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VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10, 2020 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) March 10, 2020 · 1.8 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/zT1RBVQn2e0 Status This is NOT the official transcript. 3 V.I.C. § 884 requires the agency itself to make a verbatim record of its proceedings and reduce it to a transcript within sixty days. This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of the proceeding, offered as a finding aid. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. 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Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for coming over to our call weekend. Last time we did our call in St. Croix was in February 2018. And I felt that a lot of things are happening, it's not time. So we'd like to just open the presentation, then we'll have questions and answers. In the audience, I'd like to identify two trustees, Mr. McCoy, who are here in the audience, and they see trustee Ari, one of our trustees. Okay, we're gonna have a stand with you, you're mumbled! 0:00:00 I'm sorry, you're mumbled! Anyway, two of us these are in the audience. I would like to do a brief presentation and then we'll have questions and answers. As you know, the ERS celebrated its 16th anniversary, October 1, 2019, 60 years of serving members of the ERS. So, what we want to do is just highlight some of the things that have happened since 2018, the last Tongval meeting that we have. As you know, each month we have board meetings. The board meetings are now streamed online on YouTube, Facebook. So you have an opportunity to be part of our monthly meetings. We also have a newsletter that is published every three months quarterly. And also we do have a very robust website and we encourage you to go and visit our website from time to time. So let's start here about our members active and retirees. Well, it's diminishing. And it's about a one-to-one ratio right now of retirees and actives. As you can see in green actives at first, let's look back at 1994, where we were. We had over 10,000 members, actives. We nailed down to about 83,000, 8600 members. And what is very telling about the actives, after the hurricane, a lot of active members who are not vested. 0:01:01 Now let's keep in mind that the active members are the ones that are supporting the system for retirees today. But we found out that a lot of the active members left the system. In my shot, I think between 10 or 15 have left the system since that time. And because of the uncertainty of what is happening. However, a few months ago, I heard the governor said that there were at least 2,000 vacancies within the government to the Virgin Islands. If that is so, that would be great for the system, it would be beneficial because we need members, not just that only, but if we have a steady stream of attributions coming in, it would benefit the system significantly. 0:03:50 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 Like I said, we have a one-to-one ratio right now, and hopefully that will improve in the future. This slide with active membership has been updated 2018-2017, there were about 9,300 numbers. Like we said, between 27 and 28, the significant amount of members are blessed, active members. So we are down now to about 800 active members as we speak, broken down between year one and year two. 0:04:49 As you see, year 2 is increasing, year 1 is diminishing, because the year 1 individuals are a little older than retirees. There you go. Retirees as we speak is 8,708 retirees. The active members are 8,586. Now this is a mature system and you expect something like this. The system is 60 years old. So you expect this type of situation. We have discussed this with our actuaries and many occasions. So this is normal within a mature system. 0:05:44 The kicker is that, and you'll see a little later, the system is not being funded correctly. The system is not being funded correctly. We're not really worried about ratio right now. Yes, I would like to see ratio between one and one, but this is a mature system. So we expect this type of situation. Plus you must remember also that the age for retirement has increased since 1959 or 2005 when was the last formula. So we expect this type of situation. This chart shows you the actuarial valuation for the last 2017 and 2018. 0:06:37 And it depicts the unfunded liability of the system. In 2017, October 1, that funded liability was $2.82 billion. We had a funded percentage of 23.1. October 1, 2018, that funded liability went up $2.93 million. Funding percentage, 20.8%. 0:07:39 Now, this is the lowest in the United States. I can't think Turkey, it's about 33%. It's not figuring Puerto Rico. So this, when our funding percentage is the lowest in the U.S. So they're going to have to plan sponsor the legislature. They're going to have to find ways to improve this 100%. The only way you're going to be able to do that is to put money into the system. and we'll see some of the other slides what occur. 