Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOMM - Meeting Minutes - 283 - 6-3-2021 - RETIREMENT119 MINUTE BO0K RETIREMENT BOARD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA IMR LIMITED E1316649LD d 1 i� Minute No. 283 June 3, 2021 The quarterly meeting of the Washington County Retirement Board was held at approximately 10:24 a.m. on Thursday, June 13, 2021, in the public meeting room with the following members being present: Commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan, Nick Sherman and Larry Maggi and Controller Michael Namie. Absent from the meeting was Treasurer Tom Flickinger. Also present: Chief Clerk Cindy Griffin; Secretary Paula Jansante; Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis who exited the meeting at approximately 10:38 a.m.; and Lee Martin, Ph.D. and Bill Torre, CFA, CAIA, representing Marquette Associates. Approval of Minutes Mrs. Vaughan entertained a motion to approve Minute No. 282 dated February 18, 2021. The motion was moved by Mr. Sherman and seconded by Mr. Maggi that the above -mentioned minutes be approved as written. No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Namie — yes; Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously. Public Comment None. Treasurer's Report In Mr. Flickinger's absence, Mr. Namie presented the January and February 2021 statements stating that both months reconciled to zero. It was moved by Mr. Namie and seconded by Mr. Sherman to accept the reconciliations of the above -mentioned statements. No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Namie — yes; Mr. Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously. Retirement Allowance Report Bank Balance as of January 1, 2021 S 141,475.45 Add: ACH Credit 256,454.00 Add: Other Credits 772,291.21 Less: Cancelled Checks (159,751.24) Less: ACH Debits (762,862.84) Bank Balance as of January 31, 2021 $ 247,606.58 Transfer Out (54,339.06) ACH Return 37.41 Less: Outstanding Checks (158,877.66) Less: Retirement Check Run 34 427.27 Reconciled Balance as of January 31, 2021 $ Q WE RETIREMENT BOARD MINUTE BOOK WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNS /L.ANIA Bank Balance as of February 1, 2021 $ 247,606.58 Deposits to Checking Account 6,793.15 Add: ACH Credit 261,904.57 Add: Other Credits 685,632.10 Less: Cancelled Checks (222,201.86) Less: ACH Debits (879,089.13) Bank Balance as of February 28, 2021 $ 100,645.41 Transfers to Mutual Funds (5,489.36) Less: Outstanding Checks (64,751.23) Less: Retirement Check Run (30,404.82) Reconciled Balance as of February 28 2021 $ -9__ Mr. Namie presented the March 2021 statement stating that it reconciled to zero. It was moved by Mr. Namie and seconded by Mr. Sherman to accept the reconciliation of the above -mentioned statement. No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Namie - yes; Mr. Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously. Retirement Allowance Report Bank Balance as of March 1, 2021 $100,645.41 Deposits to Checking Account 22 051.65 Transfers In 15,353.49 Add: ACH Credit 261,566.54 Add: Other Credits 708,347.02 Less: Cancelled Checks (177,491.99) Less: ACH Debits (833,700.93) Bank Balance as of March 31, 2021 $ 96,711.19 Transfers to Mutual Funds (20,842.85) Less: Outstanding Checks (49,674.26) Less: Retirement Check Run (26,254.08) Reconciled Balance as of March 31, 2021 $Q Requisitions Mr. Namie stated that requisitions for the months of February, March, April and May 2021 totaled $3,903,445.95. It was moved by Mr. Namie and seconded by Mr. Sherman that the requisitions be approved. No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Namie - yes; Mr. Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously. L] 1 121 MINUTE BOOK RETIREMENT BOARD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA IMR LIMITED E1316649LD d j 1 Distributions February 2021 Check Payee Amount 2144 Washington County Cash Disbursement Account $ 28,668.60 2145 Michael A. Beresh 844.13 2146 Kayla Gulick 6,582.65 2147 Tanner Kefover 4,183.29 2148 LPL Financial as Trustee of IRA of Gregory Morrell 35,799.47 2149 Chase Pindel 190.17 2150 Washington County Regular Payroll Escrow Account 20,819.80 Transfer PNC Bank 55,678.90 Transfer Washington County Retirement Account 795,520.02 Total February 2021 Distributions 94U87.03 March 2021 Check Payee Amount 2151 Washington County Cash Disbursement Account $ 55,355.47 2152 Washington County Payroll Account 21,342.42 2153 Sharon Ann Dexter 133.11 2154 Karen Lee Keys LeValley 133.10 2155 Estate of Karen L. Puskar 4,518.62 2156 David H. Rhome 89.17 2157 Susan R. Featherston 82.00 2158 Nancy R. Mosser 82.01 2159 Linda R. Speicher 82.00 2160 Henry Novak 84.11 2161 Terry Ashley 5,813.45 2162 Jenna Chornak 6,592.00 2163 Kendall Coleman 2,380.48 2164 Melissa Hill 1,845.76 2165 Donald Kozak 412.11 2166 Trustee of Reliance Trust Co FBO Amy