is the December 16th 3:00 Cocoa Beach Police Pension Board meeting >> and fire >> and fire. Uh we'll do the roll call for the police. Dan,
Bill >> present. >> Joe >> present. >> Greg >> present. >> Dan's absent. >> Okay, roll call on the fire side. AJ >> present. >> Leam >> here.
>> Michelle here. Dean >> here. >> Steven >> present. Okay. >> All present. Okay. public comment. >> No, >> no public comment. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, basically now the the police
board needs to appoint a chairman seeing how Chris Khan has resigned. So, out of the four of you, you have to appoint a chairman. >> Do we have anybody wants this job? I'm too assumed it would be you.
>> Okay. >> Vote on it. >> Yeah. Who need a motion? >> Just be a motion to nominate. >> Okay. Who's making the motion? >> Greg's making the motion. Okay. >> Okay. >> All in favor? >> Congratulations.
>> Okay. Congratulations, sympathies, whichever. >> We do welcome Greg as our new board member. >> Yeah, welcome. >> He was uh voted on earlier this afternoon, so we're back up to full board. >> Do we need to do anything on old news?
>> Yes. Basically, you have your summary plan description that needs to be signed and the admin contract needs to be signed. I have them up here and we'll do that at the end of the end of the day. >> Okay. >> And we'll get those taken care of. >> Okay. Okay. Has everybody seen the minutes for
September the 4th? >> Everybody? >> Yes. >> Anybody have a motion to approve the minutes? >> I'll give a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by Bill, second by Joe. All in favor?
>> I opposed. Okay. M fireside. >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. >> I'll second that. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay, we're up to expenses.
Everybody seen the expenses? Any questions? Uh, I have a question, Debbie. It says January will start with back pay. >> Yeah. >> So that >> Oh. Oh, that's on the admin fee. >> Yeah.
>> Is that what you're talking about? Yes. Because my fee was uh appointed for October 1st, but it's not signed. So, it's going to be retro back to October 1st. Yes, that's what that's for. Okay. >> I just thought, well, why are we paying
her? >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> Uh, do we have a motion to accept expenses? >> Motion to accept. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Greg second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Motion pass. >> Okay. In the fire side. Um, any questions on expenses? >> Motion accept. >> Motion to accept by me. >> Second. >> I'm sorry. >> By Dean.
>> By me. Second by Dean. >> All in favor? >> I Debbie wants to talk about the expenses. >> Okay. the expenses. As you know, last um meeting, last quarter on the police side, we had to increase the budget
because of the two disability downfalls that we had. And so we increased it by 25,000. So at the end of the fiscal year um we increased it to 122,400
and we have in the left in the budget was $97025. So we we're not in the red. So we were good. And then on the fire side um they were fine. uh all the expenses were paid and
they spent $81,13.99 and left in their budget was $16,3861 and they had they didn't have a disability. So that's what the expenses. So on those you need to approve the expense report because we'll have to send that to the state.
>> We need to approve it. >> Yes, ma'am. Let me sir. Do we have a motion to approve expenses as presented by Debbie? >> So, this is essentially there's there's there's two mandatory disclosures that that the state requires at the beginning
of the fiscal year. Excuse me. Uh oh, good afternoon. My name is Pedro Herrera. I think for the newest trustees, I'm uh I serve as the attorney for both pension funds. Um so part of the disclosures at the beginning of the fiscal year the board will adopt uh a
proposed budget administrative budget. Um it's not like local government or you know what you see in the federal government, right? It's not a balanced budget. It's really more similar to maybe something you would do, you know, kind of keep at your own home, right? Where where you kind of just track uh
expenses and so on. um there's no consequence to exceed the budget only that you would convene adopt a revised budget and then we have to file it with the with the plan sponsor with the city in this case. Uh and then the book end to that is at the end of the year you
approve your final accounting right which is what you actually spent. So you have your proposed budget essentially telling the public you know this is what we think we're going to spend and then you kind of bookend that with with your final account. This is what we actually spent. We need a >> motion.
