2012 Meeting Minutes and Financial Reports
Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund
Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College Room #117
01/25/2012
Members present:
Chairman Dale Wyatt
Vice-Chairman Reid Vaughan
Robert Ezekiel
Executive Director Milton Parsons contacted Chairman Dale Wyatt by phone regarding legislation in committee.
Discussion on the $5.00 fee on each firefighter tag
Discussion on the legislation
Discussion on a timeline to become operational
Discussion about access to Tracy, the individual who wrote the database, and her location at the Alabama Fire College
Discussion on the fact that volunteer fire departments in the state are losing member numbers
Motion to accept and post the buy-back schedule for the use of potential fund members as of 01/25/2012 by Reid Vaughan
Second by Robert Ezekiel
Motion passed unanimously
Next meeting to be held on February 14, 2012.
_________________________________
Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date
_________________________________
Acting Secretary Sandra Mott
AFABF Meeting Minutes
RSA 8th Floor
February 14, 2012
The Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity and Benefit Fund Commission met 10:00 am on February 14, 2012 in the RSA building in Montgomery, AL.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Dale Wyatt. Members present were:
Chairman Dale Wyatt
Vice-Chairman Reid Vaughan
Charlie Dixon
Robert Ezekiel
Roy Mott
Executive Director Milton Parsons
Presenting his letter of resignation to Chairman Wyatt, Commissioner Roy Mott stated that it has been his pleasure to serve with each member. He leaves to fulfill his appointment by Governor Bentley as a Commissioner with the Alabama Fire College. He feels that the Annuity and Benefit fund is on the right track, and the fund set-up will be completed in a timely manner. His resignation was accepted, with appreciation for his service.
AAVFD President Chauncey Wood appointed Tuscaloosa County Association President and Duncanville Fire Chief Billy Doss to fulfill the remainder of Roy’s term, which will expire September 30, 2012. Billy was welcomed to the board.
Contact information:
14312 Bear Creek Rd
Duncanville, AL 35456
205-361-6539 Cell
205-247-4996 Home
Charlie Dixon presented the invocation.
The minutes of the January 25, 2012 meeting were unavailable. Acting secretary did not attend meeting. Minutes were kept by board member.
Executive Director Milton Parsons outlined several bills introduced by AFABF in this legislative session. John Hixon (334-328-0303 cell) also provided perspective form the Alabama Peace Officers Association.
HB275 – Constitutional amendment to levy additional on-half mill annual state ad valorem tax to be distributed among state fund and Alabama Firefighters and Alabama Peace Officers Annuity Fund.
Motion to support by Charlie Dixon
Second by Billy Doss
Motion accepted unanimously
HB188 – Amend to provide for a voluntary annual fee ($3), less an administration fee (not to exceed 3% of revenues remitted to fund), on each property and casualty insurance policy issued.
Motion to support by Robert Ezekiel
Second by Reid Vaughan
Motion accepted unanimously
The concept of a $5 fee added to the purchase of a Firefighter tag, with proceeds going to AFABF, was discussed.
Motion to look into this matter by Reid Vaughan
Second by Charlie Dixon
Motion accepted unanimously
Robert “Zeke” Ezekiel presented information concerning the establishment of an e-groups newsletter. Consensus was that Zeke pursue this project.
Zeke is also going forward with plans for a temporary office, with a part-time employee, at the Alabama Fire College. When the fund is fully functional and money become available, AFABF will look into obtaining a permanent office. Motion was made to give Dale the latitude to negotiate office space, computer access, files and desk space with AL Fire College Director Allan Rice, or appropriate parties, for office facilities, not to exceed $20,000 annually. He is also authorized to negotiate a 6-month contract for an administrative support assistant for a 16-hour week at less than $24 per hour.
Motion to support by Reid Vaughan
Second by Charlie Dixon
Motion accepted unanimously
Reid Vaughan reported that an update of the AFABF brochure is needed to cover new information and requested authority to reprint. The new brochures, along with a letter, would be sent to all fire departments. Motion to allow up to $2,000 for this project was made.
