HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-07-18 MinutesPolice)
Lioneld Jordan Chairman Boar Jerry Friend Retired Position 2
Sondra E. Smith Treasurer Fayve e;ii
John Brown Retired Position 3
Eldon Roberts Secretary/Retired Position 1 Melvin Stanley Retired Position 4 Frank Johnson Retired Position 5
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ARKANSAS
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
July 18, 2013
A meeting of the Fayetteville Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees was held
on July 18, 2013 at 3:00 PM in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113
West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Mayor Jordan called the meeting to order.
PRESENT: Frank Johnson, Eldon Roberts, Melvin Stanley, Jerry Friend, John Brown
Mayor Jordan, Kit Williams, City Attorney, Sondra Smith, City Clerk, Dee McCoy, City
Clerk's office, and Kim Cooper, Longer Investments.
Introduction of Board Members:
Lioneld Jordan, Mayor
Sondra Smith, City Clerk Treasurer
Eldon Roberts, Police Department Retired
Jerry Friend, Police Department Retired
John Brown, Police Department Retired
Melvin Stanley, Police Department Retired
Frank Johnson, Police Department Retired
Approval of the Minutes:
Approval of the April 18. 2013 meetina minutes
Frank Johnson: I think these are some of the most important minutes for a number of reasons.
I think as a new member on the board, and the form that came about as a result of a discussion
we had regarding reductions in benefits and the position you took among with the people that
were here with you is reflected here. Kit, a comment you made relative to our current position,
where you said "We shouldn't take any action right now" making comparison to the Fire
Department. I think these were very significant things that are a matter of record right now. If at
some point we find ourselves in a position where we have to get back on that circular discussion
about a possible reduction of benefits and we have to reflect back on these things, we'll know
that we've exhausted everything we can do. This is not a situation for some reason that
someone just wants to reduce benefits, I don't want to, no one wants to do that. I want the plan
to stay solvent.
Jerry Friend moved to approve the April 18, 2013 meeting minutes. Melvin Stanley
seconded the motion. The minutes were approved in a unanimous vote.
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 2 of 9
Pension List Changes: None
Approval of the Pension List:
Approval of the August, September, October, 2013 pension lists
Sondra Smith: You are paying out $127,863.35 per month. There are no changes.
Eldon Roberts moved to approve the August, September, October, 2013 pension lists.
Frank Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
Unfinished Business:
GFOA Best Practices email
Sondra Smith: We went over that in the last meeting and there were some questions as to
what that was. That's more of an informational item. Frank was going to do some checking into
it at some time in the future and see if that's something that we want to do.
Frank Johnson: I went to a website and it was very confusing to me. I think in order to
understand some of what I read it would take maybe someone from the accounting office or
you, Kit. But, just looking at our State Statue, it looks like we are practicing due diligence in
those areas where there are some risk and we are not involved in the distribution of money like
a lot of other pension plans are. We don't provide medical benefits and things like that.
Kit Williams: We are basically complying with what they want us to with best practices. With
the help of the accounting and finance departments, we have been toeing the line as we should.
Frank Johnson: Where did that originate from?
Sondra Smith: It came from the Pension Review Board (PRB), but it also came from the
Government Finance Officers Association. It's an organization that our accounting department is
a member of.
Kit Williams: Paul Becker is a member of that group.
Sondra Smith: I think so.
New Business:
Flower expenses
Sondra Smith: As you are all aware Elaine Longer's son passed away. There's a copy of the
email from Kim Cooper letting us know and there's also a copy of a letter that was sent in the
packet. Frank felt like as a board we should do something. I can not pay for it out of board
expenses or the board pension plan without approval from the board, so therefore it came out of
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 3 of 9
City Clerk budget, which I do not have a budget for flowers. I offered to pay for it out of my
personal pocket.
Kit Williams: It's quite appropriate since you all have worked with Elaine so long. It is a justified
legal expense.
