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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-07-2007 Minutes Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the CITY OF OCOEE GENERAL EMPLOYEES' PENSION BOARD Held on November 7, 2007 At 150 N. Lakeshore Drive Ocoee, FL 34761 AGENDA ITEM I. CALL TO ORDER-Chairman Wagner A. Recognize Pension Board election results Agenda Item I A was not addressed until after Item I C (*see below) B. Chairman Russ Wagner called the meeting to order at 10:16 a.m. in the Commission Chambers in City Hall. The roll was called and a quorum declared present. Present were Trustees Russ Wagner, Jean Grafton, Terry Reed and Wendy West. Absent was Tom Hendrix. Also present were H. Lee Denner, Attorney; Jim Carnicella, Human Resources Director/Plan Administrator; Joe Bogdahn, Bogdahn Consulting, LLC; and Mike Sebesta, Money Manager, Trusco Capital Management C. Approval of Minutes from Regular Session dated August 8, 2007 and Minutes from Special Session dated August 29,2007 Chairman Wagner called for review of the Minutes as stated. There being no additions or corrections, it was, on motion made by Trustee Reed, seconded by Trustee West, unanimously RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Regular Session of the Board of Trustees of the General Employees' Pension Board of August 8, 2007 and Minutes of the Special Session of the Board of Trustees of the General Employees' Pension Board of August 29, 2007, be and are hereby approved. *Plan Administrator Carnicella advised the Board that Agenda Item I A had been skipped. Trustee Russ Wagner was re-elected to the Board and he spoke about his reappointment stating he appreciated the votes. After brief discussion Chairman Wagner stated that a motion needed to be made to certify the election results. On motion made by Trustee Reed, seconded by Trustee West, unanimously RESOLVED that the re-election of Russell Wagner as General Employees' Pension Board Member for the term beginning October 1, 2007 and ending September 30, 2009 be and is hereby certified by the Board of Trustees of the General Employees' Pension. Cry Chairman Wagner asked when they would need to have an election for the Board's organization, to which Attorney Denner stated it is done every two years in November and said a General Employees Pension Board Quarterly Meeting,November 7,2007 Page 2 of 7 reorganization of the Board was done last November so it didn't need to be addressed at this meeting. AGENDA ITEM II. NEW BUSINESS A. Money Managers Report-Michael Sebesta, Managing Director, Trusco Capital Mike Sebesta announced he had recently been promoted and said he will be transitioning off the Investment Management side. He thanked the Board and stated this was the last meeting he would be attending. A brief discussion ensued as well as an exchange of appreciation. Mr. Sebesta then went over the review for fiscal year ending September 2007 and said from an actuarial standpoint the numbers over the last 12 months were quite good. He said the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in several years. He stated they cut the rates unexpectedly by about 50 basis point and they cut the rates again another 25 basis points just last week, for a total of 75 points over last couple of quarters. Mike Sebesta continued with the presentation and said they are moving cautiously into the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. He said they are not forecasting a recession in 2008 but the odds of one happening have increased over the last several weeks. He then continued with the presentation. Mr. Sebesta reported that the total portfolio for the entire fiscal year was up 13.8% over the last 12 months, 10'/4%the last 3 years and on a rolling basis up over 10%. Mr. Sebesta continued and then asked if there were any questions. Chairman Wagner asked if the Board or Plan Administrator had any questions for Mike and there being none, Chairman Wagner thanked Mike Sebesta for coming. for B. Investment Consultant Report—Michael Welker, Bogdahn Consulting, LLC Joe Bogdahn explained he was here in place of Mike Welker due to an out of state meeting that had been moved. He handed out information to the Board concerning custody review. He went over the review comparison and explained the fees listed for Fifth Third Bank would probably be the least expensive for the custody piece. Mr. Bogdahn asked if the Board had any questions. Trustee Grafton asked if they needed to see if the Police Officers' & Firefighters' Pension would be changing their custodian in order to get the best rate. Joe Bogdahn stated that the Board could make an independent decision and went on to explain. After further discussion, Attorney Denner stated that the custodian decision didn't need to be made at a joint meeting but suggested he draft the contract stating the fees would be less if the Police Officers' & Firefighters' Pension Board decided to change their custodian to