MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
CALL TO ORDER
President Bob Steinbacher called the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association to order at 10:55 a.m.
ROLL CALL
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Bob Steinbacher, President
Jeff Cawdrey, Vice President
Andrew Kuljis, Secretary
Trustee Frank Aguirre
Trustee Gayle Sonoda
Trustee Gene Bednarchik
Trustee Tim Freeman
Trustee Rick Godinez
Trustee John Jacobsen
Trustee David Peters
Trustee David Ortiz
Trustee Chris Hart
Trustee Tyler Tomich
Trustee Craig White
Trustee Steve Ruda
Trustee Joe Vigil
Trustee Steven Domanski – Pension
Trustee Doak Smith – Pension Trustee
Tim Larson – Pension
Todd Layfer – Executive Director
Liberty Unciano – Controller-Treasurer
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Trustee Chris Stine (Excused)
Trustee Steve Berkery (Excused)
Trustee Mike Sailhamer (Excused)
GUESTS:
Dave Wagner, Grapevine Editor
Tom Stires, Retired
INVOCATION AND FLAG SALUTE
Rick Godinez led the invocation.
David Peters led the flag salute.
RATIFICATION OF MINUTES
Bob Steinbacher entertained a motion to ratify and dispense with the reading of the minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting held December 7, 2016 and the minutes of the Special Board meeting held December 14, 2016. David Peters so moved. Chris Hart seconded. There was no further discussion or objections.
Motion carried to ratify and dispense with the reading of the minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting held December 7, 2016 and the minutes of the Special Board meeting held December 14, 2016.
PRESIDENT REPORT
1) Andy Kuljis administered the Oath of Office to new Trustee Gayle Sonoda. Bob Steinbacher indicated that Gayle is the first female Trustee to serve on the LAFRA Board of Trustees.
Andy Kuljis administered the Oath of Office to the Group Two Trustees: Rick Godinez, Craig White, David Peters and Doak Smith.
Andy Kuljis administered the Oath of Office to President Bob Steinbacher and Vice President Jeff Cawdrey.
2) Bob Steinbacher referred to the LAFRA 110th Anniversary Dinner Dance and indicated that it was a successful event with a good time had by all.
3) Bob Steinbacher informed that the LAFRA Health Fair will be held on April 6th at the Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center.
4) Bob Steinbacher indicated that they will be having their Board Educational Offsite meeting in May. The location is not yet determined.
5) Bob Steinbacher informed the Board that the Pechanga Reunion will be held May 22nd through May 25th. He indicated that they will begin posting information on the website just as soon as it’s available.
6) Bob Steinbacher referred to the Member Summary Sheets and indicated that they are sent to the membership to encourage them to update their information such as beneficiaries and/or coverage if necessary.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Board entered into Executive Session at 11:16 am. The Board adjourned from Executive Session at 11:50 am.
The Board discussed a personnel matter and took action.
VICE PRESIDENT REPORT
1) Jeff Cawdrey briefly reviewed the upcoming conferences for 2017 and asked Trustees to let him know which conferences they were interested in attending.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’ S REPORT
1) Todd Layfer informed the Trustees that the IRS Mileage Rate has changed to 53.5 cents per mile effective January 1, 2017. He asked that they use the new Trustee Expense Voucher provided to them.
2) Todd Layfer informed that the Audit Committee planning meeting will be on January 26th at 8:30 am.
3) Todd Layfer referred to the Budget presentation and indicated that he will first present it to the Admin committee on January 25th and then for approval at February 8th Board meeting.
4) Todd Layfer reported on the LAFRA.org website statistics for 2016 and indicated that we have had over 45K new visitors and indicated that the top pages visited were Funeral Notices, Home Page and Grapevine. He reported that the WODFF.org website had 7,205 new visitors with the top pages being the Charity Page and the Golf Tournament.
5) Todd Layfer indicated that the annual onsite investment meeting will be held on February 15th at Beacon Pointe Advisors in Newport Beach.
INVESTMENT COMMITTEE REPORT
Bob Steinbacher indicated that Garth Flint will be at the LAFRA office on January 24th to discuss investment allocation goals for 2017.
ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE REPORT
Frank Aguirre presented the following motions.
