VI UPDATE
U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records
TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS
Government of the Virgin Islands Retirement System Board Meeting
GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees)
recording published March 26, 2021 · 2.0 hours · gov
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are you ready okay um never begin with uh i'd like to call the meeting to order and we have a more call please Please.
Trustee Caldwell? Present. Trustee Dana Clinton? Present. Trustee Dorsey? Absent. Trustee Liger? Present. Trustee
McDonnell? Absent. Trustee smith absent chairman barry present or present three absent okay Okay, we have enough for
a quorum, so Mr. Secretary, could you proceed on the agenda?
0:00:00
Next item is comments and suggestions from retirees. Yeah, Mr. Chairman, I find this to be a problem because you know
initially what the courts the core if the i code says is that we should have meetings regularly with the retirees now since
we are um on virtual the retirees don't have our zoom link they probably looking at the youtube sometimes they tell me
that they uh they don't get the reception or they we can't get in to view the actual proceedings, especially the regular
session. So I think, and what I've seen with the other semi-autonomous agencies, they provide a Zoom link so that the
trustees, or the retirees, I'm sorry, can participate in that part of the agenda.
0:01:24
So I think we're gonna have to, next meeting, We're going to have to make the zoom link available. I've seen some of
them put it in, some of the agencies put it in a newspaper, or we can put it in a press release or on our website. So they
can, if they have any comments or suggestions, they can participate in that way. Because right now, since we went
virtual, we haven't been getting any one participating, no retirees participating in the meeting on that part of the agenda.
So that's my recommendation that we make available the Zoom link so we can let them participate in the regular session.
And then we can obviously put them on hold or something and make sure that they're not involved in the executive
session portion so do we okay um that came to mind late yesterday afternoon when i was i was thinking of it and
somebody had called me and i was saying that you know they don't get to participate like they used to so i thought about
it and i said wait a minute they're true that's right because we always ask are there any suggestions from retirees and
they're not going to be any because they don't have the zoom link to participate in real time okay i i i i agree and i think
um we should we should do that uh beginning with the next meeting okay i'm just wanting to bring that to your attention
and any other board members have any thoughts on that um we should we should make the link um available my only i
won't call it a reservation but i i think um i don't know we have to have some kind of um some kind of double checking
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method to make sure that when we go into executive session that only the people that are supposed to be in are actually in
i i've participated in a number of zoom meetings but i'm not familiar
with a um with the software or with the app to the point that um i could say what that is i i think some of them have
where you could grab like different levels of um access so that may be one way to kind of filter you know so when you're
going to executive session and i guess only people with you know that that higher level of access will remain in the
meeting i think that's something you can't it there's a feature where you can put them in the waiting room correct as you
know when we come out of the executive session we really should and if there's a press there also we should call the
press and say we're back into regular session that's the way it used to be in lifetime so those people who are not those
individuals who are not trustees or the staff that are needed in executive session will be put into a waiting room and then
when we come back out they can come back into the regular session and if there's anything to report it out then they
would have access to that information sounds good enough yeah well mr nibs why don't you um get with your technical
folks to to work out the the um you want to call it technicalities i'm sure it's i i see that miss cooley is there so we're
gonna need to discuss i need to discuss it with her sure sure so so we'll have the we have the procedure down pat for the
next meeting um so that we we implement that process process yeah okay good observation thank you next item on the
agenda secretary minutes okay need a motion to accept the two sets of minutes we had a special meeting on the 17th and
we had a regular meeting on the 25th we need to have approval or acceptance um mr chair mr nibs we're probably going
to need to hold on any votes
0:04:54
because we don't have enough voting members for a voting call um we only have three members who can vote present
one two three yeah could you could you could you repeat that uh attorney williams i was saying that we can't take any
votes because we don't have enough voting members for voting members quorum um we have enough members to
proceed with the meeting take reports etc but if voting purposes we only have three voting members present and you need
four my recommendation would be that since you know this seems to be going to be a lengthy meeting why don't we call
these members um i know that mr dorsey was given all the all the uh copies in in in hard copies picked them up two days
ago and yesterday also so maybe we need to call them and ask them if they having problems because you know delaying
is going to create a lot of problems well i i did speak with mr dorsey he said he was trying to call and he was having some
technical challenges but i don't know if he's in yet but i just spoke to him a minute ago well my recommendation mr
chairman is we take a five minute break and see these members are going to be coming in because you know what well
are we talking well what are we talking about that we wanted to vote on was it on the minutes well minutes now but
suppose they don't come in we have the uh the treasurer's report and we have other things in regular session yeah but
what i'm saying is dorsey's trying to come in by the time we get to all of that hopefully he'll
0:07:11
be in all right uh i'm i'm kind of lost explain to me what's happening i think uh mr chairman what the attorney william is
saying that that's we just go ahead with the agenda move move past the um secretary minutes because there's not uh
enough voting members present we only have dwayne carlwood vincent liger and yourself that's three we need four dana
clendenin is an exec ex-official member and she does not vote so we have dorsey mcdonald and leona smith out or not
present the suggestion is to move past the minutes and go to and then come back yeah and then come back when we have
a a a quorum of four voting members uh four voting members and we come back to the minutes to do a motion to
acceptance okay okay that's fine all right so communications and correspondence okay um the chairman i'll move through
very briefly summarize what we have um on the 25th of february 2021 received correspondence from the governor of
virgin islands albert bryan in regards to some suggestion um that has to do with member
0:08:59
participation and member education we also covered um a suggestion and coming up with uh looking at um coming up
with our employee covered plan which is actually part of the decoder supplemental plan and also he talked about uh
looking at uh making available a short-term loan program in partnership with private banking partners uh we do have um
a write-up which i sent to the trustees late yesterday afternoon it was outside of the um document package that was sent
to uh by miss cooley and i hope everyone have that we we are ready to discuss that in regular session so i'm just letting
you know that this correspondence that we receive with the governor's suggestions on those uh three issues will be
covered in the um regular session i think two we did respond to the governor on march 3rd um thanking him for his
suggestions and we told him that what you know just succinctly what we have done so far and that we would be meeting
with the uh financial institutions and we will get back to him and schedule a meeting with the board but we had to present
our recommendations to the board in march 25th meeting which is today and thereafter we will request an appointment
with him
0:10:49
um on march 1 2020 i wrote to the acting commissioner of finance miss clarina modest elliott in regards to um act 8383
which is bill number 330418 which talks about um um the ers receiving 50 of any revenues realized in excess of the
funds appropriated by the legislature um she did respond to me and indicated that she would have been she would be
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looking into it i have not received um any um any response in detail and she said she would be doing a reconciliation and
looking into it i guess maybe she is um knowing that it's on audited information maybe she would say that she audited
however i have not received any response from her other than she had received it and she'd be looking into it um we did
receive what tipped us off i really is we receive some type of a copy of an immediate release from senator duane graph on
this same issue and he said that there was about um they had collected the government had collected 885.8 million dollars
which is about 10.8 million 10.8 million dollars more than had anticipated revenues so if that is so 10.8 then we should be
getting at least 5.4 million dollars um based on the act 8383 also on march 2nd i wrote to jennifer o'neil the
director of omb also to miss clarina elliot the acting commission in regards to outstanding contribution payments due for
the period october 1 2019 through september 2020 boy this had to do with um at 8244 and there was some um there was
some amendments um however there was a 10 million dollars that's supposed to be paid for us to us in employer
contributions initially it was uh it was seven then it went to 10 and it was a 60 40 split um 62 contributions 40 direct
contribution then there was another um legislation that changed it i have them but i'm i'm not going to put them out there
i think i i sent you copies of those it's about uh 10 million dollars is due we did receive five million dollars when judge
gomez ordered um the government to pay us we received that on march 3rd 2020 so outstanding for 2020 was five
million dollars and we received in october 30 20 24 million dollars so there's a balance do of one million dollars however
um the director of omb responded and she said that um While there's still ongoing litigation in court that the AG had
recommended that they do not remit to us the $1 million because there's ongoing litigation in regards to the $63 million in
the Third Circuit Court. As you know, we didn't receive it. There was a hearing and we have not received a ruling on the
$63 million.
