Personnel & Pension Board

Personnel & Pension Board 1 of 3 February 15th, 2011 Approved Meeting Minutes Room 210, 6:00 P.M. City Hall Building Norwich, Connecticut 06360 I. Roll Call: Meeting called to order by Chairman Paul Schroder at 6:00 PM. A. Members Present 1. Paul Schroder, Chairman (voting member) 2. Joanne Philbrick (voting member) 3. Frank Davis (voting member) 4. Jerald Navick, Vice-Chairman 5. Sarah Kannas (late arrival) 6. Richard Benoit, Alternate 7. John A. John, Alternate B. Members Absent 1. James Tetreault, Alternate C. Others Present 1. Brigid Marks, Human Resources Director, City of Norwich 2. Donna DesSureault, P&P Board Secretary, City of Norwich 3. Brian Curtin, City Treasurer 4. Atty. Kevin Emerson, City Corporation Counsel 5. Marc Shegoski, Sr. Vice-Pres. – Investments, UBS II. Minutes A. Minutes of Personnel & Pension Board Regular Meeting held on 12/21/2010. Motion to accept the minutes from the 12/21/2010 meeting made by Jerald Navick; seconded by Frank Davis, all in favor. (No minutes exist for the 1/18/2011 meeting as it was cancelled). III. Old Business A. Status update on the legal opinion from the Corporation Counsel regarding the rehiring of City retirees into positions which require participation in the same Retirement Plan. See Item III (B). B. Status update on the legal opinion from the Corporation Counsel regarding whether former employees can be forced to take a refund of pension contributions and interest after a specified time. Atty. Kevin Emerson spoke regarding both items A and B. Regarding Item B: Atty. Emerson noted that the Human Resources Department attempts to contact former employees several times; however, if no response is received after several contact attempts they cannot decide what the former employee should do regarding a refund/rollover of contributions and interest. After a short discussion it was decided that the Human Resources Dept. will set a policy to determine the number of times the contact attempts before the file is moved to a non-participating, no-response file. This file will be kept open. Regarding Item A, Atty. Emerson noted that an employee who is rehired into a different Retirement Plan is allowable, e.g. an employee who retired as a participant from the Police Retirement Plan can be rehired into a position that participates in the Fire Retirement Plan. However, there are still some questions regarding the legality of allowing a retiree to be rehired into a position that participates in the same Retirement Plan they participated in prior to retirement. Some municipalities stop pension payments until the rehired employee retires again. At that time they recalculate the amount of service time to include the previous service time as well as the current service time. Atty. Emerson recommended that he contact the law firm of Robinson & Cole, as they were involved in the drafting of the plan document in the past. Personnel & Pension Board 2 of 3 February 15th, 2011 Approved Meeting Minutes Room 210, 6:00 P.M. City Hall Building Norwich, Connecticut 06360 C. Pension calculation for Timothy Menard, who retired from the Police Department on 1/8/2011, in the annual amount of $77,049.50. Mr. Menard’s retirement was approved at the 12/21/2010 meeting. Motion to accept the calculation made by Joanne Philbrick; seconded by Sarah Kannas, all in favor. D. Pension calculation for Bertha Baribeault, who retired from NPU on 12/23/2010, in the annual amount of $16,996.43. Ms. Baribeault’s retirement was approved at the 11/16/2010 meeting. Motion to accept the calculation made by Joanne Philbrick; seconded by Jerald Navick, all in favor. IV. New Business A. Reappointment of John A. John to the Personnel & Pension Board as an alternate. Mr. John was reappointed by the City Council on 1/18/2011 – term to expire on 3/1/2011 or until a successor is appointed. No action necessary. B. Quarterly review of the OPEB Fund and the Retirement Fund with Marc Shegoski of UBS. The OPEB Fund was opened on 8/24/2010 with a starting balance of $2,495,821.00; the value as of 12/31/2010 was $2,752,501.00. No change in allocation recommended. The Retirement Fund had a value on 9/30/2010 of $131,148,406.00; value as of 12/31/2010 was $136,237,941.00. No change in allocation recommended. C. Application from Robert Jeniski, Electrician (NPU), for a normal Gen. City retirement eff. 2/11/2011. Motion to approve the retirement made by Sarah Kannas; seconded by Frank Davis, all in favor. D. Application from Edward Brewer, Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator (NPU), for a normal Gen. City retirement eff. 1/26/2011. Motion to approve the retirement made by Jerald Navick; seconded by Sarah Kannas, all in favor. E. Application from Jeanne Wezner, former Paraeducator (BOE) for a deferred retirement in the amount of $6,403.84; effective 8/13/2010, payable on 5/26/2025. Motion to approve the