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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-01-25 Minutes• • • MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE FIRE PENSION BOARD A meeting of the Fayetteville Fire Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees was held on Thursday, January 25, 1990, at 1:30 p.m. in Room 326 of City Hall. PRESENT: Fire Chief Mickey Jackson, Ex -Officio Treasurer Scott Linebaugh, Secretary Sherry Thomas, Firemen Pete Reagan, Mike Bonaduce, and John Dill, and Retiree Carl Springston, and City Attorney Jerry Rose Also present were Curtis Williams and Richard Yada of Merrill Lynch. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mickey Jackson. PENSION LIST Motion was made by Bonaduce, seconded by Reagan, to approve the pension list for the month of February, 1990. The motion passed unanimously. OLD BUSINESS INVESTMENTS Richard Yada presented the Board with a copy of the year end performance figures for the pension fund. He pointed out the RNC Equity account increased for the year from $504,490 to $616,669, which is up $112,179 or a 22.24% increase. The RNC Income account increased from $1,922,756 to $2,185,108, which is up $262,352 or 13.64%. The ML/Lee account increased by $15,941 or 15.94%. All accounts underperformed in relation to the Dow Jones index. Curtis Williams stated both new money managers are in receipt of the Board's investment guidelines and have copies of the portfolio. New Mexico has already started restructuring the portfolio. They have eliminated the convertibles and convertible preferred in favor of pure equity and fixed income investments. Roxbury has not yet begun to restructure. Williams stated this was probably good for the pension fund to give the market time to recover. He stated the bond market was a good reflection of the health of our economy. Interest rates are going up, and the bond market is going down. He stated we could be moving toward a recession, but both the United States and Japan are putting the breaks on their economies in an attempt to avoid this. The fixed income account, which constitutes the bulk of the pension fund portfolio, should ride well through this type of economy. One result of the crash of 1987 has been beneficial to the stock market; i.e., the people who were invested that should not have been (widows and orphans, the retired people on fixed incomes, etc.) got out of the market and have not reentered. a • • • Richard Yada stated on the income account, the Occidental Petroleum investment will not be transferred. He has a letter of authorization the Board needs to sign. It was discussed to keep this investment and not sell it at this time in an attempt to regain some of the loss. It is paying about a 9% rate of return dividend at this time. Bonaduce, seconded by Dill, made a motion to remove Occidental Petroleum from the New Mexico account. The motion passed unanimously. Yada stated the zero coupon securities, held at A.G. Edwards, need to be transferred to the holding account. Jackson, seconded by Bonaduce, made a motion to consolidate the zero coupon securities. The motion passed unanimously. Dill made a motion to take the local checking account and move it to the Merrill Lynch CMA interest bearing account. Yada recommended maintaining the current checking account with enough money in it to cover the monthly pension distribution. Then Merrill can wire the monthly amount needed to cover the pension cost. Linebaugh stated if there were no local checking account, every deposit would have to be sent to Merrill and there would be a couple of days interest lost, or wire the money and incur a wire charge. In addition, new checks would have to be purchased. Reagan, seconded by Bonaduce, made a motion to maintain the local checking account with the minimum required balance to earn interest at all times, $500 over that amount, and for Merrill to wire monthly the needed amount to cover the pension cost. The motion passed unanimously. ROY SKELTON RETIREMENT Jackson stated Roy Skelton has submitted his intention to retire on or after February 15, 1990, with 23+ years and has applied for a line of duty disability retirement which would increase his pension benefit from 50% of his salary plus $60 to 65% of his salary plus $60. He has submitted a letter from his doctor stating his physical conditions that make him unable to continue his fire protection employment. Dr. Baker's letter states Skelton has acute chronic anxiety reaction which is aggravated by being overweight, has hypertension, and has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Reagan asked if the Board could make any decision on this until a definite retirement date has been set. Jackson stated he felt the Board could, and it would be best if they did. Dill asked if the line of duty disability was for any particular illness or for a combination of them. Roy Skelton stated it was for a combination. Jackson asked Jerry Rose, City Attorney, how the statute defined line of duty disability. Rose stated the statute states that it is 'a disabling injury or disease which occurs while conducting official fire department operations or while in training to become a firefighter.' Rose stated there was no law on this • • • in Arkansas yet because it is very new. He pointed out that the statute says that the incapacity does not necessarily have to be physical, it can be physically or mentally incapacitating for any suitable duty as an employee. It appears that the Board is the body that decides on this issue, but there is no obligation to declare someone for disability retirement. The new laws state that any other medical evidence may be required, official reports, expert testimony, or other information to be supplied by Skelton, or anyone else in determining the disability. The burden is on Skelton to establish his disability to the Board's satisfaction. Dill asked what portion of the illnesses outlined in Dr. Baker's letter were line of duty. Skelton stated the tension and stress and combination of everything are contributing to his disability. Jackson asked Skelton if he had a problem with submitting a written statement of what is wrong with him and how it fits into the 'while conducting