0:14:33
that's their response to the one million dollars that is due to us so therefore what i did on march 10th i sent a bill to the um
the government of virgin islands attention the omb director and also miss modest elliot the acting commissioner
indicating the amount the outstanding employer contributions will which were due from the internal revenue matching
fund and it would be 10 million dollars plus the 1 million dollars that is due in 2020 so total employer contribution due 11
million dollars now yesterday i received something from an email from the omb director indicating to me that there were
no appropriation in 2021 from the internal revenue watching fund to the grs that's what she said to me i am presently
investigating this i've asked my contact at the legislature to give me as much information on the budget i went up on the
website to the omb budget but it's not in detail but she's saying that um there's no 10 million dollars due in 2021 because
there was no appropriation from the internal revenue matching funding so there's more research that have to be done on
that so that ends my um summary of the correspondences any questions uh morning morning sir i need everybody i'm
sorry that i was late um i had some technical difficulty trying to get in so i'm actually using my phone again but anyway
um i just wanted to
0:16:25
address a few areas i'm not sure if you guys did already in the opening but since you're talking about this particular topic
with the uh monies that were due i did read the correspondence so before we move on um trusted dorsey um let me
correct an issue oversight unfortunate oversight in my part and not officially welcome in the new trusty carlo um you
know he's he's jumped right in and becoming part of the meeting and i know that i'm sure that you all aware who is i just
wanted to officially welcome you sir as a member of the board and looking forward to interactions and participation
thank you thank you i apologize for that to have by the oversight but all right that's okay i'm gonna pump i'm gonna pump
on some concerns guys so okay that's fine we still want we still want to do this right i appreciate it sure trusted dorsey
continue and congratulations uh member trustee carwood for joining us this dorsey um Yes, I wanted to say that I was
going to say that to trustee Carlo that when I was appointed chairman, my son wished me condolences. Because I don't
say it because of me. all right so i'm sorry just to continue
0:18:21
yes good morning again i did read the documents on the topic at hand um the question i had um the law was passed and it
was signed by the sitting governor that we're supposed to get that money that law was signed um october looks like the
26th of 2020 by the governor and it was signed october 10th uh by the president of the senate uh francis and the secretary
of the senate miss Barnes. And then we get these other documents from OMB indicating that they are not going to pay
any monies that are owed. I think it was the million dollar balance because of the litigation, the ongoing litigation. I think
at that point the government is mixing apples and oranges because those are two different scenarios um the litigation my
understanding was the litigation was from previous monies that were owed the litigation this right here is an act by
senator de graff that was done uh and the last senate body and and placed into law so these monies now shouldn't have
anything to do with that so my question was from a legal standpoint and i'm not sure which of the three councils if they're
here today can answer is this something we take to the attorney general's office to deal with or does is this something that
will go to uh inspector van beaver house to go after these monies because i don't feel like
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this is something that our council should get caught up in this sounds like this is something outside or should we go to the
u.s attorney's office to finally straighten this out that was what my question was because you can't just cut us off at one
point you're saying you're trying to help you sent a cozy letter trying to help and make recommendations as a sponsor but
now you come back and allow the omb director to indicate that you're not going to pay any money so you're sending
missed messages from a sponsor standpoint those are missed messages coming to us as trustees um so i'm not sure who
can answer that question that was my first point chair okay um okay i was waiting for a second so let's take them one at a
time um i i agree with you um and what i would suggest is that first of all do you have the act number of that act few
reference yes okay it's act is act number 8383 it's bill number 33-0418 okay so i was gonna i was gonna make that point
also i mean i quite agree with you that about the mixing of apples and oranges um and um so i i think that um we we need
to i think before we before we go to the attorney attorney general because i'm i'm i'm seeing that she's the one according
to the letter from the omb directors the attorney general is the one who indicated to her advisor
0:22:16
to not to release any funds, as long as this thing is in court. So, I'm a- But Chair, Chair, Chair, let me say this, right?
That's a title that we're talking about right now, you know? What I'm asking from a legal standpoint, because I see what
she did as the Attorney General, but my thing is you can't serve two masters That's why we've always said in the past, our
attorney general needs to be elected separate, not appointed, because when you appoint, you're loyal to who appoints you.
That's just the reality of the situation. So right now I'm asking, is this something we need to take to the inspector general,
which would be our next option, I would think. If that's not the option, then the next option would be the US attorney's
office. We have to trump what's going on at this point.
0:24:03
There has to be a trump. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, may I add? Yes, go ahead, Mr. Neves. My recommendation is
that we send this to committee, we sit down with the legal before we start that process. I don't know what committee
would be, the committee of jurisdiction, either budget and audit or maybe policy, but i think we need to have a full
understanding of what occurred we have all our documents in in place the letters that i wrote the responses and we come
up with a unified board position i think i think going to the inspector general i i can't see the inspector general getting
involved i think we you know we need to go to the governor first uh i'm saying that is what i was going to suggest i think
trying to try to resolve that i mean the attorney general as as mr darcy pointed out that the attorney general has a boss and
the boss director has a boss so i think before we we go down that road we should try to approach the governor that would
be my recommendation and see and get it resolved that way so chair let me just say this um i i think we're wasting time
go to the governor at this point is the governor who made these uh directives it's clear who the directives came from so it
didn't come from one person he appointed it came from two it came from the director of ocb and it came from the
attorney general those are the two people he appointed so we're wasting time with that i think if you don't want to go to
the u.s attorney's office
0:25:04
i mean the inspector general it's the u.s attorney's office if there's somebody else logging the food chain that we can go to
let's do that but i think even to say we're going to a committee this is real clear these are three clear documents there's
nothing wrong with mr Mr. Nib's position, he is following the law. Now the law is being broken. So now we have to go
to a higher situation. We don't need to waste time, but we'll be wasting time. Like the previous cases, we just go into
court to go to court, and then you're going against yourself. So you're spending money twice. You have the government
spending the same money twice. And that's what you just said, Chair. You said the same thing when the staff of the GRS
was bringing a case against the trustees. You understand? It's like we're wagging our tails now. This ain't making any
sense. Either we wanna do this right or we're just gonna continue to straddle at this point.