L. Mazanetz 11,591.96 2167 Heather R. McBride 17,520.92 2168 Connor Tibbe 1,063.34 2169 Lucas Tokarczyk 3,252.30 Transfer PNC Bank 63,607.59 Transfer Washington County Retirement Account 795,809.54 Total March 2021 Distributions 5 99 , 791.46 122 MINUTE BOOK RETIREMENT BOARD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA IMR LIMITED E1316649LD April 2021 Check Payee Amount 2170 Washington County Cash Disbursement Account $ 27,514.20 2171 John W. Harter 199.35 2172 Susan C. Holleran 47.79 2173 Glenda Smith 3,423,09 2174 Bailey Schmalzreid 847.30 2175 Paul Karmazin 1,495.05 2176 Martiqua Sloan 10,880.53 2177 E-Trade Securities as Trustee of IRA of Curtis Williams 12,273.35 2178 Mikayla Watson 4,747.59 2179 Washington County Payroll Account 21,342.42 Transfer PNC Bank 57,918.40 Transfer Washington County Retirement Account 794,977.11 Total April 2021 Distributions S 935,666 S May 2021 Check Payee Amount 2180 Joseph M. Bowers $ 63.51 2181 Donald A. Hartman 51.76 2182 Thomas M. Cowden 10,226.44 2183 Katerina Findley 7,296.30 2184 Marsha Hayman 3,167.07 2185 Chelsea Heinen 4,856.15 2186 Melanie A. Messner 1,948.61 2187 James Miller 134.64 2188 Joseph Muntan 11,429.15 2189 Haley Savel 5,902.65 2190 Arrion Sorrell 3,596.65 2191 Ryan Wood 2,188.04 2192 Washington County Payroll Account 21,230.48 2193 Washington County Cash Disbursements Account 79,482.92 Transfer PNC Bank 65,495.69 Transfer Washington County Retirement Account 810,631.22 Total May 2021 Distributions S 1,027,701.28 1� 123 MINUTE BOOK RETIREMENT BOARD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA 1 d ]MR LIMITED E1316649LD Old Business None. New Business Mrs. Vaughan entertained a motion to approve a request from David Powell to purchase part-time service credit dated from February 15, 2018 to May 25, 2021, in the amount of $5,435.00. It was moved by Mr. Namie and seconded by Mr. Sherman that the service credit request be approved. No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Namie — yes; Mr. Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously Mrs. Vaughan entertained a motion for the ratification of an MOU dated March 1, 2021, for the approval of a request by Angelia Mattes to purchase 5 years of military service dated September 5, 1989 to September 4, 1994, in the amount of $21,678.66. It was moved by Mr. Sherman and seconded by Mr. Namie that the service credit request be approved. No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Namie — yes; Mr. Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously After some discussion Mrs. Vaughan entertained a motion for a Request for Information (RFI) for the consideration of adding an additional securities litigation firm at no cost to the County. The County currently retains one firm but is considering adding another firm to monitor the retirement portfolio which has become increasingly diversified. RFI. It was moved by Mr. Sherman and seconded by Mr. Namie consenting to the submission of an No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Namie — yes; Mr. Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously Portfolio Presentation — Lee Martin, Ph.D. and Bill Torre, CFA, CAIA — Marquette Associates Mr. Martin began with a brief discussion on the market environment stating that the GDP increased by a strong annual rate of 6.4% exceeding expectations for the first quarter driven by the most recent stimulus which supported consumer spending. The ongoing Federal Reserve policy continued its support holding interest rates near zero. Projections indicate that 2021 will be the strongest year in almost 40 years. Mr. Martin indicated that with the consumer spending increase 124 MINUTE BOOK RETIREMENT BOARD IMR LIMITED El316649LD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA and the economic rebound that concerns over inflation have begun to percolate. He continued stating that the cost of goods is going up across the board with food prices rising 12 months in a row. Mrs. Vaughan directed a question to Mr. Martin with regard to interest rates. He indicated that the bond yield went up slightly in Q 1 leading to negative bond prices which stabilized in Q2. However, looking at the TIPS markets, the Fed is indicating that it believes that the inflation is temporary. Mr. Martin stated that inflation would probably come down but perhaps not to pre - pandemic levels. He explained that the Fed expects that interest rates can be kept to near zero until 2023, but Mr. Martin stated that he tends to believe that it would not be likely if the behavior of the futures markets is any indication. Mr. Martin directed attention to the Global Asset Class indices. With the current environment, risk assets continue to go up with U.S. equities up 6.3% in Q1 and international equities returning 4.2%. International equities lagged the U.S. returns for the 1 st quarter