Current Info

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT BOARD
EDUCATION SESSION AND MEETING MINUTES FOR
Tuesday, July 19 and Wednesday, July 20, 2005

The agenda for this meeting was mailed to every public employer, the news media, and other groups and individuals as requested.

The Education Session of the Public Employees' Retirement Board was called to order by Chairman Balen at 3:00 p.m., July 19, 2005, in the PERS' Board Room, 5820 South Eastern, Suite 220, Las Vegas. Members present: Mark Balen, Susan DeFrancesco, Purisimo Hernandez, Charles Silvestri, and Warren Wish. Members absent: David Kallas and George Stevens.

1. INVESTMENTS

1. Staff discussed enhanced indexing including use of derivatives versus stock based approaches.

2. ADMINISTRATION

1. Staff reviewed the process for revising PERS' Official Policies.

3. PUBLIC COMMENT
4. RECESS
Chairman Balen recessed the meeting at 4:00 p.m.

The Board meeting of the Public Employees' Retirement Board was called to order by Chairman Balen at 8:00 a.m., July 20, 2005, in the PERS' Board Room, 5820 South Eastern, Suite 220, Las Vegas. Members present: Mark Balen, Sue DeFrancesco, Purisimo Hernandez, David Kallas, Charles Silvestri, and Warren Wish. Members absent: George Stevens.

DISABILITIES

1. For the record, Sue DeFrancescsco disclosed that she knows John Velickoff and David Kallas disclosed that he knows Keith Borders and Michele Hines. Neither one felt this would interfere with their vote. On motion of David Kallas, the Board voted unanimously of those present to:

   1. Approve permanent and total disability retirement for: Grace Aliseo-Abel, Caralyn Arnold, Jacqueline Barker, Keith Borders, Karen Breclaw, Steven Bremer, Joanne Carlsen, Kathleen Cannon, Norma Dennis, Michele Hines, Richard Hunter, Marcia Jones, Howard Korten, Jeanne Moritz, Bernadine Owens, Karen Palomo, Libby Philip, Gayle Rytting, Brenda Stone, and John Velickoff.

   2. Approve reemployment requests by disability recipients: Noble Brookins, Patricia Brown, Susan Hall, Emma Hemphill, Raymond Hunnell, Leo Johnson, Jayne Lundberg, Linda Majewski, Jon McCreary, Hector Pimental, Nino Samuel, and Paul Saucedo.

INVESTMENTS

1. Jim Chambliss and Karen Jakobi of Pathway Capital Management presented their annual review of PERS' private equity portfolio, an organizational overview, discussed their investment process and approach, the current investment environment and its expected future performance.

2. Staff discussed the benefits of hiring an additional value equity manager for the PERS' fund and requested approval to begin a value equity manager search. Ruthann Moomy of Callan Associates reviewed PERS' candidate profile and the process utilized to conduct a value equity manager search. On motion of David Kallas the Board voted unanimously of those present to authorize staff to initiate a search for a U.S. value equity manager.

3. There were no recommended changes to the Interim Investment Directives for the PERS', Legislators', or Judicial funds.

BOARD

1. On motion of Charles Silvestri the Board voted unanimously of those present to elect Mark Balen, Chairman and Sue DeFrancesco Vice Chairman of the Retirement Board.

2. Staff presented the annual executive staff performance review for fiscal year 2005 which included accomplishments from seven categories: executive management, operations, investments, legislative program management, actuarial program management, public relations and board relations. On motion of David Kallas, the Board voted unanimously of those present to accept the annual executive staff performance review for fiscal year 2005, as submitted.

3. On motion of Purisimo Hernandez, the Board voted unanimously of those present to approve the minutes of the Retirement Board education session and meeting held June 14 and 15, 2005, as submitted.

4. Staff presented the proposed Retirement Board education session and meeting dates for January 2006 through June 2006. On motion of David Kallas, the Board voted unanimously of those present to approve the Retirement Board education session and meeting dates for January 2006 through June 2006, as submitted.

5. Board member David Kallas mentioned that he had a conflict with the November 2005 meeting and would be unavailable to attend. There were no recommended changes to the Retirement Board meeting dates for the remainder of 2005.