0:08:22 Two reasons why the system is a dead. What I should say, condition that it's in. There were nine unfunded mandates that were approved by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, meaning that on nine separate occasions, the Legislature approved early retirement bills where members were able to retire without paying a fair share, meaning retire without paying employer contributions. One of the nine unfunded mandates cost the system $120 million, just one. The legislature did approve appropriate $30 billion to net $90 billion in one. 0:09:12 The IAG was the one that did that analysis. We don't know what the other eight cost us. However, let's do an average. Let's say it was the same $90 million, or let's say $50 million times $80, that's $400 million. That's a lot of money, close to half a million dollars. And the system lost. Also, there are shortfalls in the aquarium in Germany and lawyer contribution. 0:10:29 Now this is a statutory contribution, however it's actuarially determined by an actuary each year. Each year what the actuary does is they go in and they look at the health of the system and they come up with a certain amount that the legislature should appropriate each year. And the legislature has not run the job for appropriate disamount. These are the nine unfunded mandates. Parted back in 1983, 84, then 94, 95, 2000, 2001, and 48, 2001. Nine unfunded mandates. And what is struggling? Because the significance of those members that retired under these acts are still alive. So that means that if monies didn't come in to fund their retirement, and they're still alive, that means that the benefit payments are up, the contributions obviously are up, but the benefit payments are more. 0:11:08 and they should be because these people are still alive. The actuarially determined employer contributions from 2000 to 2019 is approximately $1.6, $1.7 billion. and this is the amount of contributions that the legislature failed to appropriate and fund the GRS. I gave you an example a while ago about the early retirement bills where people are still alive and you know they went home early and some of them are still alive so that created and if you don't fund the system correctly because of this it's about 1.6 1.7 billion dollars that have not been put into the system at the same time for the same period look what happened the system had to go to its portfolio and withdrew from its portfolio, $1.693, $1.7 billion to fund this system. If these funds were left in the portfolio, we wouldn't be here today talking about insolvency, because these funds would have been in the portfolio to grow this system. Also, keep in mind that, yes, we're going to have to, we would have had to withdraw some funds and keep in mind that the investments have done relatively 0:12:28 well since 1981 of an average of an 8.9 percent return. We looked at 21 years of returns and out of the 21 years only five years were bad returns maybe negative so that means that the system have really done relatively well okay and this is where i hear all the time about bad investments you hear that constantly i would say there was only one bad investment and that investment was the Atalana's life settlements that were approved and invested by the system back in 1995 2005 2006 for I came and that's where they did a board invested 50 million dollars in the life settlements we had a return of capital about eight million dollars so net 42 million dollars and there was a financing also that we did about 10 million dollars so we lost about 52 million dollars we did have a bankruptcy proceeding that yeah I don't remember maybe we can discuss that the legal counsel can discuss the what occurred was its public knowledge but And there was a 0:14:18 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 bankruptcy proceeding that went through with this, this, did I catch you Cathy? I put you on the spot? But we did go through a bankruptcy proceeding with this at Alanis, and we settled, but obviously we lost on that. That's the only bad investment, in my opinion, that the system made. you must understand in any investment you're going to lose some you're going to win some and you're going to lose some okay and the same thing in the market i mean we have lost monies in the market also but you have to be able to know when to pull back and move monies around and diversify the portfolio i remember in 2008 i just came onto the job in 2007 when they had the problem in 2008 the assets were 1.2 billion dollars at that time it's now down to what 600 million something like that but in 2008 the assets were 1.2 billion dollars and overnight we lost up close to 400 million dollars when I say lost the assets had been reduced the portfolio was reduced when the market began the market bounce back. We did get a bounce back, but not that much. We went up to about one, close to 1.1. So we did lose some monies. Because you know why? Because at the same time, we were withdrawing funds to pay benefits. So the principal of the portfolio was being reduced. So when the market bounce back up, we didn't have enough money to get that bounce. So, what I'm trying to say here is this, if the system were funded correctly, we would not have had to withdraw so much funds, $1.7 billion from 2000 to 2019. As you can see, in 2019, we withdrew $125 million to pay benefits. 