MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
July 11, 2012
CALL TO ORDER
President John Jacobsen called the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association to order at 11:20 a.m.
ROLL CALL
MEMBERS PRESENT:
- John Jacobsen, President
- Juan Albarran, Vice President
- Andrew Kuljis, Secretary
- Trustee James Coburn
- Trustee Jeff Cawdrey
- Trustee Chris Stine
- Trustee Doak Smith
- Trustee Steve Tufts
- Trustee Chris Hart
- Trustee Craig White
- Trustee Francisco Hernandez
- Trustee Steven Domanski
- Trustee Michael Overholser
- Trustee Rick Godinez
- Trustee Gary Matsubara
- Trustee Kurt Stabel
- Trustee Mark Akahoshi
- Trustee David Peters
- Trustee Barry Hedberg
- Trustee David Lowe
- Trustee Tim Larson
- David Ned Smith – Executive Director
- Todd Layfer – Controller
MEMBERS ABSENT:
- Trustee Gene Bednarchik (Excused)
- Trustee Robert Steinbacher (Excused)
- Trustee David Ortiz (Excused)
GUESTS:
- Bob Olsen, Retired Fire & Police Assoc.
- Lee Kebler, Retired Fire & Police Assoc.
INVOCATION & Flag Salute
Andy Kuljis led the invocation. David Lowe led the flag salute.
RATIFICATION OF MINUTES
John Jacobsen entertained a motion to ratify and dispense with the reading of the minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting held June 6, 2012. Tim Larson so moved. David Peters seconded the motion. 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 June 6, 2012.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
1) Jacobsen asked the Board to stand and recognize the 2012 Scholarship Award winners. He along with Doak Smith and Rick Godinez presented each winner with their checks and had their pictures taken to be placed in the Grapevine Magazine and LAFRA Website. He also thanked Doak and Rick for running the program this year and indicated that it was very successful.
2) Jacobsen mentioned that the Pension Department has appointed Bill Raggio as the Interim General Manager because the Mayor would not agree to his confirmation as the new permanent G.M. and the Mayor requested a national search. Their Board and City Personnel Department are in process of communicating back to the Mayor stating that they did a national search and Raggio was the successful candidate.
3) Jacobsen indicated that at the next Board meeting, according to the by-laws the Board is to nominate the President and Vice President for the Relief Association. He also stated that the seven Group 1 Trustees will be up for election. He reminded that the Trustee election process was changed to the By-laws last year.
4) Jacobsen informed that they have requested a list of all members on the medical plan that have opted out of the 2% payroll contribution who will be eligible for the healthcare subsidy increases from Pensions. He indicated that they will need to work on the system programming for those affected because subsidy categories will change.
5) Jacobsen reminded the Trustees of the 58th Annual IFEBP Employee Benefits Conference in San Diego this coming November. He encouraged any new Trustees to attend as well as those interested. He also indicated that most of the hotel blocks for this conference are fully booked.
VICE PRESIDENT REPORT
1) Juan Albarran stated that initially, they had missed the July 6th deadline to place Eric Shepherd’s name on the Fallen Firefighter Memorial Wall, however, they were able to get an extension through UFLAC and indicated that his name will be placed. He also indicated that he will be gathering all the information and will report back to the Board.
AUDIT COMMITTEE REPORT
Doak Smith referred to the recent audit and mentioned that the committee has discussed areas of improvement for the fiscal responsibility at LAFRA and necessary guidelines. He indicated that they have researched books written for non-profit organizations and found guidelines for audit committee’s and how they should do things. He stated that the Audit Committee will come up with some type of charter to maybe include into the Policy Book.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
1) David Smith referred to the Hope for Firefighters event and indicated that we will net over $95K for this year’s event verses last year at $80K. He also mentioned the upcoming Golf Tournament and reported that we currently have $68K in sponsorships and 88 golfers signed up for the event.
2) David Smith reported on the website status and stated that they have now changed over from Trellon to CodeSpoke for hosting the website.
ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE REPORT
David Peters presented the following motions.
The committee recommends and I so move to pay the usual and customary bills in the amount of $1,024,532.54. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to pay the usual and customary bills in the amount of $1,024,532.54.
