MOTION FOR COSTS AND 2004-13TH. CHECK IP: 205.188.117.72 Posted on December 14, 2007 at 01:13:27 AM by Larry Vincent
TO ALL RETIREES,
At todays pension board meeting, there were two items for the Executive Session. First, the Motion For Costs. The Trustees received our offer of $60 thousand dollars as settlement of this issue. The details were finalized yesterday. We thank Atty. Patrick Gonyea and Ron Cohen for their efforts to get our offer before the Trustees. After the Executive Session, the Trustees reconvened the meeting. At that time, Trustee Cindy Miller made a motion to accept the terms of our offer. It was seconded by Tracy Walker. Upon voting our offer was accepted by 7 YES votes and 2 NO votes. Since the offer has been accepted, we now move ahead to collect the money necessary to pay the $60 thousand on or before January 15, 2008. In order to keep all informed, I wanted to know why anyone of the Trustees would vote to not accept our offer. The 2 NO votes were cast by Mark Bogush (Fire Trustee) and Mark Hamlin (Police Trustee). I called Mark Bogush at home and asked him what his reasons were for voting NO. Mark advised that his NO vote was against the Retirees having to pay the $60 thousand dollars. Mark told me he thought that the issue should have been dropped and the Retirees should not have to pay any of it. We thanked Mark for his candid answers. He said that he knows he represents all fund members, Actives and Retirees, and he felt that his vote was in the best intrest of all concerned.
Trustee Mark Hamlin returned my call. I asked him if he would tell me why we didn't have his vote on this settlement. Mark advised that his credibility and name had been maligned by the efforts of some members of the retiree group. He wasn't able to put that aside and give us his YES vote. Mark did say that he knew the vote would carry before the motion was made. His NO vote was his rebuttal towards past issues and was symbolic rather than an effort to defeat the settlement. I can appreciate Mark's candor and his explanation.
The second Executive Session was then held. The topic of this session was the 13th. Check Suit brought by John Parker. Many Retirees received an email from LJP on November 16, 2007, (Info from Sam's group.) The email was a copy of a letter written by Dennis Ribaya. In the letter, the second paragraph says, "the Pension Fund has agreed to pay a full 2004 13th Check, which should have been paid June 30, 2005." When I received this letter via an LJP email, I immediately questioned the veracity of the letter.
After talking to several reliable sources I put a warning on our web site. I cautioned that the info may not the accurate and we need to wait and see what actually happened. I checked on the record and find that Cindy Miller did make a motion, which was seconded and passed, which calls for the Attorneys to keep working on trying to resolve this issue. It was not a motion to settle.
At todays meeting, Trustee Cindy Miller asked Atty. Ron Cohen for some clarification regarding whether the 13th. Check could be paid or not. Atty. Cohen told the Trustees that the 13th. Check can be paid. The only problem, at this time, was that the Actuary had not certified the funds' resources as of September 30, 2004. Therefore, before a 13th. Check could be paid the Trustees would need that actuarial certification saying the fund was not in a loss mode. Atty. Cohen said he is hopeful that the certification would be available by next months board meeting. Trustee Cindy Miller then made the motion to pay the 13th. Check and a second was made by Tracy Walker. The vote was unanimous.
What does this mean??? It looks like the 13th. Check will be paid in the near future. How long? I don't know. First and foremost, the actuary has to certify the funds position at the end of 2004. Then, the mechanics of paying the checks. I understand that interest will have to be added. How much interest will be a Trustees function and have to be made under a motion. How much will the 2004 13th. Check be? I do not know the amount, nothing was mentioned about the amount. I would guess the check would be pretty close to our last 13th. Check but this is only my guess. Interest will be added, probably from June 30, 2005, when the check should have been paid. We will keep all Retirees posted as we get further info.
If anyone calls the Pension Office they will not get the answers to these questions. Jennifer and her staff do not have the info to give you if you call. I would ask that all keep tuned to our web site as we will keep all informed.
If there is a question, call me. I'll answer the question or get the info for you. My home number is: (813) 264-7516 Tampa.
I am glad that we can report favorably on two important issues for Retirees. We still need donations towards paying off the Motion for Costs settlement. If you haven't sent in your check, please do so. We have to pay the settlement by January 15, 2008.
On behalf of our Board of Directors and myself, we sincerely thank all of our loyal members who have held in there with us, through thick and thin. The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. Thanks again.
Larry A. Vincent
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