2016 Meeting Minutes and Financial Reports

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity and Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 10:30 am

01/20/2016

Members Present:

Chairman Reid Vaughan

Dale Wyatt

Chris Mullins

Billy Doss

Charlie Dixon

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

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

Meeting minutes from 9/23/2015 were presented by Mr. Vaughan

Motion made by Mr. Dale Wyatt to accept minutes

Second made by Mr. Charlie Dixon

Motion passed unanimously

Financial Report for September 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015 presented by Mr. Vaughan

Motion to accept Financial Report made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Chris Mullins

Motion passed unanimously

Secretary report indicates that the Fund has received two returned items, one in regards to a donation and one in regards to a member’s account. A policy will be drafted and presented at the next Board meeting addressing this issue. Going forward individuals who make a donation with NSF will be asked to pay any bank fees. Members will be required to cover bank fee and contribution to bring account current.

The RSA Quarterly Statement dated July 1, 2015 through September 30, 2015 was presented.

Motion to accept statement was made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Charlie Dixon

Motion passed unanimously

Old Business

A motion was passed at the September Board meeting regarding travel expense reimbursement for board members. Discussion today included creating a form for this policy and having it available to members at all meetings going forward.

No other old business to discuss.

New Business

Two members have requested to withdraw from the fund. They have submitted appropriate paperwork and are awaiting our meeting to confirm their withdrawal. We will mail a check returning 90% of their account balance.

Motion to approve withdrawal for member Joshua Belcher was made by Mr. Reid Vaughan

Second made by Mr. Charlie Dixon

Motion passed unanimously

Motion to approve withdrawal for member Charles Carpenter was made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Chris Mullins

Motion passed unanimously

The Internal Audit Committee convened this morning prior to the Board meeting. The committee consists of Chairman Billy Doss, Chris Mullins and Charlie Dixon. Mr. Doss reported that the committee found the financials to be in good order.

There was no opposition to the report. Motion carries

The Board discussed the issue of banking fees charged by Regions. The Board would like to explore options to reduce the cost of banking for the fund.

Motion to authorize secretary to research options and report at next meeting was made by

Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Charlie Dixon

Motion carries unanimously

The Board revisited the discussion of increasing membership, as well as the fact that we have applications coming from Fultondale Fire Department. Mr. Wyatt brought up having a goal of 100 new members by the end of 2016. Several ideas were discussed to help facilitate this increase in membership, including the possibility of attending the Chief’s conference in February, 2016.

The next AFABF meeting will be held on April 27, 2016 at 10:30 am. Internal Audit Committee will meet April 27, 2016 at 10:00am.

Adjourn

Motion made to adjourn by Dale Wyatt

Second by Chris Mullins

Motion passed unanimously

___________________________________________________

Reid Vaughan, Chairman Date

____________________________________________________

Secretary Date

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity and Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 10:30 am

04/27/2016

Members Present:

Chairman Reid Vaughan

Dale Wyatt

Chris Mullins

Billy Doss

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

Mr. Vaughan reported that Charlie Dixon called and would not be present. It was also noted a group picture would await his return.

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

Meeting minutes from 1/20/2016 were presented by Secretary Catherine Burnett

Motion made by Mr. Dale Wyatt to accept minutes

Second made by Mr. Chris Mullins

Motion passed unanimously

Financial Report for January 1, 2016 through March 31, 2016 presented by Secretary Catherine Burnett

Motion to accept Financial Report made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Billy Doss

Motion passed unanimously

Committees Report

Presentation of Internal Audit Committee report for January 1, 2016 through March 31, 2016 by

Chairman Billy Doss

Mr. Doss reported everything is in order in the check book with the exception of the dollar amount of two checks written. The dollar amount was found on the bank statement and has been entered on the stubs of both checks.

Old Business

In an effort to decrease excessive Bank fees, it was determined a new banking option should be investigated. Bank research re: moving checking and ACH from Regions was presented to board. Bryant Bank will save the Fund money, and is also a local bank. Initially when the Fund was established Regions was the appropriate choice due to being statewide and widely available. With the stability in location of the office for the Fund and knowledge of how the money should be handled, it was deemed an appropriate time to make this change.

Motion to withdraw funds from Regions and deposit working balance to Bryant Bank made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Chris Mullins

Motion passed unanimously

Mr. Vaughan studied the numbers the Fund has had in recent years:

Oct ’13- Sept ’14 $27,746.13

Oct ’14- Sept ’15 $24,082.54

This income of approximately $26-27K positions the Fund to engage another actuarial study which allows us to provide more value to members. The variations came from differences in the AFC contract, which included monies owed from the previous year, approximately $1500 in bank fees, and general expenses. A study should be in place in the fall or early next year. We will continue to grow the membership and seek resources for income.