>> Motion. >> Yes, sir. >> Accepted. >> I do that motion. >> Second, >> Bill. Joe second. All in favor? >> I
>> opposed. Budget pass. >> Motion to accept on the fire side. >> Motion accept by me. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> the next item is the meetings for the coming year. I don't think we need a
motion on those, do we? >> No, I think if you if you like just >> dates, >> you just >> board consensus if everybody's okay with the dates. That's that should be fine. >> Okay, Debbie, you want to tell us about insurance?
>> No. >> Hold on a minute. Okay. Um, basically on the insurance side is I've sent out three proposals and two of the three of the same company are use
the same company that we're using. So on Alliant what we've done is they've since the um assets have increased our pension uh has come down. So on the
fire side uh you've your your budget was I'm sorry the amount was 30 uh $3,59.75 for this year and you're down $724.25 from the previous year. which is a good savings.
Same thing with the uh police side. This year it's $4,74.34 and we saved $718.19 because of the assets were more. So we've saved so we're down. So we we did good.
>> Why is the police so much more than fire? Do you know? because we the uh I think the assets at that time probably were a little bit different between police and fire >> membership is higher more members too
more members but >> it would be based on >> let's see it says here it looks like uh both funds saw an increase in assets >> from the last set of financials on the file from 2004 to 2005
>> the same >> they're about the and mark and as of >> right but it looks it they said that the premiums increased from 2004 but only around 2%. Because I asked that question why were the difference was and they said because
it was the assets that were increased >> the assets actually the fire has more assets than the police >> but I think the assets at the time when I submitted it was the evaluation from last year that uh Foster and Foster gave
us. Do you have a agent you'd deal with that could give us an explanation? >> Yeah. J um Jamie's the one. Angela's the one that did this one. So if I can get a hold of J Angela. >> Yeah. >> And that and >> so um if the board is comfortable,
there's a couple things you could do. I I'm hesitant to wait until your next meeting to just to bind the insurance. >> Oh, we have to. So, right. So, I was just going to make the suggestion if the boards are comfortable, you could um
make a motion to approve the binding of the policy um contingent on Debbie uh you know getting a response in terms of what why there's a difference in the uh in the premiums. Um
>> and subject to final uh you know ratification by each respective chair if you like uh and then worst case scenario we can come back to the next meeting >> if you don't like it or you don't want it we could always cancel it >> approve what she has and then if it
changes we'll deal with that at the time >> right because right now the the they've already done a a soft extension on this because since our meetings are late in the month. They were actually due beginning the at the end of November.
So, they've already extended it. So, >> yeah. >> Okay. We need a motion to approve the expenditure for the insurance. >> Make that motion. >> Greg, >> I'll second it. >> Bill, all in favor?
>> Motion carries. on the fire side. Um Debbie, just to clarify, the budget was we estimated 6,500 and we came in a little over four. >> No. Um I'm sorry, which what was >> for the fire? Yes. It's a little over 4,000. >> Okay. But we had put in the budget
6,500. >> Yes. Okay. >> And this year it's only 3500. >> So we're coming in under coming underneath. Yes. >> So that's significant decrease. Okay. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. >> Mhm. >> Any questions? Fire. >> Motion to accept. Motion to accept. >> Second.
