Minutes of the Association of Retired Houston Municipal Employees (ARHME) Board of Directors Meeting held on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 Via Zoom
Minutes of the Association of Retired Houston Municipal Employees (ARHME) Board of Directors Meeting held on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 Via Zoom
The meeting of the ARHME Board of Directors was held on March 10, 2026 via Zoom.
The meeting was called to order by the President at 12:02 p.m.
Directors present were: George Bravenec, President; Al Mays, Vice-President; Joyce J. Bethany, Secretary; Naomi Smith, Gerri Walker, Roderick Newman, and Carol Desai. Directors absent were Gina Goosby -Harris and Linda Williams.
The minutes from the January 13, 2026 meeting were approved with corrections made. Motion to approve the minutes was made by Rod Newman and seconded by Naomi Smith. Motion passed. The minutes from the February 10, 2026 meeting was also approved with corrections made. Motion was made by Naomi Smith and seconded by Gerri Walker. Motion passed. Both sets of minutes were asked to be redistributed to the Board with the corrections.
Committee Reports –
ARHME Website – Rod Newman
2025 Christmas Social pictures are on the website. We are also posting minutes from the various meetings that we have. Lucille Chen has offered her assistance to Carol to help with updating the website. Carol mentioned that she dropped the ball and had not contacted Lucille to move forward with her assistance.
Membership – Joyce Bethany
No Report- still waiting on updated membership roster to know who to recruit.
Program and Publicity – Joyce Bethany
Report on hold until next meeting when Gina Goosby-Harris, Treasurer, can reconcile and give her report regarding the 2025 Christmas Social. Gerri Walker is to contact Cigna to reissue the donation check that we have not received. George Bravenec is to contact Kelsey Seybold to discuss continued sponsorship to ARHME. They both are to have a response to the Board at the April meeting.
Treasurer’s Report – Gina Goosby-Harris
Inaccurate Repot Attached. Report not corrected due to absence. Will provide corrected report at April’s meeting.
HMEPS – Rod Newman
The active trustee election will have a runoff election between Tameka Hardison and Arif Rasheed.
Health Insurance – Gerri Walker
No Report.
Retiree PAC – Al Mays
Report Attached
Motion to accept the report was made by Rod Newman and seconded by Gerri Walker.
Motion passed.
ARHME Visibility Initiatives and Programs
No Report
ARHME General Membership Meeting
First choice, Monday, June 22, 2026 and second choice is Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
We are in need of a guest speaker.
New Business
Joyce Bethany stated that she will have the status of the Board membership attendance
since she has been secretary and keeping attendance record. The Board can act as it choses with the information.
Next Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 2026 in person.
The meeting adjourned at 12:52 p.m. with a motion made to adjourn by Rod Newman and seconded by Gerri Walker. Motion passed.
Minutes Prepared by Joyce J. Bethany, Secretary
ARHME General Membership Meeting Report February 2, 2026
The Association of Retired Houston Municipal Employees (ARHME) held a general membership meeting on February 2, 2026 at the Harris County Department of Education Building, 6300 Irvington Blvd. About fifty-five members were in attendance.
ARHME President George Bravenec called the meeting to order at approximately 11:08 a.m.
Mr. Bravenec opened the meeting by welcoming everybody and introducing the ARHME board members in attendance. He then asked ARHME Board Member Joyce Bethany to introduce the featured speaker for the meeting Ms. Valerie Petriciolet from the Better Business Bureau Education Foundation, Texas Senior Medicare Patrol.
Ms. Petriciolet gave a presentation on the top scams facing seniors in 2026. She began by discussing gift card scams. She explained that there are two primary ways these occur. The first is by purchasing a gift card that has been tampered and no funds are available when the card is used. The second is when someone contacts you with an overdue bill and tells you to pay by gift card in which they provide the code.
She emphasized the importance of protecting one’s personal identity information such as social security and Medicare numbers as well as dates of birth. Scammers can get this information from trash (shred discarded documents), shoulder surfing, public records, and social media. Scammers can also get your information by buying or trading to other scammers to gain a new list of people to scam. Additionally, scammers can get information from individuals that overshare during a phone conversation from a random solicitation caller.
