HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-25-2000 Special Session Minutes General Employees Pension Board
Special Meeting, September 25,2000
The meeting was called to order at 10:06 A.M.with the following trustees in attendance: Cornell, Dabbs,
'son, and Oliver. (Electee Smith was present but was not officially a member until the election results were
certified.)
As per the election procedure rules,when only one employee seeks election as trustee, no election ballot
is necessary and the candidate, in this case Bob Smith, is deemed elected and the election results must
be certified by Board action. This was done and Trustee Smith was welcomed to the Board.
The Board also at this time nominated and re-elected Joyce Oliver as the fifth member of the Board. In
this discussion it was noted that Ricky Waldrop had expressed an interest in the "fifth member" seat since
he is near retirement. Trustee Icon commented that Ricky could have his seat in a year since he(Mr. bon)
was planning to serve only one term on the Board. The Chairman stated that it was his intention not to
seek re-election upon the expiration of his term in September, 2001.
Attorney Delver offered information on duties, investment strategy,and fiduciary responsibilities, etc.,to
new member Smith. The Fire and Police training session on these topics is open to General Employees
trustees on October 16-18 in Orlando. Trustee Cornell gave the dates for state meetings and training
sessions for the year and stated that employee trustees must take personal leave to attend.
The records storage problem was discussed at length—including possible places for the fireproof file
cabinets—Public Works, room next to City Manager's secretary in City Hall, a room at the Lions Club
building, and rental storage space. The actions taken are as follows:the Chairman will revisit City Hall
space with the City Manager,the Trustees will get together and help Trustee Cornell purge the records,
and on a motion by Trustee !son, seconded by Trustee Oliver,was unanimously adopted to purchase the
necessary file cabinets for permanent record storage.
Trustee Cornell and the Chairman made a decision not to survey the employees regarding the $100 per
year insurance supplement as we had planned to do because the city's contribution to that end was
removed from the budget. A contributing factor also was the action taken by the Human Resources
Director in securing the insurer's cooperation in letting retirees keep individual and dependent coverage
at the city rate but paid by the retiree. Trustee Smith was concerned that in the annual bidding and
insurance carrier selection process,the next company could cancel the above benefit, and retirees would
be left in"limbo." Trustee Cornell shared employee survey results which indicated strong interest in the
supplemental benefit. If the survey results indicate the majority of employees are for the supplement; all
must participate. Attorney Dehner shared his letter to the City Manager regarding the inability of the
Board to share in the cost of the supplement. The Board then took the following actions: directed the
Chairman to revisit the City Manager regarding the supplement—sharing with him the GEPB fund's
favorable experience concerning the citys contribution as a percent of payroll(from 11.0 down to 9.8)and
the actuary's estimate of city cost to fund the$100 retiree supplement—an increase of . 8% in city payroll
cost;decided to have Trustee Smith redo the proposed employee survey about the supplement and upon
motion by Trustee Icon, seconded by Trustee Oliver,to table any final action until the November 8 meeting.
The motion carried unanimously.
Trustee Cornell also noted that the employee survey done several months ago indicated strong interest in
a defined contribution program.Attorney Dehner noted it was unusual for employees to want to go with a
defined contribution program for two major reasons: (1)the availability of the DROP Plan and the strong
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possibility of the$100 supplement and (2)the defined contribution shifts the risk of investment from the
city to the employee.Trustee !son expressed an interest in having Foster and Foster or another
appropriate entity do a presentation for the employees on the differences in a defined benefit plan,which
they now have, and a defined contribution plan in which many employees have expressed interest. It was
decided to ask Ward Foster to do that in February when individual employee accounts are distributed and
do so at the beginning of the meeting. Trustee Cornell stated that many employees were unhappy with our
money manager and want more control of their investment dollars.
Trustee Smith indicated many of his Public Works employees were confused about the DROP and its
ramifications.Attorney Dehner offered to do another presentation on the plan at the Nov. 8 board meeting.
He also noted the Florida Statute summary plan distribution plan was to be done at the February meeting.
Agenda items for the November meeting are as follows: records storage and related issues,employee
survey regarding insurance supplement, attorneys presentation on DROP,final adoption of the investment
policy, and a report by the Chairman on his discussions with the City Manager.
Under Attorney Comments, Lee called to our attention changes in the financial disclosure requirements: a
new trustee must now file such forms within thirty(30)days of election, and upon leaving office one must
notify the Supervisor of Elections.
The meeting adjourned at 11:40 A.M.
Respectfully submitted,
//,
th /
.. Lester Dabbs,Jr
Acting Secretary
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