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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRetirement Committee - Minutes - 02/17/19940 FORT COLLINS GENERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 17, 1994 MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL LIAISON: Ann Azari, Mayor COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: ABSENT: Jerry P. Brown Jackie Davis None Dennis Sumner Dave Meyer Alan Krcmarik (Member & Staff Support) OTHERS PRESENT: Sue Wilcox (Staff Support - Secretary) Don Mazanec of William M. Mercer,'Inc. the City's actuarial firm. Susan Usel, Plan member from Finance Revenue Division Gabe Serenyi, Personnel Technician, Employee Development CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Dennis Sumner convened the meeting at 12:10 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the February 3, 1994 meeting have been distributed and they will be acted upon at the next regular meeting. ITEMS OF NOTE: Because of schedule conflicts, the next regular meeting is rescheduled for March 10th at 2:00 p.m. in the Second Floor Conference Room of City Hall West. REVIEW OF DISCUSSION TOPICS: No changes. DISCUSSION TOPICS: 1. MEMBER COMMENTS: Susan Usel expressed concern about the equity between married and unmarried members of the GERP with recent changes in the death benefit aspect of the Plan. She noted she is a single parent with an 11-year-old son and would like the death benefit for her son to be comparable to that for a spouse. She also questioned if an employee should be assumed to be 100% vested at death. She felt this was not equitable with other employees who had to wait for their vesting. 2. EQUITABILITY OF DEATH BENEFITS MAIN POINTS: Originally, the General Employees Retirement Plan had no death benefit. When a death benefit was instituted, it could be paid only to the spouse of an employee who was at least partially vested and had reached age 55. The spousal benefit was 50% of the employee's retirement benefit and was payable for life. The definition of beneficiary was later expanded to include other individuals, but was limited to 60 months (5 years) of the employee's full benefit at time of death. During 1992 and 1993, the General Employees Retirement Committee conducted focus group meetings and an education program to determine what character - se istics or benefits the GER Plan members valued in their retirement plan. From those results, the GER Committee recommended that City Council approve changes to the GER Plan that would broaden the death benefit. The most recent change in benefit removes the age restriction and allows a death benefit for any employee, regardless of age or years of service to the City. Several questions of equity now arise: 1. The amount of vesting is not a determining factor in calculating a death benefit. An eligible employee with one day's service is eligible for a death benefit. 2. The benefit for a spouse is 50% of the employee's benefit, calculated on the employee's final average monthly pay (FAMP) and years of service at time of death and is paid to the spouse for life. If the monthly benefit would be less than $100, an equivalent lump -sum is paid, based on the spouse's expected life -time from actuarial charts. A concern about equity between different aged employees was discussed. An example discussed was the death benefits of two employees, each employed at the same pay rate for the same number of years, if one died at age 25 and one died at age 50, assuming spouses were the same age. This is most noticeable if a lump -sum is paid. 3. If the beneficiary is other than a spouse, the benefit is calculated based on the employee's FAMP and years of service at time of death and is paid for 60 months. This 60 month estate benefit was contrasted with a life benefit to a spouse. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The consensus was that these are retirement benefits, not insurance benefits, and the Committee wants the spousal benefit and the benefit to other beneficiaries to be equitable. Don Mazanec was asked to provide information that would address these equity concerns. 3. JOINT MEETING OF GENERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT COMMITTEE, JAB COMMITTEE, & THE WYATT COMPANY MAIN POINTS: Additional people who joined this portion of the meeting were: Ann Turnquist & Dave Agee of JAB Committee Russ Proctor, Actuary & Project Leader & Ken Jamison, Actuary & Consultant, both of The Wyatt Company Bob Eichem, Investment Officer for GERC Laurie Harvey, Employee Development & Pension Oversight Committee (POC) Jaime Mares, Director of Employee Development and POC Member Rita DeCourcey, City Accountant & POC Member Mary Crumbaker, Asst. City Attorney/Employee Development The JAD Committee is a subcommittee of the Pension Oversight Committee, and is taking the lead on a project to study the City's various retirement plans (not including police and fire, whose plans will be reviewed separately for compliance.) The City attorney Steve Roy, Assistant City Attorney for pension matters Mary Crumbaker, and probably an outside pension attorney will be part of the process. -2- Russ Proctor and Ken Jamison explained that The Wyatt Company will help the JAD Committee review all the City's plans for compliance with State and federal laws and also review the equity of the plans among all employees. There was a discussion on the "Strengths" and "Areas Needing Improvement" of the retirement plans within the scope of this combined study. It was noted that since there are a number of different plans being studied, there would be some ambiguity in this list, e.g. a strength of the GER Plan isthat the benefit is defined, but the GER Plan is not available to all people in this study. CONCLUSION/NEXT STEPS: The JAD and the Wyatt Company representatives will continue to work to meet the objectives of this study. The open houses will be between the consultants and the employees. JAD and GERC members will attend only as individual members of the plan, not as committee members. MEETING SCHEDULE: The next joint meeting of the General Employees Retirement Committee, the JAD Committee, and the Wyatt Company is on Thursday, April 7th. The time and place will be determined later. ITEMS FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION 1. Possible seminars or workshops to increase GER Committee members' knowledge of their roles and responsibilities. 2. GERP / Workers Comp / Disability Proposal to E-Team 3. Settlements with retired employees with low monthly benefit payments. 4. Method to Report Blended Yields (Bonds & Equities) on Investments AGENDA & SCHEDULE FOR NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be March 10 at 2:00 p.m. in the Finance Conference Room. The agenda will include: 1. Plan member comments 2. JAD Update 3. Actuary Services RFP Status Report 4. Equity Concerns re: Death Before Age 55 5. Designating Beneficiaries (Death Before Age 55) ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 P.M. -3-