>> Second. >> I'm sorry. >> Motion to accept. >> Okay. Leam and second. >> Second. AJ. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. We're now ready for the report from Carrie and she's going to tell us that we have
passed 20 million which I've been looking for for a long time. >> I do want my thunder. Tommy. Yeah, she excited. >> No, I I actually have really good news for you all today. So, this is it's um great to be with you. Good afternoon, Greg. Look, look forward to working with
you. Welcome. Um I will start in the economic section of both of your books, which you you those of you that have been with us for a little while know the charts that start on page three, and just say from a public markets standpoint, um it was a very good
number. What very good quarter when you look at the numbers and you can look at that top right chart and see first of all all the bars go to the right that means positive results for US equities which is the top section in blue overseas equities in the middle and
orang-ish yellow and then fixed income or bonds in the bottom in red. Um and I think you know the the economy has held up pretty well. The GDP numbers were pretty positive and surprised a little bit to the upside for the quarter. A lot of that is coming from continued
enthusiasm and capex spending around AI, the future of AI, the potential of AI, um AI beneficiaries, etc. So, when you look at that top right chart, you see over 8% for the S&P 500. Very good absolute number for the quarter. We'd be
happy to get that in any given year, never mind in a quarter. Um, but do keep in mind that the concentration we've talked a lot about did continue. So about 70% of that 8% for the S&P came from those magnificent seven names. We've talked a lot about Alphab uh
Alphabet, Apple had a great quarter, Nvidia, some of those same ones that we've talked about. Um those very technology focused related names continue to really lead the way. Um I think in the background, as I mentioned, you know, good GDP numbers, sentiment is
starting to to kind of decline a little bit. little bit of softening in in sort of the the jobs um out there as well. Um but I think one positive through the quarter also was we did get a a 25 basis point cut from the Fed. U markets always like that. We've seen two since then. So
sort of a mixed picture I would say behind the scenes. Um but as I said, you know, very good numbers um from an equity market standpoint in the US. Overseas markets also very strong. In that middle section, the top bar is the all country XUS. essentially everybody
but us up seven. Um developed markets in the middle up five. And then emerging markets were really the big story for the quarter. You can see those up double digits. Few different things going on here. China had been pretty undervalued for a while. That made a nice comeback. They kind of stayed out of the news.
They've taken some stimulative measures for their economy. Uh put all that together, those numbers were good. And then also you saw some sort of supply chain realignment um countries that will benefit from that like Taiwan and Mexico also up for the quarter. And then as I
mentioned even within bonds in the bottom there 2% return for the quarter for the full aggregate. If we move in your books to the bottom of page 10 where we look at the last four quarters sort of in interest rates on this chart, the gray line on the bottom right of
page 10 is where we finished September 30th. And you can see rates dropped a bit on the front end of the curve in response to what the Fed was doing, but we're pretty stagnant across the rest of the curve. So a lot of the return you saw coming from fixed income was actually just the income. Um, which is a
good thing. So, you know, these numbers, very good numbers to finish our fiscal year. When we kind of bake them into your managers and your segments and you see the the topline number for the fiscal year, I think you'll be very happy. Uh, but just know that that kind of risk environment sort of continues
particularly within mid and small cap US equities. You've seen things like um rare earths providers, um, supercomputing names, power sources associated with kind of powering the data centers needed for AI. It's not necessarily sort of high return on
equity, quality companies with defensible modes. It's it's really all been kind of around that AI theme. Um, but again, very good numbers for the quarter, which put us in a really a stellar position for the fiscal year for both funds. Um, if I move in your books to what is
page number 13 on the bottom left, um, we include in your books every quarter, this is a line graph of the growth of your fund. So the gray segment at the bottom represents if we basically took contributions, took out expenses um
and and benefits and did not invest it. That's sort of where we would be in the gray segment. The blue line follows the market value of your funds. And you can see um and I'll start with fire in that top segment. You know, fire was just shy of 21 million, about 20 uh 20.8 million
to end the quarter. Um police was about 20.4 4 million. Um, very nice growth over time going back 10 years. Um, you can see in the bottom and I'm on I'll start again with FIRE. You know, over the last 10 years, we were just shy of 11 million 10 years ago. Um, we had a
net cash flow of almost negative 3 million. We've earned 13 million in that time getting us to that almost 21 million. And that return over 10 years has been 8.8%. Um, on the police side, very similarly, about 10.7 million 10 years ago, 3.3
million came out, over 13 million in gains, putting us at that 20.4 million and 8.7 uh% return for the last 10-year uh 10-year period for police. Um, so very good numbers for both funds. Very happy to say that.
Um if we advance one page from there to what is number 14 at the bottom um this is sort of a high-level view of where the assets are by type um for each of the pension funds and across the very top banner we show the value where we started the quarter and the value where
we ended the quarter um and I'm on fire first fire was just north of 20 million about 20.2 2 million to start the quarter. Again, ended at about 20.9. Um for police over the same period, we were at about 19.8 million to begin the quarter. We ended at about 20.4 million.
