MOTOROLA/FREESCALE* LONE
STAR RETIREES CLUB
LONE STAR NEWS
May 2011 Issue, Volume 16
Number 1
__________________________________
Reminder -- The next Regular Club
Meeting is Tuesday,
May 10, 2011
Meeting
will be at 10:00 A.M., at the Senior Activity Center on Shoalcrest Ave (29th
and Lamar)
Coffee and Lunch (Pizza)
will be provided
The following meeting is Tuesday, August 9, 2011 (also at the SAC)
Speaker #1: Doug Molof, staff
assistant to Congressman Lloyd Doggett
Subject: View of Washington from
Congressman Doggett’s Office
Speaker #2: Pat Haner – Website?
What website? Ah, you mean ours????
_____________________________________________________________________________
President’s Message
From Jim Remedi
In March, Freescale contacted me, saying they were going to hold
focus group sessions with retirees in both Austin and Phoenix on medical
insurance. They gave me no additional
information about the meeting. They
asked me to supply them 20 names and addresses with 10 alternates. Freescale asked for most of the attendees to
be 65 years or older, but wanted a few under 65 retirees at the meeting. Turns out Freescale mailed invitations to all
30 people and sixteen retirees plus many spouses attended the meeting. Humana had two facilitators for the meeting
but no one from Freescale. The Humana
people went through several types of insurance plans for 65 and over that
companies in the U.S. offer their retirees and asked the attendees for comments
and discussion. Nothing was said as to
what Freescale is going to do with the information which was gathered. One of the facilitators from Humana said that
Freescale continues to explore many avenues for the retirees’ medical
insurance.
No members have come forward to anyone on the board to volunteer
to serve in any elected positions next year.
We need to have several of our members volunteer for these positions in
order to keep the club running.
Minutes of February 8, 2011,
General Membership Meeting
Jim
Remedi opened the meeting at 10:10am with a welcome to all. The minutes of the previous meeting November
9, 2010 were read and approved.
Mike
Coley gave the treasurer’s report. Since the last meeting, funds are down
$1,466.46. The new total was mostly due
to payment for the Christmas lunch. The MFLSRC does pay some of the cost of the
lunch. Total account balance is currently $20,803.25. Since the last report in November, income was
$1086.26 and expenses were $2552.72. A
motion was made by Wayne Harned and seconded by Gary Daniels to approve the
February Treasurers report.
Mike
also gave a recommended budget for the 2011 year. Income and expenses are
forecasted to be level with 2010. The
budget was proposed at $18,664.00 and was approved by the members. Details of this budget are available for
review.
Loy
Buley reported that there are currently 90 paid members with 61 being lifetime.
There are 7 new members having just paid.
Also there are 149 people that have not yet paid current dues from last
year. These will be contacted via email
and reminded of the payment date.
Mike
Coley also reported on some of the key points of the current tax law passed by
Congress at the end of 2010.
Anthony
Guzaldo gave an update on Freescale financials.
Freescale is very proud of a 25% increase in revenue 2009 to 2010. Also presenting was Eric Nielsen from Humana
Healthcare. He spoke about the Humana
Advantage plan and other product options for pre and post 65 people. Eric can
be reached at his office 512-338-2533.
The office location is 1221 S. Mopac, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78746.
Discussion
led by Jim Remedi asking for volunteers to serve on open board positions. Two existing board members (Secretary and
President) have agreed to extend their time for one year and cannot extend
beyond that..
A
motion to adjourn was made at 12:15 pm.
Pizza lunch followed the meeting.
Submitted
by Jim Binneboese, Secretary MFLSRC
2011 Dates to Remember
General Membership Meetings (2nd
Tuesday of the 2nd month of the quarter)
May 10 August
9 November 8
Board Meetings (2nd Tuesday of
1st month of the quarter)
April
12 July 12 October 11
Annual Picnic: at the Pavilion in 2012
Christmas Party: December 6th, at Maggiano’s Little Italy
10910
Domain Drive.
Ste
100
(corner
of West Braker and Mo-Pac)
Newsletter Article Deadlines: July 29 October 28
Submit articles to any Board member – see Newsletter for addresses
The Picnic
By Allan Alaspa
On
Tuesday, April 26, about 50 of us gathered at the Freescale Parmer outdoor
pavilion to enjoy food, fun and frivolity with other Motorola/Freescale
retirees and friends. Nice weather was
the order of the day – warm, but with a nice breeze.
