2020-03-26-RB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the March 26, 2020 Retirement Board meeting: Present: Bob Cunha,Joe Foley,Alan Fields, Fred Weiss, Carolyn Kosnoff, and Jim Condon The Lexington Retirement Board met today thorough the Zoom telephone conferencing application due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. All Board members were present.The Clerk's Office Meeting posting included the phone number for any interested party to join to conference call. The Board accepted the 033120 Warrant and the March payroll. The February minutes were reviewed and approved via email. Bob Cunha reviewed the March agenda with the Board members and staff in attendance. There was no new information regarding Ryan Bugler or Joseph O'Leary to report. Donald LaConte was mailed information regarding his Accidental Disability pension. Once the paperwork is returned, our office can move forward with the process of converting his pension to an ADR. The Retirement Board has received interest from one candidate for an open seat as of March 26, 2020. Bob Cunha is seeking re-election and has submitted his nomination papers with the required qualified twenty(20) signatures. Board members were advised of online Q1 trainings through the PERAC website for educational credits. Henry Jaung and Steve McLellan presented the Meketa update. The portfolio balance as of February 29, 2020 was$176,135,492.00. YTD is down -4.7%. The emerging Covid-19 Virus is beginning to take its toll on the worldwide markets. The outlook for futures continues to cause fear and the selloffs continue on the market. There appears to be no slowdown in site. Most sectors are posting terrible returns. Energy appears to be getting hit the hardest, followed by Financials and Industrials. Consumer staples and utilities are experiencing the lowest declines. Due to the downward slide in market value the last two weeks, Meketa provided the Board members a worksheet comparing the 02/29/2020 Market Value and Weight vs.03/24/2020 Estimate of Market Value and Weight. This estimate projected the portfolio value around $155,484,000.00, down -12.3 for MTD, and -16.4%YTD. At the time of this meeting, a $2T stimulus package was being approved to help the American people and hopefully jolt the markets towards positive numbers. Steve mentioned most countries are printing money as fast as possible. The Federal Gov't is buying all kinds of debt, and mortgage rates are falling. They will be lending money freely to help out debt. Despite the free fall in the market,the defensive minded Kayne Anderson and Wellington Enduring managed to remain down just slightly. Driehaus is down, but not significantly bad as one would think. PRIT Hedge Fund continues to do what is supposed to do for us. They managed to only be down -1.0% during this turbulent time. Henry concluded that the portfolio is structured appropriately and no changes should be made at this time. Fossil Fuel exposure remains at 4.1%,which remains .3% lower than the final few months of 2019. Future Board meeting dates: 4/30/2020, 5/28/2020, and 6/25/2020. Wellington Funds and BlackRock are expected to attend the April 30, 2020 Board meeting.