CITY OF SAN DIEGO RETIRED EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION
BOARD MEETING MINUTES   
January 8, 2008 
War Memorial Building, Balboa Park

Present: President Nancy Acevedo, Joe Flynn, Ty Rogers, Virginia Silverman, Terry Flynn , Robert West, John Casey, John Tsiknas, Alan Hardtarfer, Alyse Ford, Sylvia Tatum,  Jean Struiksma, Lynn Swanson, Patricia Karnes.

Meeting called to order at 9:30a.m.
Minutes for November 13, 2007 CSDREA Board approved with corrections. West asked the grammar on the second line, second page be corrected.

COMMUNICATIONS: Nancy Acevedo

War Memorial Building Reservation Request
Nancy was informed that the new application for a permit is requiring us to commit until 2011. We will comply with the request.

Don Rae E-mail re Health Insurance Payer
In response to Don Rae, West will add language to an existing issue paper on healthcare explaining the federal changes in healthcare pre-funding and the City of San Diego consenting to pay directly for San Diego retirees.

Non-Profit Status 501©7
Our 501©7 non-profit status allows us to send a letter, to the Central Democratic Committee, asking that they not endorse candidates for City Attorney.

Retiree Issues Task Force (RITF)
RITF is made up of CSDREA and Retired Fire and Police members and they meet with Retirement and City Staff.

Wescoe felt Rebecca Wilson should no longer meet with the task force since RITF has been focused on improving benefits instead of administering benefits.
JoAnne Sawyer-Knolls has not been meeting with RITF, yet remains our only designated contact with the City and should be involved where action by the City is necessary.

Ron Moskowitz, of retired Fire and Police, has proposed a meeting of SDCERS officials, Nancy and himself to present retiree issues to David Wescoe.

Nancy read the items to discuss with Wescoe:
- Reimbursement for pre-1980 medical expenses; elimination of unnecessary paperwork..
- Return of drafts of CSDREA issue papers sent to SDCERS for review.
- Printing and sending out of Survivor booklets by SDCERS.
- Can CSREA assist with a General Meeting of all members of SDCERS?
- Encourage SDCERS efforts to incorporate Corbett/13th Check into monthly checks. Notify retirees of Corbett/13th Check earlier in the year so they can plan accordingly.

Added to agenda for Retreat:
- SDCERS' Web Site access to CSDREA's web site.

2008 Roster
Nancy passed out the new CSDREA Board Roster.


TREASURER'S REPORT- Sylvia Tatum

NOVEMBER 2007
Grand Total Reserve-Operating Balance on 11/1/07 was $36,480.29
Receipts $2,023.52
Expenditures/Transfers $1,903.72
Operating Fund Ending Balance 11/30/07 was $4,690.46
Grand Total Reserve-Operating Fund on 11/30/07 was $37,537.59
Legal Fund Money Market ending balance on 11/30/07 was $27,757.47

DECEMBER 2007
Grand Total Reserve-Operating Balance on 12/1/07 was $37,537.59
Receipts $3,821.95
Expenditures/Transfers $2,757.28
Operating Fund Ending Balance 12/31/07 was $5,755.13
Grand Total Reserve-Operating Fund on 12/31/07 was $39,549.72
Legal Fund Money Market ending balance on 12/31/07 was $28,701.04

ACTION ITEMS: Nancy Acevedo

DIRECTOR'S LIABILITY INSURANCE- John Tsiknas
John announced the current contract expires on March 11, 2008 and recommended payment.

CSDREA' ANNUAL AUDIT COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS-
Two Board Members- Ruth Ann and Terry Flynn.
One General Member-(Note: At the General Meeting, Mary Bush said she would volunteer.)

RETREAT, Draft of Agenda for Tuesday, January 22- Nancy asked Board members for input.
Added: "Hospitality", "Holiday Party -location", "Council vote to send money to CalPERS' California Employment Health Trust Program."
Nancy will add an legal update to the agenda. If he is not available, she will contact the other attorneys who did a presentation to the Board last year.

INFORMATION-DISCUSSION ITEMS

INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS - Nancy Acevedo
Terry Flynn will swear in new officers at the General Session.

CERS Web Site Access/Proposed "User Group"-Nancy Acevedo
Ross McCollum has requested a user group be organized to assist SDCERS in developing access to individual records by retirees.
Nancy will also be working for the ability for CSDREA and SDCERS web sites to communicate.

CITY ATTORNEY REQUESTS FOR RETIREE RECORDS-Nancy Acevedo
SDCERS continues to notify retirees, whose records the City Attorney has requested for excess "415" payments. Due to her years at the City, Nancy is now on the list and alert to the issue.