official fire department operations.' Skelton stated if he did this he would have to write down everything that happened and it could take 50 to 60 pages. Rose stated that the Board wanted him to submit everything that he thinks is relevant to this issue. Whatever it takes is what the Board wants. The Board wants Skelton to have a full opportunity to give the Board everything necessary in determining this retirement request. Skelton stated he would have the opportunity because if the Board does not grant this retirement, he would take the Board to court. So, he does not want to give away all of his information that he might need in court. Rose stated that he would like to have in writing from Skelton that he has submitted everything he wants to submit to the Board and does not want to submit anything else. Skelton stated maybe he misunderstood what all the Board wants. Jackson stated that the Board wants to know how Skelton sees the illnesses that Dr. Baker pointed out in his letter fit into the definition of injury or disease that occurs while conducting official fire department operations. Skelton asked if a 24 hour tour was considered a line of duty. Is this officially conducting fire department operations? Jackson stated he felt this portion of the law was ambiguous. It is hard to determine if while on duty for 24 hours is "line of duty' as would be fighting a fire, etc. Rose stated he felt the legislature had given the Board the purview to decide the meaning of 'line of duty'. Dill stated he would like to see it all in writing so he would be able to make a relevant decision. Jackson stated the Board needs for Skelton to write why he thinks the illnesses in Dr. Baker's letter are job related. Reagan stated the way he understood the disability act, it does require certificates of disability to be filed with the Board. Rose confirmed this, and stated the certificates are to be subscribed and sworn to by the person and city or town physician, if there is one. • • Skelton asked that this be put in writing so he would know exactly what the Board wants him to do. Rose stated he would be glad to write a letter stated that (1) it appears there is no written application and one is needed. Skelton stated he thought the letter he had submitted was an application for retirement. Jackson read Skelton's letter and stated that it did not fulfill the requirements as outlined by the statute. The letter to be submitted by Skelton needs to state the specific date of retirement requested. Skelton stated it would be unfair to him because this was one of the options he is requesting. If he does not get what he wants and has to go farther, he might choose to stay on sick leave. Jackson pointed out that if Skelton goes ahead and retires at half pay on the normal retirement plan, if at a later date the line of duty disability retirement is approved, he would receive his back pay to the time of retirement. Dill stated he wanted an application stating when Skelton wants to retire and asking for line of duty disability retirement. He also wants a specific disability, injury or disease, what caused it and/or contributed to the illness. He stated Dr. Baker's letter is too vague appearing to state overall general poor health rather than a specific illness. Skelton asked about how specific he was supposed to get in what caused his illness. He asked if City Attorney Rose had any ideas on the matter. Rose stated he could not figure it out, but he felt Skelton had a tough, uphill battle to prove his case. Rose stated the Board was asking for the following to be submitted prior to a decision being made regarding the line of duty disability retirement (and he would be sending Skelton a letter stating the same): 1) an application for disability asking for a specific retirement date; 2) a certificate of the claimed disability as required by statute which should contain why he believes the disabilities verified by his physician were incurred while conducting official fire department operations; 3) any particular specific instances which occurred while in the line of duty which caused any of the injuries or diseases claimed; 4) that Dr. Butler make another examination of Skelton; and 5) a request be made that Dr. Baker attend the Fire Pension meeting and further explain his letter. Dill, seconded by Reagan, made a motion to send this letter to Skelton, and this matter will be brought before the Board at their next meeting. The motion passed unanimously. Jackson stated he would get the appointment with Dr. Butler and let Skelton know the time. DARRELL JUDY RETIREMENT Jackson stated Judy retired on May 16, 1988. On November 17, 1989, he requested a change in retirement status from regular to a line of duty disability based on the fact that he has serious back trouble that originally occurred when he was working at a rescue call. The questionnaire that had been sent to him under the director of this Board has been answered by Judy and submitted a letter from his doctor, dated January 10, 1990, stating that Judy has never been released to return to his regular duties subsequent to his on the job injury. Judy's doctor stated he should avoid hose lifting, dragging, etc., that he could to protect his back. When Judy returned to work, he was sent to Station 5 in an attempt to avoid some of the heavier work. Dill asked if the 65% retirement law was in effect when Judy retired. Jackson stated that it was, but it was not applied for by Judy at the time he retired. Judy's November 1989 letter stated that Judy now realized that effective January 1, 1987, the regulations changed, and he could have retired on the disability retirement. Judy's letter stated the date of his back injury was October 16, 1983. It occurred while lifting an MVA. He stated he was not cleared by his doctor to return to work. The Board asked Jerry Rose to give them an opinion in writing based on the circumstances outlined in Darrell Judy's letter and the current law relating to changing a retirement status. WAYNE WATTS Jackson stated Wayne Watts had paid the pension fund $1,053.84 and is eligible to retire January 26, 1990, but does not plan to retire at this time. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 3:04 p.m.