Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutRetirement Committee - Minutes - 12/09/1993• FORT COLLINS GENERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT COMMITTEE DECEMBER 9, 1993 MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL LIAISON: Ann Azari, Mayor COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: ABSENT: Jerry P. Brown Jackie Davis Dennis Sumner Dave Meyer Alan Krcmarik (Member &•Staff Support) OTHERS PRESENT: Don Mazanec of William M. Mercer, Inc. the City's actuarial firm. Sue Wilcox (Staff Support - Secretary) CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Dennis Sumner called the meeting to order at 1:21 p.m. in the 2nd Floor Conference Room of City Hall West on December 9, 1993. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Jerry Brown moved that the minutes of the November 4th meeting be approved as distributed. Jackie Davis seconded the motion and it was approved. REVIEW OF DISCUSSION TOPICS: No changes. DISCUSSION TOPICS: 1. MEMBER COMMENTS: There were no member comments. 2. JAD COMMITTEE REPORT MAIN POINTS: On 11/17/93 Jerry Brown sent the work schedule of the JAD subcommittee of the Pension Oversight Committee (POC) electronically to all GERC members. He reported that the Request for Proposals (RFP) for consulting services for the POC had been distributed. The deadline for submission of proposals is January 7th, with selection on January 21st. The schedule also includes two opportunities for the Pension Oversight Committee to meet with the Retirement Committee (Feb. 17 and March 24). Jerry noted that Dave Agee had done an exceptional job in packaging the information for the RFP. JAD will also host open houses at the end of February and end of March to provide information to employees and to receive feedback. These will be advertised in FortNotes. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The Committee members expressed their appreciation to JAD for proposing an ambitious timeline to accomplish their activities and for including meetings with the GERC and open houses for employees. 3. REPORT ON RFP FOR ACTUARIAL SERVICES MAIN POINTS: Jackie Davis reported that she and Opal Dick in Purchasing are researching information for the RFP for actuarial services to the GERP. They have prepared a schedule of the various steps and want to review an RPF for Be actuarial services that Greeley recently completed. They also would like to talk to the actuary who is chosen to work with the POC. CONCLUSION/NEXT STEPS: Jackie will keep the Committee informed as the process unfolds. 4. REPORT ON POSSIBLE EARLY RETIREMENT PROGRAM MAIN POINTS: Dennis Sumner reported that he, Rich Shannon, Mike Powers, and Jaime Mares are working on this. An eligible group of about 100 GERP members and 24 other employees were invited to explore an early retirement option. About 60 attended the first meeting, where a financial planner explained how living expenses change when employees retire. The employees were asked to make lists of questions they had and the benefits they felt were important. Those lists are being reviewed now. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Dennis will continue to keep the Committee informed of the Early Retirement proposal as it progresses. MAIN POINTS: Alan Krcmarik reported that he began a subscription to a newsletter called "Employee Benefits for Nonprofits". He has been routing copies to Mary Crumbaker as it reviews some pension and benefits issues, including an analysis of some of the non-discrimination rules as they are expected to apply to government -sponsored plans. He asked if the rest of the Committee would like to review it as well. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: The newsletter will be circulated to all members unless they request that it not. 6. COLORADO UNCLAIMED PROPERTY ACT MAIN POINTS: Alan mentioned that he received a memo explaining the City's responsibilities under the Colorado Unclaimed Property Act. This Act requires that the City determine whether it has any property or uncashed checks that belong to individuals. It affects the GERP if we are unable to find former employees that have unclaimed retirement benefits. To date, we believe that all those people eligible for retirement or lump -sum benefits to date have been located. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Dave Agee of the finance Department, Accounting Division, will file the appropriate forms with the State Treasurer's Office. 1992 AUDIT MANAGEMENT LETTER MAIN POINTS: City Council received the 1992 Management letter from Price Waterhouse (The City's former auditing firm). Included in the letter was a summary of recommendations from 1991 and the City Staff's responses. Some of the recommendations pertained to pension plan choices. The GERC's work plan should resolve any remaining issues. -2- For the 1993 audit, the City has chosen a new audit firm, Bondi and Company. Much of the preliminary work has been completed and no pension issues have been identified yet. Alan also reminded the GERP that Council member Winokur has requested that the GERC review a cost -of -living increase for retirees. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: As part of the overall review of the GER Plan, the Committee should review cost -of -living increases in 1994. 8. BENEFIT CALCULATIONS MAIN POINTS: Don Mazanec will be meeting with Laurie Harvey of Employee Development in January to complete calculations on several individuals who are on disability. Sue also mentioned that an individual with a disability will be retiring in 1994. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Don will have the calculations on the disabled individuals in January. 9. PLAN IMPROVEMENTS PASSED BY CITY COUNCIL MAIN POINTS: City Council recently approved two plan improvements: 1) A benefit will now be payable to a beneficiary if an employee dies before age 55. For a spouse, the benefit would be half of the benefit the employee was eligible for at the time of his death. This benefit is paid for the spouse's lifetime. For a beneficiary other than a spouse, the benefit is calculated differently and is paid out over 5 years (or as a lump sum, if the benefit would be less than $100 a month). 2) The second improvement changes the vesting schedule to allow full vesting at the beginning of the employee's sixth year of employment. It was suggested that an article in FortNotes would help get this information to members. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: Don Mazanec needs a copy of the signed resolution approving the Plan changes. Dave Meyer agreed to write an article for FortNotes and he will send it to members and Don Mazanec for review. An example showing the survivor benefit will be included. 10. LUMP SUM SETTLEMENTS FOR RETIREES WITH LOW MONTHLY BENEFITS MAIN POINTS: Previously, Payroll Clerk Linda Brown and Rita Welch, Accounts Payable Supervisor, had suggested offering lump sum payments to retirees who currently receive less than $100 per month. This would allow retirees to invest the money and possibly increase their rate of return. It would also simplify the writing of retiree benefit checks and save money over many years. However, there was concern that the retirees would then miss any possible future cost -of -living increases granted by City Council and would also remove almost $100,000 from the GER Plan. CONCLUSIONS/NEXT STEPS: After discussion, it was moved by Alan and seconded by Jerry that we offer the option of a lump -sum payment to all retirees currently receiving ,a benefit of less than $100 per month. It passed unanimously. Sue will begin the process of offering this option. 110 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. Monitor progress by staff Pension Oversight Committee AGENDA 3 SCHEDULE FOR NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be January 6 at 1:15 p.m. in the Finance Conference Room. The agenda will include: 1. Plan member comments 2. JAD Update 3. Early Retirement Proposal Update ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:27 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 2nd Floor Conference Room, City Hall West. Any change from that will be noted. THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1994 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1994** THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1994** THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1994 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1994 THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1994 THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 1994 THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1994 **SPECIAL MEETINGS WITH PENSION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE. -4-