Fresno County Board of Retirement s1

Agenda Item ______

FRESNO COUNTY BOARD OF RETIREMENT

June 15, 2005

A regular meeting of the Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Board was held at 1111 H Street, Fresno, CA 93721.

Trustees Present:

Michael Cardenas A. Papaleo

Steven Jolly Stephanie Savrnoch

Phil Larson John Souza

Trustees Absent:

Vicki Crow

Vera Dominguez

Michael Thobe

Others Present:

John H. Swenning, Sr., Retiree

Les Jorgensen, FCREA

Barbara Booth Grunwald, Deputy County Counsel

Roberto L. Peña, Retirement Administrator

Becky Van Wyk, Chief Accountant

Autumn L. Henson, Administrative Secretary

Elizabeth Avalos, OAIII

1. Call To Order

Chair Souza called the meeting to order at 9:14 AM.

Roberto L. Peña, Retirement Administrator pulled Closed Session agenda item 2a1.

Chair Souza asked that the Closed Session agenda be moved to the end of today’s meeting. The Board agreed.

2. Closed Session:

a. Conference with Legal Counsel – Actual Litigation - pursuant to G.C. §54956.9(a)

1. County of Fresno v. Board of Retirement

b. Disability Retirement Applications – Personnel Exception (G.C. §54957):

1. Frances Grigsby

3. Report from Closed Session

Moved to the end of today’s meeting.

4. Public Presentations

John H. Swenning, Sr. distributed a written request for information to the Board and addressed the Trustees.

Trustee Savrnoch asked that the Board have a chance to review Administration’s response prior to sending to Mr. Swenning.

Consent Agenda/Opportunity for Public Comment:

Trustee Savrnoch pulled items 6 and 9.

A motion was made by Trustee Savrnoch, seconded by Trustee Cardenas to approve Consent Agenda items 5, 7, and 8. VOTE: Unanimous (Absent-Crow, Dominguez, Larson, Thobe).

*5. Approval of the June 1, 2005 Retirement Board Regular Meeting Minutes

RECEIVED AND FILED; APPROVED as recommended.

*6. Summary of monthly statistics from the Retirement Association Office on buybacks, retirement benefit estimates, public service, age adjustments, final compensation calculations and disability retirement applications for March 2005

Trustee Savrnoch voiced concerns regarding the delay in the calculation of buybacks and stated that she has had comments from members regarding these delays.

Mr. Peña agreed with Trustee Savrnoch’s concerns and stated that Administration is also concerned regarding the backlog of buyback requests. Mr. Peña explained the reasons for the backlog in the completion of buyback requests and stated that although Extra Help employees have been added to the FCERA staff, their priority at this time is the completion of the final compensation project that will take approximately 12 more months. Following the completion of the final compensation recalculations, Mr. Peña hopes to retain some of the Extra Help employees to work on the backlog of buybacks.

Discussion took place at this time regarding payback arrangements with members on the final compensation recalculations. Mr. Peña stated that if members have any questions or concerns regarding the methods of repayment they may call him to discuss their payback arrangements. The Board asked that Administration bring back basic guidelines to follow regarding any optional payback arrangements and who would approve them.

A motion was made by Trustee Savrnoch, seconded by Trustee Cardenas to approve Consent Agenda item number 6. VOTE: Unanimous (Absent-Crow, Dominguez, Larson, Thobe).

*7. Public Records Requests: Kerri Ginis, Fresno Bee Reporter

RECEIVED AND FILED

*8. Correspondence from Roberto L. Peña, Retirement Administrator posted on the FCERA web site, and correspondence sent to FCERA Retirees from Rebecca Mannarino, Vice President, 5th 3rd Bank, who were affected by the California State Tax Withholding Error on May 2005 pension checks

RECEIVED AND FILED

*9. Agreement with Jeffrey A. Pearce, Stealth Investigations Consultants, Inc. (SIC)

Trustee Savrnoch asked that clarification be made that this consultant would only be used for the two pending investigations and that after that a Request for Proposal (RFP) would be sent out regarding this service. Mr. Peña stated that Trustee Savrnoch’s clarification is correct.

A motion was made by Trustee Savrnoch, seconded by Trustee Cardenas to approve Consent Agenda item number 9. VOTE: Unanimous (Absent-Crow, Dominguez, Larson, Thobe).

