2013 Meeting Minutes and Financial Reports

ALABAMA FIREFIGHTERS ANNUITY AND BENEFIT FUND

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College

January 18, 2013

I. Call To Order: Meeting called to order by chairman Wyatt at 1:00 PM. A roll call was held for members. Present were Dale Wyatt, Robert Ezekiel, Charlie Dixon, and Billy Doss. Absent were Reid Vaughan and Executive Director Milton Parsons.

II. Prior Minutes Approval: The minutes for the December 14, 2012 meeting were distributed and reviewed. Motion to approve the minutes by Billy Doss and a second by Charlie Dixon. The Minutes approval passed unanimously. Note: A copy of the December minutes are attached.

III. Financial Report: The Chairman offered the financial report for the period covering December 14th through January 16th. It was noted that $26,531.09 has been received as revenues during this period. It was further noted that we currently have nine members in the fund. A motion was made by Charlie Dixon and seconded by Billy Doss to approve the report. It passed unanimously. Note: a copy of the financial report is attached.

IV. Executive Directors Report: Chairman Wyatt gave the Executive Director’s report in his absence. The bank account has been changed to have Dale and Milton as capable of signing checks for expenditures. Tiffany is no longer authorized in this regard. This was part of the audit recommendations.

V. Legislative Report: Chairman Wyatt gave the legislative report and noted that there are two revenue opportunities being planned. One is a bill that will increase the price of a firefighter’s tag by $5 per tag with the funds coming to the AFABF for operational costs. The other is a bill that will give the AFABF a portion of an Insurance Premium revenue stream that is already being collected by the State. Representative Mike Hill is helping with the drafting of this bill. The bill would carve out 0.006% of what is currently being collected and send it to the AFABF. This has the potential impact of $1,000,000 annually. Chairman Wyatt also mentioned that Representative Allan Farley is helping draft some language to include in a bill that would correct language in the bill that created the AFABF. The particular area has to do with members that leave the fund (voluntarily withdraw or failure to make monthly payments) and how their contributions are returned.

VI. New Business: Chairman Wyatt will speak with Allan Rice regarding our contract for

services and having someone to take Tiffany’s place while she is on maternity leave. Four additional firefighters have requested to be members. A motion was made by Bill Doss to accept them and seconded by Charlie Dixon. The motion carried unanimously. Membership stands at thirteen.

VII. Old Business: Tiffany put together some notes to help coordinate processes in her absence while on maternity leave. The notes are attached. Zeke is looking at the spreadsheet that James Miller created to see what needs to be entered regularly to keep us on track for next year’s audit.

VIII. Next Meeting: The next meeting date will be determined later.

IX. Adjourned: A motion was made by Billy Doss to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Charlie Dixon. The meeting adjourned at 1:45 PM.

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Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date

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Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 1:30 pm

04/10/2013

Members Present:

Chairman Dale Wyatt

Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan

Robert Ezekiel (“Zeke”)

Billy Doss

*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.

Approval of Meeting Minutes and Financial Report

Minutes from 01/18/2013 meeting were not yet prepared for approval.

Financial report for dates 01/16/2013 to 04/10/2013 were presented by secretary.

Motion made by R. Vaughan to accept Financial Report

Second by B. Doss

Motion passed unanimously

Office Manager’s Report

Approval of James Mays for membership. Membership began on 02/01/2013 because of one time member fee check date. He will be buying back 25 years of prior service. There will be no monthly dues received.

Motion to Approve made by Zeke

Second made by Doss

Motion passed unanimously

The secretary will be taking Carl Cook out of the Auto Debiting system. He has bought back and paid for all remaining time as of 04/05/2013.

Discussion about issuing membership certificates to AFABF members.

The secretary will get Tracy McNair to create a report that can be run for all members and their total time paid in so that members will not be charged over the 25 year amount.

The secretary will order QuickBooks software in order to better track account debits and credits.

Discussion about office supplies and needs. If there is a need for office supplies etc… the secretary will tell a board member. No motion will be needed in order to get supplies.

Old Business

Dale reported that House Bill 229 has moved to the Senate. This is the bill that, if passed, will allow for a $5 fee to be added to each firefighter tag sold in the state.

Reid has given information to the Regional Coordinators about the Fund.

Discussion about the need to get good and correct information out to the Fire Chiefs, Senators, and locals about the tag bill and the fee.

Discussion about training the new office help on operating the AFABF website and adding meeting minutes etc… to the site.

Discussion about new certificates for members to be sent out. Can Diana print certificates at AFC because of the printing contract if she creates the certificates at home?

AFABF needs a new seal created to crimp certificates.

Motion to authorize the spending of up to $250 for the purchase of a seal crimper. The seal will contain the great seal of Alabama with the wording “Board of Commissioners: Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity and Benefit Fund”.

Motion made by Reid Vaughan

Second by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously

New Business

Alabama Fire College invoice for clerical support and supplies presented. The total cost was $15,960.00.

Motion to approve the payment of the invoice made by Zeke

Second by Doss

Motion passed unanimously

Discussion about the opposition of House Bill 578. Motion presented for the chairman (Dale) to draft a letter to state opposition.

