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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-12-30 MinutesFiremen's Pension Meeting Minutes December 30, 2004 Page 1 of 5 Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund Meeting Minutes December 30, 2004 A meeting of the Fayetteville Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund was held at 11:00 a.m. on December 30, 2004 in Room 326 of the City Administration Building Marion Doss called the meeting to order Present: Marion Doss, Danny Farrar, Pete Reagan, Ronnie Wood and City Clerk Sondra Smith, Assistant City Attorney David Whitaker. Absent: Mayor Coody and Robert Johnson Approval of the November 18, 2004 Meeting Minutes: Pete Reagan moved to approve the minutes. Danny Farrar seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 5-0. Approval of the Pension List for January 2005: Marion Doss: There is a difference in the bottom line. Pete Reagan: The January one reflects the 3% COLA increase. Marion Doss: I noticed the DROP personnel amounts are the same as last year aren't they included in the 3% COLA? Sondra Smith: Accounting may have forgotten to increase the DROP pensioners. I thought they were included in the COLA too. Pete Reagan: They are, but the amounts did not change. Sondra Smith: I will bring that to Accounting's attention. They have someone new in Accounting that does this now. Pete Reagan: Are we approving the December list too? Sondra Smith: Just the January list, the December list you approved in November. I attached a copy of the December list to the agenda so you could see the change and that the 3% temporary Firemen's Pension Meeting Minutes December 30, 2004 Page 2 of 5 COLA had been added to the January list. I just put a copy of the December list in as a comparison. Pete Reagan. Thank you very much for doing that it's very helpful. On the front page we have Eileen Jenkins and John Jenkins. It is my understanding that our statues state that we can only pay beneficiaries of the fund. John and Eileen were divorced, I don't know when that took place but I think it was after he was retired from here. The only way that we can legally write Eileen Jenkins a check for half of John's benefit is with a court order. David Whitaker: It is called a qualified domestic relations order, a specific financial order from a judge, without the order you couldn't pay her. Pete Reagan: Are you saying we do have an order? David Whitaker: I don't know that we have it; we certainly need to look into that because if we are paying benefits it needs to be presented in a court order because otherwise this Board lacks the desecration to grant benefits to a divorced spouse. Pete Reagan: Right. Sondra Smith: It looks like that must have happened in November. Marion Doss: Pete I am glad you brought that up. Pete Reagan: Should Eileen Jenkins not have an employee number the same as John Jenkins? Sondra Smith: No. Those numbers are not actually the employee's number that is a number that Accounting assigns to each account. Pete Reagan: So that is just an Accounting number? Sondra Smith: I think that is just an Accounting number. David Whitaker: I think their software requires an employee number be input for each data field. Sondra Smith: I think that might be the number of people that have been allowed to draw benefits from this plan. I think they enter them in numerical order. Marion Doss: You are probably right on that. We need to find out what paperwork we have on Eileen Jenkins. We need to see what the divorce decree states. Marion Doss: Would they have turned that in to you Sondra or Accounting. Sondra Smith: I don't ever see anything like that. Firemen's Pension Meeting Minutes December 30, 2004 Page 3 of 5 David Whitaker: They go to Accounting because I will get calls from Accounting on certain things. I would assume they have it. Marion Doss: I think it is safe to say that our Accounting Department would not have done anything without the proper paperwork. We just need to make sure we have a copy of that. Marion Doss: We need to approve the Pension List as amended with the COLA for the DROP people, is that correct. Pete Reagan: That is correct. Pete Reagan moved to approve the Pension List as amended. Ronnie Wood seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 5-0. Longer Investments: A copy of the Longer Investment report was submitted to the Board. Old Business: There was no old business New Business: 2005 Meeting Schedule: A copy of the meeting schedule for 2005 was given to the Board. Marion Doss: Thank you Sondra for that. Sondra Smith: In November 2005 we moved the meeting date up a week due to Thanksgiving. Budget Reports for 10/31/04 A copy of the budget reports was attached to the agenda. Other: Pete Reagan: Trish is our new point of contact in Accounting? Sondra Smith: Yes. Firemen's Pension Meeting Minutes December 30, 2004 Page 