System Managers
Historic fi rst meeting of new PFRS board
shows how much trustees bring to the table
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
■ PHOTOS BY JIM CONNOLLY
The first meeting of the new Police and Firemen’s Retirement
System Trustee Board on Feb. 1 started with a bang not a whim-
per. Truly.
Prior to the start of the inaugural gathering of the new PFRS
management team — created by the passing of Chapter 55 last
July, board member John Megariotis, the acting director of the
NJ Division of Pensions, announced that sometime during the
morning, a minor test blast would be conducted at a building
construction site across the street from where the meeting was
being held in Trenton.
There will no doubt be plenty of occasion for fireworks as the
new board proceeds with completing the structure for the new,
independently run PFRS by the official launch date – ironically,
the eve of the Fourth of July. But Feb. 1 proved to be, as law en-
forcement-elected trustee Ray Heck, the State Corrections Local
105 State Delegate, proclaimed, a historic day.
“This is the genesis of moving forward when it comes to the
new police and fire pension system,” Heck explained. “We’re
committed to the agenda, focused and excited.”
In a statement echoed by the NJ State PBA’s appointed trust-
ee, James Kompany of Roselle Park Local 27, and retired police
and fire-elected trustee Bruce Polkowitz, a Local 600 member,
Heck wanted to assure first and foremost that pension checks
will continue to come. The focus and excitement, though,
seemed to resonate from the culmination of nearly four years of
work to get to this point and the grandeur accumulating in and
around the gallery at the Division of Pensions building, where
the public meeting was held in front of an overflow audience
that included PBA President Pat Colligan and Pension Benefits
Coordinator Pete Andreyev.
As historic days go, this one featured minimal theatrics. There
was just enough time for the seven elected and appointed mem-
bers representing the public safety unions to meet and greet
with the five trustees appointed by the governor representing
management.
Looking around the U-shaped table witnessed a ton of rele-
vant experience and expertise. And all trustees seemed to have
a perspective about why this day was so historic and so signif-
icant.
“We’re all in and this is going to work, man,” noted FMBA
President Ed Donnelly, his union’s appointed member to the
board.
“I think everyone is here for the common goal,” added Kom-
pany, apparently nodding to the board’s top priority of making
sure the pension is fully funded.
“It’s bigger than all of us, and I’m really humbled to be here,”
commented Matt Lubin, a firefighter with FMBA Cranford Local
327 who is the fire-elected trustee.
“It’s four years of your life, and here is the baby being born,”
President Colligan acknowledged.
And, perhaps exuding the enthusiasm that marked the day,
Polkowitz declared, “We’re going to have a lot of fun over here.”
Truly, they seemed to be having a blast on this day.
“I think we took a big step forward today in really starting to
form something that’s going be the best thing that’s ever hap-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
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■ FEBRUARY 2019 33