SYSTEM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35
ecutive director, chief investment officer and board secretary.
Standardization has been achieved so that on July 3, it will be
all systems go to work on solidifying the financial stability of the
pension fund.
“A lot of shopkeeping items have been taken care of so we can
move forward,” Kompany said. “It’s going to be a learning curve
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■ FEBRUARY 2019
for everybody involved. I want members to be patient, to just
understand that everyone’s best interest is in mind. The bottom
line is we’re doing this for the betterment of the system.”
Because half of the first meeting was conducted in closed ses-
sion, the attending public did not get a great feel for what was
accomplished. Polkowitz, however, provided a report.
“We’ve learned that we were fairly organized today,” he de-
tailed. “I think it was a feeling-out period, but we accomplished
good business today – what we had to do. We passed resolutions
on a temporary basis, which was a prudent measure so we can
make adjustments in the future.”
The bulk of our workload will be putting the right people in
place, and the new board is committed to due diligence during
the next few months to do so. These are decisions that will have
substantive influence over the next several years of the pension
system.
As Colligan asserts, the board is fast at work on creating a
pension system that can make market corrections to maximize
investment opportunity and achieve full funding. Anybody who
has put even a momentary eye on the markets knows that these
market corrections could soon be coming fast and furious.
If the new pension board is doing its job, however, PFRS
members should see none of that behind the scenes. They will
be focused and excited about the most important outcome.
“Pension checks will be coming through and pension hear-
ings will be heard correctly,” Heck assured. “We have extensive
training on our side to ensure not only an easy transition, but to
raise that system to the next level. We’re strengthening it from
within to ensure flexibility down the road. And we’re making
sure that we’re constantly fluid in looking for certain key factors
to solidify it and grow it from there.”