4 of 5 Pete Reagan: Is she going to attend our meetings? Sondra Smith: Normally she does, they were here at the last meeting. I know they have a lot going on in Accounting today. Pete Reagan: Okay that's great. Danny Farrar: The NCPERS Conference what is going on with that? David Whitaker: I am here to tell you about it. I have looked at the history of Attorney General's opinions and case law in the State and the question has never been asked directly. I can tell you that the State statue governing the powers of this Board, section 24-11-803 state among your enunciating powers it says in addition to the other powers granted in this subchapter, the Board of Trustees shall have the power to, I will skip down to 2A, provide for the payment from the fund of all it's necessary expenses and printing. The question becomes is training to serve on this Board a necessary expense. My feeling is yes that can be arguably a necessary expense of the Board. Now, an annual Christmas party or New Year's party would not. If there is an opportunity for the members of the Board to be trained to be better members of this Board I see that as a necessary expenditure. I would recommend that if you do it you do two things, you make it a budget line item each year and as Sondra suggested in last months meeting and that you conform to the rules consistent with the Travel and Training rules and procedures of the City of Fayetteville. They are very good, I have dealt with them a lot myself and there is a good over site, so that only as the law states, necessary expenses are covered. That would be my recommendation. There is certainly nothing in there to say training for Board members would not be a necessary expense. Pete Reagan: I was always under the assumption that you were elected to this Board by the members with absolutely no training what so ever. You are being held in account to manage their money. David Whitaker: There are some fairly complex things here too. Pete Reagan: Yes. There should be training and I would encourage everyone to get some training. This conference is by far the best one and the cheapest one out there. NCPERS is all public sector pensions, fire and police. Sondra Smith: I don't think anyone really had a problem with sending someone; we just wanted to make sure that we were not violating any law. Pete Reagan: The trustee educational seminar if someone is going to go they should attend that too. That is a two day seminar just for trustees that sit on Boards you are updated about legalities and different law changes. Danny Farrar: We probably should have someone there if there is any way we could. David Whitaker: I think you need to formalize it and get it in your budget and get a proactive education program. If there is anyone currently sitting on the Board that hasn't attended the Firemen's Pension Meeting Minutes December 30, 2004 Page 5 of 5 training then make sure they get at the front of the list and as new members come on the Board make sure everybody gets to go. As you know from your own experience there are complex financial, legal and ethical questions that you have to deal with quite often. Sondra Smith: We just need to add a dollar amount for training to the budget and then if we don't use it that's fine. We also need to budget funds for Publication and Dues. Ronnie Wood: I feel like Danny does on this, we do make a lot of decisions and it is getting more complex all the time. If something happens and we make a bad decision and have had the opportunities to be trained and we haven't taken advantage of those opportunities I think that would be bad. Pete Reagan moved to add $4,000 to the Travel and Training line item in the budget. Marion Doss: We have to be judicious in doing it. Pete Reagan: The legislative conference is important but that is where they educate you. David Whitaker: That stands a little close to the line on necessary. Pete Reagan: The federal government tried for years to put us on social security we don't want that because we get a split bill. We put in the same amount of social security as you would and draw out 70% less that you would because we have a public sector pension. That is one of the key items that are on the legislative agenda every year and it is real important to us as it would be to our retirees. Sondra Smith: We also need to add around $150 to Dues and Subscriptions so that we can pay the annual membership due every year. Pete Reagan: I would amend my motion to include that. Pete Reagan moved to add $4,000 to the Travel and Training line item in the budget and add $150 to the Dues and Subscriptions line item. Danny Farrar seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed 5-0. Sondra Smith: I will check with the Budget Department to see what we need to do to get that added. Danny Farrar: Sondra thank you for taking care of us, you do a good job. Meeting Adjourned at 11:20 A.M