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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRetirement Committee - Minutes - 04/01/1993Ll • CORRECTED FORT COLLINS GENERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT COMMITTEE APRIL 1, 1993 MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL LIAISON: Loren Maxey MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Jerry P. Brown Jackie Davis 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. CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Dennis Sumner called the meeting to order at 1:37 p.m. in the Finance Conference Room on April 1, 1993. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the February 17th meeting were reviewed Alan suggested that the section on page 4 concerning Elsie Mannon should restate the main points of the issue under consideration. Jerry noted that the date on page 5 under "Post Note" should read June, 1992. Jerry Brown moved and Dave Meyer seconded a motion to approve the minutes as revised. The motion carried unanimously. The minutes of the February 17th executive session were discussed. Citing his previous conflict of interest, Jerry Brown removed himself from the meeting. Alan then moved and Dave seconded the motion to approve that portion of the minutes concerning Bob Hatten. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. (Jackie Davis abstained from the vote because on February 17th she had not been appointed to the Committee and did not attend the meeting.) Jerry Brown then returned and moved that the minutes concerning Jack Sehestedt and Elsie Irene Mannon be approved as distributed. Alan seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. ITEMS OF NOTE: Dennis welcomed new GERC member, Jackie Davis, who was appointed to replace Mollie Mercer, who retired from the City. Jackie is a Community Development Specialist with the Planning Department and administers a HUD grant expected to be about $2 million. She has been with the City for almost 13 years. Don Mazanec provided a little history on the actuarial consultants used by the City since the Plan's inception in 1971. Don worked for the City's original actuarial firm of Coates, Herfurth, & England. When their Denver office closed, a local actuary, Thomas McComb was utilized. The City then moved to the firm of A.S. Hansen in Denver, which became part of Mercer Meidinger and Hansen, with a recent name change to William M. Mercer, Inc. Don has been the main actuarial resource for all but two of those years. The Committee felt his knowledge of the City's actuarial history and precedent is a valuable asset to the work of the Committee. Dennis explained that Alan, as Financial Director, is both staff support and regular member with full voting rights. Be REVIEW OF DISCUSSION TOPICS: The agenda was approved as presented. However, Jaime Mares was unable to discuss the 401(a) and 401(k) deferred compensation plans because of a prior meeting commitment. DISCUSSION TOPICS: 1. PENSION EDUCATION PROGRAM A. Training Classes MAIN POINTS: Sue had compiled information about attendance at the classes, and the response to the survey forms. She also presented information regarding the costs of the focus groups, education program, and survey preparation to date. Dave noted that the cost is approximately $30 per plan member and the consensus was that the effort had provided much -needed information. It was also reportedly the first education program ever attempted for Plan members. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The page of information will be attached to these minutes. B. Fort Notes Articles MAIN POINTS: Angelina Powell was unable to attend the meeting, but had distributed an HPDesk memo outlining the topics for the next series of FortNotes articles and those individuals responsible for preparing them. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The members agreed with the schedule and will prepare the articles, distribute them for review, and transmit them to Becky O'Donnell by the deadline for publication. 2. SURVEY OF PLAN MEMBERS MAIN POINTS: Communication with Amy Coffern had confirmed that the survey responses are being computerized. She expects to have the data sorted and a report completed by April 16th when she will send the reports to the members for review and discussion at the April 29th meeting. (That meeting will replace the regular meeting which was originally scheduled for May 6th.) Amy stated that the 50% return rate for the survey responses was very high and indicates a high level of interest among the members. She also noted that there were many written comments. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The members were pleased with the large response and look forward to reviewing the report before the next meeting. 3. REPORT ON 401(a) AND DEFERRED COMPENSATION PLANS MAIN POINTS: Jaime Mares had provided the chart below to compare the various deferred compensation, Social Security, and retirement plans which the City administers. The City has no 401(k) plans. -2- K ee = Employee Contribution er = Employer Contribution EMPLOYEE GROUP RETIREMENT PIANS GENERAL EMPLOYEE EMPLOYEES 401(f) 457 GROUP RET. PLAN PLAN PLAN FICA voluntary CITY MANAGER4 None 3%ee/5%er ee 8%er 6.2%ee 6.2%er SERVICE DIRECTORS None 0%ee/10%er 3%ee 3%er 6.2%ee 6.2%er UNCLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT & voluntary DIVISION HEADS None 4%ee 3%er ee/4.5%er 6.2%ee 6.2%er CLASSIFIEDS 0%ee/ EMPLOYEES 3.553%er -0- 3%ee 3%er 6.2%ee 6.2%er POLICE None 8%ee/87.er 3%ee 3%er None "UM'. ziee cnart notes at Dottom of page. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Most members were surprised that there were so many plans and that the plans varied so much. Dave mentioned that a particular employee had a question about his contributions and was referred to Linda Brown, Payroll Clerk, for an answer. The Staff Committee on Pension Activities continues to monitor pension issues from the staff perspective. 