0:16:10 I'm not sure, Glenville, how much we withdraw so far from October to now. I think year to date we've withdrew about $51 million. Glenville Henderson. My name is Glenville Henderson. So what he's saying is since October, for the present we withdrew at least $51 million to fund the benefits so far. It seems like it's on track with the previous year. Look at our rate of return. 0:18:09 Market rates of return from 2000 to 2019. Not bad. That's what I said for 21 years. We have only had like five long years. This is the portfolio. I think over the years you have always heard us said that Something has to be done to fund the system. Now, about three years ago, the board made a decision to be proactive, although it's not the board's responsibility. 0:18:45 The board made a decision to look for financing to fund the system. In the statutes, the board has the authority to do that. but the plan sponsor and the legislature are the ones that are supposed to make sure that the system is funded correctly, okay? But we took it upon ourselves, and the board did, and we went and spoke to some people in Washington, D.C. 0:19:23 We started with a delegate to Congress. We have met twice in D.C., and we have met a few times in the Virgin Islands. wherein we could approach the US Treasury for a loan about maybe $2 billion, $3 billion. This is something that is unprecedented. It has never happened before. However, you would need to have the buy-in of the governor. And obviously, the delegate did buy-in to it. She was ready to assist. 0:19:55 But you have to have the buy-in of the government, which we call the sovereign. Because without the governor, there's no way you're going to be able to approach the federal government. Also, there may have to be some congressional input also, somehow with legislation, because something like this is unprecedented. We're involved in our national group, NCPERth, which have over 500 members. GRS is a member of that group. 0:20:33 They were in Washington with us also, they were a little leery because of the political climate. At that time, the new administration had just came in, and because this was something which was unprecedented, we were a little leery about it. But what have we done so far? Well, we have brought it to the attention of the governor, we have brought it to the attention of the legislature in a meeting on November 25th. We had a meeting in St. Thomas. Also, we did also explore other financing from an insurance company. 0:21:03 They do that, but we met with them. However, based on our conversation with them and the documentation that was provided, we felt that it wasn't the best in our favor to go that route. So the only way this system can rebound is through some type of large infusion of cash. Large infusion of cash so that you can invest the cash into the market, diversify the portfolio, and invest the cash into the market. 0:21:51 I was speaking with some of the retirees. I had the pleasure of speaking with a retiree group in St. Kauai today. I spent about two hours speaking with them. And there was a lot of tough questions being asked. And I saw some of them in the audience. I do see some of them in the audience tonight. But the problem here is if you don't receive some large infusion of cash, I don't mean $15 million, I don't mean $100 million, I don't even mean $500 million. 0:22:32 You need a large infusion of cash so you can bring the assets up and put them in the market to earn and diversify the market now. You can't put all your eggs in one basket. You have to diversify the portfolio. So that income, that cash can earn investment income. Because years ago, 20, 30 years ago, it was the investment income that was able to make up for any deficit between the contributions and the benefit payments. Now, it's not that way anymore. And as our investment advisors have told us, you can't invest yourself out of this, meaning that I think a few weeks ago, I think, from what I understand, I was not here at the time, but there was a hearing and some of the senators felt that we should have been in the market right now. Why are we, you know, preserving cash? We have what we call a dynamic asset allocation. 0:23:10 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 And this was adopted maybe three, four years ago, where we preserve cash, and it's no longer the 60-40 split as legislation dictates. We know about 60% bonds, and we had some index funds also. So if we were in the market in stocks yesterday, we would have taken a beating. Okay? So you've got to be very careful when you're investing in the market. Don't put your eggs in one basket. We know exactly what is happening with the system. 0:24:26 You can't take the risk like we used to. You have to de-risk your portfolio. Okay? So, what is going to happen come 2023, 2024, if nothing is done? That means that 100% of benefits will not be able to be paid to the retirees. Right? And this chart picks that. This is what's going to happen right here, and eventually it's going to rebound, because you must remember now, the government is going to have to be paying in more contributions, which we just raised the contributions at least 3%, and this is where also around this timetable year, a lot of the Tier 2 members are going to be retiring. So that means the benefits are going to be less than the Tier 1. You must remember Tier 2 pays in more contributions and would receive less benefits. So this is the reason why you see around 2024, 2029, 30, 34, things have started to improve. 