City of San Diego Retired Employees Association
March 13, 2018
Board Meeting Minutes

NOTE: All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Vice President Dave Twomey at 9:40am.

Board Members Present: Mike Bresnahan, Karen Butler, Shirley Hall, Joan Hernandez, Brad Jacobsen, Joan McNamara, John Tsiknas, Dave Twomey, and Janet Wood

Guests Present: Chris Brewster, Joe Flynn

AGENDA: Liability Coverage Review was added as Discussion/Action Item #4.

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

COMMUNICATIONS: None

TREASURER’S REPORT: Karen reported that laptop problems prevented her from correcting erroneous balances in the Legal Defense Fund and Unallocated Reserve accounts for YTD; she distributed hand-corrected copies. The correct amounts should be:
Unallocated Reserve/Savings Account YTD: $19,188
Fidelity Money Market SPAXX Account YTD: $107,881
Fidelity Russell 3000 YTD: $63,919
Fidelity total YTD: $171,800

M/S/C to approve the February Treasurer’s Report.

The Investment Committee reported that our investments bounced back after the recent market crash. The scheduled May transfer of funds will bring us to our 50/50 goal.

RETIREMENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

No report.

DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

  1. Chris Brewster, John Tsiknas, and Dave Twomey now have view-only access to the investments. Karen is still the only person authorized to take any actions after direction from the Board
  2. There were reports back from various Board members about potential speaker gifts. Joan Hernandez found pens that when ordered in groups of 50 cost $1.72 each. Chris brought a sample thermos/water bottle he received; its cost was about $10. Joan McNamara found some ballcaps in the $10-15 range. A decision was postponed. It was agreed that even after we purchase new gifts we would continue to give first-time speakers the usual coffee mugs until we run out.
  3. Joe recently attended the meeting of SDCERS’ Business & Governance Committee and reported that there was good discussion between staff and the Board members, but that several issues that might be of interest to us were raised. These issues included a requirement that disability retirements be reviewed and the disability documented annually, even in cases where the disability is obviously permanent (ie, loss of limb).
    1. Joe said that the Committee was responsive to these issues, but used this example as a reason why retirees need to have a presence at SDCERS meetings. A big problem is that the SDCERS agendas are posted online only 72 hours before the meetings, so we don’t have much time to decide if we want to attend and if so, who should attend.
  4. Joan McNamara reported that her scanning of our insurance documents shows that REA does not have coverage for Fiduciary Responsibility. The only previous review of our coverage was well before REA had a Legal Defense Fund, let alone our new investments. There were also questions of: whether we are covered under Officers & Directors insurance; the likelihood of REA being sued for making bad investments; and what the cost ratio is for getting additional protection. Karen will get written copies of our current coverage, fiduciary coverage, and cost of additional coverage.

INFORMATION ITEMS:

  1. Representatives from REA and MEA met with staff from SDCERS and Risk Management to discuss healthcare plans for 2018. An RFP is out to both Kaiser and HealthNet; REA members will be able to enroll in Sharp plans through MEA. It was noted that through discussions like this, wellness programs that benefit retirees (ie, Silver Sneakers) are now part of every health plan.
    1. That said, it was noted that retirees’ health plans are tied to what the City offers to active employees, and our options may be subject to change.
  2. Kudos to Joan McNamara for the airport tour.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Advocacy: The next meeting is March 22.

Retiree Issues Task Force (RITF): No report

Other Retired Public Employee Associations: Chris reported that oral arguments in the Prop B case will be heard at the CA Supreme Court in late May/early June. He advised that this could stir up  Carl DeMaio and his allies. There was much discussion aboutthings have gone downhill at the City since Prop B went into effect and how no other jurisdiction has followed our example.

Active Employee Associations: No report.

Communications: No report.

Membership: No report.

Sunshine: No report.

Newsletter: Deadline for next issue is March 20.

General Membership Programs: We may move our proposed speaker on Medicare to our table at the SDCERS Health Fair in June. Brad is trying to get Brooke Binkowski of snopes.com as a speaker.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 10:50am.

Respectfully submitted,

Brad Jacobsen
Secretary