Fifth Third at some point. Joe Bogdahn agreed and said for example when they quoted the Police Officers' & Firefighters' Pension Board they quoted a slightly lower fee than the General Employees' Pension Board, so if the Police & Fire Pension came on board with Bogdahn the General Employees' Pension fee would be lowered too. Further discussion ensued. Chairman Wagner asked Plan Administrator Carnicella how SunTrust had been doing handling the custody portion for our Plan. Jim Carnicella said that since Diane Garcia had left SunTrust it didn't seem to be the same as it use to be so he was prepared to go ahead and look at other custodians. He recommended the Board select Fifth Third Bank. Chairman Wagner asked if Fifth Third had experience in Florida, to which Joe Bogdahn explained they had limited markets in Florida but have been in business in other parts of the country for a long time. He said Fifth Third has been providing custody services in Florida for about two and a half years. Chairman General Employees Pension Board Quarterly Meeting,November 7,2007 Page 3 of 7 Wagner asked if the Board would feel comfortable with this change. Trustee West asked Joe Bogdahn if he often works with Fifth Third Bank, to which Joe stated yes and said they have had no problem getting what they needed from them. After some discussion Attorney Dehner stated the Board would need to make a motion to draw up a contract with Fifth Third Bank. Further discussion ensued. On motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Reed, unanimously RESOLVED to retain Fifth Third Bank as Custodian of the General Employees' Pension Fund contingent upon successful negotiation of the contract, including a fee quote if the Police Officers' & Firefighters' Pension Fund also came on board with Fifth Third Bank as their Custodian. Joe Bogdahn continued and handed out the Investment Policy Statement to the Board. He said the next step was to look at Investment Managers. Attorney Dehner asked if the Policy was all within the current Ordinance restrictions for the Plan. Mr. Bogdahn stated if the last Policy was, then yes this one was in line. He then continued going over the Investment Policy Statement and spoke about their strategy and expectations. Chairman Wagner asked Plan Administrator Carnicella if he had any comments. Jim Carnicella said he would recommend the Board consider approving the Policy. Brief discussion ensued. On motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Reed, unanimously RESOLVED to approve the Investment Policy Statement as presented by Bogdahn Consulting, LLC. Joe Bogdahn handed out a chart called Managing the Style and Capitalization Allocation and continued with the presentation. Mr. Bogdahn said they wanted to go to more of an All Cap strategy and suggested hiring Managers that have the ability to move the assets more efficiently. He went on to explain further. Joe Bogdahn said he would like to set up a meeting and make the decisions together with the Board going forward regarding the Money Managers. Chairman Wagner asked when the meeting could be set up. Joe Bogdahn suggested the first part of December and after some discussion it was decided the meeting would be held on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. Mr. Bogdahn explained what they would be covering at the December meeting. Chairman Wagner asked Joe Bogdahn how many Managers they would be looking at, to which Mr. Bogdahn stated they would probably end up with two to three Equity Managers and maybe two on the International piece and one probably on the Bond side. Plan Administrator Carnicella said after the December meeting the Board would have a short list of Managers to interview. Trustee Grafton asked if the December meeting would be a Special Session, to which Jim Carnicella said it could be a workshop and since the next Regular Meeting was in February the Board would probably need to schedule the Manager interviews some time in January. Trustee Grafton stated the meeting would need to be a Special Meeting if any decisions were to be made. Discussion ensued. On a motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Reed, unanimously RESOLVED to hold a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the General Employees' Pension Fund on December 13, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. in order to make decisions regarding the short list of Money Managers being presented by Bogdahn Consulting, LLC. General Employees Pension Board Quarterly Meeting,November 7,2007 Page 4 of 7 a. Board to Direct SunTrust Joe Bogdahn stated that he needed to have the Board direct the Chairman to do notification letters to all the current Money Managers and the Custodian directing them to send Bogdahn a copy of the statements and allow them to inquire about the details. Plan Administrator Carnicella stated that SunTrust needed to have a direct motion in order to communicate with Bogdahn. On a motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Wagner, unanimously RESOLVED to direct SunTrust and Trusco to send duplicate monthly statements to Bogdahn Consulting,LLC and to allow Bogdahn to inquire about account details. C. Actuary Report-Brad Heinrichs,Foster & Foster Foster & Foster was not present at the meeting. Chairman Wagner asked if Foster & Foster would be present at the next Regular Meeting, to which Plan Administrator Carnicella said they should be at that meeting to provide us with the annual report or hopefully before the February Meeting to provide us with the employee statements. Jim Carnicella said he would reach out to them. D. Changes to the Pension Plan (i.e., summary plan description, dropping/continued contributions after reaching 81% cap, elections, drop decision, windows, service credit, Mayor/Commissioners and City Manager participation)—H. Lee Dehner,Esq. Attorney Denner said the new Summary Plan Description would be finished after the current Ordinance passes so it will be up to date since there were several substantive changes. Attorney Denner stated at the October Meeting the Board directed him to add an amendment to the fund management section, which broadens the Board's investment authority, and said he has drawn up another draft incorporating that provision. Attorney Denner said with respect to the DROP entry, he had the initial draft at the last meeting, which provided that someone could enter the DROP upon attainment of normal or early retirement, but the Board decided at that time to delete the early DROP so those changes have been made in the current draft. Attorney Denner said with respect to the participation of the Mayor and Commissioners in the Plan, he doesn't have the provisions in this draft because he didn't have the specifics on the provisions yet and said he would add this section to the Ordinance once he received the information. Attorney Denner stated he received one additional provision after the last meeting to provide, effective July 11, 2009, the City Manager with five years of credited service in the system at no cost to him, to participate in the system, and at that time begin member contributions in the amount of 7.4%. Plan Administrator Carnicella explained that it was actually an excerpt out of the City Manager's new contract. Jim Carnicella said Foster & Foster still needed to provide the actuarial impact for the City Manager and the Mayor and Commissioners piece but stated that neither of these would impact the employees nor the Pension Plan as the City would pick up all the associated costs. Discussion ensued. Attorney Denner said if the Board passes a motion today to recommend the Ordinance with these changes regarding the City Manager and the Mayor and Commissioners he could incorporate them in the Ordinance and then it wouldn't need to come back to the Board again. Chairman Wagner asked if the Board wanted to make a motion. After some discussion, General Employees Pension Board Quarterly Meeting,November 7,2007 Page 5 of 7 Trustee Grafton said she would move to adopt the change to incorporate the provision to add the City Manager to the Plan as stated. Attorney Dehner went over both changes in detail. Further discussion ensued. Chairman Wagner asked Attorney Denner to go over all the Ordinance changes being included in the draft. Attorney Dehner did but stated he would need to receive information concerning the additional provision for participation of the Mayor and Commissioners in order to include that. After brief discussion, Chairman Wagner asked if the Board had a motion to move forward with the Ordinance changes. On a motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Reed, unanimously RESOLVED to have Attorney Dehner draw up the Ordinance incorporating the section to provide the City Manager's participation in the General Employees' Pension Plan, effective July 11, 2009, with five years of credited service and at that time begin member contributions in the amount of 7.4%; the amendment to the finance and fund management section; the amendment to the member contributions section to provide that once a member's accrued benefit equals the 81% average final compensation cap the member may make a one time irrevocable election to discontinue member contributions and have the benefit calculated and frozen at that time or the member may continue to make contributions; to amend the optional forms of benefits to add the PLOP in increments of 5% from 5% to 20%; to amend the DROP to remove the window and increase the maximum participation from 5 years to 7 years; and add the provision for the purchase of credited service for Air- Time up to 5 years, as presented. E. Pension Plan Audit RFP—Jim Carnicella, Plan Administrator Plan Administrator Carnicella spoke about the Pension Plan Audit and said he had received five proposals. Jim Carnicella recommended the Board form a committee consisting of Lee Denner, himself and possibly Joe Bogdahn to pick the best