The committee recommends and I so move to pay the professional fees in the amount of $117,345. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to pay the professional fees in the amount of $117,345.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve the contract with the Rule Company for issuing liability and other insurance coverage with a 1.2% increase in the cost compared to the previous year. He stated that the total amount was $144,346.80. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve the contract with the Rule Company with the amount stated.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve the changes made to the Policy Book. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve the changes made to the Policy Book.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Board entered into Executive session at 11:32am.
The Board adjourned from Executive session at 11:43am.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve the action taken during Executive Session. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve the action taken during the Executive Session.
MEDICAL COMMITTEE REPORT
David Peters presented the following motions.
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.
David Peters informed the Board that Medco will soon rebrand itself as Express Scripts and stated that the membership will begin to see the change in various communications. Jacobsen mentioned that they will also notify the membership by sending an eblast as well as posting notification on the website.
Jacobsen mentioned that Tristar will no longer work with the City’s workers comp issues for firefighters as of November 2nd. He indicated that a new contract has been given to a company called AIMS to deal with firefighter claims. He stated that when he gets more information from the personnel department he would notify the Board.
RELIEF COMMITTEE REPORT
James Coburn presented the following motion.
The committee recommends and I so move to pay:
The Sick & Injury benefits in the amount of $21,388.84
The Estate Planning benefit in the amount of $3,500
The Relief Death Benefits in the amount of $31,500
There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to pay the above Relief benefits.
James Coburn read the names of members who recently passed and asked for a moment of silence from the Board.
MEMORIALS
Richard J. Glielmi
Gerritt J. Vrieling
Fred D. Croghan
Allan A. Nelson
Alan R. Fulkerson
Frank J. Leone
Robert W. Birnie
ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE
James Coburn presented the following motions.
The committee recommends and I so move to accept the donations in the amount of $6,396.51 to the Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firemen’s Fund. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to accept the donations in the amount of $6,396.51 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.
EMERGENCY ADVANCEMENTS
James Coburn presented the following motion.
The committee recommends and I so move to approve the emergency advancement applications for active and retired members. There was no discussion or objections.
Motion carried to approve the emergency advancement applications for active and retired members.
GRAPEVINE/WEB COMMITTEE REPORT
Chris Hart requested that any Trustees that have photos that they have taken for events to submit them to the Grapevine department so that they could possibly place them in the magazine. He mentioned that later in the day, they will have a website meeting to review different layouts for the Grapevine on the website.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Andy Kuljis mentioned that they have been investigating complaints calls coming from members and/or families calling on behalf of members in regards to inappropriate treatment in facilities or if the members are ailing and need assistance. He also asked Trustees to stop by his office and pick up some flags if needed.
SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT
Doak Smith mentioned the Scholarship Program and stated that everything went well. He mentioned that Rick Godinez would take over the program and handle next year’s Scholarship awards.
NEW BUSINESS
Jacobsen referred to the Estate Planning benefit and indicated that there have been quite a number of members gifting a portion of their estate to the WODFF. He mentioned that they were going to begin pushing the payroll deductions for the WODFF and indicated that we are currently at less than 50% participation. He stated that their goal was to achieve 100%.
SETTING OF DATES
1) Over the Line Tournament – September 12th
2) LAFD Invitational Golf Tournament – September 24th
3) IFEBP Annual Employee Benefits Conf. – November 11th – 14th
4) LAFRA Open House – December 1st
RETIREMENT DINNERS
1) Scott Ames – July 12th Knollwood Country Club (Lowe)
2) Don Cascio and John Rojas – July 19th Los Robles Greens Golf Course (Albarran)
3) Wes Shundo – July 28th Elk’s Lodge #966 San Pedro (Larson)
4) Alan Bush – August 11th Scarlett Belle, Oxnard (Doak/Lowe)
5) Dave Soto – August 24th Ports O’Call Restaurant (Bednarchik)
6) Tom Lambert – September 8th Ports O’Call Restaurant (Hart)
7) Michael Whitehouse – October 2nd Odyssey Restaurant (Peters)
ADJOURNMENT
John Jacobsen entertained a motion to adjourn. David Lowe so moved. Tim Larson seconded. There was no discussion and no objections.
Motion carried to adjourn.
The Board of Trustees meeting adjourned at 12:12pm.
John Jacobsen, President