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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011 05 02 City Commission Special Meeting With The Board Of Trustees (2)CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA CITY COMMISSION MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MONDAV, MAY 2, 2011 - 6:00 P.M. CITY HALL — COMMISSION CHAMBERS 1126 EAST STATE ROAD 434, WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA Mayor Charles Lacey Deputy Mayor Jean Hovey - Seat One Commissioner Rick Brown - Seat Two Commissioner Gary Bonner - Seat Three Commissioner Cade Resnick - Seat Four Commissioner Joanne M. Krebs - Seat Five CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA MINUTES CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES -MAY 2,201 PAGE 2 OF 7 CALL TO ORDER The Special Meeting of Monday, May 2, 2011 of the City Commission and the Board of Trustees was called to Order by Mayor Charles Lacey at 6:01 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of the Municipal Building (City Hall, 1126 East State Road 434, Winter Springs, Florida 32708). Roll Call: Mayor Charles Lacey, present Deputy Mayor Jean Hovey, present Commissioner Rick Brown, present Commissioner Gary Bonner, present Commissioner Cade Resnick, present Commissioner Joanne M. Krebs, present City Manager Kevin L. Smith, present City Attorney Anthony A. Garganese, arrived at 6:52 p.m. Board of Trustees: Chairperson Maria Fair, present Vice Chairman Ben McMahan, absent Board Member Vernon Rozelle, Jr., arrived at 6:14 p.m. Board Member Max Swaim, present Board Member Barbara Watkins, present A moment of silence was held, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC INPUT With Consensus of the City Commission, Mayor Lacey said that Public Input would be held a little later during this Special Meeting. REGULAR AGENDA REGULAR 600. Office Of The City Manager REQUEST: Discuss And Review The Current Winter Springs Pension Plan And Determine If Future Modification, Additions Or Reductions To That Plan May Be Necessary To Ensure The Plans Long -Term Viability. FISCAL IMPACT: No Funding Is Requested As Part Of This Agenda Item. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA MINUTES CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES -MAY 2,201 PAGE 3 OF 7 COMMUNICATION EFFORTS: This Agenda Item Has Been Electronically Forwarded To The Mayor And City Commission, City Attorney/Staff, The Board Of Trustees, And All eAlert/eCitizen Recipients; And Is Available On The City's Website, LaserFiche, And The City's Server. Additionally, Portions Of This Agenda Item Are Typed Verbatim On The Respective Meeting Agenda Which Has Also Been Electronically Forwarded To The Individuals Noted Above; And Which Is Also Available On The City's Website, LaserFiche, And The City's Server; Has Been Sent To City Staff, Media/Press Representatives Who Have Requested Agendas/Agenda Item Information, Homeowner's Associations/Representatives On File With The City, And All Individuals Who Have Requested Such Information; And Has Been Posted Outside City Hall; Posted Inside City Hall With Additional Copies Available For The General Public; And Posted At Five (5) Different Locations Around The City. This Agenda Item Is Also Available To Any New Individual Requestors. City Staff Is Always Willing To Discuss This Or Any Agenda Item With Any Interested Individuals. RECOMMENDATION: The City Manager Recommends That The City Commission And The Board Of Trustees Review Information Presented During This Meeting And Through Discussions, Deem How They Wish To Proceed. City Manager Kevin L. Smith addressed the Mayor and City Commission. Mr. Shawn Boyle, Director, Finance and Administrative Services Department commented briefly on the City's Pension Plan and some of the terminology including cliff vesting versus step vesting; and a Plan Termination versus a Plan Freeze. Mr. Boyle then explained, "The termination would be, the Plan terminates - the employees keep whatever they've earned to date. There will be no new entries into it and the people that are in it - will be expelled into something else." Manager Smith noted, "No new benefits accrued, no time served accrued." Mr. Boyle added, "Then the freeze would simply mean in our definition as we define it here today that the employees that are in the Plan would remain in the Plan — and continue to earn benefits." Mayor Lacey added, "So, when you say freeze, we are talking about freezing people who can enter the Plan, not freezing the continuation of the Plan?" Manager Smith and Mr. Boyle stated, "Correct..." Mayor Lacey further remarked, "...The people who are frozen into it, still contribute, the City continues to contribute, and they earn benefits." Manager Smith pointed out, "The reason why we're using these terms is because those are the terms Larry (Wilson, Actuary, Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company) used in his Report; so, we wanted to mirror that." Board of Trustees Board Member Vernon Rozelle, Jr. arrived at 6:14 p. m. A document showing a graph of "Employee Risk" to "City Risk" was discussed by the City Commission and Staff. Defined Benefit Plans and the Defined Contribution Plans were then addressed. Commissioner Joanne M. Krebs mentioned, "I know we got some numbers from the Actuary; but most of that was based on a DB (Defined Benefit) Plan and I know that some have asked about if you went to a partial DB (Defined Benefit Plan) for high risk and a DC (Defined Contribution) Plan, I don't think we have any numbers on that." Commissioner Krebs added, "I would want to have all of that information before I could make that decision." Commissioner