City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JANUARY 6, 2021
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of (1) Appointment of a Police Officer Representative and Firefighter Representative to the City of Alexandria Firefighters and Police Officers Pension Board and (2) Appointment of a General Schedule Representative and Medic/Fire Marshal Representative and Alternate to the City of Alexandria Supplemental Retirement Board.
BODY
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ISSUE: Appointment to the City of Alexandria’s Pension and Retirement Boards.
RECOMMENDATION:
(1) That City Council appoint the following employee-elected individuals to the City of
Alexandria Firefighters and Police Officers Pension Board for the period of January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2024:
a. Jason North as Police Officer Representative; and
b. Dylan Kempton Firefighter Representative.
(2) That City Council appoint the following individuals to the City of Alexandria
Supplemental Retirement Plan Pension Board for the period of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2024:
a. Jina Edwards as General Schedule Representative;
b. James Mikell as Medic/Fire Marshal Representative; and
c. Kelsea Bonkoski as Medic/Fire Marshal Alternate.
BACKGROUND: The Firefighter and Police Officer Pension Board (“Board”) consists of eight members and three alternates who serve as the trustees of the trust and fiduciaries of the Firefighters and Police Officers Pension Plan (“Plan”) and its assets. The Board acts for the City on matters concerning the assets of the Plan, including selecting and monitoring investment funds and appointing investment managers, custodians, and advisors. The Board is also charged with consulting with City management to recommend modifications to the Plan. The Plan requires Board meetings to be held each quarter of the calendar year, but meetings are generally held more often.
City Council has the authority to appoint Board members to the Firefighter and Police Officer Pension Board. The Board members are either nominated by the City Manager or elected by the Voting Participants, which include both active sworn Firefighters and Police Officers as well as retired and deferred vested Plan participants who were sworn Firefighters or Police Officers. The City Manager nominates four representatives and one alternate to represent City management. Firefighters nominate and elect through secret ballot two participant representatives and one alternate. Police Officers also nominate and elect through secret ballot two participant representatives and one alternate. In the event that City Council does not appoint a representative nominated by the City Manager or the Voting Participants, the nomination and election process must be repeated until all Board member positions are filled. The chairman and secretary are elected by the Board members.
The Supplemental Retirement Board (“Board”) was created on December 11, 2012 and includes General Schedule, Deputy Sheriff and Fire Marshal/Medic employees. The Board is comprised of eight members and five alternates who serve as the trustees of the City of Alexandria’s Supplemental Retirement Plan’s (“Plan”) trust and fiduciaries of the Plan and its assets. The Board acts for the City on matters concerning the Plan’s assets, including selecting and monitoring investment funds and appointing investment managers, custodians, and advisors. The Board is also charged with consulting with City management to recommend modifications to the Plan. The Plan requires Board meetings to be held each quarter of the calendar year, but meetings are held more often.
City Council has the authority to appoint Board members. The Board members are either nominated by the City Manager or elected by the Board. The City Manager nominates four representatives and one alternate to represent City management. The Board elects two representatives and two alternates to represent General Schedule employees, one representative and one alternate to represent the Deputy Sheriffs, and one representative and one alternate to represent the Fire Marshals and Medics. In the event that City Council does not appoint a representative or alternate nominated by the City Manager or the Board, the nomination process must be repeated until all Board member positions are filled. The chairman and the secretary are elected by the Board members.
Participant representatives and participant alternates of both boards serve four-year terms, which are staggered so that members’ terms overlap but are not concurrent. Management Representatives and the Management Alternate serve until they resign, are removed from the Board by City Council or end their employment with the City.