retirement made by Frank Davis; seconded by Sarah Kannas, all in favor. F. Request for a rollover of pension contributions and interest in the amount of $29,905.75 from Peter Maynard. Mr. Maynard is a former police officer who resigned on 4/3/2010. Motion to approve the refund/rollover of contributions/interest made by Sarah Kannas; seconded by Jerald Navick, all in favor. G. Notification of the death of retiree Barbara Pomo. Ms. Pomo retired from the Police Department on 3/21/1989, and passed away on 12/28/2010. There was no survivorship clause in the collective bargaining agreement at the time of her retirement. Motion to accept the notification made by Frank Davis; seconded by Jerald Navick, all in favor. H. Notification of the death of Theresa Hastings, who was the surviving spouse of deceased NPU retiree Frank Hastings. She passed away on 12/20/2010. Motion to accept the notification made by Frank Davis; seconded by Sarah Kannas, all in favor. I. Notification of the death of retiree Francis Maguire. Mr. Maguire retired from NPU on 10/24/1981, and passed away on 1/7/2011. There was no survivorship benefit for the General City Retirement Plan until 1983. Motion to accept the notification made by Jerald Navick; seconded by Frank Davis, all in favor. J. Notification of the death of retiree James McGeowan. Mr. McGeowan retired from the Police Department on 9/18/1994, and passed away on 1/24/2011. Notification of survivorship pension benefit for Peggy McGeowan in the annual amount of $12,794.70. Motion to accept the notification of death of the retiree and accept the survivorship pension benefit for Mrs. McGeowan made by Frank Davis; seconded by Joanne Philbrick, all in favor. K. Notification of the death of Mae Griffin, who was the surviving spouse of deceased PW retiree Timothy Griffin. She passed away on 2/4/2011. Motion to accept the notification made by Joanne Philbrick; seconded by Frank Davis, all in favor. L. Request for a prior service buyback from Sherry Filiatreault, Children First Network Coordinator, for the period of 10/16/2000 – 10/23/2008. See Item O. Personnel & Pension Board 3 of 3 February 15th, 2011 Approved Meeting Minutes Room 210, 6:00 P.M. City Hall Building Norwich, Connecticut 06360 M. Request for a prior service buyback from Angelo Callis, Youth & Family Therapist, for the period of 10/15/1984 – 9/25/1987 as well as the period of 9/26/1988 – 11/30/1993. See Item O. N. Request for a prior service buyback from Kathryn Eyberse, Clinical Coordinator, for the period of 6/22/1981 – 11/30/1993. See Item O. O. Request for a prior service buyback from Lisa Diaz, Young Parents Program Sr. Care Manager, for the period of December 1996 – June 2007. Brigid Marks noted that the employees listed under Items L & O were in a different category than the employees listed under Items M & N, as the employees listed under Items L & O had an agreement with the City regarding service time. Sarah Kannas noted that she would like to see the agreement. Joanne Philbrick noted that she would like to see the agreement and also obtain the cost to the City and to the employee before making a decision. After a short discussion, motion made by Joanne Philbrick to table items L and O until the next meeting, and also to see a copy of the written agreement at the next meeting. Motion seconded by Sara Kannas; all in favor. Motion made by Frank Davis to table items M and N until the next meeting and also to see detailed information on those items at the next meeting. Motion seconded by Jerald Navick; all in favor. P. New employee(s): 1) Terry Cooper, Firefighter – DOH 2/1/2011. 2) Andrew Cooke, Firefighter – DOH 2/1/2011. 3) Joshua Conway, NPU Customer Acct. Rep./Cashier – DOH 1/4/2011. 4) Patrick McLaughlin, City Engineer – DOH 12/16/2010. 5) Mark Decker, Water & Wastewater Integrity Manager (NPU) – DOH 1/10/2011. 6) Tamara Petersen, Utility Purchasing & Inventory Supervisor (NPU) – DOH 12/13/2010. 7) Laura Zellner, E911 Dispatcher – DOH 1/30/2011. Motion to acknowledge/accept the new employees made by Sarah Kannas; seconded by Frank Davis, all in favor. J. Employee(s) to be admitted in the City of Norwich Employees' Retirement Fund: ACAD. PROB. EVAL. REQUEST DATE OF GRAD. PERIOD UP FORM RECEIVED NAME POSITION HIRE DATE ON: BACK ON: Mark Koziol Maintainer (BOE) 7/29/2010 N/A 1/29/2011 2/11/2011 Christopher Chastang Police Officer 1/18/2010 N/A 1/18/2011 2/02/2011 Utility Meter Reader Gregory Drozynski (NPU) 3/1/2010 N/A 9/02/2010 1/03/2011 Robert Harris GIS Analyst 5/24/2010 N/A 11/24/2010 1/04/2011 Motion to approve/admit the employee(s) into the Retirement Fund made by Frank Davis; seconded by Joanne Philbrick, all in favor. V. Correspondence A. None. VI. Adjournment Motion to adjourn made by Sarah Kannas; seconded by Frank Davis, all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 7:42 PM. Respectfully submitted, Donna DesSureault, Secretary