MINUTES VOL. 2 PAGE 344
REGULAR JOINT MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CITY EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT FUND
& THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE POLICE & FIREMEN PENSION FUND
NOVEMBER 14, 2011
A REGULAR JOINT MEETING of the Board of Trustees of the Police & Firemen Pension Fund and the Board of Trustees of the City Employees Retirement Fund was held on Monday, November 14, 2011, in the City Hall Auditorium.
Those in attendance included Mayor Ryan J. Bingham, Corporation Counsel Ernestine Yuille Weaver, City Treasurer Arthur Mattiello, members of the Board of Trustees of the City Employees Retirement Fund Gregg Cogswell, Paul Samele, Elinor Carbone, Gerald Zordan, Nancy Michna, and Delisse Locher, and members of the Board of Trustees of the Police & Firemen Pension Fund James Potter, Christopher Cook, Richard Zaharek, Douglas Benedetto, Police Lt. Michael Emanuel, Fire Lt. Kevin Hayes and Fire Fighter Edward Delisle.
Anthony Tranghese of Fiduciary Investment Advisors, LLC was also present. Members Drake Waldron and Darlene Battle arrived at 6:37 pm.
Members Marie Soliani, David Prahm, Mark Kugler, Raymond Drew, Gail Sartori, David Kissko, Angelo Alduini, Angelo LaMonica, and Police Officer Robert Shopey were absent.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Presentation: Third Quarter Results
Mr. Tranghese reported that the quarter was really dismal in the equity markets across the board, and the
S & P 500 was off by almost 14%. He said the further out you go on the risk spectrum, the worse the performance was experienced. Mr. Tranghese said it was a very challenging quarter, but the portfolios' fixed income did well by going up 3.8% in the whole quarter, along with US Treasury Bonds which went up 30%. As we think about portfolios like the two here, he noted, the asset allocation and investment process is designed with a long term lens to look through. Mr. Tranghese said that the benefit of time is one of the assets of these portfolios, and they can weather challenging markets.
Mr. Tranghese noted that the Employees' plan is valued at 25.3 million dollars and the Police and Fire plan is valued at 36 million dollars. He said the two plans are down almost 12% for this quarter, and for the year-to-date they were down a little more than 8%. There were staggeringly sharp downturns in the markets which were felt significantly in both of these portfolios, he said, and the portfolios underperformed their benchmark by about 2 percentage points. A lot of that is due to the fixed income allocation, he said.
Mr. Tranghese informed the Board Members that since the end of this quarter, the Employees plan has gained about two million dollars, and the Police & Fire plan has gained about 2.8 million dollars, an increase of almost 8% over the last five weeks. The equity markets have rallied firmly in the double digits, he said, and the fixed income has held their ground. Mr. Tranghese said Torrington's portfolio has participated fully in that rebound.
Regarding manager returns, Mr. Tranghese said that despite disappointing performance collectively from the fixed income allocation in this quarter, FIA still thinks the portfolios have a good mix of managers. He noted that the Eaton Vance Large Cap Value continues to be on 'watch' status. In the third quarter they were down 16.3% -- in line with their benchmark but better than almost 2/3 of their peers. He said they feel cautiously optimistic that Eaton Vance is taking positive steps and is moving in the right direction. He recommended keeping them on 'watch' status with the goal of making a change one way or another at some point in the next one to two quarters.
Lt. Hayes asked if some managers in the 'maintain' status should be moved to 'watch' status. Mr.
Tranghese suggested Lt. Hayes look at their performance out three years since inception, which indicates fairly strong returns compared to their benchmark and their peers. He said the shorter term performance results will always be mixed in those below the median 50th percentile, and he doesn't think this third quarter performance deserves a watch status.
Recommendations:
Mr. Tranghese made no recommendations at this time.
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Zordan, the Boards voted unanimously to adjourn at 6:20 p.m.
ATTEST: Joseph L. Quartiero, CMC
City Clerk
Respectfully Submitted,
Carol L. Anderson, CCTC
Asst. City Clerk
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