We
had a new addition to our “games” as Lee and Joyce Melugin set up an F1
(Autocross) time trial event with a remote control car doing a figure 8 – how
tough could that be? Well, after
watching a few, some decided they would just watch. I had to do a trial just to test it out and
did an undistinguished 37+ seconds. I
was surprised to have actually won – I need some real competition next
year. We also had the old games back
with kid’s basketball (with bean bags), Frisbee toss, and golf (putting). Again we had the non-alcoholic Margarita
machine and Rudy’s provided the BBQ lunch with delicious food- more than we
could consume.
After
lunch we did Bingo with Brent Brown and Dora LeFebvre running the show. The wind proof cards once again proved
invaluable – although some claim they don’t win as much as the old ones??? Nice prizes for the winners.
Game
winners were Cecilia Avila and Brent Brown in basketball; Mike Coley and Nancy
Countryman in the Frisbee toss; Janet Tidwell and Mitsuko Stonkus in
Putting. We had a record 10 teams in the
water balloon contest and the winning team was Ginger Hansel and Peter Van
Overen who took home some nice wine for their efforts. Pat and Ben Haner got
second place and misting sport mugs for their effort. Many people just enjoyed talking with old
friends and watching. It was a fun time
for all. See you there next year.
A
big thanks to all those who helped with the set-up, lunch, Bingo and
clean-up. It is really nice to have a
group that has so many willing helpers.
The Executive
Board Meeting, April 12, 2011
Treasurers Update Mike
Coley for Charles Barker. Balance: $20,135.71. We have changed our banking
business to Wells Fargo, where we will receive interest on our checking and
savings. We must maintain a minimum of $600 in order to receive free
checking.
Membership Update - Loy Buley. No
new members; 67 members have not paid dues; Loy will send a note to the 67 who
have not paid. Loy will contact Sandy Aitken to determine if there is any
way to contact retirees.
Photographer
- Brent Brown will provide photos from the picnic
Webmaster - Pat Haner has begun work to update the MOT/FSL website.
The cost will be about $170 for domain, IP address, and html software
fees. Pat will provide an update at the next meeting. Much
work is needed to update the site. Most of the data is from 2006-2007.
E-mail Accounts - Jim Remedi. Many bad e-mail addresses have been identified.
Picnic - Al Alaspa. The picnic is scheduled for 26-April; 24 people have signed up.
$10.00 fee
Sign in starts at 11:00 AM
(9:30-10:00 set up- many on the board offered to assist). There will be 10 bingo prizes
Betty has
volunteered again this year to set-up the Christmas lunch at the same place as
last year. If I remember correctly it will be on December 6.
We should start keeping
next years elected officers on everyone’s mind.
Make Meeting Coffee - Wayne Harned
Order Meeting Lunch - Mike Coley
If the pizza parlor doesn't
furnish plates, cups, utensils, and napkins, make sure that Wayne brings some
or find another way to get them.
Purchase Door Prizes for Meeting - Wayne
Harned
Continue the gift cards
Pat
Haner for Jim Binneboese, Secretary, MFLSRC
Our Website
By
Pat Haner
The
Motorola/Freescale Lone Star Retirees Club website, http://texas.motorolaretirees.org/ has been updated. Please take a few
moments to revisit our website and offer your opinions, insights and updates to
the Webmaster, Pat Haner @ pbhaner@yahoo.com.
Main areas which
have changed include:
*
Removal of personal information, including membership list
* Update
of committees, officers and forms
*
Removal of URLs which are no longer active
* Update of e-mail addresses for
officers and committees
* Update of meeting and activity information
You may also
access the website @ http://mflsrc.org , our domain name.
In Memoriam
Ray
Webb – April, 2011
Tidbits That Are Good to Know
November 2008
In the year the Motorola/Freescale retiree
turns 65, there are changes in the medical/dental/vision insurance. My understanding is that the retiree and
their spouse’s existing policies are basically cancelled. The retiree signs up for the Humana PFFS plan
and the under 65 spouse is automatically put on new Aetna medical, Humana
dental, and Vision plans. The spouse’s
new plan resets to zero dental and vision coverage used for the year. This means that if you used some or all of
the dental and vision coverage before the retiree turns 65 you will receive
another full set of coverage for the rest of the year. You should check this with Humana and the
Vision plan before you try to use this.
I’m not sure if the same thing happens when the spouse turns 65 and the
retiree is less than 65 years old.
August 2008
1) Set-up meeting at Social
Security office – you can wait for hours to be seen if you just go into the
social security office and get a number.
It’s possible to call ahead of time and get an appointment for a
specific time on a specific day. Early
in the day and after lunch are good times for the meeting.
a. Sign-up for Medicare (this
happens at the Social Security office)
i.
