Board Meeting Minutes - 01/08/2019

City of San Diego Retired Employees Association
January 8, 2018
Board Meeting Minutes

NOTE: All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Jim Baross at 9:30am.
Board Members Present: Jim Baross, Mike Bresnahan, Shirley Hall, Joan Hernandez, Charlie Hogquist, Brad Jacobsen, Joan McNamara, Ty Rogers, John Tsiknas, Dave Twomey and Dick Wilken

Guests Present: Chris Brewster, Joe Flynn, Charlynne Moyer

AGENDA: There were no changes to the agenda.

MINUTES: The minutes of the November 2018 Board meeting were approved.

COMMUNICATIONS: Jim reported that the only communications he’s received are changes of address, including Susan Golding.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Minor tweaks were made to the 2019 budget; Jim will pass these along to Karen.

M/S/C to approve the 2019 budget
The investment income deposit for December will be recorded in January.
M/S/C to accept the January Treasurer’s Report.

The Investment Committee report was deferred to Discussion/Action Item #2.

RETIREMENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

Charlie reported that the Board will have a full agenda for Friday’s meeting and that the
Board is gearing up for new members. The Board will be looking into being fully funded by 2038; however, there are downsides to targeting a specific date and with 100% funding.

DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

1) Most of the feedback from the Holiday Party was positive, although there were some
issues/complaints about food quality and running out of desserts. Dave will look into
alternative menus, although these could raise the cost, which is going up anyway.

M/S/C to contract with the Bali Hai for the December 10, 2019 Holiday Party. Joan Hernandez reported that we contributed 122 pounds of food and $1060 for the Food Bank at the event.

There was discussion about how to increase participation at REA events. Personal outreach to members was suggested. Having low-key events during the year (ie, happy hour, off-site lunches) was also suggested.

2) There was extensive discussion about the investment allocations for the Legal Defense Fund. Due to recent stock market volatility, we are experiencing losses in our investments to the point that our funding ratio has changed to 55% Money Market/45% stocks. The Investment Committee is recommending that the Board change our investment fund balancing policy from 50%/50% to the current ratio of 55%/45%.

Discussion focused around these issues:

• This is not our (the Board’s) money, it is REA members’ money. We have a fiduciary duty to the members to invest their money prudently and to get the best rate of return for them.

• Our investment strategy is to invest for the long term, which means not reacting to changes in the market. If we do that, we’re playing the market, something we didn’t want to do.

M/S/FAILED (4-5-2) to change the investment allocation from 50% Money Market/50%
stocks to 55% Money Market/45% stocks.

There was additional discussion about the need to be transparent and inform our members of how we are investing their legal defense funds and other issues.

3) Joe Flynn asked that we consider allowing representatives from for-profit organizations to be speakers at our monthly meetings.

SECRETARY’S NOTE: Due to time constraints, discussion of Joe’s proposal was deferred to a future meeting. All other reports were also deferred, except as shown.

Strength of the Past, Voice of the Future

Board Meeting Minutes – 01/08/2019