John Brown moved to reimburse City Clerk budget for the flower expense. Frank
Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
Revenue & expense report
11 Quarter March 31, 2013 report (Revised
2"d Quarter — June 30. 2013 report
Sondra Smith: At the last meeting we had the first quarter report. I mentioned there was a
number that didn't look correct to me. I checked with accounting and it was not correct, so they
have sent a corrected report. The second report is the June 30 report. At the end of 2012, your
book value was $7,081,000.00 and your market value was $7,689,000.00. At the end of
6/30/2013, your book value is $6,822,000.00 and your market value is $7,387,000.00. The
report gives you a comparison over the years; it goes back to 2005 and shows where you were
in 2005 and where you are at now in your pension plan with market value versus book value.
Jerry Friend: Thank accounting for making this. It's very helpful to see it
Election Results — Board member listing
Sondra Smith: We have added John Brown to our board of trustees. I've have a list of all the
board members and their contact information. I would like for you to review that, and if there are
any changes that need to be made to that contact information, please let me know. We received
John Brown's email address today. Eldon, you don't have an email address do you?
Eldon Roberts: No.
Sondra Smith: I think you are the only one that doesn't get our minutes and updates.
Melvin Stanley: My mailing address will change in the next month or so.
Sondra Smith: Just call and let us know when you're changing it. We need to change it in
accounting too. We need to do a change of address form. We put this information on our
website. So, if there are any cell numbers or anything you do not want on the website let us
know. This goes out to the public.
Election of Board Secretary
Sondra Smith: Every two years, after our elections, we have to elect a board secretary. Right
now, Eldon Roberts is our board secretary. We need to open the floor for nominations.
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 4 of 9
Jerry Friend nominated Eldon Roberts for board secretary. Frank Johnson seconded the
nomination. Eldon Roberts was elected board secretary with a vote of 6-0. Eldon
Roberts abstaining from the vote.
Turn back and Future Suonlement funds
Sondra Smith: We normally do not get the turn back money this early. I have a copy of the
check in the packet and I have a copy of the letter we received. This year, each pensioner,
except for those that are drawing because of a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO)
received $1,110.00 additional on their check. This is a one-time lump sum payment, you receive
once a year in either July or August. We can not give it to you until we receive it from the state.
There is an Excel spreadsheet so that you can see how much you've received in the past and
how much you've received this year. There is an additional allocation that we started getting in
2012 because of the way they have changed the laws and how the distribution is made. Last
year, the big lump sum that we received, that goes into your plan, was $103,808.08. This year
we received $117,370.49. Last year, the future supplement was $55,575.000, this year it is
$46,620.00. The $46,620.00 was divided among the pensioners. There's 46 people drawing on
the plan, and four are drawing because of a QDRO therefore there was 42 checks that went out
for $1,110.00. There's an additional police supplement for $25,200.00. We have to give that to
you at $50 per month per pensioner. QDRO's do not get to draw that either. You received an
additional allocation that goes back into your plan. This year, the total amount received was
$213,971.31, last year it was $222,997.77. It changes every year. We do not calculate that, it's
done on a state level. Back in 2002 you only received $178,000.00. There were a few years that
you received over $400,000.00. It just depends on how the state calculates everything.
Frank Johnson: Why is the fluctuation like that?
Eldon Roberts: We are talking about insurance turn back money. It is money the state collects
from car insurance premiums and then it's divided. They wrestle it around and change the
formula every year. At the last meeting I was at for the Pension Review Board in June, the
actuary told the board that more money actually came in this year to the state through the
insurance premium turn back money. But, the state police asked for $700,000.00 more than
they normally ask for which is $6 million. The state had some guidelines that said there would
need to be $4 million left after everybody else got their shares to turn into the general fund. Our
supplement check last year was around $1,300 and this year it was $1,110.00. More money
came into the plan by $2 million but more people are asking for it.
Sondra Smith: They revamped that formula and in 2012 you started receiving that extra
supplement. It's for plans that are not doing as well as other plans. The Fire Pension probably
received more than you received because their plan is in worse shape than the Police Pension
plan. Jody Carreiro tried to explain the calculation to the Arkansas Municipal League Public
Safety Board, and I don't think there were many in the room that understood the calculation.
Frank Johnson: Is it the calculation or the governance around how they make decisions?