So, very nice pickup there. Um from an asset allocation standpoint, fire, you were just north of 52% in US equity. I'm going to round up to just about 17% in international equity in your fund. About 15 and a half% of the fund was in um
domestic fixed income. about 4% was in global fixed income, just shy of 10, about nine and a half percent was in real estate. Um, and then a couple percent in cash for ongoing benefits and expenses. On the police side, uh, very similar. you were I'm going to round up
to about 53% domestic equity about 16% international equity also 15.5% in domestic fixed income also just about 4% in global fixed um just under 10% in real estate and a negligible amount of cash for police as well. So that's sort
of our highlevel view of where things are. If we go from there um just a little bit to 19 in each of the books, this is what I'd call a relative view of your asset allocation. And so what you see on this page is along the left hand
side each type of asset. Um and then what you see off to the right hand side is a gray shaded box. That's what we call your range in your investment policy or sort of your um the lowest amount permitted and the highest amount permitted for each type of asset. The black line shows you our target or where
we aim to be. And then the triangle shows you where the portfolio actually was at the end of the quarter. And in summary, when we look at these pages, the first thing that we're looking for is to make sure that the triangles reside within the gray shaded boxes. And if they do, that means we're totally
compliant with our investment policy. Um, and you do see that for both of your funds. Um, in both funds, we are a little bit overweight in domestic and international equity. Not a big surprise. those segments have performed very well. We're pretty much right in line with domestic fixed income for
both. We're pretty much on target, slightly underweight, global fixed income. Um, and real estate, we on both funds, we've run underweight um on purpose in some ways. We have ASB, your your real estate manager, we've requested a redemption from them. So,
that piece is kind of running off. Um, just recently at your last meeting, we committed to Mavic or real estate debt strategy. Um Debbie and I just within the last couple days got the email back that your documents have been accepted. So over time we'll start to commit some money to that fund. Um that is done, but
obviously we were not there by September 30th. Um but kind of just looking at these pages in summary, I'm very comfortable with where both funds are. From time to time, if we have excess cash or if we need to raise cash, I always pull your value as of the most recent day so that I can take from
wherever you might be overweight. It's kind of a nice natural rebalance. Um, but that to say, you know, everything's very nicely in line with the investment policy for both funds. Very happy to say that. Um, if I go to page 22 in each of your respective books, that's where the
performance for the quarter lies. And each of your funds, and I'll just speak net of fees, each of your funds were up just about 4% for the quarter after fees. The benchmark was slightly north of that, about 5 1.5%. Um, and a lot of that has to do with domestic
equity, as I mentioned, the narrowness, the AI names that you're probably really tired of hearing me say. The rest of the segments in your portfolio actually did really well. It was just particularly the growth segment um that struggled a little bit. Uh, but I think the stellar news is on the fiscal year. Um, you
know, police, you were up about 12.1, fire, you're up about 12.3 net of fees. That's really excellent. You can see your peer ranks kind of ninth and 12th percentile. So really a successful fiscal year and very happy to be able to say that for both of your funds. Um
within the individual segments and equity overall for both funds that's US and international we were up about five as I mentioned in domestic equity that's where kind of a lot of the the um underperformance came from and particularly Winslow which is one line
under your domestic equity there in this incredibly narrow market just not holding Apple trimming some Nvidia and not having Tesla you can see for winds low that was a significant drag they gave you a positive that growth index was up over 10. That's how meaningful
just those few names in their performance has been kind of lately. Um the good news is the rest of the roster held up pretty well. You've got Touchstone in the midcap growth segment that did outperform by about a half of a percent over the index there. Um you've got Vanguard extended index. Obviously
that's just kind of matching everything below the S&P that was up almost nine. And then on the value side, u Vanguard equity income, you know, very good performance, up almost 6% and slightly ahead of the index. Brandy Wine did trail a bit. They've been overweight financials. That segment didn't do as
well for the quarter. And some of the kind of low um low return on equity sort of lower quality metrics outperformed. That's a challenge for them. U but I think that's kind of just an indication of of where the market has been. Um if you move over on the fiscal year to