Call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 to set-up appointment
b. Sign-up for Social Security
and for problems
i.
Call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 to set-up appointment
2) Age 65 and over retirees,
Humana PFFS “Evidence of Coverage” booklet
a. In the initial information
that Humana sends when you sign-up for this plan, they say that after you
enroll you will receive the “Evidence of Coverage” booklet. I never did receive this booklet and I would
bet that I am not the only one who did not receive it.
b.
Call Humana at the number on the back of your membership card and
request the booklet. I have done this
and it has much more information than what you got with the sign-up forms.
May 2009
When I looked at my
2009 Notice of Appraised Value from Travis County, the school taxes had not
frozen at the 2008 tax amount, as they should have. The exemptions were shown correctly for both
2008 and 2009. I went to see someone at
the Travis Central Appraisal District Office at 8314 Cross Park Dr. and after
checking into this they said the projected tax information I got was
wrong. The person I talked with said
this was caused by a software glitch and it has also happened to other
taxpayers. She changed the school tax to
the correct amount and gave me a printout of what she had done.
Note: This will be a recurring
feature in the newsletter to help any of us solve a problem. If you have an item to put in here, please
send it to any board member and they’ll get in for you. The above items were submitted by Jim Remedi.
Motorola/Freescale Lone Star
Retirees Club 2008 Officers and Board Members
Elected Officers:
President Jim
Remedi, 4604 Elohi Dr, Austin, 78746, jimremedi@att.net,
328-0398
V-Pres. Mike
Coley, 10811 Redmond Road, Austin, 78739, mcoley@austin.rr.com,
965-3232
V-Pres. Stu
Hoyt, 401 Sunflower Cove, Kyle, 78640, stu_hoyt@yahoo.com,
268-0842
Secretary Jim
Binneboese, 14306 Terisu Lane, Austin, 78728, JKLBINN@io.com
Treas. Chuck Barker, 2800 Carmel Dr, Round Rock, 78681, cbarker4@austin.rr.com, 255-0917
Board Members (Committee Chairs):
News Letter Danna
Redford, 3416 Hillview Road, Austin 78703, dredford@austin.rr.com,
371-7332
Membership Loy
Buley, 9400 Cedar Forest Dr, Austin, 78750, loylbuley@sbcglobal.net, 258-7465
Volunteers Open
Events Al
Alaspa, 9713 Tree Bend Dr, Austin 78750, aalaspa@austin.rr.com, 258-1408
Program Gary
Daniels, rgd00111@yahoo.com
Webmaster Pat
Haner, PO Box 744, Smithville, 78957, bhaner@austin.rr.com,
360-3537
Other
Clubs: Mark Sullivan Florida Mark_Sullivan@ML.com, (561)416-4647
George DeWitte Phoenix gdewitte@cox.net, (480)
945-2974
PNX Website:
http://motorolaretirees.org
Barbro Keinath Schaumberg
lancelady@sbcglobal.com, (847) 669-1020
Doug Wilkerson Colorado
group doug.wilkerson@comcast.net
Motorola/Freescale Contact
List
Name Phone Loc MD Service
Center
Damon Arhos 895-2040 OHT OE 58 Community Affairs
Sandi Aitken 895-7888 OHT OE 24 Rewards/Benefits
996-4054 PL Food
Works – Parmer Lane
Sandy
White 895-8675 OHT OE
24 Rewards/Benefits/Premier
Empl. Svc
895-2699 OHT OE 11 Security
Earl
Jordan 933-6949 EDB K2 Security
Shawna
DeShazo 895-3096 OHT OE
342 Manager, Austin Activity
Centers
Activity Centers: 895-3069
(OHT) 934-6228 (EDB) 996-7129 (PL)
Credit Unions: Howard
Lane 252-6000 Riata Trace 249-4800
Legend Oaks 421-3400
(The
Parmer Lane branch closed December 24, 2008)
Application for membership
NAME: ___________________________________________________________YEARS OF SERVICE:________
ADDRESS: ___________________________________________________________________________________
CITY: ___________________________________________ STATE: __________________ ZIP: ______________
PHONE: __________________________________ E-MAIL: ___________________________________________
(Please note if you do NOT have computer access or email)
SPOUSE’S NAME (If applicable): _________________________________________________________________
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE CLUB?______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: MFLSRC Rev: 09/08
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEMBERSHIP: $10.00 per year, due by February’s meeting. NOTE: The dues are no longer pro-rated.
LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP: $100
Don’t forget that Spouses need to be members also. We need your other half as part of our club, so sign them up!
MAIL TO: MFLSRC at P.O. BOX 10252, AUSTIN, TX 78766