0:25:10 to, however you need funding for the system. What's happening right now, out of a ERS meeting with the Governor Legislature in November, we formed what we call, and this was a recommendation of the legislators that were in the meeting. I think about 14 senators were there with representatives. I don't want to call any names. 0:26:29 And we came up with what we call a GRS legislative working group. I think we have met twice. We have a meeting coming up very shortly. But that's where we brainstorm and try to find revenue sources. Part of the group is the Bureau of Economic Research. We have the Economist for the Government of the Virgin Islands part of that group, also. And we have identified a lot of sources. I mean, I don't remember how many, but it was like we could have identified at least $100 million from revenue that weekend. But it means maybe taxing, you may have to put on some taxes. But we have identified at least $100 million of revenue generating items or things that can be done to generate that. 0:27:00 Now, these are only brainstorming sessions. But somebody has to take a start. And I think they must give the legislature some applause them because of wanting to do this, and jointly with us, telling us that they are concerned of what is going on right now and what can happen in 2023-2024. The governor is also creating what is called a GRS, Solvency Working Group. 0:27:59 I heard him mention it. I did meet with him a couple weeks ago, and I heard him mention this group on the radio program, but it's going to be a group, like a task force, and you may say, well, another task force? because we had a task force with Governor John DeYoung. But out of that task force came a significant amount of reforms. There were a whole lot of reforms that came out of that task force that were implemented. Changing the structure. It had to have brought in money is where you can see cash right away, but the structure was changed, increasing the retirement rate, you know, and things like that. There's also an initiative by Ruff, Ruff is the retiree group in Thomas, and they came and they did a presentation before the GRS board and wanted us to buy in, we buy into some part of it, and however hopefully the retiree group in St. Thomas, I mean St. Coy, can also join with a gruff initiative. It's some type of a petition. But their source, what they're looking for is they're looking at going after the gasoline excise tax. Taxes. 0:28:37 I mean, from what I understand, there are billions of dollars out there. As you know, that case was the government of the Virgin Islands tried to get those funds many, many years ago. I think Judge Bornhart was the catalyst behind it, however we lost in the courts of appeal. Also, the governor, like I said, is meeting with Treasury officials. I think I can disclose this because I heard him. He said that he told me about it during our meeting and discussed it in one of the radio programs. 0:30:06 It indicated to me that three things he spoke about when he was meeting with Treasury was obviously the gasoline excise tax, which is a lot of money if we do get it. Also he discussed probably looking at distilleries, additional distilleries in Senkoy. As you know, Diageo is under capacity. They're not producing as much. 0:30:45 They have capacity, but they're not producing proof gallons as they should. So if you bring some small distilleries in, I think, from the Eastern Caribbean, who are interested because these same people came to GRS and were discussing it with us, it would probably increase the rebates to GRSA, okay? So he also talked about GRS, that he spoke to them about GRS and what is happening. 0:31:22 And he said that there were no commitments, but they listened. And obviously there has to be follow-up meetings. We did write a white paper, which we probably would. We haven't publicized it yet, but that white paper was done last year. And the government has a copy of that. The legislature were giving copies. They were giving copies, the legislatures first. And I think we're going to be putting it on our website so you can see nothing is supposed to be in hiding. 0:31:55 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 members are supposed to know exactly what we're doing so we just want to make sure that the authority the governor and the legislators had copies of it before we put make it public so that's all I have for my presentation so the best thing is what we would like to do is to open it up for questions I don't know the format. Senator Doc Canton is going to be the moderator. So we are here to answer any questions that you may have. 0:32:35 Thank you Mr. Nibs. At this time we want to open up the floor to questions directed to Mr. Nibs and his supporting members of grs here with him attorney kathy smith the general council next to her is sharon sasso the director of member services and mr glenville henderson investment analyst all right as i stated at the beginning your questions have to be asked within a minute and that is just out of respect for the fact that we have a lot of people here that may have questions and what you will do is come up to the microphone here, state your question, the panel will address your question if there's a follow-up question you have to submit that in writing we're not going to have one question leading into another question into another question just as a It's a matter of giving everybody a chance, all right? 