Loading...
12-11-2008 , u u Q Police Pension Board of Trustees Minutes - Quarterly Meeting December 11, 2008 Page 1 of5 CITY OF EDGEW ATER POLICE OFFICERS' PENSION BOARD OF TRUSTEES QUARTERLY MEETING MINUTES Thursday, December 11,2008 CALL TO ORDER! ROLL CALL/DETERMINA TION OF A QUORUM The Edgewater Police Officers' Pension Board held its quarterly meeting on Thursday, December]], 2008 in the Development Services Conference Room at the City of Edgewater, Florida. Mem bers Present: Ferd Heeb Gal}' Conroy Dan Blazi Lawrence Leaf Jeanne DelNigro None H. Lee Dehner Sheila Hutcheson Lisa Spanraft, CF A, The Bogdahn Group Allen Smith Tonya Niday, Peggy Dvorak (by telephone) Donna Looney, Personnel Director Members Absent: Plan Attorney: Plan Administrator: Consultants: Principal: Principal: City Staff: Chairman Blazi called the meeting to order at I ] :31 a.m. Members indicated their presence; there was a quorum, with all members present. Chairman Blazi asked the Attorney if the Board wanted to consider taping this meeting due to the many issues being discussed. Mr. Dehner said it would be a good idea to tape record this meeting. Member Heeb made a motion to tape record this meeting only; Member Leaf seconded the motion, which passed unanimously upon a roll call vote (Member DelNigro voted yes for the motion upon her return to the meeting after a brief absence from 11:32 a.m. to 11:35 a.m.). APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Special Meeting - October ]3,2008 Member Heeb made a motion to approve the minutes of the October 13, 2008 special meeting; Member DelNigro seconded the motion, which passed unanimously, upon a roll call vote. NEW BUSINESS ]. Principal (Allen Smith) · Plan Restatement Mr. Smith contacted Tonya Niday and Peggy Dvorak, Principal, by telephone at the beginning of his presentation. Attorney Dehner asked that Principal address their recommendations as to VCP/Cycle C, and other recommendations, as Principal has always prepared the documents and maintained compliance. Ms. Niday mentioned some of the highlighted areas in the Plan restatement with respect to compensation: Optional changes not included in the plan document - definitions of compensation, with reference to payment of unused leave. If the Board wants this in, it needs to be specified; the Attorney asked if there would be a cost and Ms. Niday said that since it has always been included, Q '-.) o Police Pension Board of Trustees Minutes - Quarterly Meeting December 11, 2008 Page 2 of5 there would not be a cost. Principal will change the plan document so that it conforms to the City's practice. Next Ms. Niday next discussed accrual vs. cash basis for reporting compensation. Member Heeb said that is a City issue. Donna Looney was asked to clarify the twelve months' basis for reporting wages and she said that it is from October 1 through September 30, and wages actually paid out after October 1 are not included. Therefore, the compensation is not accrued but paid on a cash basis, so the plan does accurately reflect the City's practice. The next item of discussion related to the Attorney's recommendation against including additional compensation on disability, as this has not been the practice. Ms. Niday then reported that the buy-back and DROP provisions previously approved by the Board have been included in the Plan restatement. Another option is to include pay if an employee is on military duty; it is the practice of the City that the employee is paid for the first thirty days of military duty (paid in full) and then receives no other City pay. Since the plan document currently includes this provision, no change is required. Member DelNigro made a motion for Principal to finalize the Plan restatement to reflect the items discussed above; Member Conroy seconded the motion, which passed unanimously, upon a roll call vote. Member Conroy expressed his concern about the fact that, at normal retirement date, a disability retiree's benefit changes to a normal retirement. He would prefer that the disability retirement not revert to a normal retirement because of the tax consequences. Attorney Dehner said that most Florida public pension plans provide that such cases are treated as disability till death or recovery. Currently, it is also only at the normal retirement date that the disability retiree has the ability to select survivor options, etc. Attorney Dehner advised that the 1999 statutory changes require retirement options to be made available at the time of the determination/award of disability retirement. The actuary can advise if there is a cost impact to this change, but, regardless, the change must be made, based on the requirements ofF.S. Chapter 185. Member Heeb noted that the decision is up to the City Council. Member Conroy made a motion to include disability retirement status till death/recovery and to allow all optional forms of benefit calculations for disability retirements; Member Leaf seconded the motion, which passed unanimously on a roll call vote. Ms. Niday said that the Plan restatement will need to be signed by January 31, 2009 for the Cycle C filing for a determination of qualified status. Principal will send the updated Plan Document, including the changes authorized at this meeting, so that it can be signed and sent it to the IRS with the Cycle C forms. Ms. Niday requested that a confirming em ail be sent to her saying that the Board has approved the changes to be made. She will then send the revised Plan Document to the Plan Administrator, who will, in turn, obtain the Chairman's signature and ensure that the filing with the IRS is processed. Attorney Dehner asked Ms. Niday to send the forms and instructions to the attention of the Administrator for the filing with the IRS. · Status of Principal's actions