Motion by Billy Doss
Second by Robert Ezekiel
Motion accepted unanimously
Reimbursement of other expenditure incurred by Reid was approved. Reid also stated that the
Board should look into reimbursement for travel expenses for Executive Director Milton Parsons. The Board instructed Mr. Parsons to provide an itemized expense voucher at the next board meeting, which they would take under advisement at that time.
Motion to adjourn by Reid Vaughan
Second by Charlie Dixon
Motion accepted unanimously
____________________________
Dale Wyatt, Chairman
____________________________
Sandra Mott, Acting Secretary
_______________________________
Date
AFABF Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College
04/05/2012
· Guests Present – David Thornburg, Tiffany Crutchfield
· Members Present – D. Wyatt, R. Ezekiel, R. Vaughan, B. Doss
1. Introduction of Tiffany Crutchfield by David Thornburg
a. Members discuss items with Tiffany
2. Approach Fire College About making arrangements to get mail from Montgomery PO box to AFC office location
a. Motion by R. Ezekiel, Second by Billy Doss
3. Motion to present plaque for Sandra Mott
a. Motion by R. Vaughan, Second by R. Ezekiel, Motion Carries
4. Risk Management – Bonding of Board needs to be complete by next meeting
5. Need some legal representation as we move forward.
a. Motion for Chairman to speak to Mr. Boardman about representing the fund
i. Motion by R. Ezekiel, Second by B. Doss
6. Brochures are ready to print and mail
7. Legislative report – HB275 was withdrawn from maker by RNC/Alfa
____________________________
Dale Wyatt, Chairman
____________________________
Sandra Mott, Acting Secretary
_______________________________
Date
AFABF Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College
06/19/2012
· Members present – D. Wyatt, R. Vaughan, B. Doss, R. Ezekiel, T. Crutchfield
1. Minutes held
2. Change in form for Auto Debit Authorization Form. Is this something we need to do?
3. Discussion of creditable volunteer service
4. Discussion over retirement age in the law
5. Motion to remove tax withholding form from the website
a. Motion made by R. Ezekiel, Second by B. Doss, Motion carried
6. Motion if potential members complete required paperwork, they are made members automatically then accepted by board at the next regularly scheduled meeting
a. Motion by R. Ezekiel, Second by B. Doss, Motion carried
7. Email zip file with all forms on website to D. Wyatt
8. Risk Management discussion
9. New Business
a. New members
i. Christopher Cunningham – Geraldine VFD
ii. Jamie Jordan – Appleton VFD
1. Motion to accept new members made by R. Vaughan, Second by B. Doss
b. Motion made to change P.O. Box to Tuscaloosa – Tiffany assigned to do this
i. Motion by B. Doss, Second by R. Ezekiel
c. Motion to purchase stationary
i. Motion made by R. Vaughan, Second by R. Ezekiel
d. Joint Fire Council – Request funding for this board (annuity fund) a legislative priority
i. Motion by R. Vaughan, Second by R. Ezekiel
e. Must market and make aware. Need to come up with a way to get information out to our members
f. Need to get information about the Fund out to the public
g. Contact firms and see if we can get some marketing help
h. Motion to appoint Tiffany Crutchfield as Secretary
i. Motion by R. Vaughan, Second by R. Ezekiel
i. Motion to approve Direct Deposit
i. Motion by R. Vaughan, Second by R. Ezekiel
10. Motion to Adjourn
a. Motion by R. Ezekiel, Second by B. Doss
· Next Meeting – July 13, 2012 8:30 am
______________________________ _________________________________
Dale Wyatt, Chairman /Date Tiffany Crutchfield, Secretary /Date
Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity and Benefit fund
Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College
07/13/2012
Members present:
Executive Director Milton Parsons
Chairman Dale Wyatt
Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan
Billy Doss
Robert Ezekiel
Executive Directors Report
Executive Director Milton Parsons discussed the legislature. Income tax check-off will not begin until next year. He is making contact with ALFA about getting ads out.
Millage introduced, ALFA is the main opposition. There is new leadership coming in, however, and Milton knows them. Coming with the same bill again for the Constitutional Amendment.
Secretary’s Report
Discussion about making packets to send out to fire departments around the state.