0:33:16 So at this time, we'll get the first person who would like to ask a question to come up to the microphone and address the panel with their question. Don't be shy. I have questions, but I'm the moderator, so I have to hold it down. Good evening, good evening. Good evening, Mr. Nib. Good evening, everybody. My question to Mr. Nib. I have many questions, but I got one minute. 0:34:34 How long you been saying you want a large influx of cash? how long you been saying you want a large influx of cash how long how much years well i think it's been said before i came aboard i came aboard in 2007 so it's been for 13 years now 13 years and you also stated that they didn't pay the uh the money into the system but you never take them to court, so 13 years we need this money, no money coming and now the chicken coming home to rules have a good night good night Mr. Niv and the board I've had a hard time understanding what has been said here tonight through this audio My question, I have heard that you, the board, are planning on taking 30% of my annuity in October. I just want to know, is that true or false? 0:35:17 False. What happened is, what happened, let me tell you, what happened is the actuary, you know, The actuary, our advisors, came to us and said, in order to avert a total 100% reduction in benefits, they recommended to us that we should consider October 1, 2020, 30% cut in benefits. 0:36:32 However, I can tell you, in our meeting with the governor and the legislature, the governor is not for it, the legislature is not for it. Now, we know that legally, the board can do it, but it may not withstand the legal process. And do it because there's a section of the code that said the board have to be responsible and be a fiduciary for the system. And they have to use the prudent man rules. So the board can do it. However, we do not see where it's going to stand the test. 0:37:13 OK, but who came up with that number of 30? Because someone had said 15 or 10 or 20. Why was the 30% the number that was thrown out to the public? Well, like I said, the actuary looked at the numbers, and he felt, made a recommendation. First, it was 10%. We thought about 10%. We thought about 45%. 0:37:50 However, he said that if we use a smooth 30%, now, there may be issues with the 30% because I'm not sure it can be across the board. because it's going to hurt some of the seniors who are probably making $10,000 a year. Alright, Mr. Nils, but my final conclusion will be that my vote is whenever you come up with these numbers, 10% is where I think you should start. Thank you. 0:38:19 Okay, thank you. Alright, please... Well, you see, if you do 10%, you're going to get closer to... also to insolvency all right um before we before we proceed uh we have two people in line to ask questions and there's a third person who cannot come physically come to the mic and i'm going to have with the assistance of mr morris to take the mic to that individual after you to present your questions i'm also having some questions submitted in writing so i will intersperse those among those who are actually taking the time to state their question okay go ahead okay my question The question is, why did you bring us here tonight? 0:38:52 Well, we invited you, and I'm glad that you're here, so that you can be informed about the situation with the system. You haven't told us anything. You have brought us here tonight and wasted our time. You sold Carambola for $9 million. All you're telling us is that we need an infusion of money. We know that. We're looking for the answer. What is your answer? Where is the infusion coming from? When is it coming? What are we here for tonight? 0:39:58 Good evening, everybody. Good evening, everybody. I apologize for wearing something in my ears. My ears are very sensitive and it's too loud in here. This is my question. This is my question for everybody. You need to know this. I know the answer, but I'm going to ask the question anyway. Who are the current fiduciaries of the GERS? Would you repeat the question? 0:40:46 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 5 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 Who are the current fiduciaries of the GERS? In other words, who is liable currently for the mess we're in? Well, I'll tell you who the fiduciaries are. They're every single person who worked on the Senate, and anybody who voted for any of the things that happened to put it in this condition. How do I know that? I'm a certified employee benefits specialist, one of the very first, and we've been trying to correct this since I got to the island in 1986. 