Board of Trustees
San Diego City Employees Retirement System
401 "B" Street, Suite 400
San Diego, CA 92101
                                                                       

April 6, 2005

Dear Board,

Re: Possible change of the Board's meeting time and unresolved issues.

      Welcome! When I called SDCERS to be notified of Board meeting times, it seemed that the third Friday's 1:30 p.m. time may be changed to 4:00 p.m.
      This was a wonderment. How late will the Board be meeting on a Friday night? While some past Board meetings have lasted only two hours, increasingly Board sessions have gone three to five hours followed by Closed Sessions with outside legal counsel. The public Board discussions have lengthened due to the need to resolve many issues:

 

  • Updating the SDCERS' administrative/governance.
  • Splitting off the Port District's assets.
  • Verifying SDCERS' tax consequences of 1) Presidential Union Retirements, 2) buying "air time" with 457 plan funds, and 3) DROP (plus, implementing the IRS' new DROP minimum distribution rules).
  • Re-calculating the actuarial return.
  • Re-calculating the current percent of funding, including the impact of the non-contingent reality of the Corbett liability.
  • Reviewing legal issues, as well as, investigations of the City by the City Attorney, County D. A., and State for conflict of interest laws, U.S. Attorney, FBI, SEC. Review of SDCERS' Board by the Committee for Government Efficiency and Openness.
  • Updating the 50/50 split of the contribution rate between the City and employees, particularly the fire and police.
  • Commenting on the time consumed by current procedure of approval/denial of disability retirements.
  • Considering a new comprehensive audit of SDCERS, as the last one was done in 1990.

 

   Will attorneys representing disability applicants, Union lawyers doing presentations, and the Board's outside legal counsel find late Friday afternoon/evening times professional? Will the Actuary, staff, and the television crew be on overtime?
     Safety is a factor after normal work hours in downtown, whether it involves returning to a car in the parking stacks, or waiting for a trolley. Traffic conditions worsen starting at 3:00 p.m., so, while more vocal, active employees would be able to attend after work, many seniors will not come to meetings, because their ability to see in the dark fades with age. As half of the system's retirement contributions were made retirees/employees and many retirees/employees are not covered by Social Security (because the City pulled out of Social Security in the 1980s), many employees/retirees are feeling very sensitive and concerned about the actions the Board will be taking.

     In conclusion, please consider safety and time needed, when deciding on the starting time of the Board meetings. I wish all of you the best as new Board members.

     Respectfully,  
                     
     Patricia Karnes,
   

  (While I am a member of the Advocacy Committee of the City of San Diego Retirement Employees Association, I am speaking as an individual. I come regularly to SDCERS' Board and Committee meetings. I am a retired Librarian after 24 ½ years, with pre-1996 retirement benefits.)
   
     Email:  pawkarnes@AOL.com

 

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