The committee recommends and I so move to pay the usual and customary bills in the amount of $883,217.71. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to pay the usual and customary bills in the amount of $883,217.71.
The committee recommends and I so move to pay $750 for a foursome of golf and tee sign for the Firefighter’s Quest annual charity golf tournament. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve $750 for a foursome of golf and tee sign for the Firefighter’s Quest annual charity golf tournament.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve $150 for the LAFD Promotional Badge Ceremony. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve $150 for the LAFD Promotional Badge Ceremony.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve the transferring of the LAFRA employee dental plan from Delta Dental to Anthem Blue Cross. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve the transfer of the LAFRA employee dental plan from Delta Dental to Anthem Blue Cross.
MEDICAL COMMITTEE REPORT
David Peters presented the following motion.
The committee recommends and I so move to accept the applications to the Medical Plan. There was no discussion and no objections.
Motion carried to accept all applications to the Medical Plan.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve up to $8K for health screenings at the LAFRA Health Fair. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve up to $8K for health screenings at the LAFRA Health Fair.
RELIEF COMMITTEE REPORT
Rick Godinez presented the following motion.
The committee recommends and I so move to pay:
The Sick & Injury benefits in the amount of $34,780.18
The Estate Planning benefit in the amount of $6,000
The Relief Death Benefits in the amount of $27,000
There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to pay the above Relief benefits.
Rick Godinez read the names of members who recently passed and asked for a moment of silence from the Board.
MEMORIALS
Michael P. Celentano
John J. Rock
William A. Bowles
William T. Miller
James A. Sanders
William M. Atkins
ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE
Rick Godinez presented the following motions.
The committee recommends and I so move to accept the donations in the amount of $46,703.45 to the Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firemen’s Fund. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to accept the donations in the amount of $46,703.45 to the Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firemen’s Fund.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve the financial assistance applications for surviving spouses, active and retired members. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve the financial assistance applications for surviving spouses, active and retired members.
ADVANCEMENT COMMITTEE REPORT
The committee recommends and I so move to advance funds for both active and retired members. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to advance funds for both active and retired members.
GRAPEVINE/WEB COMMITTEE REPORT
Chris Hart indicated that they will ask Deborah Lew to come and give the Trustees tutorials on how to use the social media sites for events.
YEARBOOK COMMITTEE REPORT
Dave Wagner reported that they have gotten a few bids from vendors for the printing of the LAFRA Yearbook. He indicated that he will run them by the committee for approval and then work on scheduling a photographer for the active members.
BYLAWS/POLICY
David Peters indicated he would like to have a committee meeting to update the Policy Manual to reflect changes on actions taken in the Executive Session.
SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT
Rick Godinez indicated that they have revamped the application process for simplification. He indicated that the deadline to submit applications is March 23rd and the Essay event will be April 8th at the LAFRA office.
MARKETING & DEVELOPMENT REPORT
Rick Godinez briefly reported on the improvements of the LAFRA website. He presented the latest member testimonial video featuring Jim Krebs and another featuring Ryan Penrod. He indicated that these testimonials are played on a loop at most of LAFRA’s events.
SETTING OF DATES
1) Buzzard Bait Ride – January 14th – 16th
2) Hook & Ladder – March 18th
3) L.A. Marathon – March 19th
4) Health & Wellness Fair – April 6th
5) Lane Kemper Softball Tournament – May 2nd
6) Offsite Strategic Planning – May 4th TBD
7) Pechanga Reunion – May 22nd – May 26th
8) Hope for Firefighters – June 1st
9) LAFD Golf Tournament – September 25th
RETIREMENT DINNERS
1) Cori Tipton – Wednesday, January 25th B @ FHMTC (Steinbacher)
2) Tim Freeman – Wednesday, February 22nd C @ The Odyssey (Freeman)
3) Jack Wise – Saturday, April 15th A @ Sagebrush Cantina (Smith)
ADJOURNMENT
Bob Steinbacher entertained a motion to adjourn. David Peters so moved. Craig White seconded. There was no discussion and no objections.
Motion carried to adjourn. The Board of Trustees meeting adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
Bob Steinbacher, President