Motion made by Doss

Second by Reid

Motion passed unanimously

Discussion about what the letter should be included in the letter.

Discussion about having a room dedicated to give out AFABF information during the AAVFD meeting on August 2nd and 3rd at the Alabama Fire College.

Next AFABF meeting will be held on May 22, 2013 at 1:30 pm in the conference room at AFC.

Motion to adjourn made by Dale

Second by Reid

Motion passed unanimously

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Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date

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Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 1:30 pm

5/22/2013

Members Present:

Chairman Dale Wyatt

Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan

Robert Ezekiel (“Zeke”)

Billy Doss

*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.

Approval of Meeting Minutes and Financial Report

Meeting minutes from 01/18/2013 meeting were presented by secretary.

Motion made by B. Doss to accept 1/18/2013 meeting minutes.

Second by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously.

Meeting minutes from 04/10/2013 meeting were presented by secretary.

Motion made by Zeke to accept 04/10/2013 meeting minutes.

Second by B. Doss

Motion passed unanimously.

Financial report for dates 04/10/2013 - 5/22/2013 were presented by secretary.

Motion made by R. Vaughan to accept financial report

Second by B. Doss

Motion passed unanimously.

Office Manager’s Report

Introduction of Holly Whigham as additional help in the AFABF office as the Secretary, Tiffany Crutchfield, reduces her hours to one day a week. Holly will be in the office 3 days a week. This will allow for a contact individual to be in the office at least 4 days per week.

Risk Management sent information to the AFABF to be completed. Reid Vaughan will be taking care of this.

The Fund has set up an account with Office Depot in order to be able to order from Office Depot and be billed.

Quick Books and an Ink Pad have been ordered from Office Depot to date. The Ink Pad has yet to be picked up from the store. Dale Wyatt will be signing a check to pay the bill.

Holly and Tiffany have been working on backlogging all bank deposits and credits into Quickbooks.

Ethics Commission was discussed. The Secretary will need to complete an Ethics Commission form for 2012.

Old Business

Dale

The tag bill did not pass. The bill died in the Senate.

The tag bill may have to be introduced again next legislative session.

Discussion about how the Volunteer Firefighters must get together to get the bill passed through next session.

Reid

Discussion about if the Annuity Fund needs to “cut ties” with the current Executive Director.

Discussion that the current Executive Director has not been to most of the meetings and has not been involved in any business operations of the Fund.

Motion to authorize Board Chairman to seek legal counsel in regard to the

termination of services of existing Executive Director and to act upon that advice made by Reid Vaughan.

Second by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously.

There was no further discussion.

Discussion about who the next Executive Director would be and the need for a job description for the position. It would be good to have an ED with a business and/or governmental background.

New Business

Discussion about if the Fund needs to go ahead invest funds in RSA.

Motion to send $65,000 to RSA for investment made by Zeke.

Second by R. Vaughan

Motion passed unanimously.

Discussion about how and when to send money to RSA.

Dale will call an RSA contact individual to establish an account with RSA to transfer money from Regions working expenses account to an RSA account.

Dale informed the Fund that Birmingham is about to set up a new payroll system and that the Fund will have a slot for payroll deduct in order that employees of Birmingham Fire Department will be able to have member dues directly pulled from payroll.

Motion to adjourn made by Reid Vaughan

Second by Dale Wyatt

Motion Passed Unanimously

Next meeting will be held on 6/26/2013 at 1:30 at the Alabama Fire College.

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Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date

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Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 1:30 pm

06/26/2013

Members Present:

Chairman Dale Wyatt

Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan

Robert Ezekiel (“Zeke”)

Billy Doss

Charlie Dixon

*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.

Approval of Meeting Minutes and Financial Report

Financial Report from 05/01/2013 through 05/31/2013 presented by the Secretary

Motion to accept financial report made by Reid Vaughan

Second made by Charlie Dixon

Motion passed unanimously

Meeting minutes from 05/22/2013 presented by the Secretary

Motion to accept minutes made by Charlie Dixon

Second made by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously

Discussion about the other reports created from QuickBooks. Reports reflected the congruency between the Regions bank statements and the backlogging into QuickBooks as well as the yearly changes in net income since the establishment of the Fund.

There have been no members to sign-up since the 5/22/2013 meeting.

The Secretary will be contacting Carl Cook to inform him that he will need to submit a retirement form to request his retirement benefit since he is now vested.

Old Business

Presentation of the certified letter Mark Boardman sent to Milton Parsons informing him that he had been removed from the Executive Director’s position with the Alabama Firefighter’s Annuity and Benefit Fund.

The Secretary will be changing the letterhead to reflect the removal of Milton Parsons as the ED. The position of ED will read “vacant” until the AFABF Board appoints a new ED.

After the meeting today, Dale will be taking a copy of Boardman’s letter and the 05/22/2013 meeting minutes to Regions Bank to get Milton Parson off the account and replace it with Reid Vaughan. This will make Dale Wyatt and Reid Vaughan the signers on the Region’s Account.

