Legislative Update
Legislative Liaison Bonnie Shadid reported that Illinois has passed a budget for fiscal year 2011 and gave extraordinary powers to the Governor to make unilateral changes to the budget.
The budget also included mainly “lump sum appropriations,” rather than specific line item appropriations. The House passed legislation to authorize borrowing for its fiscal year 2011 contribution to the state retirement systems, but the bill has not yet passed the Senate.
IMRF’s legislation that passed the General Assembly is still waiting for the governor’s signature:
- SB 3405 Technical corrections bill:
- Makes several technical corrections to the IMRF Article of the Pension Code.
- SB 2554 Administrative bill:
- Allow Voluntary Additional Contributions to begin immediately.
- HB 4960 Administrative bill:
- Change the default beneficiary for active and inactive members to the member’s estate, require administrative hearings to be held in a county where the employer is located or where IMRF has an office, remove the grandfathering of the 600-hour standard, require employers to pay minimum contributions when they have no active members.
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Strategic Planning Process update
Board members are invited to meet at 9 a.m. on July 22, 2010, to complete the first three steps towards developing IMRF’s 2011-2013 Strategic Plan.
Trustees and staff Strategic Planning Team will review IMRF’s Mission, Vision, and Values to determine if they are still relevant and provide appropriate direction. Staff and Board will conduct STEP and SWOT analyses.
IMRF will incorporate insights from the Lincoln Foundation including focusing on measurement and developing balanced scorecards for key activities. Management Consultant Joe Kilbride will help facilitate this process.
A STEP analysis looks at societal, technological, economic, and political issues and how they can impact IMRF. During a SWOT analysis, IMRF’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are identified.
Currently, IMRF staff members are participating in SWOT analyses. Contact your manager for more information.
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DeCleene reports on GASB project to improve reporting of post-retirement benefits
Chief Financial Officer Dick DeCleene provided the Board with an update on a Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) project.
GASB is seeking to improve the way public bodies report the projected costs of benefits provided to their employees after they retire, e.g., pensions and health insurance. It wants to improve transparency of financial reporting so the financial effect of these benefits on employers is more easily understood.
The project grew out of a review of two GASB statements (25 and 27) that cover the financial accounting and reporting requirements for pension plans, like IMRF, and units of local governments. Dick discussed several changes GASB is considering.
Because opinions differ on how these costs should be accounted for and reported, GASB issued an “Invitation to Comment” on its proposed changes to reporting requirements. In some cases, IMRF already follows the proposed change; in other cases, the change would impact how IMRF calculates rates and funding levels.
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Update on BoardDocs service
The Board approved a revised implementation schedule and budget for BoardDocs, the web-based service that will allow trustees to access meeting material via the Internet.
Chief Information Services Officer Bob Woollen provided the Board with an update regarding several open issues with BoardDocs:
- A way to restrict access to certain material, i.e., Benefit Review Committee documents, only to certain trustees and staff has been identified
- Changes to the BoardDocs license which more strongly commits them to maintain confidentiality of member information have been approved
- The process trustees will use to attach “sticky notes” to documents as they review them online prior to a meeting has been identified
One issue that remains is ensuring the laptops used during a Board meeting have sufficient power to last the length of a meeting. Bob discussed two options: having the Boardroom table modified to add electrical outlets or purchasing laptops with extended battery life.
Because of the issues surrounding laptop power, Bob provided the Board with a revised cost estimate and implementation schedule.
Board training on the new BoardDocs service will take place at the August meeting; the service will be implemented for the September meeting.
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Board Self-Evaluation
Nancy Williams, from Ennis Knupp & Associates, lead the Board in a self-evaluation session.
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Bid accepted
The Board accepted the low bid from Opinion Lab of $52,500 for an online Voice of Customer Survey and Reporting Solution, Services and Support.
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New IMRF employers
Helen M. Plum Memorial Public Library District (DuPage County)
Township of Bourbon (Douglas County)
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Next meeting
The next monthly Board meeting will be held at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 23, 2010.
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