Discussion about the Volunteer Firefighter Conference. It was decided that the table set up for the AFABF would be for information and form distribution only. No signups will be done that day.
Financial Report presented.
Discussion about getting in contact with the Peace Officers office.
Discussion about administrative code
Database Report
Discussion about Tracy creating a monthly or quarterly email statement that is legal.
Discussion about getting a link from the Alabama Fire College website to the AFABF website.
Discussion about creating certificates.
Discussion about getting an email together and out to all fire stations in the state prior to the August 3rd and 4th Volunteer Firefighter Conference.
New Business
Motion made to change mailing address by Reid Vaughan
Second by Billy Doss
Motion passed unanimously
Motion made to Contract Diana Hewlett for $500.00 for graphic art work by Reid Vaughan.
Second by Billy Doss
Motion passed unanimously
Motion to Adjourn by Billy Doss
Second by Reid Vaughan
Motion passed unanimously
_________________________________
Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date
_________________________________
Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield
Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund
Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College
08/30/2012
Members present:
Chairman Dale Wyatt
Vice-Chairman Reid Vaughan
Billy Doss
Robert Ezekiel
Secretary Report and Questions
Presentation of the financial report
Motion to approve report by R. Ezekiel
Second by B. Doss
Motion passed unanimously
Discussion about adding an additional bank account for operational costs only, but maintaining enough operating monies in the non-operations account to pay for auto debit costs.
Discussion about seeing if there is any money we have not received from the counties.
Discussion on State Income Tax revenues. No funds have been received to date.
Discussion on buying-back time and a payment scheme. It was determined that time could be bout back two years from the date of membership in up to four blocks. The blocks would consist of the amount owed divided by four. The payments can be multiples of the blocks but no more or less in amount.
Discussion about Diana and Tracy working on receipts and certificates generated by the AFABF database to send members.
Discussion about getting legal advice.
Old Business
Report that bonding has been put into place including fidelity bond for Tiffany Crutchfield. The fidelity bond is currently for $250,000.
Discussion about Mark Boardman representing the fund for legal advice.
Discussion about packaging mail outs to send out to all fire departments in the Alabama Fire College database. Discussion about having $1,500 available to use in a contract with Diana Hewlett for graphic design for the AFABF.
Motion to contract Diana Hewlett for $1,500 as graphic designer by R. Vaughan
Second by R. Ezekiel
Motion passed unanimously
Discussion about charter member certificates. These will be created by Diana.
New Business
Robert Ezekiel Discussion
Discussion about assurance of receiving all funds from all of the counties. Reid Vaughan will call Will Martin with the Department of Revenue about this issue.
R. Ezekiel proposes that we request an audit by the State Examiner’s Office.
Motion to request an audit by R. Ezekiel
Second by B. Doss
Motion passed unanimously
R. Ezekiel will talk to John Hixon as to how to request a state audit. Discussion about reports we may need, hopefully this will be resolved by having an audit.
Discussion about the position of the Executive Director. Do we need to alter or describe the position of the Executive Director. No action will be made today about this issue. Dale Wyatt will contact ED Milton Parsons about his position as Executive Director.
D. Wyatt requests that the Fund draft a Resolution that there be two bank accounts, one for member contributions and investment and the other for operating expenses. All but $3,000 plus any member money will be pulled out of the member contributions account for bank and auto debit expenses.
Motion made by R. Ezekiel to add an additional bank account with the above requirements
Second by R. Vaughan
Motion passed unanimously
Discussion about the firefighter tag bill. D. Wyatt is getting the bill drafted. The Fund is trying to get the bill put before the joint fire council to get approved. Dale thinks that if we can get $5.00 per tag then we could separate the money with possibly $3 going to investment and $2 going to operating costs.
Dale says that Milton has explained that the Republicans are not going to raise a new tax before the 2012 elections. Section 27-4A-3 of the Alabama code is a premium tax bill on insurance premiums. The money is there and Dale wants to know if this is something we could pursue for extra revenue. R. Ezekiel comments that there is also a tire disposal fee that the Fund may be able to get part of for revenue.