Kit Williams: It's the calculations too. I have looked at that before and it's difficult to figure out
exactly what you're supposed to be multiplying and adding. It is very complicated.
Eldon Roberts: State police gets some, the state gets some, volunteer Fire Department plans
all across the state get a certain part, and then Municipal Police and Municipal Fire get part of
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 5 of 9
that. LOPFI is counted into that too. They tweak that formula year after year trying to get it more
equitable.
Sondra Smith: It is very complex.
Eldon Roberts: It's done through Little Rock, through the pension review board and maybe
even the legislative process. When they change the formula they may have to get that approved
at the legislative level.
Sondra Smith: There is also a letter that more or less states how your portfolio can be set up. If
you drop below $5 million it changes. Right now, these are the items that you can have in your
portfolio.
Kit Williams: If you look at where it says at a minimum items of review should include, I think
we meet all of those; liquidity is one, performance, the index, allocation, fees, and prohibited
investments. I think our fund is in compliance with all of those.
Sondra Smith: What you need to do is take that letter and match it back to your investment
policy and make sure your investment policy matches what they say you need to be doing.
Eldon Roberts: I first saw this at that June 41'' meeting in Little Rock. The letter that we
received told us an actuarial evaluation was coming out and a letter is going to be sent to
approximately 20 plans that's in an at -risk group that they came up with. I don't know what that
letter is going to say. I talked to Jody Carreiro about this and he tells me that we are doing as
good of a job that can be done and that this is not about us. This at -risk group of plans were put
together in order to get the attention of some other people and some other plans that are just
riding down the road in the bus and not looking out the window. They don't know what their
destination is. He said "you all just fell into that risk plan by virtue of your assets".
Sondra Smith: In this letter, it gives us state statues that we need to be following. If anyone
needs a copy of the state statues, I can print them off and give them to you or email them to
you.
Kit Williams: That's not prohibited investments, and we are okay. We are not violating that. If
we drop below $5 million, that really kicks in and limits what we can buy.
Eldon Roberts: What has the Fire Department done? My understanding is from talking to some
of those folks, that they've managed to go out and find someone else.
Kit Williams: It's Garrison Financial. They are doing as well as they can. They can still buy
some mutual funds and things like that. They can't buy individual stocks anymore. They are
more limited than what Elaine has been. Elaine did not feel like she wanted to be that limited.
Eldon Roberts: With some of the methods they use, this company they hired, they still can be
in and out of equities?
Kit Williams: Yes, with mutual funds. In a lot of ways, that's a pretty smart investment anyway
A discussion followed regarding Garrison Financial and the Fire Department Pension Board.
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 6 of 9
Discussion Items:
LOPFI
Frank Johnson: I'm not sure that needs to be a standing agenda item.
Sondra Smith: I was asked to leave that on there as just a regular agenda item. If you are
ready to remove that, I can remove that from the agenda.
Longer Investments:
Longer View: A copy was given to the Board
Lonaer Investments monthly report
Kim Cooper, Longer Investments: The first set of reports in your package is the report for the
end of June. The portfolio appraisal reflects the holdings in your account. As of the end of June,
your stock percentage was 35.2% and the yield on the stocks in your account was 4.5%. That's
just our continuing emphasis on a high dividend yield stocks. That 4.5% compares to the current
yield on the ten year treasury of 2.5%. The next section down is the other income securities.
Those are a couple of funds that hold stocks, but they are high dividend paying stocks. They
have a higher yield on them than what we can get in just a fixed income investment. We are
using that as fixed income although they are stocks, so you do have potential for growth along
with the fixed income. Those are yielding 5.5%.
The next section is your fixed income mutual funds, those hold investment grade bonds and US
Treasuries. That is about 20% of your portfolio and is yielding 3.6%. The last one listed on that
page are your government bonds, those are 15% of your portfolio and are yielding 4.1%. We
still hold a government agency bond in there, that's listed at the top of the second page. Its yield
to maturity is 6.12%. We will just keep holding that for now. You did own a little bit of gold just
under 2% of your portfolio. That's the Central Fund of Canada that's listed there. Your cash was
about 11 % of portfolio as of the end of June. The final investment is Energy Limited Partnership.
