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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-26-2009 Special Session Minutes Minutes of the Special Session of the CITY OF OCOEE GENERAL EMPLOYEES’ PENSION BOARD Held on March 26, 2009 At 150 N. Lakeshore Drive Ocoee, FL 34761 AGENDA ITEM I. CALL TO ORDER - Chairman Wagner A. Chairman Russ Wagner called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. inthe Second Floor Conference Room #227 in City Hall. The roll was called and a quorum declared present. Present were Trustees Tom Hendrix, Jean Grafton, Wendy West, Russ Wagner, and David Wheeler. Also present was Jim Carnicella, Human Resources Director. AGENDA ITEM II. OLD BUSINESS A.Recommendation for changing Trustee membership from 2 year to 4 year terms Chairman Russ Wagner stated he put a few items on this Agenda from the discussions the Board had at their Workshop meeting (held on March 9, 2009). He said this item concerns the term On motion made by Trustee Grafton, seconded by Trustee Hendrix, length a Trustee serves. unanimously RESOLVED changing the term a Trustee serves as a Member of the General Employees’ Pension Board from 2 years to 4 years, be and is hereby approved. B.Recommendation to require Trustees to secure FPPTA Certification within 3 years On motion made by Trustee West, seconded The Board moved on to the issue of certification. by Trustee Grafton, unanimously RESOLVED to require Trustees of the General Employees’ Pension Board become Certified by the Florida Public Pension Trustees’ Association (FPPTA) within 3 years of their election/appointment to the Board, be and is hereby approved. Chairman Wagner added that he believes regarding current Trustees on the Board this should be written to say they must become Certified within 3 years from the adoption of the Ordinance. C.Recommendation to require Employees to be vested in the pension system in order to run for election to the Board. On motion made by Trustee The Board moved on to the issue of employees being vested. West, seconded by Trustee Hendrix, unanimously General Employees’ Pension Board Special Session, March 26, 2009 Page 2 of 4 RESOLVED to require employees be vested in the City of Ocoee Municipal General Employees’ Retirement Plan in order to run or be elected to the Board of Trustees, be and is hereby approved. AGENDA ITEM III. NEW BUSINESS A.City Manager Meeting Discussion Chairman Wagner spoke about the discussion he had with City Manager Rob Frank. He said the City Manager decided he didn’t want to meet with the Board as a group at this point but offered to come to Board meetings whenever the Board needed him to attend. Chairman Wagner said one of the main points the Board wanted to improve on was communications and explained further. He said as far as the Plan Administrator issue was concerned, Jim Carnicella was in attendance and could speak about his part. Chairman Wagner said City Manager Rob Frank’s impression was that Mr. Carnicella had some issues being the Plan Administrator, which may be resolved over time, but if he didn’t want to be the Plan Administrator that was fine. He stated City Manger Rob Frank said Jim Carnicella would still be the City’s Liaison to the Board. B.RFQ for Attorney Services Chairman Russ Wagner said City Manager Rob Frank agreed that the Board should do RFQs for services periodically. Trustee Grafton suggested they talk to other Pension Boards first as she believes most do not put out RFQs unless they are unhappy with their Attorney’s services. Chairman Wagner spoke about going through this same sort of process for the Investment Consultant and that the City Manager said Attorney Dehner will be included and can present his case but said they have a fiduciary responsibility to evaluate the service. Chairman Wagner mentioned Merrill Lynch and said part of the problem was that the Board only meets 4 times a year unless there is something special to talk about. Chairman Wagner then asked Jim Carnicella to assist the Board in doing the RFQ to find an Attorney for the Merrill Lynch case and an RFQ for Pension Attorney. Chairman Wagner said Trustee Grafton mentioned at the last Board Meeting that Attorney Dehner said he was prepared to resign if the Board went forward with the RFQ but explained that the Attorney should understand this was something the Board needed to do periodically. He said Doug Lozen with Foster and Foster attended the last Board meeting and he said they were not opposed to this and would be happy to participate if there was a RFQ for Actuarial Services. Trustee West asked why Mr. Carnicella decided not to be their Plan Administrator. Chairman Wagner explained that it was mostly over the situation concerning Merrill Lynch. Trustee Grafton spoke about what she thought the Plan Administrator’s duties were. Brief discussion ensued. Jim Carnicella agreed that Human Resources would assist the employees in and out the door and went over what he thought the Plan Administrator’s function was. He said he would continue to be the City’s Liaison to the Board. Chairman Wagner went on to explain further. Chairman Wagner said as far as the duties Debbie Bertling was performing under the Secretarial Services Agreement, the