03-26-2009 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
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Special Session, March 26, 2009
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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
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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
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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