mainly due to the strength of the U.S. dollar. As mentioned earlier, U.S. bonds were down, returning - 3.4% for the quarter with high yield posting a positive return of 0.8%. Finally, the inflation - sensitive assets posted solid results with TIPS in the red (-1.5%), commodities returning 6.9% and U.S. REITs posting 8.3%. Moving to the County's pension fund, Mr. Martin presented the pension fund's observations noting that the pension fund finished the 1 st quarter at $197.0 million gaining $6.9 million for the 3-month period. He also pointed out that the fund broke the $200M ceiling currently sitting at $204M up nearly 8% for the year to date outperforming the assumed rate of return. Additionally, the portfolio return for Q 1 was 3.7% outperforming the policy index of 3.0%. Positive attribution came from domestic equity (small/mid cap overweight), global and international equity, defensive equity and infrastructure. Negative attribution came from treasuries. Longer term, the fund has gained $76.3 million over the past 5 years returning 9.9%. Over the 10 year period, the fund has added over $117M. Mrs. Vaughan made the comment that the fund has done very well over time, but she inquired as to what steps could be taken to safeguard the fund with regard to investment policies, etc. Mr. Martin explained that the fund is governed by Act 96 but that asset types, target policies, ranges, funding policies, etc., can be managed by the County investment policies. Mr. Martin responded to Mrs. Vaughan and Mr. Namie's inquiries stating that once the Korn Ferry annual report is available, Marquette will provide an asset/liability study and cash flow analysis for the next 10 years to be presented at a future meeting as well as offer suggestions for possible actions that could be taken in order to safeguard the fund and its increasing outflow needs. Mr. Martin wrapped up the pension fund observations by pointing out that even with the fund's diversification, the fund's investment management fees have remained low at approximately 36 basis points emphasizing that the average cost for U.S. pension funds is approximately 54 basis points. Looking ahead, Mr. Martin stated that the JPM Real Estate divestment is ongoing moving funds to TA Realty. Additionally, the asset allocation has moved investment into private debt and is expected to move into private equity in August 2021. Mr. Martin directed attention to the managers stating that U.S. equities were up 8.0% 125 MINUTE BO0K RETIREMENT BOARD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA fl L_ IMR LIMITED E1316649LD compared to the benchmark at 6.3% coming back to quality and value with GW&K Small -Mid Cap Core returning 10% and Twin Capital at 7.0% for the quarter. On the global side, the portfolio returned 5.7% compared to the 4.6% bench. Mr. Martin noted that Dodge & Cox value approach is outperforming at 11.6% while the American Funds New Perspective growth approach underperformed at 2.3. On the international side, Fidelity Total Int'l Index Fund returned 3.9% with Schroder Int'l Multi -Cap Equity Trust at 9.8%. He explained that dividend paying type stocks tend to outperform growth stocks on the international side in contrast to the U.S. which is led by tech stocks. For Defensive Equity, Parametric returned 5.1% outperforming the bench of 3.1%. In Real Estate, Mr. Martin pointed to the 1-year return with J.P. Morgan (0.6%) lagging the bench by 1.4% which explains the reason for some of the movement into the Clarion Lion Properties Fund which returned 2.1 % compared to the 1.5% benchmark for the same period. Mr. Martin noted that, since inception, the JP Morgan infrastructure fund has returned 7.7% ahead of the benchmark of 5.3%. Additionally, he highlighted the 1-year Hancock Timberland and Farmland Fund return of 7.8% outperforming the bench at 1.9%. Finally, the overall U.S. Fixed Income Composite's return for the 1-year was 3.5% over the 2.0% bench attributable to the addition of high yield last year. The OPEB fund finished the quarter at $22.8 million, gaining $855K with a 4.0% return for Q 1 above the policy index of 3.4%. Positive attribution came from domestic equity (small/mid cap overweight), global and international equity, defensive equity and infrastructure. Negative attribution came from treasuries. Mr. Martin stated that the OPEB is invested with a little more risk than the pension fund but explained that because the OPEB fund is smaller, the dollar impact of funding relative to the pension fund would not be as great should there be a bad year. Noting this and that the fund has no redemptions, the potential gains outweigh the risk. Mrs. Vaughan asked Mr. Martin on his thoughts on funding the OPEB, specifically if he believed that the Retirement Board should consider additional funding from the General Fund. She asked Mr. Martin