HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-17-1998 Minutes rrr► THE CITY OF OCOEE POLICE OFFICERS' /FIREFIGHTERS'
RETIREMENT BOARD MEETING - November 17, 1998
Chairman REED called the meeting of the City of Ocoee Police Officers' /Firefighters'
Retirement Trust Fund to order at 1:14 p.m. in the Commission Chambers Conference Room of
City Hall. The roll was called and a quorum declared present.
PRESENT: Chairman Reed, Secretary Strosnider, and Member Gledich. Also present were
Actuary Foster, Attorney Delmer, Money Manager Senderowitz, and Recording
Secretary Lewis.
ABSENT: Members Williams and Wilson (excused).
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Secretary STROSNIDER, seconded by Member GLEDICH, moved to approve the Minutes of
the August 13, 1998, and also, the September 15, 1998 Police Officers'/Firefighters Retirement
Trust Fund meetings as presented. Motion carried 3 -0.
DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBERSHIP CERTIFICATES
*'' While this time had been set aside to distribute certificates to membership, no one was present to
receive their certificate, and they would be distributed from the Police or Fire Departments.
QUESTIONS /COMMENTS FROM AUDIENCE
None
DISCUSSION /APPROVAL OF
DISABILITY REVIEW PROCEDURES AND SURVEILENCE
Attorney DEHNER explained that the Board had a responsibility to periodically review the
status of Disability Retirees who may be eligible to return to employment with the City. A copy
of Rule 21, Disability Review Procedure, and Rule 22, Surveillance, was distributed for review
by the Board. Member GLEDICH pointed out a discrepancy which was later corrected in Rule
21.
Member GLEDICH, seconded by Member STROSNIDER, moved to adopt Rule 21,
Disability Review Procedure, with a correction in 21.1 Procedure to read "...to return to
employment with the City of Ocoee..." rather than "to return to employment with the City of
Melbourne..." and Rule 22, Surveillance, as presented. Motion carried 3 -0.
Chairman REED removed Agenda Item VI. Discussion/Approval of Amendments to Rules,
including Rule 21 and 22 as it had been discussed under Agenda Item V.
Police Officers' /Firefighters' Retirement Trust Fund
November 17, 1998
Near
OTHER BUSINESS
AUTHORIZE /RATIFY PAYMENT OF BILLS
Chairman REED asked for ratification of payment, and requested approval of the Board the
bills that had been presented to present to SunTrust for payment. Member GLEDICH,
seconded by Secretary STROSNIDER, moved to authorize and ratify payment of the bills.
Motion carried 3 -0.
UPDATE RE:Y2K
Money Manager SENDEROWITZ reported that he would send Chairman REED a copy of
SunTrust's standard letter on the Y2K comprising them of their preparedness on the matter. He
said that there were no problems and that they were on track. Upon receipt, Secretary LEWIS
will provide a copy to the Board members.
DISCUSS /SET 1999 MEETING DATES
Meeting dates for 1999 were set for 1:00 p.m. on the following dates:
Thursday, February 18, 1999
Thursday, May 13, 1999
%ay Wednesday, August 11, 1999
Wednesday, November 18, 1999
DISCUSSION RE:AMENDING SECTION 1.7 OF THE OPERATING RULES
AND PROCEDURES
Lengthy discussion by the Board ensued. Member GLEDICH, seconded by Secretary
STROSNIDER, moved to adopt the Operating Rules and Procedures with the amendment of
Section 1.7 A. to read "...The election shall be conducted by placement of a ballot box in the
appropriate department headquarters for three (3) consecutive days from 7:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.,
beginning on a date to be selected by the Board..." Motion carried 3 -0.
REPORTS
ACTUARY
Actuary FOSTER presented the summary of the regular annual actuarial valuation of the Police
Officers' and Firefighters' Retirement Trust Fund, performed as of October 1, 1998. The
contribution amounts developed in the valuation was applicable to the City's fiscal year ending
September 30, 2000.
The contribution requirements, compared with those developed in the October 1, 1997, actuarial
valuation, are as follows:
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November 17, 1998
Valuation Date 10/1/97 10/1/98
Applicable Fiscal Year 9/30/99 9/30/00
Total Required Contribution $ 871,419 $ 897,494
% of Total Annual Payroll 27.8% 25.9%
Member Contributions (Est.) 237,976 262,919
State Contribution (Est. 85,820 111,604
Balance From City 547,623 522,971
% of Total Annual Payroll 17.5% 15.1%
The Total Required Contribution had increased as a dollar amount but had decreased when
expressed as a percentage of Total Annual Payroll. The increase in the dollar amount was due to
the 10% increase in Total Annual Payroll. The decrease in the Total Required Contribution
when expressed as a percentage was due to net favorable actuarial experience.
