Retiree members in the Western Region will soon be receiving ballots to elect a retiree regional director for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2016.. This position represents retired members in approximately the western half of Oklahoma. Two candidates, Cheryl Horsley and Jann Ensz are running for the position which also represents Western Region members on the OPEA board of directors.
Voting may be done by telephone or online. Instructions will accompany the ballot or voters who have questions may contact Trish Frazier at 405 524-6764. Below are the candidate biographies that they submitted to OPEA when they filed for the race.
Jann Ensz
Education: Bachelor Degree in Music, worked at NORCE for 38 years; retired in 2014.
OPEA Awards: Volunteer of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award
Committees:
- Current Chair of the Policy, Procedure and Platform Committees.
- Previous member of various other committees for OPEA, including Executive Committee.
- Held various chapter offices and served as a Board Member for Region 3/DHS Council for over six years.
I have been a long time, very active member of OPEA since the early 1980s. I have years of experience working in and with OPEA—most of those years as a leader/officer. I have given countless hours of my time to further OPEA’s agenda and have attended lobby days at the Capitol and have worked in legislative campaigns to further OPEA’s influence in the Legislature.
Priorities
My priority is to get our retirees active and involved in OPEA. We have many issues that need to be addressed by the legislature and will need a very strong retiree voice in order to accomplish this goal. My main goals will be to work on obtaining cost of living raises, increasing the insurance subsidy and ensuring that our retirement system stays financially sound.
Cheryl Horsley
I am Cheryl Horsley your current Retiree West Director, a position I have held for the past five years and wish to continue. I have been retired for over 20 years so am well aware of the concerns of recent and older retirees. I have met with and continue to meet with legislators on behalf of state retirees, trying to increase and preserve retirement and insurance benefits. I was instrumental in the formation of and getting board approval for a Retiree Committee within OPEA. I have attended all Board Meetings, OPEA Conventions and Lobby Days during my time as Retiree Director as well as many other area meetings around the state. I will continue to represent state retirees in our fight to improve retirement benefits. I encourage any retiree with ideas or concerns to feel free to contact me. I am your voice on the OPEA board and want to:
· Return control of retiree cost-of-living increases to the OPERS Board.
· Encourage more state retirees to become involved in the legislative process.
· Inform state retirees of issues that arise, in order to move forward with a united front.
· Retirees can be a force to be reckoned with.
