October 18                                                                                                                                2001

 

 

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS

 

OF THE

 

Board of Trustees

 

OF THE

 

Public School Teachers' Pension and

Retirement Fund of Chicago

 

 

__________

 

 

Special Meeting - Official Report

 

Thursday, October 18, 2001

 

 

__________

 

 

A special meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Public School Teachers' Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago was held Thursday, October 18, 2001 at the offices of Mercer Investment Consulting.

 

The President, Ms. Mary Sharon Reilly, called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.

 

 

ROLL CALL

 

Members present:  Ms. Anderson, Ms. Knazze, Mr. Mayo, Mr. O'Brill, Ms. Reilly, Ms. Rodriguez, Mr. Saffold, Mr. Silver, Mr. Ward--9.

 

Members absent:  Ms. Nolan, Mr. O’Farrell--2.

 

Also in attendance were Mr. Michael J. Nehf (Executive Director), Mr. Kevin Huber (Chief Financial Officer), Mr. Joseph Burns of Jacobs, Burns, Orlove, Stanton and Hernandez (Legal Counsel), Mr. Brad Blalock and Mrs. Stephanie Braming of Mercer Investment Consulting, Inc. (Investment Consultant), Ms. Kathy Stevenson of The Northern Trust (Custodian) and various observers and staff members.

 

 

REPORT OF THE INVESTMENT CONSULTANT

 

Roundtable Briefing

 

Mr. Brad Blalock and Mrs. Stephanie Braming of Mercer Investment Consulting, Inc. briefed the Trustees on the domestic equity brokerage policy roundtable discussion to be held at this meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aetna Life Insurance Company Transfer to UBS Realty

 

Mr. Michael Nehf presented a memorandum from Ms. Michele Dinn of the Townsend Group which summarized materials originally provided at the September 11, 2001 Board of Trustees meeting.

 

A motion was made by Mr. Silver, seconded by Mr. O’Brill, and unanimously passed, to accept the recommendation as presented in the September 26, 2001 memorandum by the Townsend Group to consent to Aetna Life Insurance Company’s transfer to UBS Realty of the investment manager and fiduciary status with respect to the management of the assets held in RESA, subject to legal review.

 

 

SERVICE RECOGNITION TO TRUSTEE

 

The Trustees acknowledged the retirement of Dr. Walter E. Pilditch, Trustee from 1995 to 2001.  A motion was then made by Mr. Silver, seconded and unanimously passed by the Board of Trustees, to record and print in the proceedings of this meeting the Board of Trustees’ sincere thanks to Dr. Pilditch for his outstanding dedication and service as Trustee of the Public School Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago.

 

 

CONTINUATION OF THE REPORT OF THE INVESTMENT CONSULTANT

 

Domestic Equity Brokerage Policy Roundtable

 

The following investment managers and brokers participated in a roundtable discussion on domestic equity brokerage policy.  Several managers and brokers joined in the discussion via conference call. 

 

Brinson Partners, Harris Investment Management, Oppenheimer Capital, The Northern Trust, Holland Capital, Fidelity Management Trust, Woodford Capital Management, Zevenbergen Capital Management, Waddell & Reed Investment Management, New Amsterdam Partners, Berean Capital, Loop Capital Markets, Benchmark Financial Services, First Honolulu Securities, Melvin Securities.

 

 

Domestic Equity Brokerage Policy

 

Following review, a motion was made by Mr. Silver, seconded by Mr. Saffold, and unanimously passed, requiring the Fund’s large cap domestic equity money managers direct a minimum of 30% of their brokerage business to Chicago based women and minority business enterprises at a fixed per share cost not to exceed 4.5 cents.  An additional 15% of our brokerage business shall be directed to commission recapture brokers, and an additional 5% will be directed to a minority commission recapture broker if one chooses to participate in the program.  In no instance shall the amount directed by each manager to Chicago minority and woman business enterprises be less than 35% of the total brokerage business.  Lynch Jones will be solicited to participate in the commission recapture program as an additional alternative to Merrill Lynch Citation.  Finally, each manager may count brokerage in only one classification, (i.e. recapture or direct).  Further discussion outside the motion indicated that non-compliance with the above motion would result in potential penalties, the severity of which will be determined at a later date.