0:26:55
Okay, I think you made your point. I mean, my recommendation is that we, get it resolved by the governor before we go
down that wall. Mr. Chairman, I thought attorney Williams wanted to say something. Go ahead, attorney Williams. I
didn't want to belabor the point, but I don't believe that either the U.S. attorney or the inspector general would have any
jurisdiction over that. As I understand the issue is whether or not we're entitled to monies from the internal revenue
matching fund which is a strictly local issue and all we have is the OMB directors quote-unquote interpretation of what
the attorney general said to her and while I don't intend to despise anybody's representation integrity I find a lot of times
when people tell you what other person says it is not quite accurate so I would also suggest that we may want to find out
from the ag's office itself what is their position relative to the issue in terms of the research on the background that we're
getting and as mr nibs indicated whether or not there has in fact been an appropriation of the 10 million dollars in the fy
21 budget i think we need to determine at least those two facts among others before we make any decisions in terms of
how we're going to address this and we also need to find out whether that that appropriation is available until expended
because those appropriations usually lapse at the end of fiscal year unless unless they're made available until expended so
we need to look at that um and then i mean
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that so there have been my recommendation that we we've found that well before we put on the word of going to um well
chair yes excuse me chair i didn't hear what the council just said can he repeat what he said i blanked out i just came back
in i just heard the end would you repeat what you said that neither the the u.s attorney's office or the inspector general
have jurisdiction over this issue this is a strictly local issue it has to do with the internal revenue matching fund and we
also need to determine two things what in fact did the attorney general's office advise omb because i'm not sure you know
what's the basis for her characterization of what the AG said, and also whether or not there's been an appropriation, I
believe it's in the FY21 budget, Mr. Nibs, for this $10 million. We need to find out those things factually, and then based
on that information, you could then make some decision.
0:29:49
just what you said so so so council you're basically saying that we have to wait to see if there was actual money uh
appropriated in the budget that would have been left over for the grs system at this point and if there is money what is the
next step at that point i think we think we're talking about two different bills i think you may be right confusing two
different things 8383 is i don't think that's the issue we're talking about the issue here is a direct appropriation from the
internal review matching fund which is different from 8382 which has to do with quote unquote leftover monies from the
general fund So I believe Mr. Nibs indicated that part of the issue was the OMB director took the position that no monies
were appropriated, I believe, in FY21 for this $10 million, so he had reached out to somebody, the legislature, to confirm
that information. We need to get the answer to that question and then we need to find out whether in fact the AG has in
fact taken the position that the $1 million that's outstanding is not due or should not be paid because of the pending
litigation that's in the third circuit. I'm not sure why that the AG would have actually taken that position. So I'm
suggesting that we need to find out what the facts are.
0:31:06
okay so it's two things is the um the matching fund was not paid that's the that would be um i think that's 11 million
dollars now is that is that the balance mr nips i just was million dollars from the prior year and which she responded
which she responded that the ag said because of the litigation that um they were not going to pay it and 10 million dollars
for the current year which she said that um there were no appropriation in that budget for that and we are presently doing
some research to determine if that is so same thing that attorney williams just told you that that just that just makes it
even worse than the commission well we like i made my recommendation to the chair and i think it's kind of in the same
light as the um board council we need to do our research first we're doing it and then we can meet and and then um we do
probably gonna have a meeting with the governor very soon and then we bring it up but maybe the ag could be invited to
the meeting with the governor i don't know but what i'm saying is that we just can't go out you know just send it to a u.s
attorney or the inspector general i can't see the inspector general getting involved we need to do our research if it was
appropriated it will be on in the in the books if it was not it will clearly be there so we're doing our research and then we
will make do the next steps okay so i i i think that that's what we do mr nibs um go ahead and do your research confirm
all the facts
0:32:44
um and then we we decide to take it from there um move to the next next issue you haven't had another issue mr mr
dorsey um yes i did i was saying earlier chair sorry i was late coming in i wanted to know when you got to going down
the agenda i noticed on the agenda we had a discussion in the last meeting chair that we're going to have an opportunity
for comments and suggestions not only from retirees but also for active employees um but it wasn't placed on the agenda
i'm not sure how that's supposed to move forward is that supposed to just be a motion to place it on the agenda or because
I thought once you said it wasn't a problem I thought it would have been placed on the agenda so that individuals
including in-house which are active employees in the system itself would have an opportunity to present and I didn't see
it on the agenda so how are we going to deal with that going forward on the comments and suggestions from retirees and
the last board meeting general board meeting i had made the request you said it was already shouldn't be a problem that
we would have a section on there that would actually say retirees and active because active make up half of what's going
on with this plan but there's there's no uh opportunity for communication and then the other thing i would say um chair
just the fact of people trying to log on i don't know if it's a different way we can go about having access to the system but
i'm hearing a lot of complaints about people just trying to get here um whatever the technical
0:34:37
issues are why they can't get on and some of them are saying they haven't even seen um something in the newspaper to
indicate that we have a meeting today. So that's something if we can look at in the near future before the next meeting
that maybe we can do under the section of community information in the local papers on our two local papers. Maybe we
can do it that way. We can just put it in as a community note. not necessarily have to be a cost to the system. So I think
it's something that the administration can look at and then the way we come into this site, if there's a different way or
easier way, the administration might have some comments on that.
0:36:33
Just to get into the site. so mr nibs what what what what what do i want you to do with your staff is to i guess you
understand the yeah well we discussed this we discussed this up front a while ago and we made a decision what we'll do
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in regards to the retirees now i i know that like i said the court speaks to the retirees now i think he's saying that last
meeting we did so that we're opening up to every all members i don't have any issues with that i mean i and i think we did
agree that i will speak to miss cooley we'll see how we can put it out there through the press release or maybe put
something in the papers or do same thing that the other um autonomous agency are doing to have the public uh be part of
their meeting that you have that in place by the next board meeting sure i'm sure you can it's it's a very easy thing okay all
right okay uh the other item i had chair was the settlement with um wage works inc in your mouth no we can't that's we're
not we're not at that point in the agenda oh you're not there oh okay okay so my other comments would come then did
you think mr chairman any conversations regarding settlement should be done in executive session those things are
confidential this is kathy smith Yeah, that's why I said we're not there yet. We'll do that when we get to the executive
session. Okay, so all of that's an executive session. It doesn't say it on my document here. It says, I don't know, it's
highlighted in blue. I thought that was just part of the regular session.
