San Diego County Employees Retirement Association

The board addressed several agenda items, including the approval of disability retirement applications, the adoption of revisions to various governance and administrative policies, and the approval of trustee attendance for upcoming seminars. The investment-related agenda included a review of the investment performance for the quarter, the authorization of staff to proceed to the next step of the private markets investment approval process for Wind Point Partners Fund XI, and presentations on trust fund liquidity and estimated management fees. Additionally, the board conducted a continuing education workshop focused on asset allocation and risk-return, and reviewed reports concerning participant statistics, trustee travel, and budget status.

This Strategic Plan outlines the vision, mission, core values, and strategic objectives of SDCERA for fiscal years 2026-2028. The plan is structured around five key objectives: Trust Fund Sustainability, Effective Administrative Governance, Excellence in Providing Member Service, High Performing Workforce, and Modernization of Information Technology. SDCERA's overarching vision is to be a highly trusted and respected pension system that reliably administers benefits, while its mission focuses on ensuring compliance, delivering prompt benefits, and prudently managing trust fund assets.

The meeting addressed public communications, though no requests were made to address the Board on non-agenda items. The Board approved the minutes from the May 1, 2014 meeting. Under the Consent Calendar, the Board approved Death Benefits for active and retired members, Service Retirement applications, and the reinstatement application for Cathleen A. O'Connor. In Disability Retirement Application Hearings, the Board adopted administrative recommendations to deny service-connected disability retirement for two applicants and granted one disability retirement based on a hearing officer's recommendation. The Board also acted on several policy matters, including the approval of multiple governance and administrative policies, the removal of the Credit Card Policy (Adm 4), and the addition of new policies such as the Actuarial Funding Policy and the Anti-Assignment 401(a)(13) policy. Significant discussion and action occurred regarding the Investment Governance Structure, resulting in the acceptance of a contract modification with Salient and proceeding with the outsourced CIO Model effective October 1, 2014. Furthermore, the Board reviewed and acted upon nine proposals from the Disability Review Committee concerning various aspects of the disability retirement application and hearing processes, including providing resources to applicants, evidence standards, attorney fee reimbursement, medical evaluator standards, and re-examination policies. The Chief Executive Officer reported on trustee reappointments, the cancellation of future meetings, and interest posting schedules.

The General Session commenced with introductory remarks from the Chief Executive Officer, noting that agenda item five was pulled. Key discussions included a Portfolio Strategist Report covering deleveraging, demographics, and core themes. Presentations were given on Risk Budgeting Principles, Risk Parity as a Core Asset Allocation Framework, and Trend Based Strategies as an Active Return Stream. The Chief Executive Officer also provided an update on the Board Education Policy effective January 1, 2013. The Board entered into a lengthy Closed Session to discuss existing litigation matters involving Jeffrey Baker v. SDCERA and SDCERA v. Burroughs, anticipated litigation regarding two unnamed potential cases, and further existing litigation with the Deputy Sheriffs' Association v. County of San Diego. The session also addressed the purchase or sale of pension fund investments. No items were reported out from the Closed Session.

The meeting commenced with Public Communications, where no requests to speak were made. The Board discussed and approved the Board Officer Elections agenda item, ultimately deferring the entire discussion and action until the August meeting following a suggestion to allow a full board attendance. The Consent Calendar included the adoption of administrative recommendations to grant several member applications for Service-Connected and Nonservice-Connected Disability Retirement, as well as the approval of member deaths and service retirement applications for June 2015. The Board addressed an application for attorneys' fees for applicant Larry Trapp, adopting staff's recommendation to grant the limited amount of $6,000 while directing staff to amend the relevant policy to cover such future scenarios based on greater net benefit to SDCERA. The Interim Chief Executive Officer provided a report highlighting staff achievements, the Senior Team's upcoming Action Plan development, and noting that membership surpassed 40,000 for the first time in SDCERA history. Finally, the Board adopted a resolution authorizing the Chief Financial Officer as an authorized signatory and approved several seminars and conferences for July through November 2015. Authority was granted to the Chief Investment Officer, with CEO concurrence, to terminate and retain investment managers related to the transition from Salient Partners, effective through September 18, 2015, or the transition completion.