to comply with the Pension Protection Act of 2006 Ms. Dvorak reported that this has been taken care of and is included in the Plan restatement. She also advised that the VCP filing does not apply to the Police Pension Plan. 2. Approval of quarterly meeting dates - 2009 CJ CJ o Police Pension Board of Trustees Minutes - Quarterly Meeting December 11, 2008 Page 3 of5 · March 16,2009 (Monday) · June 10, 2009 (Wednesday) · September 14,2009 (Monday) · December 14,2009 (Monday) Member Heeb made a motion to approve the 2009 quarterly meeting dates; Member Conroy seconded the motion, which passed unanimously, upon a roll call vote. 3. Contract renewal - The Bogdahn Group Lisa Spanraft advised the Board that The Bogdahn Group has decided to defer this item due to current market conditions and will address it at a later time. REPORTS (ATTORNEY/CONSULTANTS) The Bogdahn Group - Lisa Spanraft Ms. Spanraft opened by noting that the third quarter was not good from any perspective. She then reviewed the market indices noting that all were negative. She reviewed historical bear markets and recovery periods from the "bottom" of the markets. Ms. Spanraft continued with the following statistics for the quarter/fiscal year: . quarter ending September 30, 2008: fiscal year to date: negative 8.64% negative 14.64% . The portfolio had a market value of $6.6million as of September 30, 2008. Allen Smith, Principal, also spoke on the investments. H. Lee Dehner, Attorney Attorney Dehner opened his report by noting that Principal will prepare an updated Summary Plan Description (SPD) based upon the completion of the Plan restatement. He next advised that House Bill 5 has been filed, which would increase investment limits; allow four-year trustee terms; and provide for retiree insurance deductions for pre-tax consideration. The Attorney than reported on the October 21, 2008 public hearing on the proposed changes to Rule 60T, which was well attended, with comments by all groups as to their opposition to the changes, due to cost. Director Suggs said the Division of Retirement will further review the proposed changes based on the concerns of all the speakers. Consideration of Rules Manual- The Attorney recommended that the adoption of the Rules Manual be deferred until such time as the plan is separated from Principal. Member DelNigro left the meeting at this point (12:55 p.m.) and returned within a few minutes. Sheila Hutcheson, Plan Administrator Ms. Hutcheson reported that Mr. Ascherl had requested that his correspondence be sent to the Board for this meeting and he also asked her to inquire as to whether or not the Board wanted him to attend the Board's meetings. The Board advised that Mr. Ascherl could attend any of the meetings and that the Administrator would be asked by the Board to contact him for attendance if the Board needed his input on specific items. Ms. Hutcheson reported that she had provided to Member Conroy the website v Police Pension Board of Trustees Minutes - Quarterly Meeting December 11, 2008 Page 4 of5 link to the summary of all Florida public pension plans benefits from the Division of Retirement, as discussed at the October 13, 2008 special meeting on the Actuary's study of benefit improvements. The Division said that, upon completion, the new 2008 report would be mailed to Member Conroy and Ms. Hutcheson. The Board had deferred action on the special study until the March 2009 meeting when Foster & Foster will present the October 1,2008 Valuation. The Board agreed to change the starting time for the quarterly meetings to II :00 a.m. for future meetings. FPPT A - Membership for the Board in 2009 Member Conroy made a motion to authorize payment of the $600.00 membership dues for FPPTA; Member Heeb seconded the motion, which passed unanimously on a roll call vote. Member Conroy made a motion to authorize attendance by members at any FPPTA and/or Police/Fire schoolslconferences throughout the year; Member Leaf seconded the motion, which passed unanimously on a roll call vote. Member Conroy also recommended the FPPT A trustee certification program. NEW BUSINESS/OLD BUSINESS V None PROCESSED DISBURSEMENTSIRETURN OF CONTRIBUTIONS and DEPOSITS · DISBURSEMENTS I. Christiansen & Dehner, professional legal fees, August 31, 2008 invoice _ $145.00; Sept. 30,2008 invoice - $963.14, Oct. 31, 2008 invoice _ $787.68 2. Sheila Hutcheson, plan administration fees, September _ November, 2008 _ $2700.00 ($900/month); postage/mileage - $28.11 3. The Bogdahn Group, performance consultant fees, 3rd quarter, 2008 _ $2500.00 · DEPOSITS 2007 Premium Tax Distribution - $126,189.05 Waiver of recourse premium reimbursement from City _ $126.25 Member Heeb made a motion to approve the disbursements/return of contributions and deposits; Member Leaf seconded the motion, which passed unanimously, upon a roll call vote. STAFF REPORTS, DISCUSSION, and ACTION None TRUSTEES' REPORTS, DISCUSSION and ACTION o Member Conroy submitted an American Express statement from a conference in the amount of $340.69. Member Heeb made a motion to authorize payment of the $340.69 statementfrom American Express; u u Q Police Pension Board of Trustees Minutes - Quarterly Meeting December II, 2008 Page 5 of 5 she would like to attend if her schedule permits; if she cannot attend, Chairman Blazi said he would attend. Member DelNigro made a motion to allow one attendee at the national convention in Las Vegas; Member Conroy seconded the motion, which passed unanimously on a roll call vote. REQUESTS FROM THE PUBLICIEMPLOYEES PRESENT None ADJOURNMENT Member DelNigro made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Member Conroy seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m. Respectfully Submitted: Approved: ~~ Dan Bla Chairman Sheila Hutcheson Plan Administrator