President's Message by Darrin G. Borders - President

As we approach the end of the fiscal year, and midpoint of 2006, there are many challenges still to come. For me, the challenges are obvious: continue to learn the duties and responsibilities of being your President. The past six months have gone by quickly and I have enjoyed every minute. While there have been some tough times, you, the membership, have helped me along the way and for that I am grateful. Thanks go to each and every one of you!

More challenges still remain. the salary survey data has been collected. The negotiation team will be examining the information to make sure the data collection was done properly followed by negotiating some tweaks and adjustments. The process should move quickly so that by the membership meeting at the end of this month, the team hopes to be able to share the final results. While salaries are important, the BCEA is still committed towards helping our members prepare for retirement. The City has begun to implement a voluntary Retirement Health Savings Plan to the various employee groups and an RHS program is being setup for our members. There will be a representative at our next meeting to present and discuss this new program.

For many of you, June of 2008 represents the end of the rainbow and the beginning of retirement. But for the rest of us, it represents an opportunity. Some estimates have the City of Burbank losing 200+ employees, which is roughly 15% of the workforce. These estimates may be either high or low, but there is no escaping the impact they will have on our members.

While the looming retirement waive is two year away, there is much to be done. The BCEA encourages every employee to start preparing for the future and begin a development plan that helps prepare you to compete for the upcoming vacancies. Development and preparation take time and 2008 will be here before we know it. In my travels to the various departments, I have been encouraging management to start or continue the development of their BCEA employees. The time invested now, now only helps each department but the community as well.

If 2008 is too far off, then I would also encourage you to apply for one of the current job openings, perhaps one of the apprentice or trainee positions over in Burbank Water and Power. While many of the BWP positions would take you out of the BCEA, I am urging the membership to take a chance at the growth opportunities that present themselves. The experience gained by going through the selection process is invaluable, serving as a practice field to work out the kinks in your preparation and to better familiarize yourself for the competition.

There are other challenges as well. As an organization, we are trying to improve. This process can be slow but I am happy to report that the Executive Board is functioning as a team. As we all grow into our roles and coordinate our efforts, we foresee a stronger union where the possibilities are endless. At the last membership meeting in April, the Executive Board asked the membership to consider joining the Police Action Committee (PAC) and Community Service Plan (CSP). The response was impressive, with over 35 signups! Through a strong PAC, we can collectively make an impact in the political environment of Burbank and with a vibrant CSP we can make a large impact in the community and the people within it. I will once again encourage those of you not contributing, to consider participating and helping our organization make a different in our wonderful city.

We have scheduled the quarterly Membership Meeting for Thursday, June 29th at 6:00pm. We will discuss the status of the salary survey and the enhanced retirement deposit to PERS. In addition, there will be a presentation on a new Retirement Health Savings Plan being offered to our members.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2006 6:00pm Burbank Central Library Auditorium 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd. Salary Survey Update PERS Retirement Deposit Update Retirement Health Savings Plan Presentation Recreation, PAC and CSP Updates New Business $400 Attendance Drawing