The primary components of favorable experience were an investment return of 14.2% (Actuarial
Asset basis) which exceeded the 8.0% assumption and average salary increases which were less
than the assumed rate. Secretary STROSNIDER, seconded by Member GLEDICH, moved to
approve the Actuarial Report as presented. Motion carried 3 -0. Actuary FOSTER announced
that he would send the report to the two bureaus.
MONEY MANAGER
Money Manager SENDEROWITZ said that he believed that the Board had done a very good
thing in changing the ordinance as it would enable them with an option to invest in other assets.
He explained that it had not been the best of times for the market in the third quarter. The Board
had been informed during its last meeting that there might be turbulent times ahead. One of the
factors leading to the declines in the third quarter had been the concern that a lot of investors had
with lofty valuations. Time had been so good and returns had been so strong.
Money Manager SENDEROWITZ gave an overview of the report, and extended an apology to
the Board as he had believed that the Plan had been at a 60 -40 at Costs. He had let it move
toward 50 -50, and said that he will bring it back into compliance during this quarter. Attorney
DEHNER said that the Board could amend its Policy to a 60 -40. The ordinance had been
changed but not the Policy. They had changed their policy last meeting to allow 10% of the
Equities portion to the Small Mid Caps. Mr. SENDEROWITZ said that it had been the Bonds
which had saved them.
Mr. SENDEROWITZ reported that they did not think that the trouble that they had had in the
past quarter with a recession direction but rather a more financial panic. It was not a result of
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Police Officers' /Firefighters' Retirement Trust Fund
November 17, 1998
high inflation or high interest rates but rather people moving their assets out. Assets are moving
back into Stocks. They were recovering significantly and had pretty much made back the losses
of the third quarter within the last 45 days. Steps had been taken to address some of the
problems in the economy. Interest rates which had been a little high were brought back down a
little bit. There will be more drops in the next three months but probably not in the shorter term.
The drop and the reduction in the interest rates will provide a boost to the economy. More
people are buying homes which caused a big multiplier factor with that. The stronger U.S. dollar
was hurting us both in exporting and importing goods from overseas in that imported goods were
kind of a cost advantage. The U.S. dollar had declined a little bit against some foreign currencies
which made us more competitive. That would help both the exporters and domestic industries
here such as car manufacturers. In looking forward, Mr. SENDEROWITZ said that there will
probably be more moderate growth in the shorter term, and as Japan starts to recover that will
allow growth domestically and Worldwide to continue into the future. Longer term Stocks were
going to be still where you wanted to be yet warned that it may get rocky in the shorter term.
Money Manger SENDEROWITZ left the meeting at 2:00 p.m.
PERFORMANCE MONITOR
Performance Monitor FOSTER presented an analysis of the investment performance of the
Trust Fund for the period from January 1, 1995, through September 30, 1998. The average
annual rate of return for this period was 16.8 %. This rate of return failed to outperform the
composite index of market indicators (50% S &P 500 Composite Stock Index, 45% Lehman
Brothers Government/ Corporate Bond Index, and 5% U.S. Treasury Bills) which averaged
annually a return of 17.9 %. The rate of return of the Total Fund outperformed the composite
index (8.5% vs. 10.5 %) and ranked in the 12 percentile of the Cadence Universe of investment
managers for the one year period ended September 30, 1998. The equity portion of the Fund
failed to outperform the S &P 500 over the trailing one year period (5.1% vs. 9.0 %). This return
ranked in the 23` percentile of the Cadence Universe of investment managers.
Performance Monitor FOSTER commended SunTrust on doing a great job even though they
had not met the actuarial assumption. This had been one of the better returns that they had seen
because of the relatively conservative asset allocations.
ATTORNEY COMMENTS
Attorney DEHNER reported that (1) he would prepared an updated Summary Plan Description
in February (next time 2001); and (2) the Actuary Contract with a 2 -year fee guarantee. Mr.
DEHNER said that the current contract had expired in September, 1998. The General Plan had
revised the former contract in that the Actuarial valuation would be a flat fee of $4500 rather than
it would not exceed $4500, plus the hourly rate that was in the current contract for special
projects would be universal plus costs.
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Police Officers' /Firefighters' Retirement Trust Fund
November 17, 1998
Chairman REED said that that the Board definitely wanted to talk about the Drop Plan. He also
reported that the Employee Committee had directed another concern to him about the disability
part of the Plan. Discussion ensued.
ADJOURNMENT
The next meeting was scheduled for February 18, 1999, 1:00 p.m. There was discussion about
scheduling a meeting of the Board and Membership to discuss the Drop Plan and Rules 21 and
22. A meeting was scheduled for January 25, 1999, 6:00 p.m. in the Commission Chambers at
City Hall.
Secretary STROSNIDER, seconded by Member GLEDICH, moved to adjourn the meeting at
2:30 p.m.. Motion carried 3 -0.
Respectfully submitted,
Judi ewis, Recording Secretary
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