06-10-2024 CITY OF EDGEWATER
FIREFIGHTERS' PENSION BOARD
QUARTERLY MEETING MINUTES
City Hall Council Chambers
104 N. Riverside Drive
Edgewater, FL 32132
Monday, June 10, 2024, at 2:00pm
TRUSTEES PRESENT: Kory Hayward
James Daly
David Blair
Dominick Fede
TRUSTEES ABSENT: Ron Hayward
OTHERS PRESENT: Pedro Herrera, Sugarman, Susskind, Braswell & Herrera
John Thinnes, Mariner Institutional
David Kelly, Bowen Hanes & Company
Siera Feketa, Foster & Foster
Troy Jenne, Foster & Foster
1. Call to Order—The meeting was called to order at 2:01 pm.
2. Public Comments — None.
3. Approval of Minutes
a. March 11, 2024, Quarterly Meeting Minutes
The Board approved the March 11, 2024, quarterly meeting minutes as presented
upon motion by Kory Hayward and second by James Daley: motion carried 3-0.
4. New Business
a. Update on Trustee terms
i. Siera Feketa commented Ron Hayward, council appointed trustee,
was scheduled to be reappointed in July. Siera commented Kory
Hayward and Dominick Fede ran unopposed and welcomed
Dominick to the Board.
ii. David Blair asked when his term expired. Siera Feketa commented
March 2025.
b. Discussion of DROP interest policy
i. Siera Feketa commented they had an inquiry from someone who
was exiting DROP other than September 30th. Siera reviewed the
recommendation from the plan actuary to have the interest credited
through quarter end prior to separation. Pedro Herrera briefly
discussed commenting they could direct him to draft a policy for the
next meeting. The Board briefly discussed. Siera Feketa asked if
they could start implementing this method right away or if they
needed to wait for the policy to be updated. Pedro commented they
could start using this right away since that's what had been adopted.
The Board voted to adopt the DROP lanauage as discussed,-upon motion by Kory
Hayward and second by Dominick Fede; motion carried 4-0.
Dominick Fede attended at 2:10pm.
5. Reports (Attorney/Consultants)
a. Mariner Institutional, John Thinnes, Investment Consultant
i. Quarterly investment performance report as of March 31, 2024
1. John Thinnes briefly reviewed the market environment for the
quarter.
2. John Thinnes reviewed the asset allocation; including versus
other public pension plans.
3. The total fund net returns for the quarter ending March 31,
2024, were 6.64%, outperforming the policy benchmark of
5.66%. The 1, 3, 5, 7, and 1 0-year trailing returns were
22.54%, 8.24%, 10.86%, 10.47% and 8.93%, respectively.
Since inception (12/01/01), the net return was 6.83%,
underperforming the benchmark of 7.12%.
4. John Thinnes briefly reviewed the performance of the
investments.
5. John Thinnes commented he didn't have any
recommendation to rebalance.
b. Sugarman, Susskind, Braswell & Herrera, Pedro Herrera, Plan Attorney
i. Plan Restatement
1. Pedro Herrera commented they did the previous restatement
and reviewed the purpose of the restatement.
2. Kory Hayward commented the question was if they said the
share plan distribution could happen upon retirement or
termination and asked if DROP people could get their share
balance while still employed. Siera Feketa commented they
usually couldn't get the funds until they exited DROP. David
Blair commented this was discussed before. Pedro Herrera
commented they would make some clarifications.
3. Kory Hayward asked if DROP members should get
allocations. The Board, Pedro Herrera, and Siera Feketa
discussed the current language and the share plan policy.
Pedro commented they would add the language clarifying that
DROP members did get allocations. Pedro commented they
would amend the policy for DROP and the share plan.
4. David Blair asked what a member's options were if they left
prior to retirement but vested. David asked what happened
with their pension and their share plan. Pedro Herrera and the
Board discussed what would happen if members took their
distribution upon separation or retirement.
5. The Board, Pedro Herrera, and Siera Feketa discussed how
the interest would apply. James Daley commented he felt they
should not be able to leave the funds in the share plan unless
they're earning interest. Siera, Pedro, and the Board
discussed allowing members to leave their share plan balance
until the later of separation of service or commencing
retirements and if vested terminated members didn't collect
until retirement, they received interest for each year left with
allocations only through fiscal year-end prior to separation.