The Alabama Fire College Fund is still running, there is money sitting there that may be able to benefit or affect AL firefighters state wide if the AFABF got a donation from the AFC Fund. Dale Wyatt proposed that we request a $100,000 donation from the AFC Fund.
Motion to request $100,000 donation by R. Vaughan
Second by R. Ezekiel
All voted to pass the motion with B. Doss abstaining from the vote
Secretary’s Report
Presentation of Carl Cook to be accepted as a member of the fund.
Motion to accept by R. Vaughan
Second by R. Ezekiel
Motion passed unanimously
Discussion about the iTreasury auto debit interface. There has not been any member draws at this time. Further training will ensue.
Next meeting will be held on September 27, 2012 at 1:30 pm at the Alabama Fire College.
_________________________________
Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date
_________________________________
Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield
Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund
Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College
09/27/2012
Members present:
Chairman Dale Wyatt
Vice-Chairman Reid Vaughan
Robert Ezekiel
Billy Doss
Charlie Dixon
Guests present:
Craig Corum
Mike Twilley
Secretary’s report
Financial report presented
Motion for approval and to accept by R Ezekiel
Second by C. Dixon
Motion passed unanimously
Discussion about “Risk Management” becoming a line item in financial report
Discussion about R. Ezekiel preparing a budget for the Fund
Meeting minutes presented
Dale Wyatt recommended a motion to accept 04/05/2012 meeting minutes
Motion to accept minutes by R. Ezekiel
Second by C. Dixon
Motion passed unanimously
Motion to accept 06/19/2012 meeting minutes by B. Doss
Second by R. Ezekiel
Motion passed unanimously
Motion to accept 02/14/2012 meeting minutes as amended by R. Vaughan regarding
the AFC contract of which a motion was made by R. Vaughan and Second by C. Dixon
and was passed unanimously.
Second by R. Ezekiel
Motion passed unanimously
Old Business
D. Wyatt Report
The Fund met with the auditors today at 12:00 noon.
R. Ezekiel and D. Wyatt report to have met with Mark Boardman for legal advice. No expense was incurred for this advising. M. Boardman recommended that there be one notary seal for each of the signatures on the Volunteer Affidavit.
Discussion on D. Wyatt’s meeting with Milton Parsons. Stated that he relayed to M. Parsons that the Fund may need to make some changes regarding the Executive Director’s position with the Fund. M. Parsons stated that he still desired to be Executive Director. Dale will be talking to Milton more at a later date. No action will be made today.
R. Vaughan Report
R. Vaughan spoke with the Department of Revenue and if a county sends separate checks and not one complete check, we should contact the Department of Revenue and they will contact the county and recommended that the county change the way they send out checks.
Discussion on gaining contact information for the Income Tax Division
Discussion on contact information for counties
Discussion about wanting to use same contract with Diana Hewlett as Tiffany Crutchfield’s contract as signed between the AFABF and Diana. Must contact Allen Rice and Diana about this.
New Business
Dale Wyatt Report
Dale is going to check with the Governor’s office about C. Dixon’s appointment.
Dale is going to meet with Milton Parsons on status as ED of the Fund.
Dale will be drafting a letter to the Alabama Fire College Foundation about making a donation to the AFABF
Charlie Dixon wants Dale to draft an additional letter to Charlie’s church for a donation.
Secretary’s Report
Presentation of members to be accepted
John Entrekin- Mt. Brook
Bradley McCain- Mt. Brook
Michael Box – Mt. Brook
Heathe Watkins – Mt. Brook
Jeff Byars
James Ray
Motion to accept new members by Reid Vaughan
Second by C. Dixon
Motion passed unanimously
Discussion about the letter sent from Monroe County that has not cleared their books. The letter will be sent back to the county requesting a replacement check. We never received and/or deposited the check for $92.00.
Reported that next member draw from accounts will be on October 1st for five individuals. No money has been received from Mt. Brook members as member dues at this time.
Discussion on the iTreasury fee for Reid and Tiffany’s access to the Auto Debit account. This will be $6 for the each of us in addition to the $55 monthly upkeep fee.
Other Reports and Discussions under New Business
Discussion from Dale about having two people open mail and deposit checks. This may be a problem with only one part-time employee.
