IPERS Improvement Association Meeting Minutes
January 27, 2022, via ZOOM
The meeting was called to order by President Bill Maas @ 11:01 a.m.
PRESENT: Gary Davis, Doug Olson, Linda Linn, Phil Johnson, Andrew Hennesy, Bill Maas, Julie Conolly, Jean Keller and Steve Williams.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA WITH FLEXIBILITY
Motion by: Steve W Seconded by: Julie C.
All ayes; motion carried.
APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 13, 2021, MINUTES
Steve Williams stated a correction to the minutes should reflect his name as Williams rather
than Williamson. No other corrections are needed.
Motion to approve the corrected minutes: Linda L Seconded by: Andrew H
All ayes; motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Membership billing of 848 was sent out earlier this week. This number is down from previous
years.
Checking account: $6878.59 MM Savings: $10,277.43
MOTION TO ACCEPT TREASURERS/MEMBERSHIP REPORT:
Motion by Julie C Seconded by Phil J
All ayes; motion carried.
FUTURE LOCATION FOR BOARD MEETINGS
Since Old Chicago was having some staffing issues, they are temporarily closed now during the
noon hour which is when we have our meetings. President Maas proposed changing the
location from Des Moines to Boone. He suggested trying out the Saints Avenue Café which has internet and a meeting room. He will check on availability for our next meeting.
BAC Meeting
There was a BAC meeting on January 24,2022 which was held via Zoom. Both of our BAC representatives, Andrew H. and Steve W., listened in on it. Andrew H stated the fund balance is very strong, although there is some concern regarding filling teacher vacancies. He stated that there isn’t any desire to change the BFR due to some possible consequences with the IRS.
Instead, they have recommended changing the earnings limitations on retirees’ earnings from $30,000 to $50,000. Steve mentioned they hired a new chief investment officer. This person has worked previously, for several years, for IPERS and was promoted. It was also mentioned that they need to fill the investment board appointment with a Democrat.
Bill M. mentioned he'd received a well written letter from Gary Thelen summarizing this meeting as well, which will be added to our website. Steve W is going to submit a little information to go along with this letter as well. Linda has requested that our representatives,
Andrew or Steve, to submit a report after each of the BAC meetings to be included on our website.
Linda L stated she gets questions on, “if IPERS is doing so well why aren’t we getting any dividends then?” The law states the fund must be fully funded by 105% before anything like this can happen. Andrew H, BAC representative, said he will contact the IPERS CEO and see if he can get him to write an answer to this question so we can have it posted on our website.
LEGISLATION/LOBBYING
HSB 581 – Eliminating tax on pensions is being proposed in the legislature. It is suggested that we monitor this to make sure nothing gets added to this legislation.
WEBSITE UPDATE
Linda L needs information to be posted on the website which should include the minutes from our meetings once they have been approved by the Board of Directors.
OTHER BUSINESS
Should Zoom meetings be open to the membership? We currently don’t have the technology to handle this for the membership. The added cost of technology currently is cost prohibitive.
Should our meetings be posted as public meetings? Andrew H stated the original board meetings were just for the Board of Directors, and the Annual Meeting was set up for the whole membership. The By-laws need to be examined concerning this issue to make sure.
Communication with our membership is important and we will try to keep them as informed as possible through the website at this time.
Some members felt we should maybe consider raising the membership dues and possibly increasing the mileage reimbursement. These topics will be placed on a future agenda.
The next meeting of IIA will be March 30 @ 11:00 with a site to be determined.
Motion to adjourn: Steve W Seconded by: Phil J
All ayes; motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 12:22 p.m.
Submitted by,
Jean A. Keller
IIA Secretary/Treasurer