Firefighter’s Pension Board Agendas &

ELGIN FRIE PENSION MINUTES January 18, 2023 City of Elgin 1st Floor Conference Room “A” Roll Call: Present: D. Olkowski, M. Przybylski, D. Nawrocki, A. Bialek Absent: None Council: T. Hartwell Guests: Greg Knoll, Allison Barret, Alex Kielion Pete Oconnor, Ryan Latavaitis Minutes: Minutes Of the January 18,2023 meeting was reviewed and approved by a motion from D. Olkowski, D. Nawrocki. Carried. New Board member, Tom Quigley, was introduced to the Board. A brief explanation on Mayoral appointments, was explained to the members. In the Downstate Firefighter Pension, a Mayoral appointment made to the Fire Pension Board, continues on the Board until such time as he/she resigns, or is removed and replaced by the Mayor. Treasurer Report The meeting proceeded with an Introduction to the members from Greg Knoll of the Illinois Firefighter Pension Fund. Greg has spent many years in the Fire Service, with River Grove FD and retiring from the Homewood FD. He was elected to the FPIF as the Beneficiary Trustee. He reminded everyone that unless the Illinois Supreme Court hears the Lawsuit, sometime this year, the FPIF will remain in force. A year-end report was handed, out to the members, along with a history of Elgin Pension Fund status from 1997. A brief overview of the fund followed. There presently are –300- members Fire Departments in the Fund. As of 2022, over $8.2 Billion was transferred over to the fund with only –2- minor issues, both being resolved. Elgin was the 10th largest Fund. Our portion on the Fund, is approx. 1.48%. It was emphasized that this is ours and no member department can take from that part that Elgin Sent. Each department can only draw from their portion. Transfer requests, to a member department, would take 48- 72 hours to complete. Automatic transfers can be set up once a month. There are exceptions made for emergencies if needed. It was noted that there are presently more retired members being paid from the Fund than there are active firefighter members. Approximately $50 million is paid out each month to members. Any member can FOIA requests concerning finances or other items, to the Fund. Presently there have been very few. Members are encouraged to sign up for the newsletters and reports, on line. The office has a staff and can be reached via phone to answer questions. During the 2022 year, approximately $32 million was saved in investment fees with a reduction of Basis Point fees being reduced from 1.5% to .8%. The floor was open for questions. -A question was brought up about the monthly fee that member depts. pay out each month? There are –2- portions to this amount. The first is for the initial startup to pay off the initial loan and a second cost was to pay for ongoing costs. It was noted that $7 million was budgeted to pay for the startup but, only $5.6 million was actually needed. Foster and Foster is used as the Actuary for the Fund. -Next D. Nawrocki questioned the logic of the unrealized loss of over $3.2 million, from Elgin’ transfer of funds? Not a real good explanation was received. Getting all of the money into the FPIF as soon as reasonable, was the only answer. It was noted that, the loss could have been minimized if approximately –2- weeks were waited, before the final transfer was made. -T. Quigley asked if the Dept. Of Insurance was going to waive the $8,000.00 annual fee from the member departments. G. Knoll would have to get to the Board on that Question. -Going forward, was the FPIF going to be responsible for Actuarial Evaluations? As far as the FPIF was concerned, this is not possible at this time. As for Elgin, we would continue to do our own. -GASB would be concerned with the FPIF as a pooled investment as a whole. Not many clear answers were received on other issues. A continuation of items in treasurer report: The following invoices were approved on a motion from M. Przybylski, seconded by D. Olkowski. Carried. Collins, Radja, Hartwell invoices, 2nd quarter retainer, Rinenbach processing #634 (Gartrell) $ 387.50 #800 (Gartrell) $1,250.00 2nd quarter retainer $ 950.00 # 71-279 (Rinenbach processing) $ 750.00 Dr Petrucci (Rinenbach) $3,000.00 Amotion was made to accept the Treasurer Report by A. Bialek, seconded by D. Olkowski. Carried. Secretary Report Allison Barrett and Alex Kielion were introduced from Lauterbach and Amen. The secretary briefly went over some of the issues the Elgin Fire Pension was having in 2022. -One item has been changed. Access to L&A online has been made less confusing to member pensioners. A synopsis of the issues follows: -Reports from L&A were not being received in a timely manner. This caused confusion on if invoices had been paid. -In November, October and part of November's’ report was received. -Invoices were being missed. -2- firefighters had resigned and waited much longer than required to receive their refunds. -Break purchases had been sent in for FFs that requested cost to recover time lost, and no answers received. -Annual retiree report, received by the Secretary, had sent with most of the information blank from the following year. -Updating of information on retired members was not being received by the Board, such as address, phone number and spousal information. One member had passed away and L&A had received the information but not forwarded it to the Board, resulting in an overpayment. These and other items were discussed with Allison and Alex prior and during the meeting. Going forward, this will be rectified and the Board was assured that any problems occurring, handled promptly. Continuation of the Secretary report: Sean Fenwick had received his refund of $96,372.13. A motion was made to approve the amount by D. Olkowski, seconded by M. Przybylski. Carried. Widow Shirley Sphatt has passed away on Jan. 19, 2023. An overpayment of $1,801.23 was made and the relatives had repaid the amount back into the pension Fund. Retired member T. Bruce, was going through a divorce. A subpoena was received by the Secretary, concerning his QILDRO that was being reviewed by the court. Information was sent for the possible amount to be paid of $93.30 monthly. This to be reviewed by the Court in April. A motion was made to pay the QILDRO request, when properly received from the court proceedings and the needed documents from the former spouse, D. Olkowski, seconded by D. Nawrocki. Carried. Any changes would be reviewed by the Board members. -2- Firefighters had resigned from the department but, had not requested a refund at present. Jamie Floyel Bryan Bathauer -2- new Firefighters were hire on 4/3/23. All needed records have been received. A motion was made to accept into the pension fund by, A. Bialek, seconded by M. Przybylski. Carried. Requiring annual Affidavits from retired members and dependents, was discussed. Several examples were given from the Police pension and two from Fire. Issues arise from not being informed of status changes from the member receiving a pension. A few relatives have continued to receive or not informing their respective fund of deceased members in a timely manner or not at all. This causes a loss to the fund. It was decided to follow the same procedure the Police pension fund requires of their members by sending an annual affidavit to the person receiving the pension. This would require a notarization. A motion was made to approve this by A. Bialek seconded by D. Nawrocki. Carried. These would be sent by the Clerk each January with a follow-up in Feb. each year. If no response is made, a report will be made to the Board and pension checks will be held up until confirmation of the individual wellbeing is made. Adjournment Motion was made to adjourn by D. Olkowski, seconded by D. Nawrocki. Carried. Misc. None ______________________ _________________ Anthony Bialek Date