Discussion about the necessary documents and who will produce them to give to auditor
Discussion to buy a recorder for meeting minutes
Motion made by R. Vaughan
Second by B. Doss
Motion passed unanimously
Questions from Guests
Discussion about notarized forms and if they can be faxed. The Fund must have original documents.
Next meeting to be held on November 1, 2012 at 1:30 pm at AFC.
Motion to adjourn by R. Vaughan
Second by R. Ezekiel
Motion passed unanimously
_________________________________
Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date
_________________________________
Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield
Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund
Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College 1:40 pm
10/11/2012
Members Present:
Dale Wyatt, Chairman
Reid Vaughan, Vice-Chairman
Billy Doss
*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.
Approval of Minutes and Financial Reports:
Presentation of Financial Report
Motion to accept financial report made by Reid Vaughan
Second by Billy Doss
Motion passed unanimously
Presentation of meeting minutes to be approved
Minutes dated 09/27/2012 presented
Motion to accept 09/27/2012 minutes made by Billy Doss
Second by Reid Vaughan
Motion passed unanimously
Minutes dated 08/30/2012 presented. It was determined that the minutes contained a typo.
Motion to accept 08/30/2012 minutes as written with typo made by Reid Vaughan
Second by Billy Doss
Motion passed unanimously
Minutes dated 07/13/2012 presented
Motion to accept 07/13/2012 minutes made by Billy Doss
Second by Reid Vaughan
Motion passed unanimously
Minutes dated 02/14/2012 presented for signing. Minutes were previously accepted but had to
be amended for accuracy before signing. No further acceptance was needed.
Minutes dated 01/25/2012 presented
Motion to accept 01/25/2012 minutes made by Reid Vaughan
Second by Billy Doss
Billy Doss abstained from vote because he was not yet a board member at the time the minutes were recorded. Reid Vaughan and Dale Wyatt voted yes to accept minutes. Motion passed.
A letter for a meeting to be called for the date of 10/19/2011 was stated to be found by the Secretary. It was determined that there were no minutes for 10/19/2011 because the meeting was canceled due to conflicting dates of board members.
Reports
Executive Director Report
Executive Director not present. Dale will be discussing the position of the ED with the
Current ED at a later date.
Office Manager Report
Discussion about what information had been given to the auditor at the present time.
Dale reviewed the appointment letter folder. All letters were present. This will then be given to the auditor as well.
Discussion about fire departments paying for member contributions and buy-back. If someone quits a given department what will happen with the money paid by the city and how will this be handled on the Fund’s part. It was decided that further legal advice would be necessary to determine this.
Old Business
Via Dale
Regions update for SAFE. Dale has taken care of this matter and has changed the bank account to a “Public Funds Account”. We should be receiving an acknowledgement letter about becoming a SAFE entity.
Via Reid
Status of Brochures was discussed.
Discussion about Diana Hewlett’s contract with the AFABF. The contract has been reviewed by Allan Rice and is ready for Dale and Diana to sign.
Decision to print 1,000 brochures. This is covered by the previous contract with AFC.
General Discussion
Invoice for Tiffany Crutchfield’s work. Teresa Stone said we need to fill out a vender form and request a bill for Tiffany’s contract.
10 minute Recess
Discussion about buy-back options over the course of the 2 year buy-back period.
Motion made by Reid Vaughan to allow members to buy-back time in up to four blocks over the course of two years. The amount of each block of time will be determined by the total cost amount of the individual’s buy-back divided by four. Members will be able to pay up any multiple of the four equal block cost amounts but no more or less than those multiples.
Second by Billy Doss
Motion passed unanimously.
Discussion about creating a form for the four-payment plan. This form will be created by Tiffany.
New Business
Via Dale
Charlie Dixon has been reinstated with the Fund
Billy Doss is to be reappointed sometime very soon
Discussion on board member training
Next Meeting to be held on November 1, 2012 at 1:30 at the Alabama Fire College.
Motion to adjourn by Billy Doss
Second by Reid Vaughan
Motion passed unanimously
_________________________________
Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date
_________________________________
Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield
Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund
Meeting Minutes
Alabama Fire College 1:30 pm
11/01/2012
Members Present:
Chairman Dale Wyatt
Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan
Robert Ezekiel
Charlie Dixon
Billy Doss
*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.
