MINUTES APPROVED AT THE APRIL 25, 2012 MEETING
TOWN OF EAST HARTFORD
PENSION AND RETIREE BENEFITS BOARD
MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The meeting was called to order by Joseph Carlson, Chairman at 5:42 P.M. in the Majority Room, East Hartford Town Hall. ~In addition to Mr. Carlson there were:
PRESENT: Frank Vignati, Member
Scott Thompson, Member
Robert Damaschi, Member
ABSENT:~~~~~~~~~ Eileen Powers, Member
ALSO PRESENT:~~~ Michael Walsh, Finance Director
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thomas Dawidowicz, The Segal Company
John O’ Connell, 3D Asset Management
Chris Kachmar, Fiduciary Investment Advisors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: ~None
2. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES
a. ~~Acceptance of Minutes of Regular Meeting of February 22, 2012
Motion by Mr. Vignati, seconded by Mr. Thompson to approve as presented the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of February 22, 2012.
~
Motion was voted; Motion was approved, with Mr. Damaschi abstaining.
Mr. Walsh advised the Board that the Mayor had agreed with the Boards’ recommendation to go with dropping the interest rate from 8 ¼% to 8% for the Actuarial Valuation for the proposed budget as advised by The Segal Company. The Town Council, in approving the budget, decided to go with the 8 ¼% and use the approximate $680,000 to fund several Board of Education programs that were scheduled to be eliminated. The Town Council Chair stated that his hopes are that when the State budget is approved the Board of Education will received the funds needed to fund the programs and then the interest rate can be dropped to the 8% interest rate as originally proposed. An in-depth discussion was held on the various ways to accomplish the issue if the current budget has excess funds.
Discussion was also held on the completion of the Actuarial Report.
4. ~OLD BUSINESS:
a. Christopher Foley, Fire Dept., Request for Service-Connected Disability Retirement
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Vignati to go into Executive Session at 6:19 PM with only Board members, Mr. Walsh and clerk in attendance to review the independent medical evaluations from Dr. Erdil and Dr. Lena for Christopher Foley.
The motion was voted; Motion was unanimously approved.
Motion by Mr. Vignati, seconded by Mr. Damaschi to come out of Executive Session at 6:32 PM .
No votes were taken in Executive Session.
The motion was voted; Motion was unanimously approved.
After an in-depth discussion the following motion was made:
Motion by Mr. Vignati, seconded by Mr. Damaschi to defer the request from Christopher Foley for a Service-Connected Disability Retirement and recommend Mr. Foley attend a reasonable trial of physical therapy to address current deficits and have a functional capacity evaluation prior to consideration of disability retirement as recommended by Dr. Erdil’s independent medical evaluation.
The motion was voted; Motion was approved two to one, with Mr. Thompson opposed.
5. ~NEW BUSINESS:
a. ~~~~~Retirements and Final Calculations:
1. Michael Mancini, Public Works, Term Vested/Normal Retirement eff. 3/8/12
After a brief discussion the following motion was made:
Motion by Mr. Vignati, seconded by Mr. Damaschi to approve as presented the retirement for Michael Mancini effective 3/8/12
Motion was voted; Motion was unanimously approved.
b. ~~~~Withdrawals of Contributions: None
6. ~~REPORTS: ~
a. ~~~~~Pensions:
~~~~~~~1. ~ Summary of Portfolio Asset – February 2012
2. Summary of Expenses – February 2012
~~~
This was accepted as information for the Board members.
3. ~3 D Asset Management Report
Mr. O’Connell, 3D Asset Management distributed the East Hartford Pension Report as of February 29, 2012 on the Equity portion of the investments. The ending market value was at $111,596,673 and this was a gain of 3.49% for the month and a loss of -1.22% for the past 12 months. The fund has an 18.40% return since inception (11/3/08). Mr. O’Connell advised the members that the fund is doing well and the calendar year is up. Brief discussion followed on the Asset Allocation adjustment with the Evercore Wealth Management security addition. He advised the Board that the economy is doing better and the foreign market is recovering.
4. ~Fiduciary Investment Advisors, LLC Report ~~
Mr. Kachmar distributed the East Hartford Fixed Income Report as of February 29, 2012 to the Board. The Fixed Income Composite has a market value of $66,586,311 with a 7.7% return since inception of 1/1/09. Mr. Kachmar advised the Board that the fund is doing well. Mr. Kachmar stated that FIA was recommending liquidating the DFA holdings and allocating 10% to the new Doubleline Capital firm and increase allocation to PIMCO Total Return and Vanguard Total Bond Market index. An in-depth discussion followed on Doubleline and the target allocations. The following motion was made:
Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Vignati to accept the recommendations of FIA and liquidate DFA holdings and allocate 10% to Doubleline and increase the PIMCO and Vanguard holdings by 2 ½% each.
Motion was voted; Motion was unanimously approved.
b. ~~~~~OPEB Trust:
~~~~~~~1. ~ Summary of Portfolio Asset – February 2012
- Summary of Expenses – February 2012
This was accepted as information for the Board members.
- 3 D Asset Management Report as of February 29, 2012
Mr. O’Connell advised the Board that the OPEB Trust has a Market Value at $1,106,147 with a 20.94% return since inception of 6/22/09. He advised the Board members that this fund was doing what it was set up to do and performing very well. A brief discussion followed.
- Fiduciary Investment Advisors, LLC Report ~as of February 29, 2012~
The OPEB Trust report indicated the Market Value at $698,396 with a 2.6% gain for the quarter and a 9.0% return since inception of 7/01/09. A brief discussion followed.
7. ~APPROVAL OF DISBURSEMENTS:
a. ~~~~Clerk for Pension & Ret. Benefit Board – March 28, 2012 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~$ ~100.00
b. Fiduciary Investment Advisors, #3521104 qrtly. fee 8,750.00
c. Orthopedic Assoc. (Foley 2nd IME 750.00
Motion by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Vignati to approve as presented for payment items # 7. a. – c.
Motion was voted; Motion was unanimously approved.
8. ~~~~~Adjournment: ~
There being no further business,
Motion by Mr. Vignati, seconded by Mr. Damaschi. to adjourn the regular meeting at 6:35 PM.
Motion was voted; Motion was unanimously approved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Respectfully submitted,
Janet Penney, Clerk
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