Pension Trust Commission

MINUTES REGULAR MEETING CITY OF LAWTON PENSION TRUST COMMISSION CITY HALL 3rd FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2024 9:00 A.M. Chairman Bayones called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. in the third floor conference room of City Hall. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Paul Ellwanger, Christine James, James Apple, Teri Bayones, Jace Zacharias ABSENT: Richard Rogalski, Ed Petersen ALSO PRESENT: Tammy Branstetter, City Clerk’s Office; Tim Wilson, City Attorney’s Office; Craig Akard, Human Resources; Taressa Macias, Human Resources; Kaitlin Golden, Financial Services; Perry Warren, Morgan Stanley; Chad Rother, Morgan Stanley STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH OKLAHOMA OPEN MEETING ACT, 25 O.S. 301-314 Notice of meeting and agenda were posted by the City Clerk’s Office as required by law. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS Chairman Bayones introduced the most recently appointed Pension Trust Commissioner, Jace Zacharias. Zacharias said he has been a commercial lender with BancFirst for two years, and he previously worked in politics for a few years with Senator Jim Inhofe and Senator Tom Cole. He said he and his family moved to the Lawton community about a year and a half ago. III. Consent Agenda FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE AUDIENCE, ALL MATTERS LISTED UNDER THE CONSENT AGENDA ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ROUTINE BY THE PENSION COMMISSION AND WILL BE ENACTED BY ONE MOTION. THERE WILL BE NO SEPARATE DISCUSSION OF THESE ITEMS. IF DISCUSSION IS DESIRED, THAT ITEM WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA PRIOR TO ROLL CALL AND WILL BE CONSIDERED SEPARATELY. A. Consider a Memo of Information regarding the death of retiree Robert Johnson. B. Consider a Memo of Information regarding the death of retiree David James. C. Consider a Memo of Information regarding the death of retiree Julius McNair. D. Consider approving an Application for Normal Retirement from Cynthia Cornish. E. Consider approving an Application for Normal Retirement from Ronald Payette. F. Consider approval for the paid-in-full judgements to be released from the record. Ellwanger said he would like to pull item A for discussion. Motion by Apple, Second by James, to approve the consent agenda, with the exception of item A. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. A. Consider a Memo of Information regarding the death of retiree Robert Johnson. Ellwanger said there are some differences in numbers on Mr. Johnson’s paperwork, and there is no supporting documentation for the differences. He asked staff if they can verify the documents are correct. Craig Akard, HR Director, said he will ask Taressa Macias to join the meeting to provide background information on this item. Tim Wilson, Assistant City Attorney, said we will come back to this item. IV. New Business A. Consider approving the minutes of the April 25, July 22 and August 16, 2024 meetings. Motion by Apple, Second by Ellwanger, to approve the minutes of the April 25, 2024 meeting. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. Motion by Apple, Second by James, to approve the minutes of the July 22, 2024 meeting. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. Motion by Apple, Second by Ellwanger, to approve the minutes of the August 16, 2024 meeting. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. B. Consider approving the 2025 Annual Meeting Notice and take action as deemed necessary. A copy of the 2025 Annual Meeting Notice was distributed at the meeting. A copy of the 2025 Annual Meeting Notice may be obtained from the City Clerk’s Office upon request. Motion by Ellwanger, Second by James, to approve the 2025 Annual Meeting Notice. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. C. Receive quarterly financial report from Morgan Stanley and take action if necessary – Perry Warren, Morgan Stanley. Perry Warren, Morgan Stanley, presented the Quarterly Financial Report. A copy of the report may be obtained from the City Clerk’s Office upon request. No action was taken on this item. D. Receive Quarterly Employees Refunds Made From Retirement System and Receive Quarterly Statement of Receipts and Disbursement and take action if necessary – Finance. Kaitlin Golden, Financial Services, presented the 1st Quarter Financial Report for FY 24-25. A copy of the report may be obtained from the City Clerk’s Office upon request. Motion by Apple, Second by Ellwanger, to approve the 1st Quarter Financial Report for FY 24-25. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED.  E. Consider authorizing payment of an invoice from Pension Benefit Information, LLC (PBI) in the amount of $3,500 for the annual fee associated with their services in conducting periodic death audits and locator services. Chairman Bayones said the Commission discussed the contract with PBI back in July of 2023, and the Commission approved the contract. The company the City of Lawton was formerly using for the death audit merged with PBI, and an updated contract was needed. Motion by James, Second by Apple, to authorize payment of an invoice from Pension Benefit Information, LLC (PBI) in the amount of $3,500. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. F. Discuss having a special meeting in November to receive the 2023 Audit of the Employee Retirement System and take action as deemed necessary. Chairman Bayones said that Dan Bledsoe, Finley & Cook CPAs, could not attend the meeting today to present the 2023 Audit. He has provided dates that he would be available for a special meeting in November 2024. Motion by Zacharias, Second by Apple, to schedule the special meeting for 9:00 A.M. on November 14, 2024. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. The Commission revisited consent item A. A. Consider a Memo of Information regarding the death of retiree Robert Johnson. Taressa Macias, Human Resources, said there are multiple calculations that have been figured on this individual. There is a letter in his personnel file dated February 3, 2016 stating that there was an error that was discovered in the calculations and that his new monthly payment will be $1,481.04. Macias said she did not find any calculations in the file that showed documentation on the ten year $1,692.22 figure – this must have been a typo at the time. She said her assumption is that the amount originally said $1,481.12, and then they wrote over that with the corrected amount of $1,481.04 when the error was discovered in February of 2016. James said it appears staff caught the miscalculation error within the first year of Mr. Johnson’s retirement. Motion by Ellwanger, Second by James, to approve the Memo of Information regarding the death of retiree Robert Johnson. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. V. Adjournment Motion by Apple, Second by James, to adjourn the October 24, 2024 meeting. AYE: Ellwanger, Zacharias, Apple, James, Bayones. NAY: None. MOTION PASSED. There being no further business, Chairman Bayones adjourned the meeting at 9:29 A.M.