Dale commented that the Executive Director was not present. There was discussion about the Executive Director position and options that could be considered. No action will be taken at this time.
Approval of Minutes and Financial Report:
Meeting minutes from 10/11/2012 were presented.
Motion made by Reid Vaughan to accept minutes.
Second by Charlie Dixon.
Motion passed unanimously
Financial report for the dates 10/11/2012 – 11/01/2012 presented.
Motion made by Robert Ezekiel to accept financial report.
Second by Charlie Dixon.
Motion passed unanimously.
Financial report for the dates 09/27/2012 – 10/11/2012 corrected and represented because of clerical error.
Motion to approve corrected financial report made by Robert Ezekiel.
Second by Charlie Dixon
Motion passed unanimously.
Reports
Secretary reported that mail from Montgomery has not been received in a while.
Discussion that we need to correct our mailing address with all the counties. The address needs to be changed to the Tuscaloosa PO Box.
Discussion about how to get money from counties and be sure of it.
Discussion about the check from Monroe County has not been replaced. The check was dated for 12/02/2011 in the amount of $92 but never received by the AFABF. A form was sent to AFABF and the secretary sent the form back requesting a replacement check.
Secretary reported that the Auto Debit draw would be today on 11/1/2012 for $100.
Secretary reported that there need to be a buyback remittance form for the four installments members can make over 2 years. A form was presented for review. Discussion followed. It was decided that the form did not need to be put online but sent directly from the AFABF office with amounts prefilled and chart explaining buyback amount. Form will be adjusted and hopefully approved at the next meeting.
Discussion about Tracy creating a reminder to pop up in secretary email so that the secretary can send an automatic reminder email to members approaching the 2 year buyback deadline. The Fund also discussed having Tracy have the database to prefill member information into the buyback remittance form.
The Fund discussed the forwarding of the mail from the Montgomery PO box to the Tuscaloosa PO box because of the impending closure of the Montgomery PO box account.
Motion to pay expenses incurred by one time forwarding of mail from Montgomery PO box to the Tuscaloosa PO Box made by Reid Vaughan.
Second by Charlie Dixon.
Motion passed unanimously.
Old Business:
Dale’s Report
Discussion about audit. An email was sent from auditor requesting additional
Information. There was a question about a written and signed contract with Diana.
The conclusion about this question was that Diana has not yet signed the contract and
the Fund does not need to send a copy of this to auditor. The second question
regarding a meeting on August 19, 2011 was not fully resolved. The auditor also needs a signed document from the ED stating that Dale Wyatt and Tiffany Crutchfield have the authorization to sign checks as well as be on the checking account, this will be done by Dale. Finally the auditor needed a copy of Billy Doss’ re-appointment letter. The secretary will be resolving this issue by sending an electronic copy of the letter to the auditor, James Miller.
Dale reported that he emailed John Merrel about the tag bill as well as other bills. John wants to sit down and meet with Dale at a later date to discuss these topics.
General Discussion
The Board discussed how to deal with departments paying member dues especially if a member decides to leave a particular department. Legal advice is necessary to resolve this issue. Dale Wyatt will be contacting Attorney Boardman about this.
New Business:
Charlie and Billy need brochures. More brochures need to be printed. The secretary will contact Diana about printing 1,000 more brochures.
The Fund discussed how the website needs to be changed to include how much the retirement benefit is at this time as well as how it is calculated.
Discussion about getting a letter to Ed Paulk to get a donation from the AFC Fund. Dale will be doing this.
Discussion about the insurance premium tax and possibly getting some of the money from it for investment. Reid will be researching as to how and who all receives these funds. Dale will take this information to use on November 26th.
Dale will draft some new resolutions for next meeting. One of the resolutions will be that we will not issue any checks to “cash” or “bearer”.
Next meeting will be held December 14, 2012 at 1:00 pm at AFC.
Motion to adjourn made by Reid Vaughan
Second by Billy Doss
Motion passed unanimously.
