Fort Walton Beach Ordinance — 801 Restate General Emp Plan — reading text

normal retirement with benefits based on accrued credited service at his normal retirement date but in case no any later than his seventieth ( 70th) birthday. DISABILITY RETIREMENT. Disability retirement is the retirement of a member of this plan based upon a finding of total and permanent disability under the provisions of section 17- 28. 2 of this article. RETIREMENT BENEFITS. Retirement benefits means any amount payable to a retiree, contingent annuitant or beneficiary in accordance with the provisions of this plan. ACCRUED BENEFIT. Accrued benefit shall mean the earned retirement benefit through any period of service as credited under the provisions of this article. DISABILITY. Disability shall be any total physical or mental disability which prevents an employee from performing substantially all of the requirements of any job for which he may be suited by reason of education, training or experience, either with the City of Fort Walton Beach or any other employer. Pa~ e 34  DEATH BENEFIT. This benefit shall mean any amounts paid to a beneficiary by reason of the death of a member of this plan under section 17 - 31 . of this article. EMPLOYEE' S C~ TRIBUTI~ S. Contributions made by a member or previous member of this plan as required under section 17- 24 including any accumulated interest as may be provided under this article. EMPLOYER C~ TRIBUTI~ S. All contributions made directly by the employer from general revenues of the city to this plan as provided under section 17 - 24 of this article. CHAPTER 175 DISTRIBUTI~ S. Chapter 175 distributions shall be the excise tax on property insurance premiums levied and collected under Section 175. 101, Chapter 175, Florida Statutes, and remitted annually to the city by the insurance commissioner and treasurer of the State of Florida after deduction of necessary expenses incurred by the Department of Insurance in carrying out the provisions of the act. INVESTMENT. Investment shall mean the utilization of assets of this plan as provided under section 17- 25 to preserve the corpus and produce an increase in value assets through interest, capital gains, discounts or any other form of income consistent with the investment medium. GENDER. Whenever used in this article, a pronoun in the masculine gender shall be construed as including the feminine gender unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. EFFECTIVE DATE. The effective date of this plan is January 1, 1966, which shall also be construed to include the provisions of the " supplemental pension plan for fire employees of the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida," having an effective date of January 1, 1977, and combined through this amendment and restatement. AMENDMENT AND RESTATEMENT DATE. The amendment and restatement date of this plan shall be November 27, 1984. Sec. 17 - 23. Administration of fund; designation of trustees; designation of plan administrator; adoption of rules and regulations. The responsibility for the administration of this fund shall vest with a board of trustees comprised of the mayor, chief of the fire department, two ( 2) firemen to be elected by a majority of the firemen whose names appear on the rolls as members of the fire department and one ( 1) resident of the city to be appointed by the ci ty Pa~ e 35 council. The rules and regulations governing the operation of the retirement fund and the duties of the trustees shall be prescribed in the administration manual created and set forth under the authority of the city council. The administration manual shall serve for reference and guidance for each person involved in any area of pension administration and it shaH, from time to time, be amended by action of the city council. This administration manual wiU be coincident with the one required under Article II and Article IV of this chapter. The mayor and chief of the fire department shaH serve as long as they continue to hold their respective offices and each of the regular firemen elected as trustees and the resident member of the city shall have terms of two ( 2) years each unless they fail to continue to meet the requirements stated in Section 175. 061, Chapter 175, Florida Statutes. The resident member shall be a trustee for two ( 2) years and may succeed himself in office. They mayor shall be chairman of the board of trustees. The board members shall elect anyone ( 1) of its members as secretary of the board. The secretary shall keep a complete minute book' of the proceedings of the board. The trustees shall be responsible for approval and certification of employees for participation in this fund and for reviewing and granting benefit or relief to any participant of the fund. No benefit or relief shall be given to any person out of said fund unless the same shall be first approved by the board of trustees. It shall be the duty and responsibility of the board of trustees to: ..' a) FuUy acquaint itself with full details of the benefit and administrative provisions of the pension fund. b) Promote the dissemination of information concerning the fund. c) Investigate the facts relative to eligibility of prospective participants and render a decision as to the acceptance or rejection of the application. No application for participation in this fund shall be granted unless approved by the board of trustees. Decisions by the trustees to approve or disapprove an applicant for membership are subject to an appeal to the appeal review board which may support the decision or hold otherwise. The decision of the appeal review board is final. d) Investigate the facts relative to eligibility of any participant to receive benefi ts under the appropriate sections of this article providing for disability benefits, and upon a positive finding of eligibility, grant such benefits. No member may receive such benefits unless approved fo~ same Pa~ e 36  by the board of trustees who are bound to apply the appropriate provisions of this article in making such determination of eligibility. Decisions by the trustees to approve or disapprove claims for benefits are subject to appeal to the appeal review board which may support the trustees decision or hold otherwise. The decision of the appeal review board is final. e) Investigate the facts relative to any application of a member for normal retirement, early retirement or deferred retirement and upon a positi ve finding of eligibility, grant such benefits. No benefit or relief shall be gi ven to a member unless it shall be approved by the board of trustees. f) Serve with the plan administrator as a committee of the whole in the specific event that the proration of benefits section of this article becomes operative, and to execute the responsibilities enumerated therein. w5 The plan , administrator shall be the finance director of the city and he shallr~ .- v~ administer this plan for the trustees and participants, subject at all times to the .:;::. limitations and conditions specified in or imposed by' -provisions of this article and ~ the rules and regulations as contained in the administration manual. The trustees and plan administrator shall serve without compensa tion additional to that earned in their respective capacities as regular employees to the city. Sec. 17 - 24. Source of funds; employee contributions; employer contributions; Chapter 175, Florida Statutes, distribution. The pension fund shall consist of monies derived as follows: Each member of this plan shall contribute, on a monthly basis, five percent ( 5%) of compensa tion as defined in this article, and the same shall be deducted from said compensation by the finance director before the same is paid and such percentage of compensation so deducted shall be paid into this fund. Al! sums derived from distribution of monies generated by the operation of Chapter 175, Florida Statutes, as defined in this article, shall be remitted to the finance director who shall