2010-11-08 Police Fund MeetingM�
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CITY OF OKEECHOBEE
POLICE
PENSION BOARD MEETING
POLICE MINUTES
11/8/2010
Police Officers Members
Denny Davis-Absent
Bettye Taylor-Present
Russ Cale- Present
Bill Bartlett-present
Pension Meeting held at 55 SE 3`d Ave. Okeechobee Florida.
Meeting called to order at 5:06 PM by Jamie Mullins for joint boards.
Presented by Scott Christiansen Attorney:
Police needs to send him a copy of minutes for special meeting.
Letter 2 Fiscal Report as of September 30, 2010 to City Council c/o City Administrator
Bettye Taylor asked if Victoria Williams needed to do a letter of resignation. Scott Christiansen
• advised no due to the fact she had retired but needs to make sure she does a Form 1.
Boards need to redo- their officers of their boards. Currently Chief Davis is chairman and Bettye
Taylor is secretary.
Went over proposed date of ineetings for the Fiscal year. They are as follows:
Feb 7, 2011
May 9, 2011
August 8, 2011
November 7, 2011
Asked by Gary Ritter if Christiansen ever presents to the Council due to the questions they were
asking about the pension fund. Christiansen advised he would do so for a fee if we requested it.
Christiansen reviewed the proposed contract of Gabriel, Roeder & Smith. He advised they refused
to accept Fiduciary Responsibility. But they did add some wording to their new contract that would
get them in line with ERISA. He also went over the new fees they were requesting. Advised we
could approve it or put out for bids from other Actuarial Companies. There was discussion among
all the boards as to the pros and cons of doing this. Bettye Taylor asked if the fees requested were
in line with other Actuarial companies he deals with. He advised they were. Bettye Taylor asked
where they fell as far as being in line. He advised they were a little on the high side but he had
other companies that were even higher. It was discussed that the hourly rates requested were
when special studies were requested by the board. And as a rule this was paid for by the employees
when they needed independent studies done. He advised he was not recommending we change
Actuarial Firms due to the fact they had gotten in line with the proposals made. Janet McKinley
• advised they were prompt when asked for something and there had been no issues with their work.
After much discussion it was decided to a vote of the boards. Christiansen advised they had not
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• done a new contract since 2004 and at that time their rate was $4600.00 and they were now
requesting $5800.00.
Christiansen then reviewed the IRS Determination Letter. Christiansen said at this time it was not
required but if voluntarily done would make the IRS look favorably on us if there were some
problems. The fees incurred could be as high as 20,000 or as low as $10,000. He thinks it will save
money since several plans are voluntarily going forward with this. The letter has to be submitted
by January 31, 2011 or cannot be done until 2013. He advised in his letter he laid out the pluses and
minus of doing the letter. He advised he did not care which way the boards decided to go. He
advised that since our plan has the same wording as some of the other plans that are going ahead
with the IRS Letter. HE said they would be the test plans to see if the IRS found any problems with
the plans. He advised the only thing he could see would be the time it takes to implement the
changes they require. He advised that due to the fact he brings it to us we vote then he drafts it to
the City then it takes quite a while to get it back from them before it can be implemented. I asked
about the fact it stated in his letter that it needed to be presented to the City. He said some City's
want it looked at because some of these issues might become a problem for the City. Bill Douglas
of the Fire Board said he felt it was too much money to spend on a"what iY' scenario. Russ Cale
said he felt like if the IRS was doing surveys they would be looking soon to institute this rule. Bill
Douglas said he did not think our plans would have a problem with compliance. Basile Coule said
the IRS is shifting people around to do more investigations which might be something we should
consider. He said he thought the likelihood of them auditing us is low. Christiansen said the
application process takes a year once it is started. After a lot of conversation between all members
each of the boards voted to defer until 2012. Bill Bartlett made the motion for the Police Board,
• seconded by Russ Cale, all in favor to defer until 2012.
We then reviewed the letter from the Division of Retirement reference our Actuarial Assumption
Rate. Christiansen and David Kelly and Tim Nash of Bogden Group advised they thought our 7% rate
was a safe one.
David Kelly of the Bowen Hanes Group Presented.
We had a really good September which helped the end of the year's numbers. Market has been on
a seesaw pattern. Thinks there is going to be more business oriented regulations. Feds did
everything they could to keep the economy alive. Very cautious about the bond market. Not wild
about Treasury Bonds. But are making some money on the coupons. Fed is trying to get inflation up
2%. We think the interest rates are going up. Big bond return numbers cannot go on forever. The
rates are not there on appreciation. Life Insurance and Mutual Funds are forced to buy bonds
because of their requirement of no risk. Coca came out with a bond that is 5 years and 1.5%.
Reviewed their investments. Stated that they would like us to consider changing our investment
policy because it restricts their ability to invest by not being able to put more than 60% in the stock
market. Christiansen said there is the ability to change the wording in the Ordinance but he did not
recommend it until there are other changes to present. He said some of his plans go up to 65% in
stocks but nothing higher. There was discussion as to what this would entail. Bettye Taylor asked if
the fact that the board had been so conservative with their investment policy was the reason we
had faired this down turn as well as we did. Kelly advised this did help.
Tim Nash of Bogden Group Presented:
• Fiscal Year first 6 months we were close to assumption rate then next quarter the market dropped
then the end of the fiscal year there was a rally and we exceeded out actuarial assumption. 10.5
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• return rate. Started year at 4974535.00 and ended the year at 5404898.00. He reviewed the Bonds
and how interest rates affect their pay out. Good probability that the Feds will raise the rates.
Comparative to other plans around Florida our plan did very well. We are in the top 30% percentile
in our plan. He advised we are beating our index and having good solid returns. He reviewed the
compliance check list. New component is the statement that the Manager is in compliance with
PFIA. This is the requirement that we don't own any investments in Iran and Sudan.
Police is at 60.20on allocation at this time the target is 60% to be in compliance. Foreign equity is
less than 10% and can by law go as high as 25%.
Boards split up individually at 6:00 PM.
Bill Bartlett called the board to order.
Russ Cale voted to approve the minutes. 2"d by Bettye Taylor all approved.
Bill Bartlett voted to approve expenditures 2nd by Russ Call all approved.
Russ Cale made motion to approve Gabriel, Roeder contract. 2"d by Bill Bartlett. All in favor.
Bill Bartlett made motion to accept DiBartolomeo, McBee Hartley & Barnes Contract. 2"d by Russ
Cale all approved.
Russ Cale made motion to adjourn 2"d by Bill Bartlett. Meeting over at 6:15 PM
• Secretary —Bettye Taylor
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