HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-22-2006 Workshop Minutes
Minutes of the Workshop of the
CITY OF OCOEE GENERAL EMPLOYEES PENSION BOARD
Held on March 22, 2006
At 150 N. Lakeshore Drive
Ocoee, FL 34761
AGENDA ITEM I. CALL TO ORDER – Chairman Swickerath
A.Chairman Mary Anne Swickerath
called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. in the
Secretary Jean Grafton
Conference Room #227 in City Hall. She called on to call the roll.
Present
were Trustees Tom Hendrix, Mary Anne Swickerath, Russ Wagner, Terry Reed and
Jean Grafton. All Trustees were present and a quorum was declared.
Also present was Human Resources Director/Plan Administrator Jim Carnicella.
B.Discussion regarding investment consultant and other alternatives to managing the
Pension Fund
The Plan Administrator, Jim Carnicella, summarized some of the reasons why this workshop was
scheduled. One, there had been so many recent meetings with one Trustee missing and many
new decisions had been made by the Pension Board and two, the members never get a chance to
discuss many matters in detail, especially items pertaining to their investment counselor, Merrill
Lynch.
Secretary Grafton mentioned she was surprised by how quickly the Police & Fire Members
agreed to Merrill Lynch’s recommendation at the joint meeting of the City’s Pension Boards.
Chairman Swickerath was equally surprised about the fact that Merrill Lynch provided only one
alternative to the Boards when recommending buying a mutual fund.
Trustee Wagner summarized how he has heard since coming to the Board that Trusco was
having problems in the large cap arena, however not doing so badly in the other investment
areas. Although he may have been surprised by the one alternative to Trusco’s large cap
strategy, this is what we received and the Pension Board Attorney, Lee Dehner, advised the
Board should heed (follow) the consultant’s recommendation. Trustee Wagner stated the move
to buy a mutual fund represents about only 15% of the total pension fund and provided Trusco a
wake-up call.
Trustees Wagner, Grafton and Swickerath discussed the history behind Larry Cole’s
recommendations regarding Trusco and the co-mingling of the two pension plans.
Trustee Reed asked if the investment decisions by Trusco are the same for the Police & Fire fund
as they are for the General Employees fund. No conclusion or consensus was reached.
The Trustees discussed the Attorney’s invoices, the communication between the Board and the
Attorney, Lee Dehner, which led into a discussion regarding the Early Retirement Option and the
responsiveness of the Attorney and the Actuary, Foster & Foster.
General Employees Pension Board
Workshop, March 22, 2006
Page 2 of 2
The Board came to the consensus this was not the time to re-evaluate the investment counselor,
Merrill Lynch. However, the Board concluded, if so and in the future, an RFP would be
developed and more than one company would be considered.
The Trustees discussed if they would ever want one company acting as consultant (monitor) and
also doing their investments (manager).
Trustee Hendrix asked about Morgan Stanley and what is their desire to provide service to the
Board. The Plan Administrator and Trustees discussed Morgan Stanley’s desire to possibly
provide both the monitoring and money managing services.
The Board’s consensus was to review the next couple of quarter’s performance by Trusco –
Mutual Fund and Merrill Lynch’s recommendations.
Trustee Grafton raised the issue of training and advised that the Board’s Attorney would be
willing to conduct a one-day training session for the Trustees who may not be able to attend the
same away from the City. The members were reminded they are required to attend one training
session per year.
The Trustees discussed attending the Annual Conference of FPPTA in Orlando in June.
Arrangements such as securing one room for Trustees to use and a van to get there could be
possible alternatives.
The Trustees discussed the $1,000.00 provided by the Commission for the Board’s use. The
members decided not to purchase shirts or other personal items but to use the funds toward
training, possibly badges or name plates to recognize them as representing the City of Ocoee, etc.
AGENDA ITEM II. ADJOURN
There being no other items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by Approved by:
James Carnicella ______________________________
Plan Administrator Mary Anne Swickerath, Chair