6. Pedro Herrera commented he could amend the language and
bring that back to the next meeting.
ii. Discussion of Board travel policy
1. Siera Feketa commented they reached out to Pedro Herrera
to ask if the Board could adopt their own travel policy.
2. Pedro Herrera commented the Board could establish their
own travel policy. Pedro commented it could be as simple or
as involved as they wanted. The Board briefly discussed the
policy options.
3. Siera Feketa recommended using IRS mileage, General
Services Administration (GSA) rate, and actual rate for hotel.
Pedro Herrera commented he would draft the policy for the
next meeting.
iii. David Blair asked about the Additional Accrual Service time in the
ordinance. Siera Feketa and Pedro Herrera gave an update
commenting it hadn't been adopted yet. Siera commented this
should probably also be added to the plan restatement. Kory
Hayward asked for the ordinance to be sent to him.
c. Bowen Hanes & Company, David Kelly, Investment Manager
i. Quarterly report through June 7, 2024
1. David Kelly gave an update on the market environment.
2. David Kelly reviewed the portfolio summary.
3. David Kelly reviewed the portfolio appraisal.
4. David Kelly reviewed the performance summary.
5. David Kelly reviewed the investment for the current fiscal year
and since inception.
6. Old Business
a. Election of Officers — Chairman/Secretary
i. Siera Feketa reviewed commenting this was tabled at the last
meeting. Siera commented the Chairman was David Blair and the
Secretary was Herb Epstein.
The Board voted to nominate David Blair as Chair, upon motion by James Daley
and second by Dominck Fede; motion carried 4-0.
The Board voted to nominate Kory Hayward as Secretary, upon motion by David
Blair and second by James Daley; motion carried 4-0.
b. Discussion of annual pay feeds for the member portal
i. Siera Feketa and the Board discussed the portal. Siera commented
this would be done based on the annual valuation data.
ii. Siera Feketa and the Board discussed the possibility of adding the
DROP members to the portal.
iii. The Board discussed the possible benefits and the downside of not
having real-time data if they could only get annual updates.
iv. The Board discussed the advantages of the portal versus the costs.
The Board also discussed trying the portal for one year as they could
turn it off at any time.
The Board voted to approve annual updates, upon motion by Kory Hayward and
second by Dominick Fede; motion carried 4-0.
v. The Board requested to discuss the portal one year after it had been
rolled out to determine the usage and if it outweighed the costs.
7. Consent Agenda
a. The Board discussed the joint annuitant (JA) change noted in the Fund
Activity Report.
b. Payment Ratification
i. Warrant#101
c. Invoices for payment approval
i. None
d. Fund activity report for March 5, 2024, through June 3, 2024
The consent agenda was approved as presented upon motion by Dominick Fede
and second by Kory Hayward; motion carried 4-0.
8. _Staff Reports, Discussion, and Action
a. Foster & Foster, Siera Feketa/Troy Jenne, Plan Administrator
i. Staff update
1. Siera Feketa gave a brief update commenting Troy Jenne
would serve as the main point of contact. Troy introduced
himself and gave an overview of his background.
ii. Update on disability affidavits
1. Siera Feketa commented they only received one of four back
but would send a second mailing and update the Board at the
next meeting.
iii. Update on Summary Plan Description
1. Siera Feketa commented the Summary Plan Description was
due and Foster & Foster could prepare it for a fee not to
exceed $750.
The Board voted to approve the update of the Summary Plan Description by Foster
& Foster for $750, upon motion by Dominick Fede and second by Kory Hayward;
motion carried 4-0.
2. David Blair asked that they made sure the retirement FAQs
are up to date.
9. Trustees' Reports, Discussion, and Action
a. Dominick Fede commented he wanted to discuss what they could do about
their overfunding. Siera Feketa commented it may be helpful to have the
actuary present for those discussions. The Board and Pedro Herrera
discussed the timing of the union negotiations contracts. Pedro commented
they could commission the Board for a study to be prepared by the actuary
to determine the cost of benefit changes.
b. Kory Hayward asked about the compliance with Bowen Hanes noted in the
Mariner report. John Thinnes and Kory discussed the performance of
Bowen Hanes over the years.
10.Adjournment—The meeting adjourned at 3:38pm.
11.Next Meeting — Monday, September 16, 2024, at 4:00pm.
Resp ctfully submitted by: Approved by:
era Feketa, Plan Administrator O'kora (rd, Secretary
Date Approved by the Pension Board: 09-16-24