General Employees Pension Board
Regular MeetingLake Wales, FL · February 14, 2020
Minutes
General Employees' Pension Board Regular, Quarterly Meeting
February 14, 2020 -8:30am
The regular/ quarterly meeting of the City of Lake Wales General Employees' Pension
Board was held February 14, 2020 in the City Administration Building, City Manager's
conference room beginning at 8;30a.m. Vioieta Salud/ Chairperson^ conducfced the
meeting.
Agenda Item 2: BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Commissioner Robin Gibson
Sarah Kirkland
Vioiefca Salud
Linda Kimbrough
James Slaton
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:
CITY REP PRESENT:
Carmen Ortiz, Recording Secretary
OTHER ATTENDEES:
Sandra Davis/ City of Lake Wales
Kenneth Fields/ City of Lake Wales
Catherine Price/ Public Citizen
Chevon Baccus/ Lakewalesnews.net
Agenda Item 3: COMMUNICATIONSAND PETITIONS:
Violeta Salud requested to Sandra Davis to clarifv the information to get
an understanding of what was requested from the Board in reference to
the amends to the Ordinance, Sandra pointed out that at the iast City
Commission Meeting she had presented the Memorandum with the
Ordinance 2020-06 where we are looking into being abie to allow
employees to buy prior sen/ice from other municipalities, as !ong as it's in
the State of Florida, and coordination of benefits which would allow
current employees who have reached the maximum benefit allowed/ to
enter into the 401A and start making those contributions/ and the City
make contributions/ as well as what they would have made if they were
stil! in the Defined Benefits Plan,
The Commission wants to get a recommendation from the Board so that
they can make a decision to consider based on a discussion as presented
on this meeting.
General Employees' Pension Board Minutes
Regular Meeting
February 14, 2020
Agenda Item 4: IREVJ^W MEMORANDUM AND ORDINANCE:
• Ordinance 2020-06 Amending Chapter 16, Pension & Retirement
Kenneth Fields pointed out that there are two issues; one issue is the
$75/000 cap/ where eventually some city employees would hit that cap
without reaching the retirement age yet/ and there are currently Cit/
employees under those circumstances. They are looking into working for
additional years without earning any additional retirement benefits. This
may cause good employees to look for other jobs and retirement benefits
elsewhere and the change would cost the City some money, since the City
would continue to make contributions to the 401A Plan and not the Pension
Plan. The other issue is that if an employee wants to go work to a State/
County or other City agency and they cannot be vested while receiving other
Pension benefits.
Catherine Price and Chevon Baccus expressed their concerns regarding the
Pension cap and high payouts among/ other issues.
Violeta concluded that there are 2 issues the Board needs to discuss;
whether this Committee would recommend:
• Those employees who reach the Cap to be able to go to the 401A
plan.
• The Five year buy back.
James Slaton made a motion to recommend the employees who reach the
$75/000 Cap can opt to participate in the 401A Plan/ with the Contributions
to be determine by the Commission. Sarah Kirkland seconded theMotion.
ROLL CALL TO VOTE:
Commissioner Robin Gibson "YES"
Linda Kimbrough "NO"
Sarah KirktancTYES"
VioletaSalud^YES"
James SlatonuYES//
Motion passed/ 4/1 votes
General Employees' Pension Board Minutes
Regular Meeting
February 14, 2020
Commissioner Gibson made a motion to recommend the employees to buy
back prior City Service within the State of Florida. Sarah Kirkiand seconded
the Motion.
ROLL CALL TO VOTE:
Commissioner Robin Gibson YES
Linda Kimbrough "NO"
Sarah Kirkland "YES"
VioletaSalud"YES//
James Siaton "NO"
IVIotion passed/ 3/2 votes
i(^L^ ^ ..M^
Violeta B. Salud/ Chairperson
ATTEST:
Prepared by: Carmen Ortiz for the Board of Trustees
Agenda
AGENDA
GENERAL EMPLOYEE PENSION BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
February 14, 2020
8:30 a.m.
City Administration Building
City Manager's Conference Room
AGENDA ITEM:
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS
Public participation is encouraged. If you are addressing the Commission, step to the
podium and state your name and address for the record. Please limit your discussions to
five (5) minutes.
ACTION TAKEN
4, Review Memorandum and Ordinance
• Ordinance 2020-06 Amending Chapter 16, Pension &
Retirement
NEXT MEETING: April 25, 2020
Minutes of the General Employee Pension Board meetings can be obtained from the office of the city
Clerk, The minutes are recorded T but are not transcribed verbatim, Persons requiring a verbatL�
transcript may make arrangements with the City Clerk to duplicate the recordings, or a:,:range to
have a court reporter present at the meeting. The cost of duplication and/or court reporter w.i..ll
be at the expense of the requesting party. Persons who wish to appeal any decision made by the
General Employee Pension Board with respect to any matter considered durj_ng this meeting will. need
a record of the proceedings, and for such pur.pose may need to ensure that a verbatilll record of the
proceedings i..s made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is
based.
In accordance with section 286�26, Florida Statutes., persons with disabilities needing- special
accommodations to participate in this rneetinq: should contact the office of the City Clerk no lat.er
than 5:00 p.m. on the day prior to the meeting.
The City's defined benefit plans currently allow members to purchase up to five (5) years of military service
entirely at the employee's cost and the Florida Retirement System which covers school district and County
employees, including the Sheriffs Office, allows members to purchase prior local government service in
the same manner as is provided for in this ordinance.
The current employment environment has changed significantly from the days wtieu a& employee joined
an organization with the expectation of contitiumg employment until retirement from tfaat hiring
organization. Human resource professionals recognize that todayTs younger employees are significantly
more likely to jump from one organization to another, seeking new challenges and opportumdes £o learn.
Allowing employees to purchase time spent in other Florida governments, at no cost to the City of Lake
Wales, would aid in recruiting employees to the City, especially m highly technicat and competitive areas
such as mformation technology, engineermg and urban planning although all employees would be eligible
to make such a purchase.
FISCAL IMPACT
Coordmation of benefits with the 401(a) plan would require the City to continue makmg a retirement
contribution on behalf of an employee who reaches die $75,000 benefit cap to the 401 (a) plan equal to the
percentage it would have made to the Pension plan. The exact amount depends on which plan an employee
belongs to.
Foster & Foster, Inc. the General Employees' Petition Board's Achiarial Consultants, have determined that
the purchase of prior City service will have no impact on the assumptions used in determining the funding
requirements of the plan, because the cost will be paid by the employee.
GEPB Meeting Roll Call
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Linda Kimbrough ^
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Sarah Kirkland
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1-i -/ James Slaton
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