No other old business to discuss.

New Business

Quick Books has sent notification that an upgrade was needed. Based on the current needs of the Fund and what the upgrade would provide, it was decided that at this time, we do not need to upgrade and will continue using Quick Books as we currently do.

The outreach mechanisms the Board has used in the past are not as effective as need be. Mr. Vaughan has researched and polled various individuals determining social media {Twitter, Facebook, Instagram} would be the most effective method to use at this point to reach out to all of the different facets of the fire community. At the next Board meeting a video will be made with appearances by the members of the board sharing benefits of joining the AFABF. We will also further discuss plans for a social media marketing campaign.

No other new business to discuss.

The next AFABF meeting will be held on July 20, 2016 at 10:30 am. Internal Audit Committee will meet July 20, 2016 at 10:00am.

Adjourn

Motion made to adjourn by Dale Wyatt

Second by Chris Mullins

Motion passed unanimously

___________________________________________________

Reid Vaughan, Chairman Date

____________________________________________________

Secretary Date

Alabama Firefighters’ Annuity and Benefit Fund

Meeting Minutes

Alabama Fire College 10:30 am

07/20/2016

Members Present:

Chairman Reid Vaughan

Dale Wyatt

Chris Mullins

Billy Doss

Charlie Dixon

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

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

Meeting minutes from 4/27/2016 were presented by Secretary Catherine Burnett

Motion made by Mr. Dale Wyatt to accept minutes

Second made by Mr. Charlie Dixon

Motion passed unanimously

Financial Report for April 1, 2016 through June 30, 2016 presented by Secretary Catherine Burnett

Motion to accept Financial Report made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Billy Doss

Motion passed unanimously

Old Business

The Auditor made us aware that an actuarial study should be conducted every 3 years, not every 5 years as we had been advised by Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting, LLC {“Cav Mac”}. Due to this being an honest misunderstanding and the fact we had been actively discussing the need for an actuarial study recorded in the minutes, the Auditor will not count this as a finding.

We revisited the Cav Mac contract and how to proceed. The members were presented with a copy of the contract. Mr. Reid Vaughan pointed out some changes that will need to be addressed. One was the address that Cav Mac had for the Fund. The other was a typo on the numbering of article 10 needing to be corrected to reflect article 11.

Currently the Cav Mac contract is for $7500. We need to ask them to do a few additional things. When we initially set up our parameters we wanted to be conservative to be able to function under any circumstances. To start we went with a 5% rate of return which was less than RSA’s 8% average, no ancillary investments, just a flat $20 times the number of Firefighters we anticipated, which was approximately 4,500-5,000 based on 15% of tag list for Volunteer and Career Firefighters. Going forward we have two variables to change- the number of expected members within the 3 year cycle and any potential revenue streams. Planning on 750 members and the Fund being able to transfer $20,000/yr to RSA within the 3 year cycle is what is proposed. This should bring the benefit to a level that will generate more interest in the fund. Also discussed by the Board, any changes needing to be addressed, Chairman Reid Vaughan has the authority to make in order to move this motion/action forward.

Motion to approve the contract between Alabama Firefighters Annuity & Benefit Fund and Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting, LLC with the changes to the $20,000/yr from the Fund into RSA account and membership to be at 750 members made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Second made by Mr. Billy Doss

Motion passed unanimously

Video recordings for social media marketing campaigns were postponed to next meeting. Hopefully information from our new study will be available then and we can include that as well. Members will target the various organizations with whom they are associated or have influence.

No other old business to discuss.

New Business

Quick Books is not set up in the most efficient manner. We would like to extend a contract to a qualified individual to set up the software so that we can go back to 10.01.15 and come forward to include dates that will be our next audit time period. We will also conclude current audit with details of all necessary documentation so that going forward any information needed for an audit is in a notebook for an auditor to use. This will streamline the audit process.

Motion to allow chairman, Reid Vaughan, up to $2,500. to get Quick Books issues resolved by contracting with a CPA either internally or locally made by Mr. Charlie Dixon

Second made by Mr. Dale Wyatt

Motion passed unanimously

Letters of appointment are all current. Mr. Charlie Dixon is up for re-appointment in September 2016.

No other new business to discuss.

The next AFABF meeting will be held on October 19, 2016 at 10:30 am. Internal Audit Committee will meet October 19, 2016 at 10:00am.

Adjourn

Motion made to adjourn by Dale Wyatt

Second by Billy Doss

Motion passed unanimously

___________________________________________________

Reid Vaughan, Chairman Date

____________________________________________________

Secretary Date