I don't know. Okay, so did you discuss the governor's letter? so we went through all of the the correspondence we
discussed the government session um right now mr chairman we need to i wasn't here so i just have a question i'm trying
to play catch up quick okay so for the re on it the trustee who's recommending agrees on it do we have to take a vote for
each item or does it just become part of the process going forward well i mean it depends i mean it depends i mean i think
if there's if there's a directive we want to give to the board i mean to the to the staff and management then we we do a
formal we want to do a formal uh resolution or vote um to the management that that's what we want and is purely
administrative then uh that are related to this plan in any level of direction that those contracts would include um all
consultants legal whatever contract assistance whatever whatever people are doing i want to get an idea of what we also
paid out over the last three years if it can't be three years i'll take two years if it can't be two years i'll take one year i'm
just trying to get an idea of what we're paying out in terms of cost right so i've made that request i've also seen that's
going out out of the system and if that cost is in the thousands of dollars on a monthly basis and then we're going to sit
here and say we should be sending people home or reducing our workforce those two things need to be side by side even
if we're going to do
0:39:27
a t-chart they need to be side by side because something's just not adding up there i i don't have all the information that sit
here to agree to even a private company coming in uh doing what they do to to justify their existence when we're still
looking to send people home who may not need to go home maybe we need to cut back in other areas but in order to
make those conclusions you need the documentation okay that's that's something that we as trustees among us need to
look at so we need a meeting just to look at the actual cost as just trustees we we need a meeting at that because if we
have exorbitant bills i would like to have access to that mr darcy to come back to the board for approval before it's
implemented okay so so chair i never got the documents i wasn't here when you guys had the retreat i hear i heard you
mention the retreat i've heard other people mention the retreat i've heard the administrator mention what happened
supposedly at the retreat but i haven't gotten any documentation the cell was it at the retreat you agreed to sell the assets
so okay we're switching we're switching up topics i'm just confused a little bit you know because we in regards to the
selling of assets this goes back at least in 2021 it had to have been either in 2016 or 20 between that 2015 2016 when the
dynamic asset allocation in regards to the investments were done and and and gustavo is on the line so he would know i
mean yes i'm looking for the document i'm looking for the minutes i couldn't find the resolution couldn't put my hand on
i'm going back and i'm researching all of that but it takes some time okay i wanted to see the actual transcript okay so if
you look at the the dynamic asset allocation in every quarter in every year it tells you when we should be selling our
assets that would not have been approved without the board approving it so we i just need to go back and get that
information are we are we talking about
0:41:21
financial assets or real estate talking about the real assets the real assets they did a real estate carambola which we already
sold you know that that is in the dynamic asset allocation schedule to did to liquidate ourselves of our our real assets real
estate so i'm just telling you you want the documentation you're looking for resolution i think i even reached out to um
attorney williams office but i know that a decision was made back then we would not have approved the dynamic asset
allocation schedule if we didn't approve the sale of assets because in each quarter it tells us when we should be selling
those assets so i'm doing the research and i think i mentioned that to you before in regards to administrative expenses
you've seen miss jeremiah has given you a a a lump sum amount if you want to get copies of payments or what makes up
the payments you can request that i would recommend that maybe you select some type of line item instead of looking at
everything if you feel that is a line item and the budget has line items professional services it has all kind of travel it has
everything if you want that then we can do a project where we can go and look specifically but to give you all the backup
for millions of dollars that's how much has been spent the copies of the invoices and all of that i you know it's going to
take a while okay tell us what you want to look at if you tell us what you want to look at we can get you the
documentation and everything so that's quite anything anything that's over uh being paid out that's over a thousand dollars
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a month any of those items to our vendors to our consultants
i need to i need to get that i need to get back on track with the agenda i mean we have an agenda we have we have a
forum that uh you know for for a general meeting and i i need to i need to get back on track with the agenda well let me
let me let me end by saying this mr boring um i i think there's a big my third meeting and we seem to be going through a
such somewhat of a routine right um you had mentioned in the last meeting mr bory that we were going to have a
subcommittee meeting for some of the items from the last meeting so from that meeting to this meeting we didn't have a
subcommittee meeting for whatever reason you didn't call a subcommittee meeting so now mr nibs is recommended
today again that we bring the uh the dollars from omb to a subcommittee meeting and discuss it as a board i understand
it's what's supposed to be said i guess at this point but i'm just trying to bring it to our head because i just feel like we're
just kind of going through the motions in a sense instead of trying to get to where we can put some teeth in it and all i was
trying to do was put some teeth and trying to rectify some of these situations because i think it's pretty straightforward i
think if the governor told two people to not pay then what's the next step we don't do respect no respect we had a budget
committee meeting when you know we're equipped delve into all those issues that you have um and and i would i would
indicate to you that you said you had a meeting chair what was that you said you had a meeting wednesday you had a
budget go ahead what you said you had a meeting on wednesday yeah so last weekend no i just i just got the document
you know i i just got the documentary
0:45:37
hello okay i just i just got the document i didn't have this last week i just got this document that's why i indicated in the
last meeting mr dawson that the way at the way to go and Mr. Dawson we're not going to get this meeting going and we
have a whole long agenda but but chair let me let me let me say this I agree with what you're saying it's a very long
agenda and when I looked at my email it said 100 plus pages and this was the same comment I made the last two
meetings like you want us to go through 100 pages that's something you receive in two days or three days right and i said
we need to push this back for a week so i just figured you would have had that on the agenda so that we can push this
back so we can have more time to review or we carry this to subcommittees before we bring it to the general meeting
okay um i i'll take that under advisement could we move on to the agenda okay thank you thank you mr chairman you
need to prove the minutes you could go back to you go back to approving the minutes now yes sir okay so the two sets of
minutes that needs to be approved um could we get a motion to approve the first one is this is a special meeting i get a
motion to to any any comments and corrections for that those minutes
0:47:57
if if not could i get a a motion to approve those minutes so move i moved up with the minutes we have a motion again is
there a second how's that yeah here second i second mr chairman it's like that move that second that we have a call for the
cool comments to names trusty carlwood yes trusty rc trusty dorsey you were in the meeting trusty liger yes trusty
mcdonald absent trusty smith absent chairman barry yes three yes one not voting two absent okay so the motion carries
yes all right next item the the motion to approve the the regular meeting that was held on february 25th i move
0:49:47
is moved by i move colon so any second Yes. I second. I second, Ed. Wall call. Trustee Calward. Yes. Trustee Dorsey.
Not voting. Trustee Liger. Yes. Trustee McDonnell, absent. Trustee Smith, absent. Chairman Barri. Yes.