6. There were no recommended changes to the Retirement Board education curriculum calendar.

ACCOUNTING

1. Staff reviewed the spending authority for the 2006-07 budget approved by the legislature.

ADMINISTRATION

1. Staff discussed the Administrative Assistant I proposed position reclassification to a Retirement Technician for the Las Vegas office. Staff also explained the budget adjustments required for the reclassification. On motion of Warren Wish, the Board voted unanimously of those present to approve reclassification of the Administrative Assistant I position in the Las Vegas office to a Retirement Technician position, retroactive to February 18, 2005, with the appropriate budget adjustment to the System's budget.

2. Staff reviewed the proposed policy modifications to PERS' Official Policies. On motion of David Kallas, the Board voted unanimously of those present to authorize staff to notify employers of the proposed revisions to PERS' Official Policies in accordance with NRS 286.200.

3. Staff presented the nominated candidates for a firefighter member position on the Police and Firefighters' Retirement Fund Advisory Committee membership. On motion of David Kallas, the Board voted unanimously of those present to re-appoint Raymond "Rusty" McAllister to the Police and Firefighters' Retirement Fund Advisory Committee for a 3-year term beginning July 1, 2005.

RATIFICATION AGENDA

1. Approved the Administrative Fund disbursements.

2. Approved all personnel action since the last report.

3. Approved out-of-state travel for appropriate staff and Board members to attend the National Association of State Retirement Administrators' (NASRA) annual conference held in Anchorage, Alaska, August 5-10, 2005.

4. Approved the Final Benefit Audit Report for June 2004.

5. Approved the Final Benefit Audit Report for July 2004.

   On motion of Charles Silvestri, the Board voted unanimously of those present to approve the Ratification Agenda, as submitted.

DENIALS
REPORTS
PUBLIC COMMENTS

1. There were no individual statements and/or requests by the members, retired employees and/or the public.

2. The Deputy Attorney General had nothing to report.

3. Administrative report by Staff:

   Executive Officer:

   1. The Executive Officer mentioned that she received a phone call from the State Treasurer inviting her to attend meetings in New York with analysts from S&P 500 and Moody's to discuss the State's bond rating. The State is seeking an upgrade and has received questions from these groups. The Executive Officer volunteered to participate via telephone conference call on August 1 and 2, 2005.

   2. The Executive Officer, the Operations Officer and Bob Auer, Deputy Attorney General for PERS, attended the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys' (NAPPA) conference held in Incline Village the end of June. It was a very good conference with excellent presenters.

   3. The Executive Officer spoke to the Washoe Chapter of Retired Public Employees of Nevada (RPEN) in Reno. It was a very positive experience.

   Operations Officer:

   1. The Operations Officer stated that the passage of Senate Bill 438 allows Justices of the Peace and Municipal Judges to move from PERS to the JRS if their employer elects to do so. Staff has received numerous phone calls and is scheduling counseling sessions with the interested individuals.

   2. The Operations Officer mentioned that PERS has received over 5,000 requests for one-fifth of a year service credit purchases. Over 4,000 of them have been fully processed.

   3. The Operations Officer stated that July is our 3rd busiest month with over 300 service retirements received and 486 service retirements for September already received by the System.

   4. The Operations Officer stated the System has received two or three requests for military service credit purchases due to the legislation that passed in 2005.

4. Questions and/or comments by members of the Retirement Board.

   Mark Balen

   1. Chairman Balen thanked the Executive Staff for the excellent job they do and all the staff of the System in Carson City and Las Vegas for all their hard work on the Board's behalf.

   David Kallas

   1. David Kallas also thanked the Executive Staff and all the staff of the System in Carson City and Las Vegas for all their continued support and hard work.

   Warren Wish

   1. Warren Wish inquired as to what steps PERS has taken to protect against identity theft on PERS' computer system. Staff explained the System has taken many steps to protect its members and beneficiaries against identity theft such as the removal of Social Security numbers from QDROs and contracting with TRUsecure to test the computer systems' protections against possible hackers.

The following is the time schedule for the meeting:

On July 19, 2005, the Education Session was called to order at 3:00 p.m. by Chairman, Mark Balen and recessed at 4:00 p.m. The July 20, 2005, Board meeting was called to order at 8:00 a.m. One break was taken at 9:20 a.m. for approximately ten minutes each. The meeting was adjourned at 11:25 a.m.