SONOMA COUNTY EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION RETIREMENT BOARD MEETING MINUTES

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1 RETIREMENT BOARD MEETING MINUTES Thursday, 10:00 a.m. Presiding: Present: Chair Brian Williams. Trustees Neil Baker (Alternate Retired), Greg Jahn, John Pels, Erick Roeser, Joe Tambe, and Bob Williamson, Chief Executive Officer Julie Wyne, Assistant Chief Executive Officer Kelly Jenkins, Chief Counsel David Lantzer, Chief Investment Officer Jim Failor, Retirement Accounting Manager Cathy Austin, Senior Investment Officer Steve Marsh and Administrative Aide Rebecca Lankford. Also Present: Kathryn Cavness (SACRS), Michael Pineschi, Max Ahmberger, Martin Bennett and Ian Valdez (UNITE HERE), and Ed Clites (SCARE). Absent: Trustees Michael Gossman, Christel Querijero and David Rabbitt. I. CONSENT CALENDAR All agenda items on the Consent calendar will be approved in a single motion unless a Trustee, staff member or member of the public requests separate action on a specific item. A. Meeting Minutes - July 26, 2018 Retirement Board Meeting Minutes B. Quarterly Financial Report Period Ending June 30, 2018 C. Budget to Actual Report - Period Ending June 30, 2018 Recommendation: Approve Consent Calendar Items A through C. Trustee Roeser noted a calculation issue in the Budget to Actual report and two oneoff projects, the annual audit and building maintenance, were discussed. A motion was made by Trustee Pels, seconded by Trustee Williamson to approve the Consent Calendar Items A through C. The motion carried with voting as follows: Page 1 of 6

2 II. REGULAR CALENDAR A. SACRS Priorities - Kathryn Cavness CEO Julie Wyne introduced Ms. Cavness indicating that she is a Trustee on the Mendocino County Employees Retirement Association Board and on the SACRS Board in the position of Secretary. Ms. Cavness discussed SACRS priorities for the coming year and encouraged our Trustees to attend the SACRS educational conferences. B. Legislative Proposal Request- Orange County- Appointed/Retired Trustee Stipend Ms. Wyne discussed the OCERS legislative proposal to increase the stipend paid to appointed and Retiree elected Trustees, and indicated that this concept had been attempted several years ago without success. The major opposition to this concept was from the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and the main objection was due to the cost increase that would follow a stipend increase for the many County boards. Similar opposition came from cities and the legislation failed. Ms. Wyne indicated that the cost increase concerns were still present and opposition would follow, which would be difficult to counter. Recommendation: Determine whether to support the Orange County legislative proposal for SACRS sponsorship. A motion was made by Trustee Pels, seconded by Trustee Williamson to not support the Orange County legislative proposal. The motion carried with voting as follows: C. SACRS Business Meeting Voting Delegate Recommendation: Appoint the SACRS Business Meeting Voting Delegate. A motion was made by Trustee Roeser, seconded by Trustee Williamson to appoint Trustee Williams the SACRS Business Meeting Voting Delegate. The motion carried with voting as follows: Page 2 of 6

3 D Retirement Board/Committee Meeting Calendar Recommendation: Approve the 2019 Retirement Board/Committee Meeting Calendar. A motion was made by Trustee Jahn, seconded by Trustee Williamson to approve the 2019 Retirement Board/Committee Meeting Calendar. The motion carried with voting as follows: E. Investment Performance Summary Monthly Update Chief Investment Officer Jim Failor reviewed Plan performance for August and commented on market developments. It was noted that global equities were up in August but this was really on the strength of US equities. US equities were up 3.5% during the month while non-us developed stocks were down 1.9% and the emerging markets were down 2.7%. Within US equities, growth stocks continued to beat value and small cap outperformed large. US corporate earnings reported in August continued to be strong. Economic indicators continued to be robust as well with second quarter GDP growth revised up to 4.2%, the Unemployment Rate continued to be very low at 3.9% and Consumer Confidence reported its highest rating since Internationally, concerns regarding trade conflict were at the center of the news. Emerging market equities were impacted by these concerns, the rising US dollar and the possibility of contagion from the economic problems in Argentina and Turkey. Economic data out of China generally came in below expectations and confirmed decelerating growth. In fixed income the Treasury yield curve flattened modestly as rates declined. Spread sector performance versus Treasuries was mixed and the BB US Aggregate Bond Index was up 60 basis points for the month. In this environment, the Plan returned 0.80% for August and 4.7% year-to-date (YTD). The Plan s return was 17 basis points under the Target Policy Index for the month and 85 basis points over YTD. Longer-term annualized gross-of-fee Plan returns through August are now 10.8%, 10.5%, 9.6%, 7.6%, 8.1%, 7.2% and 8.0% for the 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 year periods, respectively. In discussing trailing returns it was noted that the strong returns over 1, 3 and 5 years were on the back of robust US equity performance. Mr. Failor discussed the performance of SCERA s active managers. He discussed trends of individual Page 3 of 6