Other scams include:
Use of artificial Intelligence to clone voices of familiar members requesting money for an emergency. You should always hang up and call the family member back for verification and consider using a family code word,
Phishing and random word scams (turn your device off and then back on to break the connection to the scam)
Spoofing or scam calls masquerade as someone else or a governmental agency. You should screen your calls and register on the national do not call list.
Government imposter scam calls – an impersonation scam that uses fear to get you to send money. Police, Medicare, and Social Security will never call requesting money,
Romance scams - targets loneliness and usually comes from using online dating apps,
Free money scams – from callers saying you won a prize, but you must pay to obtain it,
Digital payment scams – from cash apps when money is deposited in your account and requested to be sent back. Always use credit cards in cash apps that require you to link with your bank account also do not use public scan codes they may have been tampered with,
Unsolicited free durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs and genetic testing. These are not free; the cost will be charged to your Medicare account.
Telehealth visits with random online doctors may not be real, always review your Medicare Summary Notice and the Explanation of Benefits reports for erroneous charges.
Contract scams - always review contracts carefully and do not sign random iPad contracts.
Medicare scams - free services or products are offered in exchange for your Medicare number. Never give out your Medicare number.
Ms. Petriciolet concluded that the Texas Senior Medicare Patrol is available to assist and report Medicare fraud and abuse at 1-888-341-6187.
The status of the membership drive was discussed by ARHME Board Member Joyce Bethany. She pointed out that the membership roster is in the process of being updated by the Board therefore awards for new recruitments were not currently available. New members at the meeting were given free ARHME tee shirts.
In his general remarks to the group, Mr. Bravenec discussed that ARHME does not have membership dues but receives voluntary contributions to help support its activities. He went on to emphasize the importance of contributions to our PAC (Political Action Committee) which supports political candidates that are sympathetic to pension and retiree issues. Members may contribute on a one-time basis or through a monthly pension check deduction. Forms for PAC contributions are available on ARHME’s website.
Tickets were drawn for door prizes. Five lucky members won gift cards.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made and subsequently received a second. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 12:28 p.m. Everyone then relocated to a separate dining area where a lunch of pizza and sandwiches were provided.
Al Mays, Vice President
Minutes of the Association of Retired Houston Municipal Employees (ARHME) Board of Directors Meeting held on February 10, 2026 - Via Zoom
A meeting of the Association of Retired Houston Municipal Employees (ARHME) Board of Directors convened on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 via Zoom.
Directors participating were George Bravenec (President), Al Mays (Vice-President), Gina Goosby-Harris (Treasurer), Roderick Newman, Gerri Roberson Walker, and Carol Desai. Directors Joyce Bethany, Naomi Smith, and Linda Williams were absent.
The President called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m.
The January 13, 2026 Board of Directors meeting minutes were reviewed. Although corrections were previously discussed via email, a final corrected copy was not received by the members present. Approval of the minutes is pending receipt of a corrected copy.
Committee Reports:
Communications Committee ARHME Website – Roderick Newman reported that due to the general membership meeting, website activity increased. Additionally, Member Lucilla Chen volunteered to assist with website administration. Carol Desai will follow up with her.
New Membership Recruiting Committee – Carol Desai shared that she is updating the membership list to address problems related to members not receiving emails.
Program and Publicity Committee (ARHME Social) – The date for the social has been set for December 17, 2026 and June 22,2026 for the next general membership meeting. Both meetings will be held at the Harris County Department of Education Building, 6300 Irvington Blvd. George Bravenec noted that he has not yet received the $2000 sponsorship check from Cigna for the Social. Geri Walker will follow up with them. Additionally, Ms. Walker will send a sponsorship request letter to Kelsey Seybold’s parent company.
Treasurer’s Report - Gina Goosby-Harris reported that due to computer problems she was unable to email however she gave the report verbally. Expenditures were made for the Zoom annual membership ($170.46) and U-Haul Storage ($104.95) bringing the ARHME bank balance as of January 31, 2026 to $5,813.65. A motion was made by Carol Desai and seconded by Gerri Roberson Walker to approve the report. The motion passed unanimously. Ms. Goosby-Harris will provide the written report upon resolution of her technical problems.