auditor based on their proposals and to come back in February with the name of the firm. After some discussion Chairman Wagner said it would be great if they could bring it back for the December meeting. AGENDA ITEM III. OTHER BUSINESS A. Payment of Invoices Invoices where included in the packet for the Board to approve. Trustee Grafton said she received something from Merrill Lynch but didn't bring it with her and asked if she could move to have Jim review and pay it if it was in order, to which Jim stated yes he would and said he may share it with Joe Bogdahn to be sure it was appropriate. On motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Reed, unanimously RESOLVED to approve that the bills and other charges and fees be and are hereby approved for payment as presented. General Employees Pension Board Quarterly Meeting,November 7,2007 Page 6 of 7 B. Reports and Correspondence—Jean Grafton, Trustee/Secretary Trustee Grafton reported that she went to Pension Trustee School and stated it was the best one she had attended. Trustee Grafton said she would like the City of Ocoee to host a town hall meeting for this area to educate the Elected Officials about the benefits of our type of Pension Plan. Brief discussion ensued. Plan Administrator Carnicella asked the Board if they would authorize the payment of normal expenses for him to attend the meeting in the panhandle. On motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Reed, unanimously RESOLVED to approve normal expenses for Plan Administrator Carnicella to attend the FPPTA meeting being held on November 26, 2008. C. Discuss/Set dates for Next Year's Meetings—Jim Carnicella, Plan Administrator Plan Administrator Carnicella stated that next year's meeting dates were provided by Attorney Dehner's office. On motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Reed, unanimously RESOLVED to adopt the meeting dates for next year's General Employees' Pension Regular Board Meetings as presented by Attorney Dehner (February 13, 2008, May 14, 2008,August 6, 2008, and November 5, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.) try AGENDA ITEM IV. ATTORNEY COMMENTS—H. Lee Dehner, Esq. Attorney Dehner spoke about the Pension Protection Act with respect to a Police & Fire Retiree being able to have deducted up to $3,000 per year pre-tax for the payment of health and long term care insurance premiums. He said there is a proposal to extend this to all public employees and would keep the Board posted. AGENDA ITEM V. PLAN ADMNISTRATOR COMMENTS—Jim Carnicella A. Pension Plan Rules/Parameters/Training for new Trustees Plan Administrator Carnicella spoke about training for Trustees and suggested the rules be changed requiring employees having to be employed by the City for a certain length of time before they could serve on the Pension Board. Discussion ensued. Attorney Dehner commented about the current rules requiring a Trustee to attend a Conference or Seminar at least once a term, are urged to attend Conferences more frequently, and a new Trustee is encouraged to attend within the first six months of their term. He said there would need to be an Ordinance amendment if the Board wanted to change it. Plan Administrator Carnicella suggested the Board discuss the issue further at the Regular Meeting scheduled in February. General Employees Pension Board Quarterly Meeting,November 7,2007 Page 7 of 7 B. Discuss Pat Cornell issue Plan Administrator Carnicella reported that Pat Cornell would be retiring early due to circumstances that have come up in her life. Chairman Wagner explained and asked if the Board could give some consideration for her to go out under normal retirement. Plan Administrator Carnicella explained this meant she would collect her pension benefit without the early penalty and asked Attorney Denner if there was a way the Board could give consideration to Ms. Cornell. Attorney Denner explained why the Board didn't have that authority but said the City could allow a buy-back of service credit or an early retirement incentive window. Discussion ensued and it was concluded that no consideration could be extended to Ms. Cornell. Chairman Wagner asked Plan Administrator Carnicella to advise Pat Cornell. AGENDA ITEM VI. COMMENTS FROM TRUSTEES A. FPPTA Training (January 27-30, 2008) Plan Administrator Carnicella asked if the Board would be attending the FPPTA Training scheduled for January 27 through January 30, 2008. Trustee West, Chairman Wagner, Trustee Reed and Trustee Grafton all responded they would be attending. Plan Administrator Carnicella said he would reach out to Trustee Hendrix since he was absent. AGENDA ITEM VII. SET AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING This item was addresses previously in the meeting. AGENDA ITEM VIII. ADJOURN There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:34 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Aled by: Debbie Bertling HR Analyst Russell B. Wagner, Orr-man C