 

A motion was made by Mr. O’Brill, seconded by Mr. Silver, and unanimously passed, to require money managers to comply on an annual basis and to submit a status report of compliance semi-annually that includes total directed brokerage to minority businesses, and the portion of this amount that was stepped out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

REPORT OF THE LEGISLATIVE LOBBYIST

 

2001-02 Legislative Priorities for the Fall and Spring Session

 

Mr. Nehf and Mr. Henry P. Anselmo of Henry P. Anselmo and Associates reviewed the 2001-02 legislative program with the Trustees. The Trustees confirmed the legislative priorities for the upcoming year.

 

Generally, the rationale for establishing priorities is as follows:

 

1.       Proposals that have little or no cost to employer (A)

2.       Proposals that encourage longer teaching careers (B)

3.       Proposals that improve benefits equal to those received by TRS retirees (C)

4.       Proposals for an ad-hoc increase for pensioners (D)

 

Specifically, our proposals for the year will include:

1.       Begin automatic annual increase accrual one year following retirement (C)

2.       Amend provision for contributions for leaves of absence up to 3 years (C)

3.       Provide guarantee of funding by State of Illinois (A)

4.       Provide ad-hoc increase for pensioners (D)

5.       Eliminate marriage restrictions for survivor benefits (A)

6.       Provide for all income to be pensionable (B)

7.       Increase maximum pension percentage to 80% (B)

8.       Provide for refunds of excess contributions to survivors of deceased

              pensioners (A)

9.       Provide for a service retirement pension for members with 10 or more years and

              minimum of age 60 (C)

10.    Extend deadline to pay for 2.2 upgrade costs by pension check deductions

beyond current deadline of 6/30/03 (A)

11.    Forgive deceased teacher and pensioner remaining upgrade costs if member dies before completion of payments (A)

12.    Provide for minimum survivor benefits payable upon death of teacher or pensioner which occurred prior to 12/31/86 (A)

13.    Allow payment for creditable service through tax deferred employer payroll deductions (A)

14.    Remove retirement teaching restrictions (A, B)

 

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION

 

A motion was made by Ms. Rodriguez, seconded by Mr. Silver, and unanimously passed, to enter in an executive session for the consideration of executive compensation.  The executive session lasted from 3:00 p.m. to 3:12 p.m. 

 

(Messrs. Mayo and Saffold were not present at the time the vote was taken.)

 

Following executive session, a motion was made by Ms. Anderson, seconded by Ms. Rodriguez, and unanimously passed, to resume the regular order of business.

 

(Messrs. Mayo and Saffold were not present at the time the vote was taken.)

 

 

EXECUTIVE SALARY INCREASE APPROVED

 

A motion was made by Ms. Anderson, seconded by Ms. Rodriguez, and unanimously passed, to approve a 6.6% increase for the Executive Director.

 

(Messrs. Mayo, Saffold, and Ward were not present at the time the vote was taken.)

ADJOURNMENT

 

On a motion by Mr. Silver, seconded by Ms. Rodriguez, and by unanimous vote, the meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

 

                                                                                    Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                                SIG

                                                                                    Maria J. Rodriguez

                                                                                    Recording Secretary     
October 18                                                                                                                    2001

 

 

 

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS

 

OF THE

 

Board of Trustees

 

OF THE

 

Public School Teachers’ Pension and

Retirement Fund of Chicago

 

 

 

_______

 

 

 

Executive Session - Official Report

Thursday, October 18, 2001

 

 

 

_______

 

An executive session of the Board of Trustees of the Public School Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago was held Thursday, October 18, 2001, for the purpose of discussing personnel matters.

 

The President, Mary Sharon Reilly, called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. with the following members present:  Ms. Anderson, Ms. Knazze, Mr. O’Brill, Ms. Reilly, Ms. Rodriguez, Mr. Silver, Mr. Ward--7.

 

Members absent:  Mr. Mayo, Ms. Nolan, Mr. O’Farrell, Mr. Saffold--4.

 

Personnel matters were discussed.  No action was taken.

 

The executive session was adjourned at 3:12 p.m.

 

 

                                                                                    Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                                SIG

                                                                                    Maria J. Rodriguez

                                                                                    Recording Secretary