Election season for the ATRS Board is near! Ballots will be mailed from the election vendor on March 16th to all eligible voters in the ATRS membership for the two (2) contested races for the ATRS Board of Trustees. ATRS members are fortunate to have an ATRS Board of Trustees that also includes member elected positions. Through the election process, ATRS members have a voice in the operation of ATRS. This year the ATRS Board positions for the certified (teacher) member for the Second Congressional District and the minority member position have contested races. The attachment provides details about the election process.
The results of the election will be announced by the Board of Trustees as early as mid-April, but no later than the end of June (in the event of a run-off), since the newly elected ATRS Trustees' terms begin July 1, 2015. I would like to encourage every member to participate in the important elections in which you are eligible to vote to support the ATRS Board's long history of exemplary service to the membership of ATRS and the State of Arkansas. In order for your vote to be counted, you must return the ballot to the election vendor before Wednesday, April 15th.
Remember that ATRS has a new website that allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Active members, retirees, T-DROP participants, and CBA account holders can see relevant and specific account information. Active members can access a handy benefits calculator to see how retirement would look now or at a future time.
ATRS now has over 2,500 registered direct access members since registration started on August 1st. Here is the link to an update that provides instructions on the 10 to 15 minute process it takes for a member to register to have direct access to specific ATRS account information: https://www.artrs.gov/general/director-updates/716-08-15-2014-executive-director-update-the-new-atrs-website.
If you have not signed up to obtain the executive director updates through your private email address, you can obtain the executive director update on the ATRS website. The update attached to this email is also available on the ATRS website at https://www.artrs.gov/general/director-updates. Now, almost 8,000 people have signed up to receive this executive director email update and other ATRS information via an email listserve. In addition, over 10,000 people have access to the ATRS executive director updates via email delivery. It is always a great pleasure for ATRS staff to learn of more ways to provide information to ATRS members, employers, and beneficiaries. The ATRS Board is committed to providing a system that is member friendly and transparent.
You can also get helpful ATRS information on the ATRS Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/arkansasteacherretirementsystem under the name of Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. Over 2,300 Facebook users get updates via the ATRS Facebook page. Go to the Facebook page and "like" ATRS to get daily updates. I try to go to the Facebook page every day to post information and answer member questions about ATRS. In addition, if you use Twitter, you can follow events at ATRS and issues of interest by finding the Twitter ID of ATRS or find George Hopkins in the Twitter directory. The link is https://twitter.com/atrs ATRS is here to serve you!
Respectfully,
George Hopkins
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