City of San Diego Retired Employees Association
August 8, 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: Mike Bresnahan, Liza Crisafi, Shirley Hall, Joan Hernandez, Brad Jacobsen, Stacey LoMedico, John Tsiknas, and Greg Woods
Guests Present: Joe Flynn
AGENDA: There were no additions to the agenda.
MINUTES: The minutes of the July 2023 Board meeting were approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Liza reported that there were no unusual activities for July.
M/S/C to approve the July Treasurer’s Report
INVESTMENT COMMITTEE REPORT: John reported that the appreciation for the Russell 3000 was 49.81% and for the Money Market it is 6.69%. The value of the Legal Fund is $369,904.
RETIREMENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT: No Retirement Board meeting
COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ITEMS:
1) Mike reported that an eblast was sent on behalf of Neil Senturia (husband of former City Councilmember Barbara Bry) seeking assistance from any retiree with experience in code enforcement. Mike informed the Board that during an exchange of emails with him it became apparent that Senturia thought that REA was an on-call provider of services by retired City employees. That said, one retiree responded to Senturia’s appeal.
2) In absentia Dave reported that the Learn to Swim programs had just ended with a series of lessons at the City Heights Swim Center and the Clairemont Pool; the latter attracted 100 participants. The next event is the Holiday Food Drive.
3) Mike reported that bids for the RFP to transfer administration of retiree healthcare from SDCERS to the City have been received. We may know by September how many bids were received.
ACTION ITEMS:
1) The subject of Board Member name badges was discussed at the Advocacy Committee who voted to approve the purchase of the badges at the minimum amount of 25 at $7 each.
M/S/C to approve the purchase of 25 REA Board member badges for $175
2) The proposed date for the annual Board Retreat is Friday November 17 from 9:30 until 2:30; the location will be Mission Trails Park.
3) Liza informed the Board that because REA has gross receipts of over $50K we need to file a more extensive tax return that we have been filing. The initial preparation of the form is much more extensive than subsequent filings. She got an estimate from John “Woody” Ledford for $500.
M/S/C to hire John “Woody” Ledford to prepare the 2022 tax form for $500.
4) The annual Health Fair will be held on November 1; SDCERS’ mailing will go out the week of October 8. It was decided to order 8700 new inserts for the mailing. It was suggested that our inserts for the 2024 be a bit “jazzier” and that we should consider recruiting a member with PR experience to redesign them.
ADVOCACY COMMITTEE REPORT
No report. The next Advocacy Committee meeting will be Thursday August 24 at 9:30am via Zoom.
OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership: No report.
Newsletter: Deadline for the next issue is August 18 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: All is good for the rest of 2023.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:12am.
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.