Council committee considers pension board changes

Discussion resumed Thursday about changing the composition of the Police and Fire Pension Board of Trustees, the group in charge of managing the pension fund's investments.

Changing the makeup of the board was one of the commitments made by both Springfield City Council and the Police and Fire Pension Fund Citizens Task Force over the summer.

The task force recommended two options:

• An 11-member board with three citizens, one council member, two city staff from the Human Resources and Finance departments, two active Police employees, two active Fire employees, and one retiree; or

• A smaller board with five citizens, one active Police employee, one active Fire employee and one retiree.

Mayor Jim O'Neal has said there is some consensus on a board makeup somewhere between the two recommendations, according to the city's blog. The proposal being discussed is a nine-member board with six citizen representatives and three representatives from the Police and Fire ranks: one each from Police, Fire and the retirees.

According to the blog entry, the proposal would remove most of the influence of the city manager's office, though one city representative - likely the director of Finance - would remain on the board as a nonvoting member. The proposal would also change the selection process.

Currently the city manager appoints the board citizen and city staff members for council approval, while the new proposal calls for citizen members to be selected by the council's Public Involvement Committee.

The biggest point of discussion, according to the blog, is the size of the board. Police and Fire employees want an 11-member board with five representatives from the Police, Fire and retiree groups, while city management prefers a nine-member board with three representatives.

Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky, council's liaison to the pension board, said in the meeting that it wouldn't really matter which group was selected. "They have the most to gain from a pension fund that is properly managed and properly funded," she said.

Council hopes to make a decision on the pension board makeup by the end of January.