(a)(1) In order to assure representation of all participants of this system, there shall be a board of managers of five members for the administration, management, and control of the supplemental pension system, including administration, management, control, acquisition, and disbursement of the fund. The board shall consist of the president of the governing body of the city, who shall be chair of the board, and four associate members, designated respectively as Member No. 1, Member No. 2, Member No. 3, and Member No. 4.
(2) Member No. 1 shall be appointed by the Jefferson County Personnel Board and shall be a person who at the time of appointment has had five or more consecutive years immediately preceding his or her appointment and has been an officer of, or the occupant of an executive position in insurance, actuarial, investment, banking, or as a certified public accountant and shall serve for a term of four years. Should the appointed Member No. 1 die, resign, or otherwise be unable to serve, the vacancy thus created shall be filled for the remainder of the term by the Jefferson County Personnel Board. The personnel board in appointing Member No. 1 shall select the person who in the opinion of the personnel board is best qualified to discharge the duties of a member of the board of managers. Member No. 2 shall be a firefighter who is a participant of the system. Member No. 3 shall be a police officer who is a participant of the system. Member No. 4 shall be a retiree in the City of Birmingham Firemen's and Policemen's Supplemental Pension System with a retirement benefit from the system and shall be a qualified voter of the State of Alabama. The firefighter participants of the supplemental pension system shall elect Member No. 2 and the police officer participants of the system shall elect Member No. 3. The firefighter and the police officer receiving a plurality of votes shall be elected. In the event a participant representative shall die, resign, or otherwise be unable to serve or no longer qualified, the participants from the respective member category shall by a plurality of the votes cast elect a person who shall fill the unexpired term. Member No. 4 shall be elected by a plurality of the votes cast by the retirees in the system at an election to be held within 90 days after June 15, 2015. At the first election to be held hereunder retirees belonging to the system may vote for a retired fireman or policeman in the system to hold the position to be occupied by Member No. 4 on the board. In any election subsequent to the first election, qualified retirees voting in such subsequent election shall not vote for any retiree of the system belonging to the same former department (that is fire department or police department, as the case may be) as the retiree last elected for a full term as Member No. 4. The purpose of the next preceding sentence is to rotate Member No. 4 between qualified retirees from the fire department and the police department of the City of Birmingham. In the event the retirees representative shall cease to be retired, die, resign, or otherwise be unable to serve or no longer qualified, the retirees of the system shall by a plurality of the votes cast elect to fill the unexpired portion of the term with a person who shall be a retiree of the system and meet the qualifications of Member No. 4. Member No. 2 and Member No. 3 may hold their positions until elections for their respective board member positions are due for election in April, 2016. Members of the board shall be elected by secret ballot to serve a term of four years commencing on the date the result of the election is declared. Any member of the board may be removed by impeachment for corruption or malfeasance or misfeasance in office or for habitual neglect of duty. Any member of the board may serve beyond his or her term until a successor is appointed or elected. The governing body of the city shall have the authority to prescribe and to change rules and regulations concerning the election of the participant-member of the board provided that the rules and regulations as prescribed or changed are not inconsistent with this subpart.
(3) The board shall meet on the second Wednesday in each calendar month; however, the board shall not be required to meet unless there is pending before the board some application for pension, relief, or benefit or unless there is pending some other matter requiring consideration by the board and the board by resolution may change the regular meeting date.
(4) The personnel director of the Personnel Board of Jefferson County, Alabama, shall be the secretary of the board and shall be present at every meeting of the board, and keep a record of all proceedings of the board and all orders and decisions of the board. In the event the personnel director is temporarily unable to fulfill his or her obligations, the board may appoint a temporary replacement to take and record the minutes of the meeting. Neither the secretary nor any member of the board shall receive any salary or compensation. Any three members of the board, when assembled either in regular or special meeting, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any and all business of the board, and the affirmative vote of three members present shall be necessary and sufficient to pass any motion or resolution. The board shall meet in the office of the chair, or such other place as the board may designate.
(5) The board is empowered to make rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of the system in relation to its affairs and the system. The board shall receive, investigate, and pass upon all applications for retirement, disability, and survivors benefits and shall make retirement, disability, and survivors benefits in accordance with the system to all participants and their survivors entitled thereto under the system, and its decisions upon all such matters of fact shall be final and conclusive unless it shall be affirmatively made to appear that its decision is plainly and manifestly wrong.
(b)(1) No money of the fund shall be invested, paid out, or disbursed except pursuant to order or authorization of the board. The board shall be the trustee, have entire management and control of the fund, and shall direct investment of monies of the fund not needed to meet disbursements provided for in this subpart and in the loans to members hereinafter referred to and shall be invested in the classes of bonds, mortgages, common and preferred stocks, shares of investment companies or mutual funds, real estate investment trusts, international equity, corporate fixed income, international fixed income, index funds, interest of private investment, private investment funds, or treasury bonds, notes, and bills of the United States, and agencies of the United States as the board may approve, derivative securities and investment recognized as alternative investments (excluding direct investments in real estate) subject to the limitations herein. The board may invest in fixed income securities and bonds of corporations organized under federal laws or under laws of any state of the United States or in bonds registered with the Security and Exchange Commission, mortgaged-backed securities or asset backed securities, or in securities issued by federal agencies and government sponsored entities, or may invest in federal savings and loan associations or in other corporations having federal savings and loan association's guarantee or in certificates of deposit or bonds issued by banks organized under federal laws or under the laws of the State of Alabama and insured by the federal government. No funds may be invested in fixed income securities or common or preferred stocks and stocks of private corporations or other forms of equity or fixed investment unless such common or preferred stocks or other forms of equity or fixed investments are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or are traded through NASDAQ Stock Market or are Rule 144A securities or are traded on an organized exchange. The total investment in fixed income securities shall not be less than 12.5 percent of the fair market value of all the funds available in the system for investment. Securities issued by any single nonguaranteed agency or entity may not constitute more than 10 percent of the fixed income allocation of the fund at the time of purchase. The fair market value of all funds available in the system for investment is to be determined periodically, but not less than annually. In exercising its discretion to invest, reinvest, and have invested and reinvested all funds of the system, the board shall act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims.
(2) From the fund of the system created by this subpart, the board of managers shall pay to the fund of the General Retirement and Relief System of the City of Birmingham amounts hereinafter specified. When any firefighter or police officer retires on length of service, as hereinafter provided for in Section 45-37A-51.07, the board of managers shall pay from the fund of this system the amount specified during each month between the due date on which the participant retires and the date on which the participant would have been entitled to receive a retirement allowance from the general retirement and relief system for 30 years service had the participant not retired, but had continued to serve without interruption as a participant of the general retirement and relief system until entitled to receive from the last named system a retirement system pension based upon 30 years service. The amount which the board of managers shall pay to the fund of the general retirement and relief system, during the period specified, shall be the sum of the amount which the city would have deducted from the salary of the participant and would have paid into the fund of the general retirement and relief system had the participant continued to be employed by the city during the period specified had the participant retired under Section 45-37A-51.07 plus the amount which the city during the same period would have paid from the funds of the city into the general retirement and relief system to match the deductions had the participant continued to work until entitled to retire on a pension based upon 30 years' service.
Last modified: May 3, 2021