HomeMy WebLinkAbout06232015 PRB MinutesDraft 6/23/2015 Minutes
DRAFT
Sebastian Police Pension Board Minutes
June 23, 2015 10:00 a.m.
Sebastian City Council Chambers
TYPE OF MEETING: Special
ATTENDEES: Board Members:
Steve Marcinik, Chair
Robert Zomok, Secretary
Bruce Hoffman
Ken Killgore
Richard Snell
EXCUSED:
CONSULTANTS:
Scott Owens
SUBJECT
CALL TO ORDER
10:03 a.m. There being a quorum present, Steve Marcinik, called the
meeting to order.
Agenda Modifications: None
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
SUBJECT
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
10:07 a.m. Bruce Hoffman motioned the minutes of the June 16, 2015
Special Board Meeting be approved. Motioned seconded by Bob Zomok
and passed unanimously.
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Discussion of Investment Policy and Asset AIlocation
Previous Information
The Board recognized that any discussion of our Investment Policy
Statement revisions and determining an Asset Allocation Strategy would
also be lengthy discussions. Therefore, these discussions will be a part of
the Special Meeting on June 23, 2015.
A key part of this discussion will be answering the question of what
activity needs to take place first. Does the IPS determine asset allocation
or do we determine investment "ranges" as part of an asset allocation
strategy and then write the IPS?
Current Information
Scott Owens, Graystone Consulting, led an in-depth discussion relative
to the process of determining Asset Allocation and the contents of the
Investment Policy Statement. The discussion today focused on
determining Asset Allocation.
Scott pointed out that the first determination needed was "what return
do we want?" During our June 16, 2015 meeting, the Board moved the
investment return assumption to 7.3%. An in-depth discussion followed
generating understanding that the actual rate of return needed was, at
least. 8.1% due to .8% investment costs and the other charges to the
Plan.
These charges include:
Custodian fees
Investment manager fees
Graystone fees
These three (3) fees make up the .8% investment fee "add-on" to the
basic 7.3% investment return goal.
In addition, The Plan has to pay Attorney fees, Actuarial fees, Insurance
costs, and, occasionally, CPA fees. The fees are "paid" by the City of
Sebastian; however, they are "deductions from" the amount the City
n=must pay to assist in funding the Plan.
Scott then pointed out:
That we needed to gauge the amount of Risk we were willing to accept.
(Risk = volatility)
We needed to measure performance over a "full market cycle" (one up
period and one down period) however, the length of a full market cycle
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varies widely.
We needed to look at risk/return correlation to assist in manager
selection.
Finally, we need to base decisions on "expected" performance as
opposed to "historical" performance.
To accomplish the above, again after much discussion, the Board came
to the consensus that we do need to diversify in terms of asset allocation.
This consensus was reached after review of data, provided by Scott,
showing expected return, Risk, the Sharpe Ratio, the Probability of Loss
in any given year, and the Probability of > 7.6% basic Rate of Return.
We reviewed, in depth, the three (3) scenarios provided by Scott
showing three (3) different asset allocation mixes as well as the current
asset allocation position.
Scott then presented a proposal "wrapping" the functions of consulting,
trading costs, custodian services, equity account management and fixed
income account management into one "bundle." In all likelihood, this
would produce an overall reduction in costs to the Plan.
His proposal showed diversification of fund managers including and
excluding continuation with Highland (our current investment
manager).
As mentioned above, the Board came to consensus on the need to
diversify our asset allocations. The question now is how to accomplish
this and with what provider. Graystone, of course, can provide the
"bundling" to include a custodian. Again, the Board came to consensus
on pursuing entering into a "bundled" program. We do have additional
questions evidencing a need for additional information. Our work with
Graystone, to date, has been extremely positive; however, we recognize
the need for a "due diligence approach." To that end, Bob Zomok was
directed to email Scott Owens requesting that Scott provide the Board
with a list of "wrap" clients selecting Graystone as provider via an RFP
process within the last two (2) years.
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Custodian Services Reponses to Requests for Proposal
Previous Information
The Board determined this topic will require lengthy discussion.
Therefore, the Board agreed to a Special Meeting on June 23, 2015 at
10:00 AM in Sebastian City Council chambers.
Each Board member is to be prepared to offer their top three (3) choices
with a rationale for their choice.
(Grant McMurry suggested that if a change is to be made, the preferred
time would be at the end of the fiscal year [after September 30, 2015].
The reason is all final reports would have been prepared and any
conversion, if necessary, would be facilitated.)
One of the RFP respondents was Salem Trust, our current custodian.
The precipitating reason for going to the marketplace to explore
engaging a new custodian was a significant concern raised when the
Board was informed that Salem had received a "qualified" report on a
recent audit. Scott Owens was asked to further investigate this and
report back to the Board.
Scott reported at this meeting that he had identified four (4) areas of
concern. The primary reason for the "qualified" audit report. Next,
Salem Trust was unable to produce financial data appropriately due to a
computer software conversion they had undertaken. A fraud question
was raised because an affiliate of Salem Trust (Pennant) had allegedly
engage in some questionable practices. Last, because of the foregoing,
several current Salem clients (like us) had issued Requests for
Proposals.
Current Information
Since the Board reached consensus on further exploration of a "wrap"
program and part of the "wrap" is a Custodian with whom Graystone
already has a contractual relationship, we opted to table further
discussion pending the outcomes of our "due diligence" review.
Public Comment: None
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SUBJECT
NEW BUSINESS
Approval of Invoices:
Christiansen c& Dehner - $303.20 invoice for May 2015 services.
Bob Zomok motioned to approve payment of the above invoice. Bruce
Hoffman seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Other Matters:
Chairman Marcinik reminded the Board to complete and return the
required Form 1.
Bruce Hoffman and Steve Marcinik made the Board aware of a seminar
discussing the requirements of the enactment of SB 172. The seminar is
being sponsored by the League of Cities and is being held at the Orland
Airport on Thursday, June 25, 2015 from 3 to 4 PM.
Next regularly scheduled meeting is September 15, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.
in the Sebastian City Council Chambers.
SUBJECT
ADJOURNMENT
12:40 PM Having no further business for discussion, Chairman Steve
Marcinik adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Zomok, Secretary
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