about obtaining a projection for future outflows from the fund so that the Board could consider if it would be a good decision to make an additional contribution to the OPEB fund. He explained that since the OPEB has already been closed to new participants that the calculation would easier to estimate than for the pension fund. The medical cost assumption would need to be determined which is normally 50% over the general CPI. Mrs. Vaughan stated that funding the liability could possibly minimize future tax increases, improve the County's financial position and improve the bond rating since the unfunded liability is now required to be reported in the annual County financial statements. Mr. Namie commented that if the Board is considering funding the OPEB fund from the general fund that a discussion should take place with Mr. Hatfield so that the budget is taken into consideration when determining the amount. Mrs. Vaughn explained that she would like to ensure that the participants who have earned the benefits actually receive the benefits for which they are entitled. Mr. Martin stated that he would work up a cash flow analysis plotting out the next 10 years for both the pension and OPEB funds once the final Korn Ferry report is available. Wrapping up the OPEB discussion, Mr. Martin wanted to emphasize the point that because there are currently no outflows from the fund that the investment strategy can afford to be more aggressive than that of the pension fund. Since volatility is not as much of a concern for the 126 MINUTE BOOK RETIREMENT BOARD IMR LIMITED E1316649LD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA OPEB fund, Mr. Martin suggested that the Board consider redirecting some fixed income into listed infrastructure while yields within the bond markets are so low. Moving to the asset allocation study, Mr. Torre proceeded with his presentation explaining that the study is comparing the 10-year return assumptions from December 31, 2018, to that of December 31, 2020, pointing out that the fixed income intermediate government/credit and high yield has dropped off well below the assumed rate of return of 7.0%. The chart shows that global infrastructure fell from 7.5%.to 7.0% but emphasized that the infrastructure was still hitting the targeted rate of return. Mrs.Vaughan asked if the assumed rate of return was still at 7.0%. Mr. Martin confirmed that it was but indicated that since the OPEB is purely a long term investment fund that it wasn't as much of an issue but he stated that the ARR would be considered in the analysis for the next meeting. Mr. Torre continued to present the asset allocation options with Portfolio A representing the current approved asset allocation and current mix. Portfolio B, C and D all represent the current allocation moving 5% into global infrastructure. The allocation movement would come from equity 5% (Portfolio B), equity 2.5% and fixed income 2.5% (Portfolio C), and fixed income 5% (Portfolio D). Mr. Torre and Mr. Martin recommended Portfolio D. Mr. Martin indicated that it would not be beneficial to leave 20% in fixed income when there is no need for liquidity emphasizing that there would still be 15% in fixed income with about half invested in intermediate treasuries. Mrs. Vaughan entertained a motion to move 5% of the OPEB fund into global infrastructure from fixed income based on the recommendation. It was moved by Mr. Sherman and seconded by Mr. Maggi to adopt the new asset allocation strategy. It was noted that for OPEB, only the Board of Commissioners vote on the motion. No discussion followed. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Maggi — yes; Mr. Sherman — yes; Mr. Maggi — yes; Mrs. Vaughan — yes. Motion passed unanimously. In closing Mr. Martin stated that BNY Mellon is the current director trustee of the OPEB fund which is problematic in that it is the only bank that won't execute buys and sells on the same day which allows for some out -of -market exposure. Mrs. Vaughan asked if he was recommending a new bank, and he stated that he was making that recommendation. He also commented that Mr. Namie had mentioned that BNY Mellon does not provide optimal statements. Mr. Mamie uses the Marquette Associates statements which have to be reconciled the BNY Mellon statements. Mr. Martin stated that Marquette would conduct a custodial search to present at the next meeting providing 2-3 director trustee alternatives for the Board to consider. ull 127 MINUTE BOOK RETIREMENT BOARD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA IMR LIMITED E16Q7Q94I D The meeting was adjourned at 11:25 a.m. THE FOREGOING MINUTES SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL: S'Pr�i�B>2 llo , 2021 ATTEST: 0 128 MINUTE B00K RETIREMENT BOARD WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLANIA IMR I IMITFn FIRON991 n This page is blank 1 i