Cade Resnick asked about economic changes in the future; to which Mr. Boyle stated, "Anything, any fix that Kevin (Smith) or I or any of the Directors here will propose to you will not be temporary fixes. We're looking at the long term." CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA MINUTES CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES —MAY 2,201 PAGE 4 OF 7 ❖ ❖ AGENDA NOTE: PUBLIC INPUT WAS HEARD NEXT AS DOCUMENTED. ❖ ❖ PUBLIC INPUT Mr. Dave Myers, Seminole County Fire Department: spoke about frozen wages; overtime; an amortization schedule he addressed with the City Manager; and asked that the City Commission keep their current Pension Plan benefits the same. Mr. Ron Ligthart, 1036 Winding Waters Circle, Winter Springs, Florida: commented that he opposed a Defined Benefit Plan and spoke in favor of a Defined Contribution Plan; and mentioned what some other Seminole County cities were doing. Chief of Police Kevin Brunelle, Winter Springs Police Department: remarked about General Employees in the Police Department and their contributions; leadership; and the merits of a Defined Benefit Plan for his General Employees. Ms. Kelly Balagia, 508 Mark Run, Winter Springs Florida: spoke of the City's current Pension Plan and asked that the City Commission consider mitigating any Pension Plan changes so General Employees who have been employed by the City have time to adjust to any Plan revisions. Board of Trustees Chairperson Maria Fair mentioned to the City Commission that the Board of Trustees had not yet been able to convene and come to a decision as a body. Discussion followed on benefits and calculations. Members of the City Commission and the Board of Trustees next discussed which Pension documents had been provided to the Board of Trustees. Tape 1/Side B Discussion followed regarding waiting for decisions to be made by the Florida legislature; getting input from the Board of Trustees; and that the City Commission wanted to make sure they had all the facts and information. City Attorney Anthony A. Garganese arrived at 6: 52 p. m. Commissioner Resnick asked about the Pension Reform Bill and stated, "It says here — passed the Senate. Is there a companion House Bill?" Manager Smith noted, "My understanding is there is a companion Bill but again we'll know and have more information on that in a week, week and a half, once we speak with a Pension Attorney." With further comments, Commissioner Krebs remarked about comparisons and stated that she would like "Information on what I asked for before - the DC (Defined Contribution) Plan; if a DC (Defined Contribution) Plan was implemented, if there was - in your terminology, a termination; and then a DC (Defined Contribution) Plan implemented, I would like to see what those figures would be as well." Mayor Lacey spoke of possible recommendations to Staff going forward and explained, "The recommendation was for new employees to come into the system, to go automatically into a Defined Contribution Plan and not be part of the DB (Defined Benefit) Plan; in other words, the freeze of the Defined Benefit Plan." Commissioner Brown stated, "If we were Voting tonight, I think that would be an affirmative." CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA MINUTES CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES -MAY 2,201 PAGE 5 OF 7 Commissioner Krebs reiterated her previous request and clarified, "I wanted a comparison if the traditional DB (Defined Benefit) Plan for Fire and Police was kept, similar to the Lake Mary Plan; and a DC (Defined Contribution) Plan was put in place for General Employees. I wanted to see what those figures were." Manager Smith said, "We'll certainly bring that back." Board of Trustees Board Member Rozelle, Jr. commented for the Record about the timeline related to information going to the Board of Trustees. Discussion. Board of Trustees Chairperson Fair said, "I am not speaking on behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am speaking of my own personal knowledge in the Pension area as well as personal information that I have received as a Board of Trustees Member; and reading all of the Plan options, it is very clear that the very first step that you are going to have to take is to decide number one (1), are you going to do a Plan closure? Are you going to do a Plan freeze?" Further comments ensued Next, discussion followed on various possible options and that Actuarial science factors were needed to provide such data. Continuing, Mr. Boyle explained, "When it gets down to quantifying the savings for the City, it really is complicated. It's an Actuarial calculation. We would need to know the specific demographics of the group that would be migrating voluntarily over to the DC (Defined Contribution) Plan to actually calculate that." Additional discussion ensued that such calculations by the City's Actuary would be an additional cost to the City. Commissioner Krebs commented on 175/185 Pension System funds and inquired if we would be able to collect from contributions made to the 175/185 Pension System funds? Mayor Lacey asked for Consensus regarding the City Manager's recommendation "That we keep the special risk uniformed sworn Officers in the Police Department, not to say exclusively; we would still consider others in another time; but focus now just on those Officers whether we would keep current and new sworn Police Officers in a Defined Benefit Plan, parameters still to be tweaked." Commissioner Krebs asked, "Police or Police and Fire?" Commissioner Rick Brown added, "Would that be the seventeen (17) Firefighters as well?" Commissioner Krebs stated, "I would go with that." Deputy Mayor Jean