HMEPS (Houston Municipal Employees Pension System) - Roderick Newman reported that the HMEPS COLA is 2% and the Drop rate is 6.8%. He also reported an election is proceeding for an active position on the HMEPS board.
Health Insurance - no report
Retiree PAC, HMEPS payroll deductions – Al Mays reported that as of January 31, 2026 the PAC combined accounts totaled $70,133.30 which included the two CDs. There was a motion by Rod Newman and second by Geri Roberson Walker that the report be approved. The motion passed unanimously.
ARHME Visibility Initiatives and Programs – Contingent upon it still receiving donations and the availability of a hole sponsorship for the golf tournament a motion was made by Al Mays and second by Geri Roberson Walker to donate $500 to H.E.R.O. The motion passed unanimously.
ARHME General Membership Meeting – It was agreed that the presentation at the last meeting was very well received and overall, it was a particularly good meeting. Approximately fifty-five members attended the meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for June 22, 2026 at the Harris County Department of Education, 6300 Irvington Blvd.
Mr. Bravenec noted that the next ARHME board meeting will be on March 10, 2026. There was a motion by Gina Goosby-Harris and seconded by Caol Desai to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m.
Minutes of the Association of Retired Houston Municipal Employees (ARHME)
Board of Directors Meeting held on Tuesday, January 13, 2026
The meeting of the ARHME Board of Directors was held on January 13, 2026 in the Priority Trust Conference Room on Tidwell Dr.
Directors present were: George Bravenec, President, Al Mays, Vice President, Gina Goosby-Harris, Treasurer, Joyce J. Bethany, Secretary, Naomi Smith, Gerri Walker, Roderick Newman, and Linda Williams. Carol Desai was late.
The meeting was called to order by Al Mays, Vice President at 12 noon.
The minutes of the December 9, 2025 meeting were approved with a motion by Gina Goosby-Harris and seconded by Naomi Smith. Motion passed.
Committee Reports –
ARHME Website – Rod Newman
A discussion concerning the Webmaster (Square space and Mail champ) on how we move forward with Rose Mata official last day being December 31, 2025. Carol Desai has been working closely with Rose to take over this tedious responsibility.
Membership Committee-
New Member Recruiting Committee- Joyce Bethany
She stated that the recruiting of new members are on hold until we reconcile the current membership list. We scheduled a zoom meeting for Monday, January 26, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. to reconcile the current list to delete deceased members and identify good email addresses for current members.
George Bravenec starts residing over the meeting at this point.
Program and Publicity – Joyce Bethany
Discussed and updated the 2025 Christmas Social Report and the pictures that were taken during this time. It was learned that all of the sponsorship checks have not been
Received. George, Gina and Gerri are to reconcile this matter. George is also to contact
Kelsey Reps. to discuss their bowing out of supporting this event and past sponsorships when a large percentage of our membership is Kelsey Seybold members. (See 2025 Christmas Social Report)
Treasurer’s Report – Gina Goosby-Harris
Report Attached with corrections and deferred reconciliation,
Motion to accept the report was made by Rod Newman and seconded by Gerri Walker. Motion passed.
HMEPS – Rod Newman
There will be an active employee special election to replace Sherry Mose who is now the
Executive Director of HMEPS.
Health Insurance – Gerri Walker
No Report
Retiree PAC – Al Mays
Report attached
Motion made to accept the report by Rod Newman and seconded by Linda Williams.
Motion passed.
ARHME Visibility Initiatives and Programs-
It was stated that there is a change of contact in HR. We must directly contact the Director for any services and or information.
ARHME General Membership Meeting –
Notice to the membership must go out this week for the Monday, February 2, 2026 membership meeting at 11:00 a.m. Our new meeting location is The Harris County Department of Education Building, 6300 Irvington Blvd., Houston, TX. The speaker has been confirmed and the topic is Top Scams of 2026.
Webmaster: Carol Desai arrived later to state that she is still working closely with Rose and is still in need of some answers from her and she needs more training with the takeover.
New Business:
Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 12 noon. This will be a zoom meeting.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Gina Goosby-Harris and seconded by Al Mays. Motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m.