City of San Diego Retired Employees Association
April 10, 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 9:32am.

Board Members Present: Jim Baross, Mike Bresnahan, Karen Butler, Shirley Hall, Joan Hernandez, Charlie Hogquist, Brad Jacobsen, Joan McNamara, Ty Rogers, John Tsiknas, and Janet Wood

Guests Present: Chris Brewster, Art Brown

AGENDA: There were no changes to the agenda.

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

COMMUNICATIONS: None

TREASURER’S REPORT: Karen and the Investment Committee reported that is going well.

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

An Audit Committee was formed, comprising Mike Bresnahan, Art Brown, Karen Butler, and possibly Jim Baross.

RETIREMENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

Charlie reported that Greg Rademacher is getting settled in at SDCERS. The investment portfolio is being diversified. He noted that in a recent newspaper article about the impact on the retirement system because of some employee pay raises, the author neglected to point out that the same City contribution would also go into employees’ 401k plans.

DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

  1. Chris Brewster, John Tsiknas, and Dave Twomey discussed Doug McCalla’s concerns about our investment strategy; he feels that bonds are safer, but we are in this for the long haul and are willing to ride the ups and downs of the market. John and Chris are working on simplifying the investment spreadsheet.
    1. There was discussion about whether to transfer any Russell dividends back to the Money Market account or to reinvest them in the Russell account. It was noted that it is easier to track profits/losses if reinvested, but we will evaluate quarterly. The committee recommended reinvesting them into the Russell account.
    2. M/S/C to reinvest Russell 3000 dividends into Russell 3000.
  2. The Board settled on two options for speaker gifts: Chris will look into water bottles, while Jim will investigate beer glasses.
  3. Mike reported that no one on the Advocacy Committee was particularly interested in attending SDCERS Board meetings, especially on short notice, unless a major item was being discussed. Charlie informed the Board that the meeting agendas are posted online one week before the meetings; this gives us a much longer time to decide whether to attend.

We also need more membership applications and cover letters for the health packet mailer.

INFORMATION ITEMS

1) Regarding insurance coverage, Joan McNamara reported that we are covered for embezzlement but that investment losses can’t be covered. She will look into the cost of liability insurance and will report to the Advocacy Committee who will decide if it is cost-effective.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Advocacy: The next meeting is April 26.

Retiree Issues Task Force (RITF): No report.

Other Retired Public Employee Associations: Chris reported that the Retired Sheriffs Association has joined the Retirement Security Roundtable. Joan Hernandez announced that CARA will be holding a meeting in Vista on April 14.

Active Employee Associations: No report.

Communications: No report. Membership: No report.

Sunshine: No report.

Newsletter: Deadline for next issue is April 20.

General Membership Programs: Brad reported that he has not gotten any responses from the folks at Snopes and is in need of a speaker/program for the May meeting. After brainstorming, the Board accepted Charlie’s proposal to talk about interesting fun facts about San Diego landmarks.

SDCERS Annual Meeting has been moved to November but staff is willing to give us their preview at our October meeting, as scheduled.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 10:45am.

Respectfully submitted,
Brad Jacobsen Secretary