0:41:21 The next question is, are the fiduciaries aware that they can be sued personally and severally if there is a class action lawsuit like the one that took place in Washington back in the 1990s, if there is a class action lawsuit like the one that was in Washington, D.C., it means that each and every fiduciary who was ever a fiduciary can be sued. Hello, good night. This is to the board. 0:42:03 Mr. Nibs. Mr. Nibs. I listened to you all night. And you're blaming everybody except GRS. You're blaming yourself. You say you only had one failure. all those invitements we had failed every last one failed let me ask you a question is GRS a lending institution or a bank because we're lending money to Tom, Dick and Harry and we can't lend money to our old people that work for it which is a shame now we are taking our time that we work for and storing it in a bank and telling me if i want it i have to pay for it that's wrong my kids in the government i can't still give it to them so when i close my eyes when are time gonna go you say only one failure we had everything was a failure you come show me a scale anybody can make a scale and show me anything so you gotta do better than what you're doing because we're hearing this song and dance all night let the lady say what are we here for are you answering nobody question you showing we are charged i don't want to know chat i want to know where our money went you're blaming the senate you you're blaming the room factory you're blaming everybody but you can't answer where our money gone yet that's it okay folks when you when you ask a question I heard a question asks as to what 0:42:58 responsibility does GRS have in the alleged failures that's a question I heard okay if If that's not going to be responded to directly, maybe then we'll follow up with another question. Is that something that we're gonna get a response to? Whether there's an answer or not, please folks, please folks, please, please hold it down. I am not, I couldn't understand the gentleman What was the sound, the audio? 0:45:03 Okay, folks, I'm trying to work it so we can have an answer, the best answer possible. If there is an answer, whatever is your answer, just the gentleman asks a question for purposes of addressing him. Is there something right now to be said? Or if not, then we move on to the next question. but i just need to know so we move forward okay all right one of the questions that's been uh submitted here tonight does the grs system know when a member dies and when are they taken off of the system and why are we not allowed to vote on loans made to companies for a large amount of money i know that's a two-part question members dying and the decision-making process for making loans good evening my name is shoran sasso i'm the director of member services we have a number of items in place to notify us of the deaths of our retirees. We also have a number of projects, right now we're doing with disability, if anyone here is receiving a disability benefit, they should have received a life certificate certifying their death. We also have a company stateside that monitors our retirees payroll and submits reports weekly, sometimes twice per week, of any persons who have died. We have the daily news, the avis the bureau of health we are contact social security and we are also in touch constantly with the group insurance office here on st croix and on st thomas through the division of personnel 0:45:48 so we do have a number of items in place to um find information regarding the deceased members I would not sit here this evening and say we may not miss individuals, but we're quite on top of it. As well as the beneficiaries of our members contact us when a member dies. So I'm confident that we're tracking our death's benefits adequately. Okay. Thank you. 0:47:47 Good evening. Good evening. First of all, I want to make it clear. I have a particular notice and a concern. I expect to see and hear the board members to be seated up there to answer questions. Everybody up there is an employee. We've got attorneys, we've got consultants, I think his name was Mr. Henderson, Ms. Sasso, Ms. Sanders. They are employees of our money. I want to make it very clear. Now, if anyone of them up there can tell me what statute of law say that they can reduce my annuity 5% 2% 10% 20% or 30% cited here tonight you got a Tony sitting there you got a Tony behind the Myers I haven't seen a Tony Williams I haven't seen anybody but I want to make it clear people I almost understand that once they get the legislature to pass fiduciary liability insurance for them because we pay to ensure them when they make mistakes with our money. That's what they ain't telling us. So we taking our money for legislature to pass fiduciary responsibility and liability for them when they invest our money ridiculously and almost criminally because they're talking about coronavirus now. How much time they reinvest our consultant with money and they can't tell us how they still get them on our payroll? 