City of San Diego Retired Employees Association
July 11, 2023
Board Meeting Minutes
NOTES: All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Vice-President for Advocacy Mike Bresnahan at 9:30am.
Board Members Present: Jim Baross, Mike Bresnahan, Liza Crisafi, Shirley Hall, Joan Hernandez, Brad Jacobsen, Stacey LoMedico, Joan McNamara, John Tsiknas, and Dave Twomey
Guests Present: Clay Bingham, Joe Flynn, Estella Montoya, Greg Woods
AGENDA: There were no additions to the agenda.
MINUTES: The minutes of the June 2023 Special Board meeting were approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Liza reported that there was a minor discrepancy in the Annual Payer dues; apparently one member didn’t realize that there had been a dues increase. It was decided to let the issue slide but to gently remind them next year that the dues had gone up.
She also noted that the $404 fee for the SUP that had been paid in January finally cleared.
INVESTMENT COMMITTEE REPORT: John reported that the appreciation for the Russell 3000 is 44.96% and for the Money Market it is 6.29%. The value of the Legal Fund is $360,794.
Liza informed the Board that Chris had told her that the fees for the Russell 3000 seem high; she is looking at other options on the Fidelity platform.
RETIREMENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT: Chris’ full report is attached.
COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ITEMS:
1) Mike circulated an email he had received from the husband of former City Councilmember Barbara Bry, asking for a referral to any retiree with experience in code enforcement. There was discussion about how to transmit this request to our membership, assuming that it was a legitimate request and not an internet scam. It was noted that Retired Police & Fire does deal with these requests. Mike will do follow-up to make sure that the request was genuine and also to learn how RFPD handles such requests.
2) Dave reported that our virtual food drive far exceeded our $5000 target, bringing in $5892. He credited Joe Flynn and Helen Phillips for reaching out to their non-REA contacts with information about the Food Drive. Brad suggested that since both of them will be at the General Membership meeting, they should be recognized there. The next Food Drive will be in November.
The next events will be Learn to Swim programs at three pools: City Heights, Kearny, and MLK. These programs provide basic water safety to prevent drowning and are focused on young children, but the maximum age is 15. Gary Katz will record the events and the Council Member will be present at some of them.
3) Mike reported that the response deadline for the RFP to transfer administration of retiree healthcare from SDCERS to the City has been extended a week to July 19 at the request of prospective vendors.
ACTION ITEMS:
1) The Board introduced themselves to potential Board Member Greg Woods. Woods gave his history of employment with the City and his involvement with MEA, including service as MEA President. Out of his presence the Board discussed his qualifications.
M/S/C to appoint Greg Woods to the REA Board, with his term to expire in December 2024
2) Mike stated that we need a Nominating Committee, comprised of two REA Board members and one general member. Jim Baross, Stacey LoMedico, and Clay Bingham agreed to serve.
ADVOCACY COMMITTEE REPORT
No report. The next Advocacy Committee meeting will be Thursday July 27 at 9:30am via Zoom.
OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership: No report.
Newsletter: Deadline for the next issue is July 19 at 8:00am. Material should be sent directly to Connor Sorensen.
OTHER RETIREE/ACTIVE EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION REPORTS
Retiree Issues Task Force (RITF): No report.
Retirement Security Roundtable: No report.
MEA: No report.
Other Retired Public Employee Associations: No report.
PROGRAMS: Brad announced that he will be present at the August meeting but will be out of town and unavailable to collect luncheon RSVPs; Liza volunteered to collect them.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:38am.
Respectfully submitted,
Brad Jacobsen,
Secretary
REA Board Briefing – Chris Brewster
Apologies that I will not be in attendance as I am on Cape Cod. The SDCERS Board committee and board meetings take place this Thursday and Friday. I will be flying back to SD to attend these meetings.
Overpayment of Interest Payments Ending: Existing SDCERS policy is that if SDCERS overpays a retiree, the retiree is responsible for making up the difference plus interest. The SDCERS Board has been informed that an agreement with the unions has been reached to waive interest in these cases, so long as the error is on the part of SDCERS or the City (i.e. not due to some action of the retiree). There is a proposed modification to SDCERS policy to memorialize this change. This will be effective for errors from July 1, 2023 on.
Health Administration: On June 9th the SDCERS CEO advised that that the City’s project timeline is slipping and that SDCERS anticipate they will continue handling healthcare benefit administration “well into 2024.” I passed this information along to REA and RFPA leadership to ensure they were in the loop. Also, a reminder that existing healthcare plans, which were on a five-year bid expiring December 31, 2023 have been extended one year to ease the transition in management to the City, so we will be seeing the same plans for one more year.
CalPERS Data Breach: You may have read that CalPERS and CalSTRS suffered a major data breach exposing very sensitive information of their retirees (addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers, etc.) It turns out they contract with a company for “death matching,” to get a heads-up when a member dies so that they don’t pay to a deceased member. So does SDCERS, but apparently using a different company. The CalPERS contractor used a subcontractor to convey the necessary information and it was apparently that subcontractor which was hacked. I have asked the SDCERS CEO to address this at the upcoming SDCERS meeting to better understand how we try to avoid this and what more we can do.
Board Reappointments and Vacancy: Current Board president Paul Kaufmann and Investment Committee Chair Cliff Schireson were reappointed by the City Council for 4-year terms. SDCERS has an outstanding vacancy and the SDCERS CEO reports that he continues his efforts to source Board candidates for the Mayor’s office to consider for filling our remaining vacant seat. He says, “If you know of a person who may be interested in serving on the SDCERS Board of Administration or know of an organization who may be a good candidate source, please let me know.”
Proposition B: SDCERS reports that the first Prop B era employee retired in May. An interesting milestone. Meanwhile, there is still no finality on how those who left City employment during Prop B will be handled.
Pre-retirement Seminars: I attended a pre-retirement seminar (they are still electronic) to better understand what prospective retirees hear from SDCERS. It was an outstanding presentation that seemed to answer all questions provided by the participating employees. I was really impressed with Jessica Taylor’s professionalism and attention to detail.
Social Security Fairness Act of 2023: This act now has 287 cosponsors in Congress (more than a majority). The bill eliminates the government pension offset, which in various instances reduces Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions of their own. The bill also eliminates the windfall elimination provision, which in some instances reduces Social Security benefits for individuals who also receive a pension or disability benefit from an employer that did not withhold Social Security taxes.