4 manager performance as well as some of the major contributors to benchmark-relative manager performance. The strong relative performance of US over non-us equities explains much of the benchmark-relative underperformance of SCERA s global equity managers (Templeton and Hexavest) and its global asset allocator (GMO) over recent periods. All of these managers have been underweight US stocks for some time. Systematic s underperformance for the month and YTD is largely explained by the continued outperformance of growth over value given the firm s free-cash-flow focus and valuish style. On the other hand, both of the Plan s 130/30 quantitative managers, Jacobs Levy and Arrowstreet, outperformed in August and YTD. The Plan s asset allocation as of August 31 st was also reviewed. Due to strong US equity returns, US stocks were slightly overweight versus their policy range. Staff trimmed the SSGA Russell 1000 Growth Index fund to bring the Plan s asset allocation back into compliance. Consistent with previous Committee discussions, a full rebalancing was not undertaken due to the pending restructuring of the equity portfolio planned for late September. F. Trustee/Staff Training & Conferences Please notify Rebecca Lankford if you plan to attend any future event. Please note, if out of state travel to attend a conference is not approved in the Budget, separate approval from the Board must be obtained prior to attending the conference. 1. NCPERS 2018 Public Pension Funding Forum, September 16 to 18, 2018, Cambridge, MA. Trustee Gossman attended and was unable to report out due to his absence at this meeting. 2. UBS Trumball Fund Client Advisory Council, October 10 to 12, 2018, JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square, San Francisco, CA. Trustee Williams is attending. 3. Nossaman s 2018 Fiduciaries Forum, October 18 to 19, 2018, Marriot Union Square, San Francisco, CA. 4. SACRS Fall Conference, November 13 to 16, 2018, Renaissance Indian Wells Resort & Spa, Indian Wells, CA. G. Communications 1. Service Retirements 2. Service Connected Disability Benefit Joseph Giglio 3. GASB Statement 68 Report, June 30, Election Schedule Page 4 of 6

5 III. GENERAL DISCUSSION ITEMS Opportunity to advise the Board of new matters and for Trustees to ask questions for clarification, provide information to staff, request staff to report back on a matter or to direct staff to place a matter on a subsequent agenda. There were no general discussion items. IV. PUBLIC COMMENT Opportunity for public comment on non-agenda items within the jurisdiction of the Retirement Board. Michael Pineschi from UNITE HERE introduced Max Ahmberger and Ian Valdez who spoke about their positions at Marriott Hotels and their current labor dispute with management. They addressed the Board because SCERA is invested in the UBS Trumbull Property Fund which holds Marriott properties, specifically the property in Boston that employs Mr. Ahmberger and Mr. Valdez. Ms. Wyne thanked them for their presentation and indicated that SCERA does not get involved in the management of the properties held by its Investment Managers, and that UBS had informed SCERA that they do not get involved in management/labor disputes, instead relying on the hotel management company to negotiate in good faith. V. EXECUTIVE SESSION A. Executive Session: Meeting closed pursuant to Government Code Section 54957(b) to consider the employment status and evaluation of performance of a SCERA member or members as concerns eligibility for a disability retirement. Ms. Wyne informed the Trustees in Open Session that the wrong name was contained on the agenda for disability retirement, as John Martinez, Jr. was granted last month and it should have been Patrick Green this month. Mr. Green s application will be on the October agenda. As such the Board did not enter into Executive Session. Disability Committee: JOHN MARTINEZ, JR., Correctional Deputy II filed for a service connected disability retirement. Recommendation: Grant a service connected disability retirement. B. Report on Executive Session in Open Session. Page 5 of 6

6 VI. NOTICE OF NEXT MEETINGS All meetings are held at SCERA in the Board Room at 433 Aviation Boulevard, Suite 100, Santa Rosa, CA, unless otherwise noted. Planning Session October 3 to 4, 2018 Oxford Suites- Rohnert Park, CA Disability Committee October 25, :30 a.m. Retirement Board October 25, :00 a.m. VII. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to conduct, the meeting adjourned at 11:04 a.m. VIII. APPROVAL The above minutes from the Retirement Board meeting were approved at the Retirement Board meeting on October 25, BRIAN WILLAIMS, CHAIR Page 6 of 6