STATUS OF PROPOSED WATERFALL REVISION- Virginia Silverman reported there is no new City Council agenda date as yet. Virginia noted that the Council was voting on an independent counsel for pension issues.

DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING- Lynn Swanson
(See below, under Advocacy Committee.)

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Advocacy Committee- Ty plans to join a quiet organized group, that Lynn announced, outside the Democratic Central Committee meeting on December 8th. City employees, and retired Fire & Police, plan to carry personal signs asking for no endorsements of anyone running in the primary, although endorsements are not on the committee's agenda.

Also:
Patti handed out copies of the State Proposition 162, that people passed in 1992. It states in Section Two (e) "Raids by politicians on public pension funds will burden taxpayers with massive tax increases in the future." And Section Three(a) "To protect pension funds so that retirees and employees will continue to be able to enjoy a basic level of dignity and security in their retirement years." And Section Three(g)"To affirm the legal principle that a retirement board's duty to its participants and their beneficiaries take precedence over any other duty."

Other possible advocacy issues, Patti listed, are:
1) An Actuarial Soundness policy to be developed publicly at SDCERS, per the recommendation of SDCERS Trustee Bill Sheffler and the Navigant Report. SDCERS Trustee Murray has requested a "field search" of Aguirre's report on SDCERS. The focus of Aguirre's report is Actuarial Soundness. Mr. Keller, SEC's representative at the City, is looking at internal controls for reporting pension debt at SDCERS. SDCERS' actuary, Cheiron will be presenting SDCERS' numbers for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2007, at the January SDCERS Board meeting, including SDCERS' most recent funded ratio and next year's payment due from the City.  And the $600 million, the Mayor promised Unions to put into SDCERS, has not arrived, perhaps due to bonding issues with the SEC.
2) The IRS gave the Council 150 days, from (correction December 10), 2007, to pass the IRS settlement with SDCERS. Aguirre is planning to present his ordinance in February, and the Mayor is asking the Council today to hire outside Counsel in lieu of Aguirre. Technical correction Ordinances for SDCERS have been in Aguirre's office for two years. The Waterfall's "surplus earnings" issue has not returned to the Council agenda.
3) The City Council is waiting for verification of a fair division of SDCERS' assets, to approve SDCERS change to a GROUP TRUST.
4) Legal cases: The 1090 "Lexin Policy" is still on appeal. It is the court case of the conflict of interest of some of the previous SDCERS Board Trustees. Aguirre has a new lawsuit on the cost of Purchase of Service.
5) SDCERS' Fiduciary Counsel, Harvey Leiderman, resigned. Questions remain as to why and who should know.

Program Committee- Patti Karnes
Patti reported on suggested programs for Board input.
Dates for candidate forums, particularly City Attorney, were recommended for April and May.

Programs Scheduled (Presenters):
January 8    Erica Bouris, Ph.D., Osher Institute SDSU - Patti is presenter.
February 12   Joan Stein,Deputy DA, Economic Crimes Unit

Newsletter Editor- Lynn Swanson
Lynn announced Jean Struiksma ( from SDCERS and the City Attorney's office) is the new newsletter editor. Email Jean, with cc to Lynn.  Lynn will remain back-up for vacations.

Information Technology and Web Site- John Tsiknas and Alan Hardtarfer
Alan Hardtarfer will be working with SDCERS Data Processing personnel regarding access to demographic and other data. (Also see: "CERS Web Site Access/Proposed User Group" above.)

Web Posting Board Policy Committee Update- No action yet.

Membership Recruitment- Nancy Acevedo
Joe Flynn and Alyse Ford volunteered to do presentations at future retirement seminars, as Ross has left and John Casey is not sure of his availability.
The date of the next retirement seminar is not known yet.

RETIREMENT BOARD: Carmen Lutes
Carmen was unavailable due to her responsibilities as a caregiver for a family member.
Business and Governance Committee, Thursday, January 17th, 8:30a.m.;
Investment, January 17th, 1:30p.m.; Full Board, Friday 18th, 8:30p.m.

CERS Policy Regarding Loaning Funds to City- Patti Karnes
Patti spoke to the SDCERS Board, in November, to re-consider and approve Doug McCalla's request for a hard prohibition against loans to the City in the SDCERS Investment Policy. In December, McCalla informed Patti that due to trust deeds being held in the City's Attorney office, that it is the best thing for SDCERS not to have a hard prohibition against loans to the City at this time. He did not know if those trust deeds were part of the Gleason Settlement. (If the City failed to make future annual payments per the Gleason Settlement, City property would go the SDCERS.).


SDCERS Fund Balance was down $250 million to $4.95 Billion since Doug McCalla's last report in October.  McCalla also reported that SDCERS had sent out just under $100 million in benefits last year.

Adjourned 10:50a.m.
Submitted by P. Karnes January 21, 2008