4. REQUEST FOR LUMP -SUM DELAY MAIN POINTS: GERC Policy is that one year after an employee leaves City employment, if their monthly retirement benefit will be less than $100, they may choose to receive a lump -sum payment or roll their benefit over into an eligible plan. Tamara Compton left the City as a permanent employee, but is now working with the Water Department as an hourly. In hopes that she may be able to return to a classified position, she wrote to the Committee and asked that she be allowed to defer her lump-sum/rollover option until such time as the position is made permanent and the position is filled. lCan be rolled over. 2Cannot be rolled over. 3An additional 1.45% is paid by employee and employer for Medicare. 4Negotiated with City Council. SAnd unclassified employees who elected to stay in the GER Plan at the time their position was made unclassified. -3- CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The Committee had considered a similar request last year and felt that at this time there was no urgent need to require Ms Compton to make a decision on this issue. Jerry moved and Alan seconded his motion to approve Tammy's request and defer the lump -sum /rollover decision. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. Sue will notify Tamara of the Committee's decision. 5. ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRPERSON MAIN POINTS: With Mollie's retirement, the position of vice chairperson is left vacant. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Jerry moved and Jackie seconded the motion to elect Dave Meyer to the position of vice chairperson. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. Dave will serve as vice chairperson. PUBLIC BENEFIT PLANS WORKSHOP MAIN POINTS: Committee members are interested in attending workshops or seminars related to their work on the Committee. Alan mentioned a workshop called "Fundamentals of Qualified Plans", which he thought might be worthwhile for the members to consider attending. Don Mazanec was familiar with the workshop and suggested that it was aimed at small corporate plans, with very little pertaining to the public sector. Don suggested instead that two other programs might be of interest and that he had information available about them. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Don will send the information for the members to review. Alan will be attending the Government Finance Officers Association, which will have some sessions about retirement plan issues. 7. STAFF COMMITTEE ON PENSION ACTIVITIES MAIN POINTS: Alan reported that the Staff Committee on Pension Activities will be meeting this month and should be able to report to the group at the next meeting. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The members would like to hear from the Staff Committee on Pension Activities. 8. GERP/WORKERS COMP/DISABILITY MAIN POINTS: It was also suggested that the "For Future Discussion" topic called "GERP/Workers Comp/Disability", which outlines a possible connection between injuries in older workers and the penalties in the GER Plan for early retirement, be considered by the Executive lead Team (EL Team). CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Alan was requested to revisit the GERP/Workers Comp/Disability topic with the EL Team. -4- 0 0 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 3. Legal update on retirement issues. 4. Monitor progress by Staff Committee on Pension Activities AGENDA & SCHEDULE FOR NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be April 29, at 1:15 p.m. in the Finance Conference Room. The agenda will include: 1. Pension Education Program 2. Employee Survey Results - Amy Coffern 3. Staff Committee on Pension Activities 4. Report on EL Team consideration of GERP/Workers Comp/Disability proposal. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:48 p.m. MEETING SCHEDULE: The General Employees Retirement Committee meetings are normally held at 1:15 p.m. on the 1st Thursday of each month in the Finance Conference Room. Any change from that will be noted. Future meeting dates: THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1993 at 1:15 p.m. (replaces meeting originally scheduled for Thursday, May 6, 1993) Thursday, JUNE 3, 1993 THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1993 THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1993 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1993 -5- RECAP OF EDUCATION PROGRAM - 4/1/93 EDUCATION PROGRAM STATISTICS: "Game of Life" booklets and schedule of education presentations sent to 706 Plan members. 30 education presentations drew a total of 401 people or 57% of members. (A few were supervisors, vested members no longer making contributions to the Plan, and hourly or contractual employees.) Presentations were made to as few as 3 people and as many as 30, with the average being 13.3. Police and ICS had the fewest attending (4 out of 28). I didn't do a count of how many attended from each department, but my guess is that the Utilities had the most. SURVEYS: 706 surveys sent (plus a few which were requested later), with 353 returned, or 50% participation. COSTS: WILLIAM M. MERCER, INC. FOCUS GROUPS (separate purchase order) BOOKLET (Planning for Your Retirement) BROCHURE (Game of Life) TRAINING CLASS (includes 22 visuals @ $57 ea.) SURVEY PREPARATION (as of 3/93) MISC (mileage, express mail, etc.) TOTAL AMERICAN SPEEDY (printing) BROCHURES (1,000 copies, 2-color) BOOKLETS (1000 copies) POSTERS (150 each, 2-color) SURVEY FORMS (725 each, on purple) TOTAL 3/31/93 GRAND TOTAL $ 5,3166 2,000 4,923 3,373 5,950 330 $21,892 $ 971.54 687.95 93.70 357.55 $ 2,110.74 $ 24,002.74 6Includes $67 for mileage, $14 for express mail charges and $735 for communication work paid from the purchase order for regular actuarial work.