*The deadline to submit petitions to be a candidate for the 2019 Employee Trustee election was 4:30 PM CST September 16, 2019.*
This fall, IMRF employers will elect one Employee Trustee for a five-year term. The five-year term will run from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2024.
Download all the materials you need to run for Employee Trustee at right, under the "Quick Links."
Responsibilities of a Trustee
Each Trustee is a fiduciary responsible for the governance and oversight of IMRF. Trustees are required to act solely for the benefit of IMRF members and beneficiaries. Trustees delegate duties to other professionals such as investment managers but retain oversight responsibilities.
Although all Board members must fulfill their fiduciary duties as stewards of IMRF assets, committee chairs and members are expected to develop a greater in-depth knowledge of the Committee they serve.
Commitment of IMRF Trustees
Board meetings are held at least quarterly, usually on the fourth Friday of the month. Some Board committees meet every month in which there is a Board meeting; others meet less frequently or as needed. Trustees serve without compensation but are reimbursed for expenses incurred while attending meetings.
Nominating Procedures—Petitions
Please have your members use IMRF’s form of petition. Each page of the petition should contain the information listed at the top of the petition. You may photocopy the petition and circulate the pages separately.
The petition must have at least 350 signatures of IMRF members who must have participated in IMRF during July 2019. This includes members on seasonal leave, but not retired members. IMRF will verify signatures on the nominating petitions. Signatures of employees who do not participate in IMRF (such as teachers, police officers when there is a local police pension fund, or employees who work less than the hourly standard) will not be counted.
Once IMRF verifies that a candidate has submitted 350 valid signatures, we will advise the candidate that he or she does not need to submit any additional petitions.
The petition explains the nominating procedures for Employee Trustee. Petitions for Employee Trustee candidates will be accepted in the IMRF Oak Brook and Springfield offices between August 1, 2019, and the close of business at 4:30 PM CST, September 16, 2019.
Mail, hand deliver, scan and email (IMRFTrusteeElection@imrf.org), or fax (630-706-4656) the completed petitions to IMRF, ATTN: IMRF Trustee Petitions.
If you scan the petitions and email them to IMRF or if you fax the petitions to IMRF, please call IMRF at 1-800-ASK-IMRF (275-4673) to confirm that they were received.
Petitions postmarked on or before September 16, 2019, but received after that date will not be accepted. On September 18, 2019, IMRF will send formal notice to all candidates who submitted nominating petitions informing them whether they will be on the ballot. Employee Trustee candidates will also receive the names of the other candidates at that time.
The State Officials and Employees Ethics Act includes prohibitions against political activity during work hours. It is our opinion these prohibitions do not apply to elections for the IMRF Board of Trustees. Gathering IMRF member signatures and other activities of running for the IMRF Board are not included in prohibited political activity regulated by the Act.
Qualifications
Any IMRF member who will be vested in IMRF as of December 31, 2019, is eligible to be nominated. The vesting requirement is eight years of service credit for Tier 1 members, and 10 years of service credit for Tier 2 members. If a member has accepted a refund of contributions (and has not reinstated the refund), the service is forfeited and does not count toward the vesting requirement.
Employee Trustee Ballots
If there is only one candidate for this seat, the election will not be held, and the Board will confirm that candidate as Trustee at its December meeting.
If there is more than one candidate, active members who are eligible to vote will receive their ballots along with the Winter Fundamentals newsletter. This packet will contain candidate biographies and voting procedures. The newsletters and ballots will be mailed to members’ homes on October 30, 2019. IMRF must receive the voted ballots by the close of business at 4:30 PM CST, December 6, 2019.
New Trustee Orientation
It is critical for the sound governance of IMRF that Trustees be fully informed with regard to IMRF’s nature, purposes, structure, operational systems, and processes. To that end, newly elected Trustees will participate in an in-depth New Trustee Orientation Program designed to fully inform them of IMRF’s key functions and their responsibilities as Trustee. The Program is more fully described in the IMRF Board Candidate Packet.
The Illinois Governmental Ethics Act requires individuals serving as IMRF Trustees to file a written statement of economic interest annually.