2007-11-19 General Fund MeetingN General Meeting Police, General and Fire Pension
Boards
11/19/07
Called to order by Jamie Mullins at 5:06 PM.
Mary Durklin from Trusco gave a review of the Portfolio. Fiscal year ending was
September 2007. Lots of volatility in market. The markets are still up going into New
Year. Economic growth is slowing. Mortgage market is affecting the economy. Inflation
is in check but inching up. Did see bonds doing well. Large cap out performed small cap.
Growth outperformed value. International is in line with domestic but outperforming in
the long run. Slightly negative for the quarter but up for the year. Mortgage and credit
markets are having a significant negative effect on the markets. More of a move to the
higher quality in the fixed income market. Strong year to date. She reviewed the
portfolio for each board. Each portfolio exceeded the bench market return for the year.
Trusco will replace Mary Durklin with a new representative for our pension board. Mike
Stevenson will be her replacement.
Ernie Mahler representing Smith Barney. Advised they had research whether there was a
conflict with Trusco. He advised they did not show any conflict. Mary Durklin advised
they discover a relationship between the two but no conflict of interest with investments.
� According to Mahler all of the portfolios have done really well this fiscal year. Is
satisfied with the return we have received which is above the benchmark. This will help
over come the years that were bad recently. According to Mahler he wanted to review the
cash flow. The plans looked good in this area, which is where they normally find
problems. Feels like the plans need to keep an eye on this area for problems in the future.
Wanted to talk about his contracts issues. Christiansen was authorized to enter into.
contract negotiations with SmithBarney. He advised that he had sent the request to his
corporate counsel after receiving it from Scott. He asked for one more quarter to try to
resolve the contract issues. Each board gave his permission to wait another quarter to
start seeking bids. According to Mahler he has been sending the emails to his corporate
office with no response. Christiansen advised he had received a call today from Smith
Barney but had not called them back yet.
Attorney Scott Christiansen went over the dates for the fiscal year 2008 Pension Board
Meetings. Next meeting will be February 11, 2008. All meetings should fall on the
second Monday of the month.
Did not have a problem with the boards waiting another quarter. He feels Smith Barney
will not agree to contract fiduciary responsibilities. He will negotiate cost but he does not
feel we should have to pay for the fiduciary responsibility. HE advised they had said to
accept this they would want $15,000.00 per plan and that is too high. If he cannot get
something worked out with Smith Barney during the next quarter he will start seeking
Mbids from other companies. He spoke on the Merrill Lynch saga and how they had been
found not complying with Fiduciary Responsibility.
� Each board authorized Christiansen to send out request for proposals to seek a new plan
monitor if he did not get a contract from Smith Barney with in the next 30 days. Motion
was made by Victoria Williams seconded by Louise Chandler all approved on the Police
Board for Christiansen to send for bids. When the bids come in make packages for each
trustee and pass them out so they can be reviewed. We will review proposals at next
meeting and come up with short list to come in for interviews. We would need to
schedule a short meeting to meet with the companies for question and answers.
Christiansen reviewed the dates on the trustees. Asked Lane Gamiotea for actual list of
trustees and their office dates.
End of fiscal yeaz Pension Letter #2 needs to be completed and sent to City Council.
Need to include Ernie's Book and Trusco book to show how the Pension Fund is doing.
Form should be in Forms Package. Form does not need to be sent to Christiansen.
Basile Coule advised that his office was in the process of separating all Merita Rice's
responsibilities. He advised once this is done he would be more aware of what forms
were required.
Christiansen asked if we got the insurance paper work that allowed pretax deductions. I
advised our boards was signed and sent to City Administration today. Christiansen
� advised once the paperwork was signed the forms needed to be sent to retirees.
Summary Plan descriptions should be updated and distributed to all members. Wait until
you get the Actuary Report is received and attached before distributed. There were no
changes in the plan this time. Motion made by Victoria Williams seconded by Louise
Chandler and all in favor to accept the plan. �
General Plan Summary was last done in 2006 it will need to be done by 2008.
I asked Christiansen about some type of plan that would help retirees with health plans.
Current retirees are not normally included in any new changes in plans. Sometimes there
is a one-time increase to everyone's retirement. For active employees we could improve
the COLA that is in place now. There is also something done by State Employees now in
which when a person retires their benefit is figured with an additional amount eannarked
for health insurance. Victoria Williams asked about the one time increase. He explained
there is no schedule for increases. State Money usage has to be voted on by all active
members. Victoria Williams asked about the share plan. Christiansen advised this money
came from the State Money. This money would then be divided up between all members
in an account and this distributed upon their retirements. There will be a formula in the
plan, which tells what their percentage will be. The city likes it because they don't have
to worry about the state money anymore. It is distributed as a lump sum on retirement.
This money is over and above the State Money. He advised the membership could vote to
� increase the amount of their contributions so their retirement is increased. Some
memberships have as much as 11 % going in.