Minutes
Retirement Plan Sub-Committee - Minutes - Feb 3, 2026
Feb 3, 2026
A public record published by the Town of Simsbury (simsbury-ct.gov). mySimsbury indexes it and makes it readable; it is not the official copy. View the original file.
Page 1 of 3 Retirement Plan Sub-Committee Special Meeting February 3, 2026 – 8:00 A.M. Virtual on Zoom Minutes I. CALL TO ORDER- Board of Finance Chair Heavner called the meeting to order at 8:00 A.M. Present: Committee Members: Selectman Curtis Looney, Board of Finance Chair Lisa Heavner, Lalitha Shivaswamy, and Art Wallace; Deputy Finance Director, Kelsey Chamberlain; and Fiducient Advisors: Chris Kachmar, Dan Duffy, and Tyler Polk. II. HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS Appointment of Chair for 2026 MOTION: Selectman Looney made a motion, seconded by Board of Finance Chairwoman Heavner, for Art Wallace to be appointed as Chair of the Retirement Plan Sub-Committee for 2026. The motion carried unanimously. (4-0-0) III. PENSIONS PLANS & OPEB TRUST FOURTH QUARTER 2025 & PERFROMANCE REVIEWS AND FIDUCIARY GOVERNANCE UPDATE Mr. Kachmar stated that pension plans currently target a 6.5% return actuarial. The actuary recommended that they do an additional experience study next year. There is a little bit of moderation in terms of capital market return expectations, particularly in fixed income and domestic equity, when comparing last year and this year. They are down about 20 basis points. There is a bit of reduction in U.S. equities. International markets have made a slight increase but are still catching up in terms of valuation. The assumption is 6.5% but they are forecasted for 7.1% because a bit of excess return is good for a margin of safety. Retirement Plan Sub-Committee Special Meeting Minutes February 3, 2026 Page 2 of 3 The Town has a good size OPED trust, and they have adopted a balanced total return perspective. There are 65% return seeking assets and 35% of fixed income. They have allocated some capital away from the large cap names. The U.S. equity markets are a bit expensive, and it is elevated from a valuation perspective. Yields and spreads are tight in fixed income. There were good returns for global equities. At the end of the calendar year the Town’s Pension Plan was almost $34,000,000 of invested assets. Board of Finance Chairwoman Heavner asked if the fees are below benchmark, to which Kachmar responded that where they are using active management, which is about 2/3 of the allocations, the fees are below benchmark. The Town, Board of Education, and Police Department had over $11,000,000 in aggregate investment gains last year, with an aggregate asset value of almost $93,000,000. The OPED trust is due for some rebalancing and recommends transitioning out of ETFs to traditional indexed funds. IV. DEFIND CONTRIBUTION PLANS FOURTH QUARTER 2025 PERFORMANCE REVIEWS AND FIDUCIARY GOVERNANCE UPDATE Mr. Polk stated that it is likely that legislation will allow collective trusts in 43bs, with an opportunity that could be offered to plan participants. The Senate introduced a bill that would allow for auto re-enroll into plans every 1 to 3 years. President Trump signed an executive order democratizing access to alternative investments in 401Ks, 401As, and 457 plans. There has been legislation for forfeiture claims where money should just be given back to everyone as opposed to offsetting the employer’s cost, but there have been lawsuits around this and how forfeiture dollars are used. Board of Finance Chairwoman Heavner asked if Town of Simsbury returns it to the employees, to which Deputy Finance Director Chamberlain responded that those funds go towards the employer contributions. Board of Finance Chairwoman Heavner asked who wrote their plan documents, to which Mr. Polk responded that the recordkeeper writes it. Deputy Finance Director Chamberlain will email it to the Committee members, and they will discuss which policy board is responsible for it at the next meeting. Retirement Plan Sub-Committee Special Meeting Minutes February 3, 2026 Page 3 of 3 Mr. Duffy stated that the 457 plan balance was $20.8 million in assets as of quarter end, up from the end of March, which was $18.4 million. Around 20% of the assets reside in target date funds, 30% in S&P 500 and Fidelity 500 funds, 11% TROLL price growth stock, and 18% in the MissionSquare PLUS funds. In all three retirement plans. Participants of the target day funds have been getting long-term sustained results as there is a bias for the domestic side. The expenses are at 34 basis points compared to peer groups sending 66. They are getting a very strong performance for a more efficient price. Core investment options are seeing good returns. For fixed income they have a low-cost Fidelity US bond index at 2.5 basis points. Dodge & Cox has added some excess returns over a longer period. Bloomberg is down by around 40 basis points and has returned 1.1% annually over a five-year period. The manager’s performance has overall been underperforming. Chairman Wallace stated that the MFS are not performing well, and it should be noted that they are performing as they should and are not being replaced because there is no definitive median and direct comparison. V. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Chairman Wallace made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Heavner, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried unanimously. (2-0-0) Chairman Wallace adjourned the meeting at 9:11 A.M. Respectfully submitted, Amanda Blaze Commission Clerk