0:51:42
Three years. One not voting, two absent. Okay. So the next item on the agenda is the chairperson's report. I have to report
a couple of things. of things one is that i wrote a letter to the governor which i i copied hopefully everybody got a copy
advising him of of um a need for appointments to to the board and it's a short letter so i like to read it into the record it
says um says dear governor brian a right to apprise you of the current instability of the membership of the grs board of
trustees a matter that requires urgent attention currently only three of seven mandated trusty positions are properly
tenured fewer than required for core remaining four positions are occupied by trustees whose terms have expired, some of
whom continue to serve pending the replacement as allowed by the statute. Trustees whose terms have expired are
Trustee Liger, Central Labor Council's St. Croix appointee whose term initially expired in 2008 and is ineligible for
reappointment. trustee leona smith st john representative who's term also expired in 2008 and who is also ineligible for
reappointment trustee michael mcdonnell st croix representative whose term
0:52:18
expired in 2020 and who is not interested in reappointment and trustee cohen trustee stephen coin whose term expired
and has resigned effective march 16 2021 vacating the slot available via election by the saint koi retirees two attempts to
elect to elect his replacement have been unsuccessful a third attempt is contemplated please note that the saint john and
saint croix are without properly tenured trusty representation in the normal con under normal conditions this situation
would have been worrisome in the grs's extraordinarily challenging current circumstances instability at its leadership
level is untenable i am available to discuss this and other issues with you at your convenience so that letter was sent to the
governor on march 23rd 2021 the other item i'd like to report on is that i i made contact with senator vlas some of the
board members will recall that in the session we had with the legislature senate president had indicated that she was
establishing a subcom a GRS subcommittee of the legislature to be chaired by senator viola so i made contact with him to
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discuss with him his plans going forward for this committee and more specifically ways that the
the GRS could be involved and participate in whatever actions he's about to take. He indicated to me, he confirmed to me
that he is in fact the chair of the committee and that he is planning to have a meeting, a working session. I'm not sure if
it's gonna be a formal meeting, but a working session of his group in which we would like to out the participation and it
intends to invite participation by GRS to begin to work towards some resolution and some way forward. I did offer to
him that we would be willing to make available to him any technical assistance he needs via the consultants that we have
on contract with us.
0:56:07
And he indicated that he would be willing to take us upon that offer. So I am looking forward to hearing back from him.
In terms of timing, he indicated that he would be initiating actions soon after the easter holidays so that's that concludes
my chairperson's report any questions on that okay so next item on the agenda the administrator's report good morning
again uh on march 3rd i met with uh miss clandinen and miss jerry meyer in regards to the update on the voluntary
reduction in force program which you know we had discussed with the budget committee on the fifth i met with building
one tenants at havenside mall in regards to repairs and replacements of the roofs on the 9th of march i conducted a site
visit at havenside mall and met with a contractor dcm regards the erection of the two maintenance buildings that are
planned work is currently ongoing also i met with the st thomas federal credit union ceo and the ceo for the frederick step
federal credit union regards to potential loan partnership that was suggested by the governor on the 11th i attended budget
committee meetings in regards to the update on the voluntary reduction in the workforce and other options. On the 17th, I
attended a joint Havenside Oversight Committee and Havenside Mall Management meeting to discuss outstanding
operational and infrastructure issues. On the 18th, I met with the Central General Council and Havenside Mall
0:57:13
Senior Management in regards to potential rental for a potential tenant, which is a high-end restaurant on the 23rd i had
mediation regards to the st thomas eastern clinic versus grs uh i also met with the contractor for the roofing project at the
havenside mall and yesterday i attended the usvi community business forum which was virtual which included the
governor and the lieutenant governor and some cabinet members and also consultants and also Royal Caribbean Group
looking at post-pandemic tourism and what's in store and what is being planned. In regards to the application for
retirement, we have 184 outstanding and we have received in 2021 calendar year 46 in 2020 when we received 46 in
2020 we received 235 we have processed 108 so we still have 120 applications to come to the final stages where you can
get an annuity so presently there are 184 applications still pending to be processed going back from 2015 to 2021 as far
as the disability life certificates that remains the same that is where we send out life certificates every six months to our
international caribbean and international retirees to determine as a way to determine because we send out checks to them
0:59:09
as a way to determine if they are still alive Refunds, as you can see, from October 2020 to present, February 28th, we
have paid out $2.3 million in refunds, 175 cases. Of the 175 cases, 123 were regular, which is non-vested members, so
the majority of the refunds were to non-member or non-vested members. 2.1 million out of $2.3 million.
1:00:59
Debt benefits, we have paid out $1.1 million from October through February 28th, 2021, 18 cases. Annuity payments as
of March 15th, the number of retirees of a March 15th payroll were 8,654. 654 the dollars paid out from october 1 2020
to march 15 payroll 117 981 095 58 cents 117 million 981 000 95.58 number of retirees that are added to the payroll for
that same period were 89 the number of retirees that were deleted from the payroll deleted mean they have passed on
same period 134 members you know that the gross retiree payroll for that pay period was 10.7 million dollars so we're
paying out over 21 million dollars a month in retiree benefits uh this is a preliminary needs to be audited the active
employees as of february 28 2021 is 8757 i know that the personal director is um is a part of our audience today so she
may have a different figure but and i think it needs to be looked at but um from what i saw there was a few errors but we
are saying we and this is based on our postings to the system what is coming in in contribution so we were tabulating at
least 8757 like i said she may have a different figure between and where you get the information from uh the member
loan portfolio um as you can see its diminishing um as of uh february 28th we are down to 2495 units uh of personal
loans
1:01:41
mortgages are 87 for total loan portfolio units of 2582 you know this has been down we suspended the loans in 2015 we
had over 6 000 units at that time so as you can see the loans personal loans are scheduled to be expired all personal loans
around 2024 early 2025. Obviously the mortgages go into the 2030s. The portfolio amount is $31,809,488.79 broken
down by between the districts as you can see. We have about 18.5 in St. Thomas, 13.3 in St. Croix. As far as the
outstanding loans, we have 1,416 in St. Thomas, St. Croix 1,166 units. Our operation as far as the infrastructure to the
sinkoi everything is going to schedule hopefully to have the delayed fire inspection by the end of the month um as you
know we are doing a landscaping every year we do an annual landscaping and common area common area cam services
and to the facility um the insulate the security dose installation about 95 percent complete uh that was uh something that
was recommended to us by um i think it's vintino because we had some issues before with people coming in today and
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threatening our employees the st thomas district things are moving along
in regards to the water pumps for the system and the tanks. The generator has a little issue, a small problem, but that is
something that import supply is looking at and hope to get that fixed as soon as possible. Our roof repairs in one area is
completed and the entire north flat roof is hopefully will be completed by the end of march air conditioning project
another significant project is moving along pretty well some still some issues with not having enough coolness in in some
of the offices including my office However, we continue to work every day, but the majority of the office on the second
floor to third floor are being cooled properly.