date, you know, both funds very much closer to policy there. Winslow held up a lot better on the fiscal. Uh but this quarter was challenging again in this continued very concentrated market that we've seen. Um internationally speaking, that segment was up again slightly north of 7
and a half% for both of your funds. We got very good absolute numbers from both Europacific and from DFA. Europacific did trail a little bit. They've been underweight China. They also had some of their names like Novo Nordisk that pulled back a little bit for the quarter, but that was nicely offset by
DFA on the value side. So, putting those two together, we did beat the index there. Um, within fixed income overall, we were up just shy of 2 and a.5% and ahead of the index, which was up about 1.7. Um, within US fixed income, Dodge and Cox, very heavy manager, um, gave
you two and a half% over their index. Uh Pimco Global also good absolute performance of over 2% from that segment. Um and then ASB on the on the real estate side. Some of the restructuring they've done over the last couple of years has helped um and that segment was marginally positive um for
the quarter up a little over a percent um and gave you about 4% on the fiscal. Um so we're seeing a little bit of green shoots in real estate. Tommy was asking me, hey, are we still moving on? I I think the answer is yes. What I would envision is over the next couple of quarters, we will benchmark ASB against
some other managers that we follow in the space. You always have the right if you've changed your mind about ASB to rescend the redemption request. Um, but I think in the next few quarters, we'll take a look at that. We'll look at them as compared to their peers and sort of decide what the long-term plan is for
that core allocation. Um, but that being said, excellent fiscal year for both of you being up over 12%. Those are some of the best numbers that I've seen and I'm really happy for your funds and I'm happy to answer any questions that you all might have about that performance. >> Carrie, did you say Winslow? I'm I'm
sorry. I do have a question. Winslow uh what deinvested from some of the magnificent >> Yeah, they've had no Apple. Apple had a great quarter. um they trimmed some Nvidia and it continued to do really well. Um and no Tesla and those three things really were the main detractors
for them for the quarter which is pretty crazy. That's just a sign of really how narrow the performance has been. Um I do have um intermediate updates for you all through close of business on the 11th. Um and both of your funds have
gained a little bit in value since then. So I'll just do these if you don't like to That'd be great. This is that should be fired. They should be released. Markets kind of continue to rock and roll. So hopefully he'll be happy with that. Um and then one item that Dan
Kabazio has been asking for, which is sort of ironic since he's the only one that's not here today. But um we talked a little bit about, you know, Bitcoin, the potential for adding a very small amount of Bitcoin. Um so I did refresh the analysis that we looked at a couple of quarters ago which is basically to
say um if we had taken 2% one out of bonds one out of equities and put it in the um the Bitcoin IBIT is kind of the ETF that tracks Bitcoin's prices um how you would have done um so your actual
performance is simulated across the top if you'd had Bitcoin as what is in blue um bitcoin coins pulled back a little bit on the quarter and on the year-to- date basis. So, those numbers aren't significantly different. We actually did slightly better. Um, on the one year though, it is still about 50 basis
points better. Um, I will tell you I still don't see any funds that are doing it. Um, I don't know, Pedro, if you have seen any. I've got I know there's a couple of our clients that have talked about it, but I really haven't seen kind of any pension funds make that move in Florida that we work with. I know
there's some kind of here and there, but >> no, I agree. I I have not um I don't have any plans. >> Does your firm have a recommendation one way or the other on Bitcoin? >> We we don't take that approach because we believe every client is different. Every situation is different. So, we do
have some folks on the wealth side that use it and the ability for them to use it. Um, again, I think we're, you know, keeping an eye on kind of what's going on in in um in the space as it relates to public funds. Um, and again, I don't
think adoption has really kind of picked up in our space. the only the only place that I've seen it and if I believe it was it was a holding it was an alternative investment. It was in a private equity fund >> and that you know that fund invested in
some of the uh I don't even know the terminology blockchain or >> that's exactly it. Was it accolade by any chance? I know they're doing some picks what we call picks and shovels which is essentially maybe not investing in coins but investing in the infrastructure that coins might need and the inputs that the coins might need.