It's a master limited partnership that holds energy investments. It's just a small percent of your
portfolio, about 2%. The yield on it is 6.1 %.
As of the end of the month, your account value was $7,383,000.00 and the yield on the total
portfolio was 3.8%. We went ahead and included an update through July 121h which is the next
set of reports. You'll see that we increased your equity exposure just a little bit from where you
were at the end of the month. We are continuing with our conservative approach, but we had
guidance on earnings. We are kind of in the middle of earning season right now and we have
been able to see some stocks that we wanted to add to and added some additional positions to
the portfolio too. As of July 121h your stocks were at 43.1 % and your other income investments
were at 10.5%. That puts us at about 53.6%. As of July 121h we do need approval to be over
50%.
Jerry Friend moved to approve the portfolio being over 50%. Melvin Stanley seconded
the motion. The approval passed with a unanimous vote.
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 7 of 9
Jerry Friend: We are over what our general guidance is. You said you are being real
conservative.
Kim Cooper: Yes and in fact the 10.5% is your other income securities. They do hold stocks in
them. We are really considering them more of a fixed income investment because you've got
that 5.5% yield on it. Just because they are holding stocks, we do need to get that approval.
Just to let you know, and you'll see this when you get to your performance reports, those other
income securities have been a real boost to your portfolio this year because they have returned
9.7% through the end of June compared to the actual bond funds which are down because of
the increase in interest rates. If you'll go to the second page of that July 121h report, you'll see
that we've increased your holdings in gold just a little bit. You're still at just about 3% of portfolio
and your cash has now gone down to about 4.4%. Your account value as of July 121h was
$7.491 million and the yield was 4.0%.
Kit Williams, City Attorney: So you're thinking gold might get out of the doldrums? I know it's
had a big crash.
Kim Cooper: We touched on it a little bit in our newsletter. It's the one thing that can be a
hedge for all of the things that are going on with the central banks of the world, monetizing the
debt. We think that at some point that it's going to be the safe haven again.
The next page is a report of your realized gains, and income and expenses year to date.
Realized gains through June 301h were $84,189.00 and your net income was $88,588.00.
The next report is the fixed income distribution. You'll see as of June 30th, your average yield to
maturity on the fixed income holdings was 4.4%. Your average maturity was 4.4 years. You've
got a bond portfolio that has a maturity of less than five years with a yield of 4.4%, which
compares to a 5% treasury that's yielding today 1.39%. You still have those high coupon
treasury bonds in there that are keeping your income yield high. At the lower part of the page is
a table that shows the bonds that you hold. Right now, about 30% of your bond holdings are in
investments that mature in less than three years. Those are very liquid. We need cash to either
go into other bonds or as rates rise if we want to increase your stock holdings, we've got a lot of
flexibility there to do that. It's easy to convert it to cash.
The next report is a performance summary that lists your returns by year through June 30,
2013. Your equities are up 5.7%. Your fixed income, which is the bonds and bond funds, are
down about 3.6%. That's because interest rates have been rising so far this year. Your other
income assets are still up 9.7%. Your total return with all of those figured into it is 1% year to
date. Your cumulative return annualized is still at 6%, which is the target objective in your
investment policy and the original actuary assumption that was needed.
We also provided, in the box at the lower part of the page, an update through July 121h. As of
July 121h your stocks were up 9.4%, bonds were still down about 4%, your other income was up
11.9% and your total account was up 2.5% year to date. Your annualized return was bumped up
to about 6.1 %.
Your contributions and distributions year to date are on the next page. Those are through June
30th and total $393,000. The following page is a reconciliation of your returns since the
inception of your account in 1990, the contributions, distributions and then the income in
realized and unrealized gains that make up the return investment portion of it. The investment
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 8 of 9
return, which is listed at the bottom of the page, is $8,108,000.00 since inception. That
compares to the distributions that have come out of the account, which were $9.933 million.
Eldon Roberts: On the withdrawals, the February, March, April and May, is that the money we
are drawing out to pay the retired people?
Sondra Smith: To pay your pension plan, yes.
Eldon Roberts: Why are the last two months so much less than the first two months?