1:05:39
Docks are being cleaned, so we're preparing for full renovation or replacement of our existing air conditioning units,
which is very old and doesn't really solve the functions anymore. If we go to page 8, we have some projects coming up in
the St. Thomas District, the Lottery Atrium restroom renovations. Some restroom renovations were done, I think, on the
third floor, I'm not too sure Ms. Clemson can correct me, but again, also the GRS hip roof replacement, the contract has
been signed and the contractor who's doing the current repairs to the other section is the same contractor so hopefully
we'll get that done as soon as possible as far as the collections rental and electric reimbursements uh we collected 238 410
48 cents 232 186 from the rental 6224 from the electric reimbursements for the month of february year to date we have
collected 335 227.12 for uh rental fiscal year to date 166 000 16.47 we do have some of our averages were paid a
significant amount of speed by um department of justice so they're still having a rare age of 61 739 1048 cents electrical
reimbursement we have a total of 191 124 dollars and 60 cents uh schedule a if it's there's a schedule a attachment to the
um to the report which shows which tenants are still in a rare um leases i think the only lease that really have um we are
concerned about right now the casino commission we're working on that a quick a quick a quick interruption mr nims yes
only on the area the leverage is 191 000 um are we are we in a raise with wapper
1:06:42
one minute please no no we wouldn't be are in a resident waffle we pay off front with a reimbursement so the 191 000 is
out of pocket we're out of pocket that because we've paid wafer but not got to invoice yes yes sir so they were waiting for
the reimbursements from the agency what's what's the status you know miss clandinen could you chime in help me out
here this is jeremiah we have received um um some of the money from the um um the second floor from justice for the
areas yes that is reflected in the schedule i think 150 000 came in for electricity electricity yes okay and the entire amount
for the rental 185 000.
1:09:12
so this this is after this report uh the among that you the changes that i made to the exhibit miss clinton and you told me
that 150 were paid in the rental 150 000 in the electrical and 185 315 dollars was paid for the rental so the arrearage left
in the electrical is 137 308.48 in the electrical that's correct well that's not what you gave me that's what's reflected in
exhibit eight okay in exhibit a it's reflected that the electrical is still have a rare age of 53 of 137 we we took out 150 out
of the rental you are correct mr electrical i'm sorry okay yes so it's correct it's correct there yes okay Okay.
1:10:11
We had some changes after the report came to me. That's what she's saying that I asked her and she gave me that 150,
which brought it down. It was a significant amount and they paid 150,000 on electrical. That's correct. So the leases, like
I said, I know that I've been seeing some back and forth with the casino commission, with Ms. Clendenin and Mr.
Pickering and Lucy Richards. So hopefully we'll get that done. I think they have to agree or disagree on the suggested
language.
1:11:07
As far as personnel, I think that DOP is in talk with the property and procurement for finalization. And with Department
of Justice, a meeting is scheduled for the 23rd, which just went. So I don't know, Ms. Clendenley could give an update on
the meeting with DOJ if it did happen? Yes, Mr. Hensley, the meeting did happen yesterday. We met for over an hour
and we have a follow-up in mid-April.
1:11:42
The negotiations with the new lease went very well. Okay, as far as the appraisal, as you know, we did have appraisals on
the St. Roy complex and the St. Thomas complex by McCloskey. and the results were done on the reports. We expect the
reports by April 30, 2021. St. Croix, we tie the election. As you know, there were no successful candidates. The two
individuals that had applied did not meet the qualification by law. So we would have to schedule a new election schedule.
I think it would have been a little ambitious, but it begins April 12th. We're going to have to go out and advertise again
and contact the retiree groups to see if they can have someone interested. I know there were a few people that called me
who I knew were qualified based on the qualifications. They said they were going to submit. I called them and told them
that the advertisement was out, but they didn't respond.
1:12:14
So I don't know why. There have been some strategic planning and organizational webinars. I think that is going very
smoothly. It appears there's going to be one this afternoon at 6 p.m. for active members. There was one schedule that was
done for the business community. Um, I did get some feedback, but you know, that's, uh, had some issues with the techno
technological issues, I guess, or electronic or problems. But, um, from what I understand is going very well inputs, you
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know, I've been, um, positive and, um, doing it to help us to, to prepare a strategic plan with the involvement of all the
stakeholders.
this uh if we have a recommendation um on the fema insure and the fema issue with the warehouses in at havenside mall
we plan to discuss that um with you in executive session and try to get a firm um recommendation as where we're going
to go i think i i got a feeling from the last meeting where the board is thinking but we just want to be able to confirm
that's what uh the staff wants to confirm and the board let us know this is what we're going to do is the final a final um
approval to move forward and how to move forward how we're going to be moving forward based on recommendations
uh we also have um a handout that was circulated in this yesterday in response to the governor's brian's letter that should
be discussed in the regular session uh new business that ends my report thank you um any any questions on that and he
should find that report uh yeah i have a i have maybe two questions um um the meetings that were the oversight
committee meetings for the ge uh haven site sorry the haven site chair um when we agreed that i would be part of the
committee i guess um nothing was sent to mr nips to notify me of the meetings so what is the process with that just for
the record which committee is this the oversight committee for a haven site to attend mr chairman the board had set up
years a few years ago oversight committee for even site mall and there was i think a financial and uh and budget
committee also trustee carlwood um carl carlwood was appointed a vice chair i am the chair she's no longer here
1:14:18
so we continue with our meetings because we have a lot of outstanding issues at um avenside mall so we meet sometimes
once a month or on call you know we plan to have i want to have a meeting on monday um some some individuals um at
least in oversight committee and some some uh management staff at havenside more um although i'll be on annual leave i
want to meet with them on monday because there's certain things that got to be done so i think i had forgot i didn't know i
didn't get anything official saying that trusty dorsey was part of the committee i and i i vaguely remember him discussing
it but i didn't invite him to the last one because i wasn't really and i wasn't thinking that way i just wanted to get a meeting
done so i think what he's saying he's saying that he was appointed as a member of the oversight committee but i did not
invite him so i guess is here i mean since there was an official thing done by the board setting up a chair and vice chair
for these two committee the vice chair position is open it was it was um a trustee that was the vice chair the board wanted
that way to have a board representation on the in the committee you know just let me know and i would invite him to to
the other meetings. So, is this a formal designation?
1:16:34
Well, the board can just tell me, I mean, it's up to however you do it, as long as I hear it officially that, okay, Trustee
Dorsey is going to be the vice chair or the board representative in the oversight committee. I would invite him to any
other meetings we have. I know that he's a member of the budget committee. So just let me know if that's how you want
it. You wanted to replace Kyle Calwood, who was the vice chair? Okay, yes.
1:18:14
Okay, fine. So it's part of the record. Okay, Chair, the other question I have was the, in the rear is the two agencies,
attorney general's office in the vision of personnel. But I guess my other question was to Mr. Nibs or to Ms. Jeremiah,
you prepay the money for the electrical bill. How much is that approximately a month? Are you actually paying
prepaying to keep the lights on as they say? They come in our name.
