fagen, CEA

Finance Report:

Profit and Loss approved via email. Profit and Loss will be sent with approved minutes for distribution.

President’s Report:

• Sean Toro introduced himself with a brief bio and thanked the board for trusting him in this very important role. Sean stated his goal is as a collective unit to represent the entire GCEA. We want to fight for a safe, honest, transparent workplace for all employees.

• Requesting all directors to attend meetings and serve on a committee.

• Would like to see director’s attend council meetings and remind leadership that the GCEA is the foundation of the city.

Vice President’s Report:

• Patty Mundo introduced herself with a brief bio and thanked the board for trusting her to serve in this very important role. Patty stated that it is her intention to foster a positive and healthy work environment.

Committee Reports:

Community Alliance – In absence of Joe Palos, Chair, Stephanie Kinnison gave the report. Committee will be donating $500 to Fosterall for Christmas. Barbara Pace will do the gift shopping for this donation.

Committee will be serving dinner at Ascencia. If you are interested in serving, please let Joe know.

PAC – Nothing to report

Benefits – Joe previously worked with Jaime and the other associations who wanted a joint labor committee to better negotiate health benefits. Joe has not heard back from the association since negotiations.

Social Media – Sean and Patty need to send bios to Elisabeth for the website.

EAC – One loan will be issued today. This loan will cap our loans for the calendar year.

Disciplinary – Sean is working on a few cases with James but nothing significant to report currently.

New Employee Orientation – Nothing to report.

Bylaws – Decisions need to be made regarding dues prior to finishing Bylaws. The committee will report back at the first of the year.

Discussion and Comments:

Sean would like every committee to report on the status of the work done within the committee for the month such as, were emails sent to membership? Did you host a meeting for your work group? If so, make the report so we have full accountability and transparency.

All directors are required to serve on at least one committee. If you are not currently serving on a committee, please see Sean or Stephanie. Stephanie will send out a committee list for verification.

New Business:

The 2025 GCEA Budget was presented by Stephanie Kinnison, Treasurer. The current 2025 budget shows a net profit in the black of $5700.00. There were no questions at this time however feel free to email with any questions you may have regarding our new budget. The budget will be sent out to directors for posting two weeks prior to our December meeting. During the December meeting the board will vote to approve the budget.

Dues increases and what is anticipated. The GCEA currently has approximately 195 employees that qualify for GCEA membership that are not members. If the GCEA can recruit additional membership our dues would not need to be increased. The recruitment will be the determining factor in the potential of raising dues in 2025. The GCEA has not experienced dues increase in more than 10 years although all other cost continues to rise.

Many employees think they are members when they are not. Please let your workgroup know that they are not automatically enrolled in the GCEA. You must sign up to be a member and receive the benefits we offer.

James Fagen thanked Ronnie and Matt for showing Sean and Patty the ropes. He would like for employees to know about the Weingarten Rule prior to being questioned by a supervisor.

Weingarten Rule states: The rights of unionized employees to have present a union representative during investigatory interviews were announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1975 case (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U.S. 251.88 LRRM 2689). These rights have become known as the Weingarten rights. Employees have Weingarten rights only during investigatory interviews.

December 24th is a day off for all non-essential employees. Sean will verify further with HR. Police and Fire will work if scheduled on this day. If you have any questions regarding this policy that is now in our MOU, please contact Sean Toro, Patty Mundo or Matt Mancini.

Motion to adjourn made by Matt Mancini

Motion seconded by Eric Montano

Minutes respectfully submitted by Stephanie Kinnison