10. Discussion and appropriate action regarding the 2005-06 FCERA budget

Roberto L. Peña, Retirement Administrator presented the Executive Summary of the 2005-06 FCERA budget to the Board.

At 10:00 AM, the meeting was stopped due to no quorum present. The meeting resumed at 10:07 AM.

Trustee Larson arrived at 10:20 AM.

Mr. Peña advised that the proposed 2005-06 FCERA budget is .0001195 basis points of the total plan assets. The 1937 Act allows .0001800 basis points of total plan assets or .0002300 basis points of net plan assets with FCERA using the 18 basis points option. Trustee Jolly asked that a comparison be conducted with the other ’37 Act counties to see how many basis points are used for their current budgets.

Mr. Peña recommended approval of the 2005-06 FCERA budget.

As Chair of the Budget Committee, Trustee Cardenas recommended that the Board approve the 2005-06 FCERA Budget as presented. (No second required.) VOTE: Unanimous (Absent-Crow, Dominguez, Thobe).

Les Jorgensen, FCREA, stated that, speaking for the retirees’ association, Mr. Peña and FCERA staff have done a good job on this year’s budget.

11. Discussion and appropriate action on request by Tutelian & Company to approve the installation of a new air conditioning unit at Fresno Station Business Center

Becky Van Wyk, Chief Accountant reviewed a request from the Fresno Station Business Center on-site property manager for authorization to install an additional air conditioning unit at the Fresno Station. Ms. Van Wyk reviewed the two bids received from New England Sheet Metal and Air Tech Service and the differences between the two bids.

Ms. Van Wyk recommended that the Board approve an increase to the operating budget of the Fresno Station Business Center to the capital improvements account and authorize Tutelian & Company to proceed with the installation of an additional air conditioning unit by New England Sheet Metal.

A motion was made by Trustee Larson, seconded by Trustee Jolly to approve the authorization to Tutelian & Company to proceed with the improvement. VOTE: Unanimous (Absent-Crow, Dominguez, Thobe).

12. Report from FCERA Administration

Mr. Peña gave a brief report on the following items:

1. Ms. Van Wyk reported that Tutelian & Company will continue as property managers of the Fresno Station until the end of July. The on-site manager has resigned and Ms. Van Wyk is working with County personnel to find a replacement.

Trustee Savrnoch suggested putting an item on an upcoming agenda to begin discussions on addressing what to do with the Fresno Station property. The July 20th agenda was suggested.

2. Mr. Peña noted information that was given to the Board regarding a request from Trustee Savrnoch regarding investment consultant fees and number of investment firms used by other ’37 Act counties.

3. The findings and recommendations from the most recent due diligence visits will be presented to the Board at their July 6th meeting.

4. Mr. Peña noted information given to the Board in their Communications packets included with each Regular Board Agenda packet.

5. The Retiree Alternate election results where provided to the Trustees. Ronald S. Frye is the new Retiree Alternate Trustee.

13. Report from County Counsel

Barbara Booth Grunwald, Deputy County Counsel provided a written report from her recent attendance at the CALAPRS Attorneys’ Roundtable.

Ms. Grunwald advised that her office will be sending a substitute for her to the July 6th Regular meeting as she will be on vacation.

14. Board Member Announcements or Reports

None.

The Board went into Closed Session.

Closed Session:

2. a. Conference with Legal Counsel – Actual Litigation - pursuant to G.C. §54956.9(a)

1. County of Fresno v. Board of Retirement

b. Disability Retirement Applications – Personnel Exception (G.C. §54957):

1. Frances Grigsby

Report from Closed Session

2a1. PULLED

2b1. Frances Grigsby – Decision – To accept the Findings of Fact and Decision and approve the non-service connected disability application of Frances Grigsby. M-Cardenas, S-Papaleo, VOTE: Unanimous (Absent-Crow, Dominguez, Thobe).

NEXT MEETINGS:

July 6, 2005 – 9:00 AM (Wednesday)

Regular Board Meeting

FCERA Boardroom

1111 H Street, Fresno, CA 93721

July 20, 2005 – 9:00 AM (Wednesday)

Regular Board Meeting

FCERA Boardroom

1111 H Street, Fresno, CA 93721

August 3, 2005 – 9:00 AM (Wednesday)

Regular Board Meeting

FCERA Boardroom

1111 H Street, Fresno, CA 93721

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:34 PM.

Roberto L. Peña

Secretary to the Board of Retirement

06/15/05 Minutes