At the regularly scheduled meeting of the Fire and Police Pension Fund held on the 20th day of November 2014, President Chris Willmore presided. The meeting was held at the Pension Office, 6009 John Douglass Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37421.
The meeting convened at 0907 hours with board members Chris Willmore, Craig Joel, Mark Coffman, Jerome Halbert, Kelly Simmons, Phillip McClain, and Brent Goldberg. Attorney Bill Robinson was also present.
Motion by Phillip McClain and seconded by Craig Joel to approve the minutes from the November 6, 2014 meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
Attorney Robinson updated the Board on the status of the Frazier lawsuit. He also notified the Board that although neither the Fund Office nor Baker Donelson has been served with a lawsuit, an article on chattanoogan.com reports that Former Chief of Police Bobby Dodd has filed a lawsuit against the Pension Fund and the City regarding the subsidized Surviving Spouse benefit that was removed from the Plan effective January 1, 2013. The Board discussed the details of how the former subsidized Surviving Spouse benefit previously transacted so that newer Board members would have some understanding of it.
Motion by Craig Joel and seconded by Jerome Halbert to approve the following membership changes:
REMOVE FROM THE ROLLS:
Barbara Cranfield, surviving spouse of Retired Police Officer Troy Cranfield, effective 11/30/2014, died 11/13/2014 (2-410)
REFUND CONTRIBUTIONS:
Former Police Officer Sonny Warren, terminated 11/15/2014, participation date of 04/18/2014 (2-413)
Motion carried unanimously.
Jeff Williams appeared before the Board and presented the report on Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements 67 & 68 that was submitted to the City as required.
The Board discussed rank structure with the Fire and Police departments, citing the new title for Firefighter Engineer, with regards to Pension elections. After several minutes of discussion, the matter was tabled until the January 15, 2015 meeting.
Ryan Mason and Jim Corl of Siguler Guff & Company appeared before the Board to present their DREOF II Fund for consideration of investment from the Fund.
Wallace Johnson and Mark Hicks of Gerber Taylor Associates appeared before the Board to present the Fund’s third quarter investment performance report. The total Fund was down 1.5% for the third quarter and remains up 4.9% YTD. The Board discussed Gerber Taylor’s recommendations for reallocation of the Fund. Motion by Mark Coffman and seconded by Craig Joel to make the following modification to the Fund’s allocation based on the advice of Gerber Taylor Associates:
Transfer $3.5MM from Prudential PRISA
Transfer $13.5MM from Blackrock Granite Fund
New allocation of $8MM to Siguler Guff DREOF II
Transfer $3MM to Forester Offshore
Transfer $3MM to Evanston Weatherlow
Transfer $3MM to Cash for benefit payments
Motion carried unanimously.
The Board discussed a technical correction in the Investment Policy Statement. Motion by Brent Goldberg and seconded by Mark Coffman to remove the words “and private real estate.” from the Alternative Investments section of the Policy. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by Phillip McClain and seconded by Mark Coffman to adjourn at 1201 hours. Motion carried unanimously.