_________________________________
Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date
_________________________________
Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield
Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund
Meeting Minutes
Pellham Municipal Court Room 1:00 pm
12/14/2012
Members Present:
Executive Director Milton Parsons
Chairman Dale Wyatt
Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan
Robert Ezekiel
Charlie Dixon
Billy Doss
*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.
Guest Present:
Steve Butler - member of the Joint Fire Council
Approval of Minutes and Financial Report:
Meeting minutes from 11/01/2012 were presented.
Motion made by Reid Vaughan to accept minutes.
Second by Charlie Dixon.
Motion passed unanimously
Financial report for the dates 11/01/2012 - 12/14/2012 presented.
Motion made by Robert Ezekiel to accept financial report.
Second by Reid Vaughan.
Motion passed unanimously.
Executive Director’s Report
Milton discusses about Alpha and Lobbying for insurance premium money.
Milton reports that he is frustrated and feels like he needs to do more but also feels like his part as the ED is lobbying for money on the part of the Fund. He wants to sit down with Alpha in a discussion to hopefully keep them from opposing the premium tax monies going to the Fund. Dale states that the Fund does not want to increase the tax, but rather would like to have some of the money that the tax already generates. 0.003% of the tax is what the Fund would like to get. The Fund does not want to fight AEA on this, however. Reid suggests that the Fund asks for 0.006% of the money generated then the Fund would have some negotiating room in hopes of getting the 0.003%.
Old Business
Dale reports that the ACH iTreasury fee has increased from ~$65 to ~$94 because of switching to a Public Accounts account. He is currently trying to resolve this with Regions to get it lower. He is also waiting on this resolution before he creates a new account. We also need to get Milton onto the account and Tiffany off of the accounts.
Reid is working on contact information for all the counties in AL so we can report our new mailing change as well as make sure we are getting all the funds due to us.
Dale asked Boardman for legal advice in regards to departments paying for time and/or member dues on behalf of AFABF members. Boardman says that it would not be an issue of AFABF. Any and all of the money paid by the department on behalf of a member is the property of the member. If something did come up about this he would generate a letter on behalf of the AFABF.
Secretary reported that the mail has been forwarded from the Montgomery address to the Tuscaloosa Address. It will continue to be forwarded until November 2013.
New Business
The tag bill endorsement by the Joint Fire Council will be presented at a later meeting in January.
Discussion about the loss of funds to the retired firefighter tag if the tag bill does pass.
Discussion about the 2012 audit. The Audit report will not be released online until the Auditors get Milton’s signature.
Resolution # 2012-01 was presented by Dale Wyatt.
Motion to accept the Resolution made by Billy Doss.
Second by Charlie Dixon.
Motion and passed unanimously.
Secretary presented a Buy-Back Payment Remittance Form.
Motion to accept the form by Reid Vaughan.
Second by Zeke.
Motion passed unanimously
Discussion about how Tracy needs to invoice the Fund for any work she has done.
The Auditors needs us to get approval from the Governor’s office for all contracts the Fund generates. Dale and Milton will get the contact information for this.
Secretary presented the following question to the Board for clarification. “Can a vested individual at or past the age of 62 receive retirement benefit from the Fund.” In the law, the answer is No, but the Board has decided that this language needs to be amended in the legislation, especially for the case of volunteer firefighters (Section 10 Item C of the law). Milton and Dale plan to get together to clean up the wording in the legislation as well as give power to the board for financial decisions on investments etc…
Secretary also stated that the brochure design and clarity are not the best. The Board decided not to make any changes to the brochure but that the payout for retirement be added to the website.
Secretary also expressed the need for a policy and procedures playbook after the Audit. Zeke will be pulling this information together.
Dale reports that he gave the AFC Fund letter for a contribution to Ed Paulk. The letter was open ended and did not have a dollar amount that the AFABF was asking for.
Secretary brought up the question of who would be taking over while she was out. Reid will be training next week with the Secretary in order to help out.
Next meeting will be held January 18th at 1:00 pm at AFC.
Motion to adjourn made by Reid Vaughan
Second by Zeke.
Motion passed unanimously.
_________________________________
Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date
_________________________________
Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield
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