And so some that's exactly right. >> But that wasn't a direct investment by the pension fund per se. It was you know through obviously through a through a fund and that fund purchased. >> Does Bitcoin come under any kind of
securities that we're approved for? >> Um that's a good question. >> I don't think it's covered in the investment policy because I think >> I don't Yeah, I mean I think you would have investment. So we would need to modify the I agree you would have to modify your investment policy. I'm just checking if the ordinance actually
prohibits it just as a as a threshold matter. >> I think it prohibits possibly futures markets and it could I think that's right, Michelle. I'll pull it up, but I think that's right. >> Especially for a pension fund. >> It could either be futures or alternatives. I've seen it both ways.
>> You know, it's dropped from what 120,000 to less than 90 in the last few months. And I think that's kind of what you're seeing come through in those numbers at the last time we looked at it for each time period. And again, it's a very short period of time because I just used the iShares kind of pretty widely known
um ETF. Um but we were about 50 basis points under the Bitcoin allocation for every period last time we looked at it. Now that gap has closed some because of some of that pullback that you see. >> If we bought it six months ago, we would have lost a lot of money. And I think the other thing is with the price being
so volatile and with kind of you know that again just the behavior being as volatile as it is is how do you sort of rebalance nimly like if you wanted that to be 2% and all of a sudden it went to five or it went to you know almost zero
how do we be nimble about kind of reallocating that? I think that's part of the challenge of >> quick of an allocation like that. That's one of the things I know that we're kind of struggling with as we think about that. >> So, just generally speaking, it doesn't it seems like your ordinance would allow
for it. Um, it it it you know, obviously 185 has certain provisions to your point. Um, but it also allows for locally each board to amend uh what it can invest in with certain limitations, right? We can't change the international exposure for example. Uh but but here it
says um uh notwithstanding any limitation provided in chapter 185 um or any limitation in prior city ordinances to the contrary all monies paid into or held in the fund may be invested and reinvested in such securities, investment vehicles or property wherever
situated and of whatever kind shall be approved by the board including but not limited to common or preferred stocks, bonds or other evidence of indebtedness or ownership. Um, and then it allow it has some some of the language allowing for investment in uh kind of in group trust and co-mingle vehicles and things like that.
So, >> uh, it seems like your ordinance would allow for it. Uh, but to your point earlier, you know, we'd have to kind of go through some some other steps in terms of revising the investment policy statement and and and the like. So, okay.
Quick question. >> Um, on page 14, looking at the cash shows 293,000. Now, this one you just passed out. Everything's pretty similar except for the cash is 922,000. >> Yeah. So, contributions came in. Um, and
just a few days ago, Debbie and I actually worked with Salem to invest a lot of that excess cash, but it's contributions that came in after 101. >> Um, so we reported to you at 9:30. Obviously, that's through December. So quite for both funds quite a bit of contributions came in. That's a great question Joe. You'll see for both funds
that cash number was very large. Debbie and I have worked with Salem to get that excess cash invested. So you no longer have so much in cash. >> I like cash. >> I like cash too, but I'm liking it less and less with every Fed cut because you're just not getting paid as much.
