HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-06-07-TPT-min
TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MA
TRUSTEES OF PUBLIC TRUSTS
Minutes of Mee?ng of June 7, 2024
The mee?ng was held at 11am at Lexington Town Hall, 1625 Massachuse?s Avenue, Lexington.
Trustees Lester Savage, Alex Payne and Jim Cavallo were in a?endance. Also in a?endance were
Lexington Select Board Chair Doug Lucente; former Trustee Susan McClements; Select Board
Execu?ve Clerk Kim Katzenback; Assistant Town Manager for Finance Carolyn Kosnoff; and Staff
Accountant Caren Bolster (collec?vely, “Town officials”).
1. The Trustees unanimously approved the minutes of the 05.10.24 mee?ng.
2. The Trustees discussed 2024 distribu?ons from the Scholarship Funds. In 2024, 54
applicants received awards totaling $160,500.
3. Annual Fund distribu?ons was listed on the agenda, but it was noted there was no update
on the topic.
4. The Trustees discussed the por?olio of assets. The trustees met with representa?ves from
State Street Global Advisors (“SSGA”) to get an understanding of the services performed
by SSGA, the current repor?ng protocols and what addi?onal repor?ng might be provided.
SSGA offers a portal to view account informa?on (but not execute trades) and they agreed
to get the Trustees access to the portal. The Trustees will review the current repor?ng to
determine what addi?onal reports would be useful. There was also discussion of the
management of the por?olio, which historically has been handled by the Trustees. SSGA’s
historical role has been to rebalance the por?olio and to report on it, but they have not
been responsible for investment management services. It was discussed whether the
Trustees should use SSGA in an investment management capacity. SSGA also provided
informa?on on their current fee structure. The Trustees inquired if SSGA could offer any
sugges?ons for process improvements and they responded that the Trustees should
consider centraliza?on of money movement through officials at the Town Hall. The
Trustees agreed that more considera?on of these ma?ers should be taken up at a future
mee?ng.
5. The Trustees discussed procedural ma?ers with the Town officials and Ms. McClements
to be?er understand responsibili?es that needed to be discharged. The Town officials said
that money inflows o?en come in the form of paper checks, and some?mes the checks
do not specify what fund they are intended for, or whether the dona?on should go toward
principal or income. Moneys are deposited into a town account and then transferred to
State Street. In the past, Trustee David Williams (now deceased) spent significant ?me
trying to determine how individual dona?ons should be directed. Mr. Williams also wrote
personal notes thank you notes to the donors. The Town officials requested guidance on
how these ma?ers should be handled prospec?vely, as well as who their point person
would be going forward. Mr. Lucente inquired whether some of these processes could be
automated and whether the Trustees should hire someone on a part ?me basis to address
administra?ve ma?ers and thank you notes. Ms. McClements said that all Trust
agreements have been scanned into a central drop box, and that most modern trust
agreements make it clear how dona?ons should be allocated between principal and
income. It was decided that the Town officials would create a spreadsheet showing all
future dona?ons, which fund they are to be directed toward (if stated) and the alloca?on
to income vs. principal (if stated). If no alloca?on is stated, the trust document should
govern, and in the absence of language in the trust document, the Trustees agreed
deposits would be directed toward income un?l such ?me as further analysis could be
completed. The Trustees will develop a process to address unknowns iden?fied on the
spreadsheet. The Trustees agreed to evaluate whether process improvements could be
put in place regarding the receipt of dona?ons. The Trustees also agreed to consider
whether an administra?ve hire would be useful and how certain tasks might be
automated.
Mee?ng adjourned at 12:10pm.
Respec?ully submi?ed,
James Cavallo
Trustee of Public Trusts