Hovey, Commissioner Resnick, and Commissioner Brown nodded in agreement. Manager Smith remarked, "What you just articulated would be my recommendation - that Public Safety stay on the DB (Defined Benefit) Plan as it may be Amended, as we have those conversations. But just so everyone understands, from a financial perspective and a financial perspective only, that represents a little over fifty percent (50%) of our costs; so, we would still have those issues." Commissioner Krebs commented, "When I said that I agreed to a DB (Defined Benefit) Plan for Fire and Police, I understand that there may be some tweaks to that. I am not saying `No' to that. But what I am saying is `Yes' to the DB (Defined Benefit) Plan and take it from there and work on it." Mayor Lacey noted, "All we are simply saying is that new and existing Police and Fire would stay in the Defined Benefit Plan, but we are reserving still that discussion of how we might modify the Defined Benefit Plan." Commissioner Gary Bonner said, "In support of Police and Fire continuing to have the option to be on the Defined Benefit Plan - I would like to supplement that personally with the Defined Contribution Plan forthcoming that we actually would afford options, choices, individual decision making to the individuals in the Plan and future sworn Officers that would be joining..." Commissioner Bonner further explained, "...To actually have the option to choose Defined Contribution (Plan) versus Defined Benefit (Plan), and to have the option to choose to freeze, I believe is the term we are using, their current Defined Benefit (Plan), and migrate over to Defined Contribution (Plan), if it was their individual personal choice to do so." CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA MINUTES CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES -MAY 2,201 PAGE 6 OF 7 Discussion followed on other possible options for Firefighters; and possibly splitting the Plan for General Employees. Mayor Lacey summarized, "This is where I think we are — that there seems to be general agreement that we want all new employees and the General Employees to go into a Defined Contribution Plan and sometime tonight or in the future, we need to talk about what that Defined Contribution (Plan) batch is going to be. I think we have decided or are coming to a decision that says that we are going to keep special risk (Police and Firefighters) in a Defined Benefit Plan, and that would include new employees coming into the Department; and there are several parameters related to that Defined Benefit Plan that we need to address and see how we want to modify that, if any. And then we have the big question, for — current General Employees, are we going to freeze the Plan where they continue to accrue current benefits or will we continue terminating the Plan and then migrating them into a Defined Contribution Plan." There were no objections to Mayor Lacey's summarization. Commissioner Krebs suggested her preference was for the Board of Trustees to meet and then to come to a follow-up joint meeting with the City Commission. With discussion, Board of Trustees Chairperson Fair noted that the Board of Trustees would be pleased to meet again with the City Commission. Board of Trustees Board Member Rozelle, Jr. commented next on the City Commission's preferences. Board of Trustees Chairperson Fair remarked, " I would assume you are looking at both the short term and the future cost as Commissioner Resnick stated, that we don't want to be doing this ten (10) years down the road or someone else. We don't want to push this issue down the road. It needs to be a sustainable, viable Plan, long- term... " Commissioner Krebs added, "... Sustainability... " Board of Trustees Chairperson Fair continued, "...That being said, I think we have to consider both the short and the long term costs but if you would direct us another way, please do so at this time; otherwise, that is the manner in which we will proceed — is we will look towards both the short term and the long term and analyze it as a whole." Mayor Lacey then commented, "Along those lines, the big question outstanding is for General Employees, whether to terminate or freeze. Kevin (Smith) or Shawn (Boyle), can you give us some guidance, what you know at this point, or what the financial comparison is between those options?" Commissioner Krebs suggested it was the length of time to get there. Manager Smith agreed with this comment and added, "The issue is really the amount as much as it is the length." Discussion. Next, discussion ensued on whether Actuarial calculations would be needed for a follow-up joint Special Meeting with the Board of Trustees. Regarding holding another Special Meeting of the City Commission and the Board of Trustees, May 18, 2011 was suggested and Commissioner Krebs said that this date would work for her. Board of Trustees Chairperson Fair added, "Looks like our Board is all agreeing with May the 181h, (2011). As to when this Special Meeting would start, Mayor Lacey suggested, "6:00 p.m." Hearing no objections, Mayor Lacey summarized that the City Commission would hold a second Special Meeting with the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, May 18, 2011, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Members of the City Commission stated, "Agreed." CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA MINUTES CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES —MAY 2,201 PAGE 7 OF 7 ADJOURNMENT Mayor Lacey adjourned the Special Meeting at 7:33 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: NOTE: These Minutes were approved at the May 9, 2011 City Commission Regular Meeting.