1:18:49
Yeah, but how much on the average are you paying every month? good morning uh trustee dorsey our light bill right now
averages about 73 to 74 000 a month oh okay so uh thank you uh miss clinton is that for the one building that is for yes
that is for the grs st thomas building okay so chair that was part of what i was trying to say earlier in terms of reduction in
workforce and i don't know if that's going to be under again on the executive session but if if the system is pre-paying out
that kind of money when you divide that by the number of employees we may be looking to send home that again is an
area of concern that we just need to bite the bullet we need to separate the electrical so those individuals who lease those
spaces will be on their own and that is additional money that we can save as a system so that we can keep our members
employed that's the only point i was making so that's why i was asking earlier for the copies of what we're paying out and
i can know what it sounds like a lot but if you start adding it all up it almost make you think nobody really needs to go
home it's just how we manage our financial and human resources okay thank you all right that's it as far as uh mr mr
nipsy's report okay so what i'd like to i'd like you permission to go to change up the agenda a little bit if you need a
formal resolution but i was trying to keep time we got 11 o'clock and you'll recall that um attorney smith had indicated
that they are one of the folks that we're going to present
1:19:25
would all be available at 11 30. uh mr chairman i know that gustavo is on the line he's been there um he said that he had a
meeting at 11 30 also that's the investment report that's right that's where i was going with that mr so i would recommend
we hear from gustavo first that that that was going to be my recommendation and um do i need any formal point
information chair yes i there's a document received from mr nibs uh to yourself march 16 is that it's it's a contract again is
that to be taken up in executive session or is that in regular session because i want to have a discussion on it so i'd like to
reorder the agenda contract which contract is that this contract is in well it's a contract of a proposed letter to you
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indicating for his extension on these successions come on there's those things would be discussing that personnel on the
executive session executive session okay so it's on the agenda okay I didn't say it on the agenda. That's why we're asking.
Mr. Chair, you can reorder the agenda unless there's an objection by a trustee. Okay. So is there any objection to me
reorder in the agenda to vote directly to the investment officer's report? None for me. I don't have an objection. I don't
have an objection to reorder. and i was just asking is that information from mr nid is it going to be placed under the
executive session officially how does it work we just leave it open we'll we'll discuss that in executive session okay then
and i'm not even sure if we're right for that at this point but we'll discuss in the executive session okay so with no
objection i would um turn to you go to item on investment officers report and um just to keep the i i take it that would
take us into pretty much into the 11 30 time frame where um attorney smith you wanted to have your presentation done at
11 30. yes that's when our securities litigation council is available that's going to be executive session also and ask me an
executive yeah okay so yeah at the end of gustav's report we'll go into exactly executive session one information what is
it that the council smith wants to bring in the executive session again we're being updated on a securities litigation case
and all legal cases that are ever discussed
1:22:44
in executive session okay okay okay gustavo go ahead you know i think that uh i hope that everyone can hear me well
and glad to see everyone. I sent actually a first version of the presentation earlier in the week and then yesterday I resend
another version which basically is the same report but includes a final finalized slide from our research team on a little bit
on macro that I think it merits discussing a couple of points so hopefully you'll have that latest version in front of you um
i'm not going that the presentation is 40 pages long definitely not not not uh not planning on going on every single page
but um if you don't mind um on that presentation turning into page four basically you're gonna be able to put it on the
screen or not no mr che i will not okay sorry about that go ahead cases around the world that are definitely diminishing
and and how is this related to investments is as we all know we've been facing with this pandemic that has affected the
economies around the world and until we don't get the health issues solved it's difficult to see how the economy is going
to move forward but it seems to be good news in terms of you know vaccinations and number of cases coming down and
the severity of those cases all around the world so hopefully there's no additional hiccups in this trend and we continue to
to see this improvement
1:24:39
and with these economies reopening and with our markets moving forward. Page five is a little bit of a breakdown in
terms of the vaccinations campaigns per country. The good news here is particularly in the United States that you know
we've been making a nice strides the last couple of months in this regard. I read this morning that it is around 11 to 12
percent of population in the United States that is now fully vaccinated and a little bit over 20 percent that is in fact has at
least the first dose. So good news, particularly here in Florida. We just received news uh this morning from uh governor
of florida that uh it will be opening for um for 40 years and over uh the vaccination uh eligible for 40 years and over next
week and and on a april 5th i believe for for the entire population 18 years or older so that's good news and hopefully that
will start moving the economy forward. I will ask you to jump to page six. This is a little bit of market returns for the
month of February, which is the first column. They came back a little bit from what was a slow start in January, but so
there were some good days in the month of February that put it to up to almost 3.8% on the on the equities market. On the
fixed income side, this perception of growth involves the perception of higher inflation, which you know when and that
1:26:46
means that interest rates going up, the prices of the fixed income assets come down. Still in discussion within the experts
is this is this a trend that will be solidifying in the future is this an uptick for this year and the next quarters and then we
come down back again that is that is still in discussion the fed has to say again and again and again that will continue
with this strategy until they see a better outcome for jobs and if we remember what happened in 2000, after 2008, 2009
ago, a financial crisis. There is this fear within the Fed that they actually move away from quantitative ABC too early and
they slow down the recovery process.
1:28:45
That's why it took so long. So they don't want to go through the same issue here in this recovery. so they will their
strategy seems to be that they're going to maintain the qe for for quite some time um with that i'll ask you to please um
um move one page to page seven i think this is very interesting line uh nothing more than to take from this slide is blue
line is uh the from the S&P 500, the adjusted PE or the price earnings or what the evaluation of each of the stock based
on projected earnings. But this is backward looking. This is based on the past. And the green is actually forward looking,
which is based on unexpected projections. so uh we see a a nice uh a nice uh deviation depending on on the on the eyes
that you're looking for there's there's no intention here to say you know arguing uh if backward looking is correct and
forward looking is wrong or the other way around it's just a matter of of trying to see that uh trying to make the point that
uh still uh there's a lot of uncertainty moving forward and nothing is it's set in stone until we get on over this uh this
pandemic gustavo this is before you go go on the chairman has somehow been dropped from the line he's trying to get
back on he asked if you could suspend for a few minutes till he gets back on the line sure yes i know you have some time
1:29:44
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GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · Government of the Virgin Islands Retirement
some some time challenges but we'll see what happens okay sure
and trustee calwood uh sorry that we don't have the time the opportunity to meet in person but hopefully we'll have soon
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Ms.
Clendenin, are you still on the line, Aja?
