Volunteer Firefighter Relief Fund Committee
Regular MeetingNorwich, CT · February 19, 2019
Minutes
City of Norwich
Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund Committee Minutes
142nd Meeting
February 19, 2019
The Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund Committee held a regular meeting on Tuesday,
February 19, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. in Room 213, City Hall, Norwich, Connecticut.
1. Roll Call
a. Members Present:
Thomas Quinley, Yantic, Committee Chair
Joshua Pothier, Comptroller, Committee Treasurer
Brigid Marks, Human Resource Director, Committee Vice-Chair
Donald Leary, East Great Plain, Committee Secretary
Karen Mankowski, Occum
John A. John, P&P Board Appointee
Ronald Stoltz, Citizen Appointee
Daniel Dennis, Citizen Appointee
b. Members Absent:
Richard Benoit, Taftville Past Chair
John Salomone, City Manager
Joseph Kochanski, Laurel Hill
Shane Dupuis, Taftville
c. Others Present:
Art Meizner, guest, Hooker & Holcombe
Thomas Quinley called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.
2. Art Meizner presented the Hooker & Holcombe reviewed the plan’s 3rd Quarter
performance.
a. Page 1: U.S. stocks, weakest in recent history with the S&P 500 down 13.5% and
Small Cps down 20.1%.
b. Page 2: All of the major international market’s indices were down substantially in
the 4th quarter.
c. Page 3: With four Fed rate increases in 2018 the economy is slowing down which
lessens pressure to raise interest rates.
d. Page 5: Cash was the highest yielding investment in 2018.
e. Page 6: Major markets returns are up dramatically YTD. Short term treasuries,
after three years, are now yielding more than long term.
f. Page 9: The portfolio value was off 5% last year.
g. Page 10: There has been a dramatic claw back in the funds yield YTD. In the last
quarter of 2018 small caps were down 20% and Emerging Markets were down
worse than US stocks.
h. The 1stt quarter 2019 performance will be reviewed at the May 20th meeting.
City of Norwich
Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund Committee Minutes
142nd Meeting
February 19, 2019
3. Treasurer’s report for the quarter ended December 31, 2018
Reviewed as presented by Josh Pothier, who indicated there is nothing remarkable contained
in it.
Motion made by John A. John to accept the report as presented seconded by
Daniel Dennis. Approved
4. Minutes: Minutes from the November 19th meeting were reviewed.
a. Motion made by John A. John to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by
Daniel Dennis. Approved.
5. Communications: None
6. Old Business: None
7. New Business:
a. Art Meizner stated that he held off rebalancing the funds as authorized at the
December meeting because of the down turn in the market, he will rebalance in
March after revisiting the recommendations.
b. Motion made by John A. John for Art Meizner to send Josh Pothier an email
proposal describing his recommendations for the rebalance, seconded by Thomas
Quinley. Approved
c. New members
i. EGP
1. John F. Coleman
2. Jerry R. Verant
ii. Yantic
1. Melanie Moon
d. New applications for benefits
i. EGP Joseph Jackson – January 2019. 20 Years of Credited Service.
Payment and paperwork received January 16, 2019, payments started in
February retroactive to January.
e. Josh Pothier provided a comparison of various Connecticut towns pension plans
with data from 2014 to 2018 which indicates the VFFRF plan is in the ball park of
the comparison field.
A motion was made by John A. John to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Josh Pothier,
Approved. Meeting adjourned at 17:40 hrs.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald Leary, Secretary
Agenda
To: Members of the Volunteer Firefighter Relief Fund Committee
From: Thomas Quinley, Chairman of the Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Fund
Subject: Regular Meeting #142
Meeting Date: Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Meeting Time: 5:00 p.m.
Meeting Location: Room 213, City Hall
Agenda Items:
1. Call to order
2. Roll call
3. Determination of quorum
4. Reports
a. Review of December 31, 2018 investment results by Art Meizner from Hooker &
Holcombe Investment Advisors (to be distributed)
b. Treasurer’s report for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 (attached)
5. Approval of minutes of preceding meeting
a. Review of minutes from the Regular Meeting on November 19, 2018 (available on the
website)
6. Communications
7. Unfinished business
8. New business
a. Consideration of recommendations by Art Meizner for changes in investment policy
statement, investment portfolio, if any.
b. Approval of bills
i. None at this time
c. New members
i. East Great Plain
1. John F. Coleman
2. Jerry R. Verant
ii. Yantic
1. Melanie Moon
d. New applications for benefits
i. EGP Joseph Jackson – January 2019. 20 Years of Credited Service. Payment
and paperwork received January 16, 2019
e. Refunds
i. None at this time.
9. Adjournment
Please notify Thomas Quinley (thomas.g.quinley@dominionenergy.com) or Brigid Marks
(bmarks@cityofnorwich.org) if you are unable to attend the meeting.
Next Scheduled Regular Meetings: Next participants eligible to receive benefits:
• Monday, May 20, 2019 • Yantic Robert Allen – eligible in August
• Monday, August 19, 2019 2019
• Monday, November 18, 2019 • TaftvilleWilliam Hadam – eligible in
December 2019
City of Norwich
Volunteer Firefighters' Relief Fund
Treasurer's Report
For The Quarter Ended 12/31/2018
X:\Finance\Finance Public\Accounting\Audit & Fiscal YE files\YE 2019\G. Investments\[G-3 2019 VFFRF cash & investments.xlsx]2Q
Hooker &
Checking Holcombe Total
Beginning Balance 87,048.73 2,878,900.84 2,965,949.57
Receipts:
Annual City Appropriation - - -
East Great Plain - - -
Laurel Hill - - -
Occum - - -
Taftville - - -
Yantic - - -
Interest Income 159.74 86.97 246.71
Realized Gains/(Losses) - (5,321.02) (5,321.02)
Unrealized Gains/(Losses) - (362,458.69) (362,458.69)
Dividends - 119,281.90 119,281.90
-
Total Receipts 159.74 (248,410.84) (248,251.10)
Transfers Between Accounts (8,000.00) 8,000.00 -
Disbursements:
Refunds - - -
Pensions Paid 83,142.66 - 83,142.66
Actuary Fees - - -
Postage/ Other - - -
Investment Fees - 3,336.46 3,336.46
Total Disbursements 83,142.66 3,336.46 86,479.12
Ending Balance (3,934.19) 2,635,153.54 2,631,219.35
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