Current Participant Representatives and Alternates for the Firefighters and Police Officers Pension Board are as follows:
Participant Representatives and Alternates for Firefighters:
Name Term
Vacant Representative
Proposed - Dylan Kempton Once appointed, term will end 12/31/2024
Patrick Evans 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2022
Rick Muse (Alternate) 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2022
Participant Representatives and Alternates for Police Officers:
Name Term
Edward Milner 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2022
Shirl Mammarella (Alternate) 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2022
Vacant Representative
Proposed - Jason North Once appointed, term will end 12/31/2024
Current Participant Representatives and Alternates for the Supplemental Retirement Board are as follows:
Participant Representatives and Alternates for General Schedule Employees:
Name Term
Lynda Barbieri-Strain 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2022
Lillian Vagnoni (Alternate) 7/1/2020 - 12/31/2022
Vacant Representative
Proposed - Jina Edwards Once appointed, term will end 12/31/2024
Vacant - (Alternate)
To Be Determined Once appointed, term will end 12/31/2024
Participant Representatives and Alternates for Deputy Sheriffs:
Name Current Term
Robert Gilmore 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2022
Valarie Wright 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2022
Participant Representatives and Alternates for Medics and Fire Marshals:
Name Term
Vacant Representative
Proposed - James Mikell Once appointed, term will end 12/31/2024
Vacant Representative
Proposed - Kelsea Bonkoski Once appointed, term will end 12/31/2024
Current Management Representatives and Alternate for both the Firefighter and Police Officer Pension Board and the Supplemental Retirement Board are as follows:
Name
Shari Davidson, Benefits Manager, Human Resources Department
Jean Kelleher, Director, Office of Human Rights
Philip Pugh, Division Chief, Property Maintenance, Department of Code Administration
Laura Triggs, Deputy City Manager, City Manager’s Office
Sharon Vaughn-Roach, Assistant Director, Center for Operations, DCHS
DISCUSSION: In accordance with Plan rules, Firefighter and Police Officer Plan participants held separate nomination and election processes to find candidates to fill the two expiring terms for employee representative. The call for nominations was emailed to all active employees and mailed to all inactive Voting Participants and posted on AlexNet. An open house for all interested candidates was held on October 14, 2020. Interested candidates submit a nominating petition signed by twenty-five eligible Voting Participants and a Personal Statement detailing their relevant background and why they were interested in serving on the board. Each personal statement is provided to all eligible Voting Participants along with details on how to cast their votes. The Firefighter and Police Officer representatives terms will be effective as of January 1, 2021 and will end on December 31, 2024.
The call for nominations resulted in one interested candidate for the Police Officer representative and the uncontested election of Jason North. Mr. North has served on the pension board since May 2019. Mr. North is a Lieutenant with the Alexandria Police Department where he has served for sixteen years.
The call for nominations resulted in two interested candidates for the Firefighter representative, Michael Cross and Dylan Kempton. The Firefighter Voting Participants voted to elect Dylan Kempton in a contested election. The contested election was held via an on-line software called Election Runner. 35% of the eligible voting members participated in the on-line election and Mr. Kempton received 56% of the votes. Mr. Kempton is Firefighter II with the Alexandria Fire Department where he has served for three years.
In accordance with Plan rules, the City of Alexandria Supplemental Retirement Board issued a call for nominations for General Schedule and Medic/Fire Marshal Representatives and Alternates. The call for nominations was posted on AlexNet and sent out via department communicators. An open house for all interested candidates was held on October 14, 2020. Interested candidates submitted a statement of interest and were invited to attend the virtual November 4, 2020 board meeting to state their background and why they were interested in serving on the board. All of the nominated candidates attended the meeting. The Supplemental Retirement Board representative and alternate terms will be effective as of January 1, 2021 and will end on December 31, 2024.
The call for nominations resulted in one interested candidate for the General Schedule representative vacancy. This resulted in the uncontested election of Jina Edwards. Ms. Edwards is a Senior Benefits Analyst with Department of Human Resources and has served the city for eighteen years. The General Schedule alternate representative did not receive any interested nominees and thus the position remains unfilled. An additional call for nominations will be issued in early 2021 to fill this vacancy.
The call for nominations resulted in one interested candidate for the Medic/Fire Marshal representative and one interested candidate for the alternate vacancies. This resulted in the uncontested election of James Mikell as the Medic/Fire Marshal Representative and Kelsea Bonkoski as the Medic/Fire Marshal Alternate. Mr. Mikell has served on the pension board since October 2017. Mr. Mikell is a Deputy Fire Marshall III with the Alexandria Fire Department where he has served for seven years. Ms. Bonkoski has served on the pension board since December 2019. Ms. Bonkoski is an EMS Captain with the Alexandria Fire Department where she has served for nineteen years.
FISCAL IMPACT: None.
ATTACHMENTS: None.
STAFF:
Laura Triggs, Deputy City Manager
Kendel Taylor, Finance Director
Kadira Coley, Retirement Administrator