Plymouth Retirement Board Friday, December 18, 2009 8:30 a.m. Retirement Board Conference Room
Chairman Thomas Kelley called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the conference room of the Plymouth Retirement Office. Board members were present were Lynne Barrett and Richard Manfredi. John Murphy and Shawn Duhamel were absent. Debra Sullivan and Wendy Cherry of the Retirement Office were present, as was Atty. Michael Sacco & Tony Tranghese of FIA.
Section I: Regular Business – Regular Meeting
Minutes:
Minutes dated November 30, 2009 – Regular Board Meeting
Minutes dated December 17, 2009 – Annual COLA Vote
Motion to approve minutes made by Mr. Manfredi; seconded by Ms. Barrett. Unanimously voted.
Warrant:
Warrant #11, dated November 30, 2009: $1,183,198.45 (Partial)
Warrant #12, dated December 31, 2009: $ 21,600.37 (Partial)
Warrant #1, dated January 31, 2010: $ 3,545.76 (Partial)
Motion to approve warrants made by Mr. Manfredi; seconded by Ms. Barrett. Unanimously voted.
Public Comment: None
Section II: Solicitation & Correspondence:
Investments:
The Board received and reviewed the following correspondence:
- Press Release: Westfield Capital Closes Management Buyout
- FIA has 6 of their advisors named to the 2009 401(K)Wire.com list of the “300 Most Influential Advisors in Defined Contribution”. Tony Tranghese was among one of the 6 advisors named from Fiduciary Investment Advisors.
- Wellington Trust CIF II Core Bond performance update for the month of November 2009
- Capital Markets Flash Report – November 2009
Internet Security:
Board to vote on 2-year subscription to Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper Software, 5-user package. Total cost is $95.57.
Motion to approve 2-year subscription for Webroot AntiVirus software made by Ms. Barrett; seconded by Mr. Manfredi. Unanimously voted.
PERAC Memo’s:
The Board received and reviewed the following PERAC memos:
PERAC Memo #45/2009: Mandatory Ethics Training
PERAC Memo #46/2009: Age 70 ½ Distribution
PERAC Memo #47/2009: Amendment to Chapter 21 of the Acts of 2009 Accidental Disability Retirement Allowance Calculation.
PERAC Memo #48/2009: Proposed Regulations Defining Regular Compensation
Regarding PERAC Memo 48/2009, Attorney Sacco told the Board that this PERAC basically states that pre-July 1, 2009 definition of regular compensation should remain the same until further legislation is reached.
Third Party Monitoring Firm:
The Board voted to hire Berman DeValerio at their November 30, 2009 meeting. Attorney Sacco told the Board that he has reviewed the contract and it looks fine for the Chairman to sign.
Motion to approve and execute contract made by Ms. Barrett; seconded by Mr. Manfredi. Unanimously approved.
Annual Manager Reviews:
Franklin Templeton Foreign Equity Series:
The following managers will be present for their annual investment performance review:
Mark Binnion of Franklin Templeton was present to discuss 2009 investment performance with the Board. At November 30, 2009, the International Equity portfolio’s return of 31.7% out-performed the MSCI EAFE Index return of 30.6% and also out-performed the 1-year return with 41.0% vs. 38.4%. The portfolio’s return since the inception of July 15, 1994 has out-performed the MSCI EAFE Index with 8.4% vs. 5.0%.
Sector allocations at November 30, 2009 were as follows: Financials 23.9%, Telcom Services 13.2%, Industrials 14.5%, Health Care 10.1, Consumer Discretionary 9.6%, Energy 10.4%, Information Tech 8.3%, Consumer Staples 5.1%, Utilities 3.6% and Materials 1.1%. Mr. Binnion told the Board that the portfolio is underweight in Financials, Consumer Staples, Utilities and Energy, and overweight in Telcom, Industrials, Health Care, Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology.
Mr. Binnion told the Board that the portfolio was overweight in health care, which may have hurt the portfolio a bit. The best performing sectors to-date in 2009 have been Industrials, Financials, Utilities & Consumer Discretionaries. Worst performers in the portfolio during 2009 have been Materials, Health Care & Energy. Mr. Binnion said that the portfolio would have fewer holdings in Telcom and Financials.
Geographic allocations for the portfolio are as follows: Europe 74.2%, Asia 20.0%, North America 2.4%, Latin America/Caribbean 2.9% & Mid-East/Africa .5%.
Mr. Binnion told the Board that Templeton has a very diverse global investment strategy.
He also told the Board that in the current down market, there is an opportunity to buy U.S. based company stocks cheaply that have previously been unavailable. Mr. Binnion stated that the key strategy is to buy stocks early that are trading at a discount and sell early. He added that the future is still uncertain, and that a big factor is the current unemployment rate.
Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund
Paul Todisco was present to discuss performance as of October 31, 2009 with the Board. Currently, PRIT holds $41.5 billion in assets under management. The PRIM staff consists of 24 professionals.
Alternative Investment Performance
PRIM Alternate Investment Vintage Years 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009 were valued at $3.8 billion and represented 9.2% of the portfolio allocation as of October 31, 2009. Since these funds are still in the preliminary stages of funding, the performance cannot be accurately measured & compared to the benchmark yet. Mr. Todisco told the Board that Vintage Year 2009 has been completed with $275 million committed as of December 31, 2009.
Vintage Year 2010:
PRIM Vintage Year 2010 commitment is due by December 31, 2009. The Board discussed this additional portfolio with Mr. Todisco and Mr. Tranghese. Mr. Todisco told the Board that PRIT would most likely be committing a range of $800 million - $1.5 billion in the Vintage Year 2010 Fund.
Motion made by Ms. Barrett to place a $2 million commitment into the PRIT Vintage Year 2010 Fund; motion seconded by Mr. Manfredi. Unanimously voted.
Real Estate Performance
For period ended October 31, 2009, PRIT Core Real Estate was valued at $4.1 billion and represented 10.0% of the portfolio. There are currently 11 managers working for this fund. At October 31, 2009, PRIT out-performed the benchmark with –5.70% vs. –11.13%, but under-performed the 1-year with –15.51% vs. –12.78%.
Hedge Fund Performance
Valued at $2.1 billion and representing 5.1% of PRIT assets at October 31, 2009. This Hedge Fund of –Funds portfolio out-performed the Hedge Fund of Funds Index at October 31, 2009 with 10.43% vs. 9.8% and also the 1-year with 5.94% vs. 5.30%. The objective of this is to achieve positive returns with a high degree of independence from movements in equity and fixed income markets, and independent of traditional performance benchmarks. This portfolio has a $2.1 billion market value, and is 5.1% of PRIT’s total assets. There are five fund of fund managers; Arden, Ivy, K2, Rock Creek, Grosvenor & PAAMCO. Mr. Todisco told the Board that this is a well-diversified strategy with region diversification.
Retirement Office Banking Change:
Mrs. Sullivan told the Board that the Town Treasurer has changed the Retirement Office checking account from Bank of America to Rockland Trust, effective January 1, 2010. Rockland Trust will pay monthly interest, as well as offer free checks, both of which Bank of America does not offer.
Retirement Office Software Change:
Mrs. Sullivan told the Board that the Retirement Office would be going live with Pension Technology Group (PTG), as of January 1, 2010. Year-end Accounting, Retirees & Members will be closed in the current Tyler TACS system. Atty. Sacco said that once all year-end modules are closed for 2009, he would compose a termination letter to Tyler on the Boards’ behalf.
Security System Implementation:
The Board discussed the purchase of a fireproof lockbox & secure location to hold quarterly back-ups of the Retirement Office files. This security method would be in addition to the primary backup on MozyPro. Chairman Kelley told the Board that he spoke to Fire Chief Bradley about storing a fireproof lockbox at the Emergency Management Building (to be built in Cedarville) to hold the secondary USB backups of the Retirement Office. This location will also serve as a remote location to work out of in case of an emergency. In the meantime, Ms. Barrett said she would store the fireproof lockbox at Town Hall.
Motion to approve the purchase of a fireproof lockbox to store the quarterly USB backup drives from the Retirement Office made by Ms. Barrett; seconded by Mr. Manfredi. Unanimously approved.
Section III: Membership:
Retirements:
Town:
McNeil, Michael, Group 4, Fire Captain
32 years service (1/1/78 – 1/8/2010)
Superannution retirement: opt c
Effective retirement date: January 8, 2010
School
Dienhart, Marjorie, Group 1, Secretary
13 years, 11 months service (7/31/86 – 6/30/00)
Superannuation retirement: opt b
Effective retirement date: January 4, 2010
Motion to approve retirements made by Mr. Manfredi; seconded by Ms. Barrett. Unanimously approved.
Next Meeting: Friday, January 22, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
Adjournment: Motion made by Mr. Manfredi to adjourn the meeting at 11:07 a.m.; seconded by Ms. Barrett. Unanimously voted.
Respectfully Submitted,
Wendy Cherry
The Town of Plymouth Retirement Board unanimously voted to approve these minutes at their meeting held on Friday, February 26, 2010. Original signed minutes are available at the Retirement Office, 10 Cordage Park Circle, Suite 240, Plymouth, MA 02360.
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