You're at about three and a half now. In the heyday, we were at five. I can feel great about that. That's fine. But as we're going three and a half and then to three and then then I think it's time to kind of deploy in other places. So >> Jerry, I had a not not sure I I heard
your your comment kind of play a little bit to catch up on this on ASB. Yes. >> Are you reviewing your performance or reviewing real estate as an investment? >> So that is a great question Greg. We like the space but we will benchmark ASB against other managers. They'd had quite
a bit of performance struggles. Um, some of that related to kind of older assets including office. Some of it was honestly they didn't use a lot of leverage like their peers did when times were good. Um, so they had some performance challenges. The way that
fund works um, we we both funds have entered the redemption queue, but the way that fund works is they give us our money slowly over time as they're able to sell assets and reposition the portfolio. Um, so we still have, you know, 9ish% with them right now. Um,
over time we will look at the performance of managers that do similar things against them because we may go with a different fund once we've got the room to do that. Um, but I still like core real estate. It's just ASB's position in the portfolio that that you
know that is in question >> that canoe intelligence. Can you explain that? Yes, we started to utilize a service called Canoe um that helps us gather statements for our alternative investments. And I I know that word's going to sound foreign because really
all we use here is real estate. Um but essentially we asked for permission for them to help us pull our data and sort of aggregate it. Um and so that that was done. Uh it's a pretty well-known service. It's actually used by custodians like principal. It's used by a lot of very large asset managers. Uh
but that's kind of why it's it's an efficiency for us in gathering data essentially. We were comfortable with their security protocols again kind of their reputation in the industry and that's how we chose them. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Happy holidays everyone.
>> Yes. Thank you Carrie. >> Okay to you. >> Pedro is here in person. My condolences to everybody. Uh so uh fortunately nothing uh nothing really to report which is always it's always a good thing. Um since this is
the December meeting and we do have uh some some newer faces uh for the varsity faces. I apologize and bear with me for a little bit. Usually since this is the gift giving season, uh I usually take this opportunity just to give you a little bit of a refresher, a little
primer course on your obligations under state ethics laws. Uh so by by virtue of your service on the board, you are technically considered a public official. So therefore, subject to state ethics laws. And so what that means is if you're given something uh regardless of the value that you believe is being
given to you in some way, shape, or form to influence your decisions on the board, you should obviously reject that. Uh I don't think you you guys get lobbyed too often for for our important decisions on the retirement plan, but just in case uh just in case we're all we're all aware. Uh anything valued at
$100 or more, similarly, you should not accept that. Uh you should return it to sender, donate it, throw it away. Um and we always recommend just advising the state that you received the gift, who gave it to you, and and the disposition of it, right? What you did with it. Uh
anything valued between $25 and $100, uh you can accept it. There is a reporting requirement, however, on behalf of the person, company, entity that gives you the gift. Uh, and then anything valid at $25 or less, you can accept it. Uh, and there's no reporting requirement on
either side of the transaction, so to speak. Okay, simple, uh, simple enough. Um, kind of piggybacking off of that. So, uh, we used to provide holiday gifts to all of our clients. Uh, they were always under $25. Uh so there was no
reporting requirements. Uh but ever since co we kind of had to pivot away from that just for if you guys recall there was a there was a lot of logistics logistical issues in that. So uh we've since been uh making charitable donations uh in each of our clients
names. Uh so we'd like to continue that practice this year. We we'll be making a donation probably in the next week or two before the before the new year before the holidays. Anyway, uh you don't have to uh you don't have to say, you know, there's no action required on behalf of the board unless you don't
want me unless you don't want us to do it, then certainly tell us. Uh but uh if otherwise, uh we try and make the donations keep the donations apolitical for for obvious reasons. So, we we donate to uh local food banks around the state. There's there's three food banks
that we'll donate to. one uh kind of northern Florida up by Jacksonville, one in center Florida here or or a little bit over in Orange County uh and then one in South Florida and in Broward County. So, um just again, no action necessary, but just want to let you know that we'll we'll be making that donation
uh in each of your board's uh names. Okay. Uh and then some educational opportunities coming up for the board. uh the FPPPTA, Florida Public Pension Trustees Association, uh for our newer trustees. It's kind of the statewide uh education organization for public