Board would need to find someone to do the Minutes. Chairman Wagner said he believed this wasn’t a big issue and that they just needed someone to do the Minutes and pay the bills. Chairman Wagner also said that he basically didn’t think there would General Employees’ Pension Board Special Session, March 26, 2009 Page 3 of 4 be a big change with not having a Plan Administrator because the Pension Plan isn’t that big yet. Jim Carnicella stated there were a lot of things he would still do that a Plan Administrator does but maybe the Board should step back and determine what their needs are going forward and then go from there. Discussion ensued about doing the RFQ for Attorney services. Chairman Wagner said if they voted today to do the RFQ he will advise Attorney Lee Dehner and if he receives a resignation he would let the Board know but would advise Attorney Dehner that the Board hopes he would participate. Brief discussion ensued about Merrill Lynch regarding the statute of limitations and what to do going forward. Chairman Wagner said he still believes that doing an RFQ was something the Board should do every so often. Trustee West agreed and said she would like to do others if the Board feels they aren’t doing well. Chairman Wagner said if the Board was looking to do something concerning the actuarial services they could discuss it at their next Board meeting. Chairman Wagner asked if Jim Carnicella had a list of Attorneys. Mr. Carnicella said he would work with Joyce Tolbert in Finance to do the RFQ and would include any Board Member who wished to be included and went on to explain further. He said if the Board wanted him to he could prescreen them and they could be as specific or as narrow about what they are looking for in the RFQ and eliminate the ones that are not qualified. Brief discussion ensued and then the Board moved on to the next item. AGENDA ITEM IV. OTHER BUSINESS A.Payment of Invoices On motion made by Trustee Invoices were included in the packet for the Board to approve. Wheeler, seconded by Trustee Hendrix, unanimously RESOLVED to approve that the bills and other charges and fees be and are hereby approved for payment as presented. B.Administrative Services Contract Chairman Wagner advised that he would check internally to see if there were any employees interested in the duties. Discussion ensued. Jim Carnicella advised the Board he needed to leave the meeting. Trustee Wheeler said before Mr. Carnicella leaves he wanted to ask about why he resigned. Jim Carnicella explained it was something he needed to do at this point. Discussion ensued. Trustee Grafton asked if Mr. Carnicella would copy her on any emails he sent out in the future, to which Jim agreed and apologized if he did not do so in the past. Mr. Carnicella then left the meeting. Chairman Wagner went back to the issue of doing the RFQ for Attorney services. Trustee Hendrix said he would like to move ahead with this issue. Trustee Wheeler said it should be a qualified public advertisement for Pension Attorney with something like a minimum of 5 years of experience. Discussion ensued about experience and about possibly having at least 5 clients General Employees'Pension Board Special Session,March 26,2009 Page 4 of 4 in Florida. Chairman Wagner said purchasing might have parameters concerning what they put in the RFQ but said that he was sure Ms. Tolbert could research it and between her and Mr. Carnicella they could come up with the RFQ. Trustee Wheeler suggested the Board have a Workshop or if purchasing could send out the RFQ to each Board Member to make comments back either her or Mr. Carnicella then she could put it together and could then send it back out for the Board to review. He said then if the Board still needed to discuss the RFQ further they could have a Workshop but should try to put something together and get it out in about a month. On motion made by Trustee Hendrix, seconded by Trustee Wheeler, (motion carried 4 to 1, Trustee Grafton opposing) RESOLVED to have Joyce Tolbert in Finance and Jim Carnicella work together to develop the RFQ for Attorney Services and get a draft sent out to the Board to review before moving forward. Chairman Wagner said if he calls Attorney Lee Dehner and advises him that the Board will be doing an RFQ, he may resign. Trustee Grafton suggested looking at his contract to see if there was a stipulation about giving notice. Chairman Wagner said they may need to do something in the interim such as using the City Attorney. Trustee Grafton said it was against the law to have the City Attorney act as the Pension Attorney. Chairman Wagner asked if Debbie Bertling could pull Attorney Dehner's contact and let the Board know what it said regarding notice (the contract states a 30 day notice). Discussion ensued about what the Board would do if the Pension Attorney resigned before a new Attorney started or if he did not want to participate in the RFQ. Trustee Grafton suggested the Board not meet until they had an Attorney present. AGENDA ITEM V. PUBLIC COMMENT None. AGENDA ITEM VI. ADJOURN There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:06 p.m. Respectfully submitted by App d by: Debbie Bertling b_. t.---- HR Analyst Russell B. Wagner, Chairman