Sondra Smith: It depends on what money they have in the account and how much money they
have coming in. There are different factors because they get different funds that come in during
different times of the year. They see what they have in the account and what they need to
cover. The Mayor or I one have to sign every one of those withdrawals. I look at them every
month.
Eldon Roberts: I knew we were paying out at around $121,000.00 to $125,000.00 a month, I
just couldn't see a difference. I understand what you are saying.
Sondra Smith: If you'll notice in January they didn't take anything out. Some months they might
not have to take anything out.
Kit Williams: Is that because we get insurance turn back money?
Sondra Smith: We receive different funds, millage and your turn back money. It just depends
on what comes in and how much.
Frank Johnson: I have a question on the reconciliation page. What are our contributions since
1990?
Kim Cooper: That's any funds that came into the account. Transfer of securities was actual
securities that we transferred into the account from other managers, but the contributions were
actual cash contributions that went into the account.
Kit Williams: You had $4.3 million when Longer took over.
Kim Cooper: We actually started with $1.3 million then another $3.5 million was added in
contributions, and then a transfer of securities of $4.3 million from other managers was added.
Kit Williams: Was that when you took over? That's when the transfer of securities came?
Kim Cooper: When we took over the management of the entire portfolio brought in that
additional $4.3 million.
Sondra Smith: If you have a class action lawsuit you get a little bit of money from that?
Kim Cooper: Yes, that's very small though in relation to the total.
I also have just a few comments from Elaine that she asked me to share with you. All of you
should have received a copy of the newsletter. I brought an extra copy if you'd like to have that.
Policemen's Pension and Relief Fund
Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2013
Page 9 of 9
Sondra Smith: It's in the packet
Kim Cooper: Elaine wanted me to point out a few things that were in the newsletter. The
Federal Reserve right now is what is in control and that's kind of what's triggering the changes
that we are seeing in the stock market. One week the Fed Chairman Bernanke speaks about
tapering or letting off some of the bond purchases that they are buying, the quantitative easing
that they are doing, then chaos erupts, the stock market and bonds go down, the currency and
gold markets go down. Then the following week, after market hours, he spoke in an interview
that the Fed would continue to be in an easing mode and then the next day, all the markets
jumped. The stock market was up 180 points. We are seeing a lot of volatility in all of the
markets right now. Bonds fell when he spoke about reducing the quantitative easing and they've
actually delivered their worst performance since 1994. What we've seen even yesterday, he
spoke about the fact that the tapering of the quantitative easing is not going to be something
that time dependant where they had originally said it would be based on unemployment and
inflation. Then they came back and said they may start it at the end of 2013 and stop it
completely by the end of 2014, which is when the markets all reacted negatively. Yesterday he
talked about the fact that they would be not time dependent but more data dependent so back to
the original premise. That has kind of helped the market some.
The earning season began last week and they've kind of been going in earnest. We've seen a
lot of downward revisions in several companies outlook and the revisions have mostly been
negative. We are waiting to see how all the earnings sort out. We are listening to conference
calls, hearing what they chairman of the various companies have to say about what they are
seeing in the global economy. China is slowing, the companies in the Eurozone are still in
recession, and central banks continue to monetize debt trying to jumpstart their economies the
same way the Federal Reserve is doing in the United States. The jury is still out as to whether
this fix will cure the patient and we still see lack luster domestic growth.
The second quarter GDP growth rate was reduced to less than 1%, that's coming off the heels
of the first quarter which was reduced to 1.8% from a previous 2.4%. That's why we have
doubts that the Fed will be able to taper off on quantitative easing and if it will even continue to
talk about doing so.
We continue to be structured as we have been coming into this across multiple asset classes
with good income producing stocks and those other assets that provide the growth and income
in excess of what we can get in bonds. We continue to hold the bond funds, the master limited
partnership that yields 6%, and the small holding in gold. Across all the asset classes, our
underlying requirement is that we are maintaining a very high quality portfolio.
We have a copy of your current investment policy, but I brought new investment policies and
contracts that have Mr. Brown's name included so we can get that signed.
Informational:
2013 Meeting schedule: A copy was given to the Board