Volunteer Firefighter Relief Fund Committee

City of Norwich Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund Committee Minutes 121st Meeting May 9, 2011 The Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund Committee held its 121st meeting on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. in room 209, City Hall, Norwich, Connecticut 1. Roll Call a. Members Present: Richard Benoit, Taftville Karen Mankowski, Occum Joshua Pothier, Assistant Comptroller Thomas Quinley, Yantic Red McKeon, Occum/Past Chairman Joseph Kochanski, Laurel Hill Donald Leary, East Great Plain Frank Davis, Citizen Appointee Art Meizner, Hooker & Holcombe (guest) b. Members Absent: Joseph Ruffo, Comptroller Brian Curtin, City Treasurer Brigid Marks, City of Norwich Personnel Manager Richard Benoit called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. Richard Benoit made a motion to suspend the regular meeting and let Mr. Meizner present the Fund’s Financial 1st Quarter Report. Seconded by Thomas Quinley, approved. Art Meizner reported on the Funds 1st Quarter status: Page 3: Economic Scorecard – the ups and downs of the 1st quarter. Page 4: Output loss versus output recovered Page 5: Unemployment 9.4% in December 2010 compared to 8.8% in March 2011. Off the grid numbers may cause numbers to increase. 1.8 million jobs gained. Page 6: Corporate Profits up. Page 7: Headline CPI doubled in 3 months Page 8: Period of low inflation, lower left graph reflect equities and commodities Page 9: Housing market still negative and downturned. There is less equity in homes. This becomes apparent with lower interest rates. Page 10: Oil and gas prices as reflected in upper right graph, are a drag on the entire economy. Page 11: Confidence is down. Page 12: S&P 500 – during the recession dropped 57%, is now up 96% from low point Page 13: Best place to be in stocks is the small growth market. Page 15: US is a good place to be Page 16: Asset allocation looks good Page 20: Short Term – 12%, specialty  City of Norwich Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund Committee Minutes 121st Meeting May 9, 2011 Page 21: Up 3.25% - rode equities increase. Page 24: Large Blend and summaries Page 25: Intermediate Bond, Short Duration, World Bond did better. Fund investment summary is up 3.24%. All funds did well for the 1st quarter. Be prepared to change Fixed Income category mix at the next meeting, September 12, 2011, change to bond mixture. Art Meizner concluded at 1730hrs. Meeting returned to regular agenda. 2. Minutes: Meeting minutes for 01/10/11, 02/14/11 and 03/21/11 were reviewed. Frank Davis made a motion to accept the meeting minutes as presented, seconded by Donald Leary. Approved. 3. Treasurer’s Report – Deficit at the end of March $34,000, requesting $92,500 to be transferred. A motion was made by Thomas Quinley to accept the request and allow the transfer, seconded by Frank Davis. Approved. 4. New Business a. Eligibility for Occum Volunteer Fire Department: i. Rudy Beauregard – no open issues ii. Roland McKeon – 4 years military buy-back at the rate of $180/year for a total of $720. All paperwork to Josh Pothier by the end of this week. New Total Years of Service, 29; still active on roles, out with hip injury (Section 4.1 participant must be active). Motion made by Thomas Quinley to accept, seconded by Karen Mankowski. Approved. b. Taftville Volunteer Fire Department: i. Steve Caisse and Paul LeBrecque. In 2010 neither individual met the 20% criteria. ii. Discussion ensued about criteria and what is required per the Ordinance – 20% calls and 20% drills. For the 3 years (2005, 2006, 2007), both individuals met criteria, but not for 2008, 2009 or 2010. iii. Committee to take an action to review members in this type of category during the next revision. iv. Motion made by Thomas Quinley not to approve the buy-back based on the participants current state of inactivity and the requirement that participants must be active and meet criteria the year the buy-back occurs. Seconded by Donald Leary. Approved unanimously. c. Mark Gaudet of Yantic is requesting a refund. Motion made by Frank Davis to grant the refund, seconded by Donald Leary. Approved  City of Norwich Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund Committee Minutes 121st Meeting May 9, 2011 d. Red McKeon questioned whether he was being paid correctly – 20 years versus 30 years. Payment is $8 at 30 years for a total of $240 per month. All agreed that Red McKeon is being paid correctly. A motion was made by Thomas Quinley to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Donald Leary. Approved. Meeting adjourned at 1820 hrs. Respectfully submitted, Thomas G. Quinley Secretary