Fort Walton Beach Ordinance — 1686 Amend General Employees Pension - Election to Participate — reading text

based on the availability of funds 166 year as soon after the beginning of the fiscal year as feasible, 167 from City operations, but no less frequently than quarterly. 168 169 Sec. 17- 12. 1. Deposit and investment of monies and securities. 170 1) All funds and securities paid into or held by the pension fund shall be deposited 171 with the finance director who shall be the treasurer for the board of trustees of this pension fund, 172 and the treasurer shall keep the same in a separate fund, a commingled account, or accounts in 173 which the funds are clearly identified as funds and securities of the General Employees' 174 Retirement Fund, and be liable for the safekeeping of the same, under the bond given him by the 175 City, in the same manner and to the same extent as he is liable for the safekeeping of the funds as 176 are now provided by law. 177 2) The board of trustees shall set the investment policy, and shall pennit investment 78 in any of the following: Page 6  FWB General Employees' Retirement Plan Final Version 9/ 30/ 02 179 a) Time or savings accounts of a national bank, a state bank insured by the Federal 180 Deposit Insurance Corporation, or a savings or building and loan association 181 insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. 182 b) Obligations of the United States or obligations guaranteed as to principal and 183 interest by the government of the United States. 184 c) Bonds, stocks or other evidences of indebtedness issued or guaranteed by a 185 corporation organized under the laws of the United States, any state or organized 186 territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, that are rated " BAA" or 187 better by Moody' s or Standard & Poor' s rating services. 188 d) Stocks meeting the following guidelines: 189 1. The corporation is listed on one or more of the recognized national stock 190 exchanges; and 191 2. The board of trustees shall not invest more than five percent ( 5%) of its 192 assets in the common stock or capital stock of one issuing company, nor 93 shall the aggregate investment in anyone issuing company exceed five 194 percent ( 5%) of the outstanding capital stock of that company; nor shall 195 the aggregate of its investments exceed, at cost, 50% of the assets of the 196 fund. 197 e) Investment accounts maintained by major national banks and by major insurance 198 companies given the top rating by Best's or are in the upper tenth ( 10th) percentile 199 of all insurance companies as detennined by admitted assets in which the 200 investment media are limited to stocks, bonds, real estate, commercial paper, 201 direct placement investments and combined investment media. If investment is 202 made in stock accounts, the same limitations shall apply as under item ( 4) above. 203 3) All monies paid into or held in the pension fund shall be invested by the treasurer 204 according to the investment policy set by the trustees. The treasurer shall invest fund assets as to 205 provide for sufficient liquidity to meet all payments required to be made under terms of this Plan. 206 4) The treasurer shall be responsible for maintaining records of individual member 207 contributions in order to satisfy the requirements of various sections of this Plan including the 108 apportionment of interest and to establish accounting procedures which will isolate the assets of Page 7  FWB General Employees' Retirement Plan Final Version 9/ 30/ 02 209 the fund created by this Plan from assets of funds created by any other pension plan where they 210 shall exist in commingled accounts or investment media. 211 212 Sec. 17- 13. Participation in fund. 213 ( 1) All employees hired on or after May 14, 1996 shall become members of this Plan 214 as a condition of employment, except as otherwise provided in subsections ( 3) and ( 4), below. 215 All such members shall be required to complete a medical examination as prescribed by the City. 216 Any material misstatements or omissions of requested health or medical infonnation by an No member shall be 217 applicant or member shall be grounds for denial of disability benefits. 218 entitled to a disability pension, whether in line of duty or not in line of duty, because of or due to 219 the aggravation of a specific injury, impainnent or other medical condition preexisting at the 220 time of membership in the Plan, provided that such preexisting condition and its relationship to a 221 later injury, impainnent or other medical condition is established by competent substantial 222 medical evidence. Nothing herein shall be construed to preclude a disability pension to a 13 member who, after membership in the Plan, suffers an injury, impainnent or other medical 224 condition different than an injury, impairment or other medical condition existing at or prior to 225 said membership. 226 ( 2) Any employee who is not a member of the Plan on May 14, 1996 due to their 227 personal choice not to join when membership was offered, may join the Plan without an election 228 to purchase past service. An election to become a Plan member pursuant to this paragraph must 229 be made in writing on or before August 12, 1996. 230 ( 3) The City manager and finance director may elect to participate in this Plan by 231 submitting a written election to the Board. Upon the timely submission of such written election, 232 the City manager or finance director shall become a participant in the Plan, and the City shall pay 233 the employer and member contributions for these members. The City manager and finance 234 director may purchase credited service for all full years and fractions thereof of continuous full 235 time City employment preceding membership in the Plan at any time following their election to 236 participate in the Plan, by making the required contributions for such service in accordance with 237 section 17- 12. 38 ( 4) The chief of police shall be a member of this Plan. Page 8  FWB General Employees' Retirement Plan Final Version 9/ 30/ 02 239 240 Sec. 17- 14. Credited service; military service. 241 ( 1) Credited service shall mean all full years and any fraction thereof to four ( 4) 242 decimal places of continuous, full time City service during which the employee was a member of 243 the Plan, from the date of employment ( or the date of membership, if later than the date of 244 employment) to the termination of employment, up to a maximum of forty (40) years. 245 ( 2) A member shall not be considered terminated in the event of: 246 ( a) Absence with the consent of the City manager during any period not in excess of of leave up to 247 one ( 1) year, except that the City manager may extend the period 248 two ( 2) years with approval through resolution by the City council. 249 ( b) Absence from work because of occupational injury or disease arising out of City 250 employment, for which absence the member receives workers' compensation 251 benefits. 252 ( c) Absence in the service of the armed forces of the United States or the United 53 States Merchant Marine, in accordance with applicable requirements of federal 254 and state law. The years or fractional parts of years that a member serves in the 255 military service of the Anned Forces of the United States or the United States 256 Merchant Marine, voluntarily or involuntarily, after initial employment with the 257 City as a Plan member, shall be added to his years of credited service provided 258 that: 259 1. The member must return to his employment as a member with the City 260 within one ( 1) year from the date of his military discharge, or as otherwise 261 provided by the Unifonned Services Employment and Reemployment 262 Rights Act of 1994, and any amendments thereto. 263 2. The member contributes into the Plan the same sum that he would have 264 contributed if he had remained a member, plus an amount of interest 265 substantially equivalent to that earned by the Plan from the date of 266 commencement of military leave or tennination of City employment to the 267 date of payment of the amount required. Such contributions must be paid 68 within a time period equal to three times the period of military service, but Page 9  FWB General Employees' Retirement Plan Final Version 9/ 30/ 02 269 no longer than five ( 5) years from the member' s return to City 270 employment. 271 3) In interpreting this section, the City manager will apply uniform rules In a 272 unifonn consistent manner to all members under similar circumstances. 273 4) A member shall not receive credited service for periods of absence set forth in 274 subsections 17- 14( 2)( a) and 17- 14( 2)( b) above, but shall retain credited service accrued prior to 275 such absence if the member does not withdraw his accumulated member contributions from the 276 fund or repays all member contributions withdrawn, plus interest at the actuarially assumed rate 277 for the fund from the date of withdrawal to the date of re- employment with the City, within a after 278 period of thirty (30) days following the date ofre- employment. Upon return to employment 279 an approved absence, the member will again accrue credited service. 280 5) Credited