1:31:44
Me, Clendenin? yeah yeah mr ball he wants you to ask that you call him i think he's having some technical challenges he
needs your help no problem i'll call him now thank you thanks hey yes on all islands because i'm using my phone and out
this morning about 9 45 so that may be his due yeah i told him i told him that because i was having problems um on my
other computer getting in and my office tell me that it's an island-wide issue it seemed like it's territory wide yeah bias
sent out notice i'll text it to you because mine went out and when i tried to call by a phone line Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
1:36:55
Gustavo what city are you in I'm in Miami right now wait well is that where do you live i live in in pancreas in miami
okay because i was thinking about um miami beach yeah it is uh not the same zip code as miami beach though it's the
south of miami beach where i live okay far out far away from all those party folks that uh were on the news during the
weekend very far away i i thought i saw you in the middle of it uh i don't i don't i don't think so pedro they uh yeah it was
uh it was crazy scenes given what we are leaving to be quite honest with you it would have been like a normal scene any
other year but uh this year in particular having that uh people just not caring about their own health it's uh astonishing
okay okay uh um i'm on by phone if you guys could hear me let me know yes we can okay yes i can hear what what what
page are you at um um i was uh at page it was actually uh to recommend everyone to take a look at page 14 before
moving into the the report uh okay page 14 is a graphical representation of of
1:44:15
U.S. yield curve which has a lot of influence in how the bonds pricing, the pink on the top is what they were the
expectations of the yield curve on December of 2019. The one at the bottom is the expectations that are going to work in
December of 2020. The blue in the middle is the one, the expectations as of February, which this is indicating that for if
you see what is called the shorter part of the term, the term, which is the left side, which is between the three and three
year, there's not much change because this is what the Fed can manage. the longer part of the curve, which is three and
five years and over, is investor expectations. As you see, the blue actually is over the green, which means that
expectations for growth in February of 2021 are higher than expectations of growth were in December of 2020. You
know, again, this is what has been moving the price of its income. is the conversations about um what the fed should do
this is all the discussion where we're hearing the news um basically the discussion is about is this is this change in the
curve of this stipend this this growth projection is it an overreaction just because we're definitely going to have hopefully
everything goes smooth as it's coming right now we'll have a big projection growth by the end of the year and then it will
kind of curve back down and going back to levels prior pandemic or is this just a trend that will keep on that's a
discussion that no one has an
1:46:17
answer for but this is what actually is moving the yellow curves and this is a this is the result of that discussion
particularly at our firm we believe that it would it won't be like a steep growth curve it will be you know a nice growth
projection in the near future with hopes that you know the vaccination campaign and distribution goes as planned and
there are no major hiccups and then uh it will stabilize and go back to to uh more uh normal levels um the the driver
behind it is, you know, unemployment and the trends driving the unemployment, not just the pandemic, but also, you
know, technological changes, increasing productivity, all that has not helped for employment. So those trends have not
changed. So they're still embedded in societies around the world. So that would be difficult to take. That's our, that's the
position that, that's the reason why the position on this will be a growth pattern for the short term and then we will
stabilize um with that i will ask you to jump directly to the report which i will indicate you the number of page in a
minute um number um 30 sorry no uh number 27 please So, what you see here in number 27 is the actual market values
of the system at the end of February, February 28th, was at 430,217.
1:48:15
For the quarter, that is January and February, the system performance was down 1.4%, basically majority driven by the
fact of the change in the prices of the bonds. However, for the fiscal year, still at 1.3% positive. Remember, our fiscal
year ends up in September 30th, so we have at least we have March and then two extra quarters of performance.
Basically, at this point, we are around 82% in fixed income and actually 85% between fixed income and cash with 15%
in domestic equities.
1:50:10
continue to follow with our plans of capital preservation and looking into basically making sure that we have assets that
are in liquid and in less risky asset classes for the system. Again, a nice refresher for the ones that are relatively new to
the system, page 31. This is what we are paying in terms of fees for the different managers and index funds that we are
investing in. Extremely, extremely low. It's at eight basic points. This does not take into consideration, of course, other
fees as our fees, but this is specifically what they're paying in management fees. eight basic points to give you some idea.
1:51:03
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GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · Government of the Virgin Islands Retirement
The average of a plan like this, a nation one on a plan to spend between 42 and 47 basic points. So this is another part that
we're working on during the last couple of years, making sure that we can reduce expenses as much as possible for the
plan.
And let me finish on page... Um, bear with me for a second on page, uh, 30, 30, 36, please. Um, this is a statement of
cash flows. Uh, this is one year. So this is February to February, but this is just to, you know, remind you, I, in February
of 2020, we were at five, $507 million in market value. There were contributions to the plan by around 36.
1:52:14
But the third column is the one that is the one that is driving the market values, of course. That is withdrawals, 139
million withdrawals in a year, which is basically where the actuary has been estimated between 130, 140 million of
outflows within a year. which if you see into the next column with this in one year, the net investment change, which is
pretty substantial, we made 25 million or 5% with the asset allocation that we had. Still, it's definitely not comparison,
even though we have a 5% return. It's not comparison to the number of cash outflows. And this is basically the basic
reason why the system is allocated in the way that it is allocating capital preservation and making sure that we have
liquidity for for payments of benefit payments and expenses pretty much at this point again we are at 430 million you
know we have probably in between 100 and 130 million expenses again this year which will be putting us at you know
300 330 and from then on uh you you you do the math um the the uh so again we were seeing this repeatedly over of the
over the years and um it's uh you know it's it's it's a matter uh of uh ex benefit payments and expenses of the amount they
are compared to the total assets that we have in the farm so that uh that i those are the end of my remarks mr chair i will
open up if there are any particular questions i think you're on mute mr chair
1:52:54
okay sorry about that um some i don't do anybody any questions um all right then it seems like it seems like 11 30 oh
sorry no i i was telling the chairman i think is further yes yeah um so um i don't hear any questions i think that uh we met
our 11 30 objective uh i will be uh happy to join you on our next meeting uh mr jay sorry i think that we we lost you for
for a second right right right so okay so i mean what what we're doing So if we need to drill down some more, we'll invite
you to one of our committee meetings so we could spend some more time doing it.
1:54:50
For sure, appreciate it. Thank you so much. And I think that we made it the 11.30 hour. Sanctuary, Virgin Islands time,
yes. Thank you so much. Nice to see you all. Okay, all right. so mr chair um motley rice is now on the call okay um is
that um meredith weatherby is yes nice to meet all you guys okay so kathy will you want to introduce her and okay well
we need to go into session mr chair okay um so may i get a motion to go into executive sessions please we have to we
have to read through the mr chair i move that we go into executive session i second we have to we have to read out the
reasons um well you read the reasons when when we go in right you have to say it huh what is it i said he has to state the
reasons for which we're going into executive session okay um anybody has the
1:55:54
People named in this transcript
SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the
title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech
recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered.
4x
Trustee Andre Dorsey
heard in this transcript as: Dorsey
4x
Trustee Vincent Liger
heard in this transcript as: Liger
2x
Trustee Leona E. Smith
heard in this transcript as: Smith
Bills and acts referred to
Matched by number against our own acts corpus. The number is what the recognition heard, so it may be wrong; where it resolved, the title is the one
the Legislature gave the act.
Bill 33-0418
Act 8383 · An Act providing for the remitter of an amount not exceeding 50 percent of the revenues realized in excess of
the funds appropriated by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands for the operation of the Government of the Virgin Islands
(GERS) in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for an amount not exceeding $50,000,000 to be remitted to
the GERS, in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, from General Fund revenues realized in excess of the funds
appropriated by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands fur the operation of the Government of the Virgin Islands, to he
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GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · Government of the Virgin Islands Retirement
used by the GERS exclusively for retirement annuity payments for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021 ---0
Act 8383
Act 8383 · An Act providing for the remitter of an amount not exceeding 50 percent of the revenues realized in excess of
the funds appropriated by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands for the operation of the Government of the Virgin Islands
(GERS) in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for an amount not exceeding $50,000,000 to be remitted to
the GERS, in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, from General Fund revenues realized in excess of the funds
appropriated by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands fur the operation of the Government of the Virgin Islands, to he
used by the GERS exclusively for retirement annuity payments for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021 ---0
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