pensions and trustees. They have a trustee seminar coming up February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd uh over in Orlando. Uh I believe registration is open, so if anybody's interested in going, that that may be a good one to go to since it's uh
it's relatively close by. But but either way, obviously uh you know, stay at the hotel, gas, mileage, guys aren't going to take a flight, but that's all reasonable expenses and and covered by the plan. So, um if anybody's interested in going, you know, certainly I
encourage you to to uh to try. >> The meeting is on the third. >> That's true. >> Oh, that is true. Well, so I mean, for whatever it's worth, that I don't think you have to reschedule it, but but the third, if you are going to go to the conference, I'm just kind of mentioning it. Third is really uh it's it's usually
over by about noon or so. U there's nothing really that goes on that day. I say nothing. There's a legal panel that I'm on. Um but but I kind of uh I kind of buried the lead on that. But so you know what I meant by that is there's you know I don't think if uh if you guys
miss if you were to miss that as much as much as I would be heartbroken I think you'll be okay with uh with missing it. >> Okay. a question on the training. If that's during the week and we're scheduled to work that day, do we have to take PTO to go to these trainings or
is that something that the city we can still get? >> Yeah, I mean I think that's that's so typically and we represent about about 140 plants just like you guys. Typically the the city the employer will
will not make trustees take vacation time for that. Um, but that's that's something that that you guys would have to discuss with your employer. That's >> that's not a you know that's that's employer employee kind of policy. We don't we don't really have much say in
that. I will say you know it's it's not common practice is that that you know you guys are allowed to go. Obviously it's a police and fire board and there's two respectively right there's two police officers, two firefighters who are required to be on the board. So
that's, you know, that's never been an issue. Uh I don't think in the past it's been an issue here. But >> I just wanted to >> No, no, no. It's a good question. >> A question that we've asked over in the past and didn't get a real clear answer, you know, for for LT to
>> Okay. >> knowledge and everything. >> I mean, I'm happy to I don't know if it'll be better or worse. I'm happy to follow up with the PD if you like. I mean, I don't know if that would help or not, but >> you could talk to me. I'll talk to you guys offline and we can figure something out.
>> Appreciate it. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> How would you register for this conference, Pedro? >> Um, so you can do it. Do you typically register? They just kind of do it themselves. >> They do it themselves. >> Okay. So, I can send you the link. Um, I'll what I'll do is I'll send it to Debbie. >> The link?
>> Yeah, I'll send it to Debbie and then Can you send it to all the board? So, I'll send you the link. >> Uh, and you should be able to go right on there and register yourself. Um, >> is this the one at the FHP building or is this the one >> It's at the Rosen Center uh in Orlando.
So, it's kind of next to the convention center or kind of across the street from the convention center. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Is there anything for administr to attend as well? >> Is >> I think so, but I mean that's not
>> Well, I went to the last one. >> I know. Yeah, I went there to that one on that, but uh yeah, one didn't know if there was one specifically for administration. >> No. Um so there's other there's other organizations that do have um you know,
kind of coursework geared for pension plan administrators. >> So, uh the International Foundation of Employee Benefits, the FEBP, it's a it's a long acronym. Uh it's probably the largest um education organization uh in
the country. Uh it's both governmental plans such as ours and uh you know the private sector sides have heartley plans, corporate plans, etc. Um but they do have kind of a specific track for uh administrators. >> Okay. What's the name of that thing again?
>> It's the I can send you the link as well. >> Yes. IFBP is the is the short way to say it. >> But yeah, I can send you a link on that. >> Yeah, send me a link on that. >> And just for anybody who's interested, um the NCERS, it's all these acronyms.
Uh National Council of Employee Retirement Systems, uh or National Committee, I forget, but something like that. Um great organization. Um they they are also having some uh conference coming up in the spring. I can get you
the dates on that, but uh that's out of state, so that's that's a little bit different. But if anybody's interested, I know we may have some some more senior trustees and maybe you want to try something else. It's a great uh it's a great conference to go to. And that focus is really on only governmental plans,
>> public sector plans. >> Okay. Send the link on that just in case. >> I I will send it all. And that's it. So that's all I had for my report. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Thank you. >> Okay, the next meeting is scheduled for
February the 3rd right here. >> Yep. >> And we need a motion on the police to adjourn. >> I so move. >> Second bill. Joe. All in favor? >> I wish you all a blessed Christmas. Happy New Year.
>> Move to adjourn on fire side. >> Motion by Dane. I'll second. >> Second. Thank you. All in favor? >> I have a question for you. >> Yes. But it didn't be voted on. >> Okay, let me go ahead and get these