Discussion about setting up an account with RSA. Dale discovered that RSA does not want the $65,000 that the AFABF Board members voted on to send to RSA. The amount is too small to adequately invest. The Fund is debating on what to do since, by law, all monies besides that which is set aside for operating costs, is supposed to be given to RSA for investment. The Fund may request a letter from RSA stating that they do not want the small sum for auditing sake. There was further discussion about if the $65,000 should be invested in a CD until it grew to an acceptable amount. This will be decided at a later date.

New Business

Discussion that the firefighter tag is the best option for revenue for the AFABF. Letters need to be sent to every legislator from the Joint Fire Council as well as any other groups of interest showing support for the tag bill.

The Board members will be tossing around what needs to be included in a job description for the new Executive Director. Zeke will be the head of this committee.

The AAVFD will be meeting at the Alabama Fire College on August 2nd and 3rd. A representative from the Fund will be present at the meeting to hand out information and to sign up members.

The Board decided that the Fund needs to be advertised.

Motion was made by Reid Vaughan to approve up to $500 for the cost of an advertisement in the magazine, League of Municipalities.

Second by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously

The next meeting will be held in August with a date and time to be announced.

Motion to adjourn made by Reid Vaughan

Second by Billy Doss

Motion passed unanimously

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Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date

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Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 1:30 pm

8/29/2013

Members Present:

Chairman Dale Wyatt

Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan

Robert Ezekiel (“Zeke”)

Billy Doss

Charlie Dixon

*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.

Secretary’s Report, Approval of Meeting Minutes, and Financial Report

Meeting minutes from 06/26/2013 presented by the Secretary

Motion to accept Minutes by Billy Doss

Second made by Charlie Dixon

Motion passed unanimously

Financial Report for June 1, 2013 to August 1, 2013 presented by the Secretary

Motion to accept Financial Report made by Charlie Dixon

Second made by Billy Doss

Motion passed unanimously

Secretary reports that Charlie Carpenter is a new member of the Fund as of 8/1/2013

Carl Cook, a currently vested member, has made no reply to any contact the Secretary has tried to make.

The Fund now has a crimper seal. There was also a discussion about certificates for the members.

Old Business

A discussion was held about advertising the Fund in the December edition of “League of Municipalities” journal. The timing would be critical since the legislative session begins in January and the article could be presented to every legislator. The cost is approximately $500.

A Job description for the new Executive Director was presented by Zeke. There was discussion about the description. The Board will not adopt the job description today and no action will be taken at this time. There was a discussion about asking Eddie Pugh about having someone in mind or knowing someone that may want to fill the ED position.

New Business

Dale will get an answer from Mr. Kelly as to what to do about the money that the Fund needs to transfer over to RSA since the Fund has a legal obligation to do so.

Motion made for Dale to call Mark Boardman for legal advice on the RSA money issue and advice on how much force to use on Kelly made by Zeke.

Second made by Charlie Dixon

Motion passed unanimously

Further discussion about what to put in in the Journal including support for the Fund, copy of the legislation and bill, etc…

Motion to adjourn made by Reid Vaughan

Second by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously

The next Board meeting will be set at a later time, but preferably before January 2014.

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Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date

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Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity & Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 1:30 pm

11/06/2013

Members Present:

Chairman Dale Wyatt

Vice Chairman Reid Vaughan

Robert Ezekiel (“Zeke”)

Billy Doss

*A Quorum was present at this meeting to conduct business.

Secretary’s Report, Approval of Meeting Minutes, and Financial Report

Meeting minutes from 08/29/2013 presented by the Secretary

Motion to accept Minutes by Zeke

Second made by Reid Vaughan

Motion passed unanimously

Financial Report for August 1, 2013 to October 31, 2013 presented by the Secretary

Motion to accept Financial Report made by Billy Doss

Second made by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously

Secretary reported that the Fund has a new member, Jeffery Monroe.

Motion to accept Jeffery Monroe as a member made by Reid Vaughan

Second by Zeke

Motion passed unanimously

Effective immediately, the Fund will have someone in the office only one day a week until the workload is too much for that one individual, the Secretary. Something needs to be done as to let AFC know how much time the Fund needs to pay AFC. Reid will be working this out with AFC. The Fund will also need to pay AFC quarterly.

New Business

The Secretary will be talking to the 13-02 FF I/II class about the Fund today.

Old Business

RSA- Dale talked to Boardman then to Kelly (the RSA contact). Boardman said RSA had to take the Fund’s money to invest. Bill Kelly will send this to the department head. Dale will follow up with Kelly about the money.

League of Municipalities Magazines will be sending an Invoice soon. An article about the AFABF will be published in the December issue of the magazine. The AFABF may try to get on the agenda at the League of Municipalities Conference in May at Montgomery. The Fund can advertise as a recruiting and retention plan for fire departments.

Motion to adjourn made by Reid Vaughan

Second by Dale Wyatt

Motion passed unanimously

The next Board meeting will be December 11, 2013 at 1:30pm at the AFC.

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Chairman Dale Wyatt/ Date

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Secretary Tiffany Crutchfield