0:48:25 We play with these people. And besides that, I see people standing here and I'm a young lady. All right. Thank you for your statement. Let me ask her something. i need to finish it because but we you're asking if i've been talking okay all i'm saying everybody been talking i wait right here and ask but all i'm saying is just give some difference to all the other 0:50:20 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 6 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 people that have a question accordingly okay i don't have no problem with that i give i gave difference to a lot of people before we start i put up my hand and you said wait just a second sir just a second if everybody talks if everybody talks nobody's going to understand mr brian has the floor go ahead sir you know i really don't have a lot of patience anymore because i see you can have my phone in 2023 and letting all i have to know you haven't heard none of them of the employees or attorneys cutting their salary by 30 percent or 10 percent you hear that and i'm letting all of you know tonight mr nibs tony smith mr myers and all of you i will meet i own the court step to see how brave anyone i of the bit to cut my annuity by even two percent and get away with it because i gonna have a way to stop all i oil me playing you could tell me that you have investors consultant managers and i still make a mistake and still getting paid so i'm just saying i don't know i am saying clearly i didn't stop until i explain myself because everybody got their chance i waited for everybody and everybody here can ask questions all right because we're playing games you've gone playing games you've gone several minutes and one of the things i want to save for the record sir how much time am i allowed to compare to anybody so one minute to ask a question one minute one minute and a minute is done but long ago but i'm indulging you and i want to be clear for the record it is our annuity not just yours alone all right that's that's what i'm saying it's ours okay so all of us have a stake in it who was really keeping there when everybody else was okay thank you would you defer who was keeping time when everybody was asking would you please defer to the others that have questions i didn't finish my you didn't ask a question you've been rambling she can't keep them she only telling me she didn't tell nobody else it's another joke i'm gonna learn hard but i want i to know mr nebs attorney smith and all of you are you ain't gonna take my money unless i die and i got enough people living to come for all i would believe i protect my money thank you all right thank you mr brian i have another question i'm going to interject first before we go to the next speaker just a second sir just a second okay we have a question here uh there's a person who was told that they needed to sign up to repay um for repayment of prior service and that they did pay up they did sign up and proceed to pay and that when they were finished they were then told that there that there was a miscalculation in essence and as such that they had to pay more on top of that there was added a 1.5 percent delinquency fee to their payment so we're looking at someone who complied initially in good faith and did what it was told based on a question and then subsequently it was determined that the calculation was not correct and they're now facing a delinquency on top of the fact that they weren't told up front all that they needed to know to pay that's the nature of the question is could such a 0:52:20 situation and exist and is such what would be the way to remedy that we didn't understand what you said you okay in the these folks I tried to state the question a person let's say they pull their money out of the system and it came back to work and I'm presuming that that's the situation and that they're told that for them to get back where they were they have to pay in what was owed and they had a payment plan I guess to pay it in and later on were told that the calculations were not accurate and that they owed more than that amount and now are facing at 1.5 percent delinquency fee I'm just taking it at face value if that situation were somehow to manifest what would be the the way it would be dealt with I'm not clear on exactly what you're saying the microphone. Okay, I will submit the question to you and you can make heads a tail of it. The question was mine and you stated it clearly. When you join the system and they don't start taking out contributions remember you guys had a repayment plan yeah and you said you could sign up for the repayment plan I did okay I paid what you said was old and you continue taking our contributions when I went to you to be reimbursed the payments stop and then I went back again and you said I don't know if you had some type of an audit and you said 0:54:36 was calculated incorrectly but i still owed contributions based on the audit that was done so i said okay you could continue taking out the payments and then you said you will we could take it out but we're going to charge you a 1.5 delinquent fee and it says right here you you have it right here on the paper repayment of fire service changed from blah blah blah and now includes a repayment at 1.5 but if I paid what was said that I owed how am I being penalized now for your mistake when you had an audit done and you're telling me now in order to pay what you say I have to be penalized 1.5 percent. I've called Mr. Nibbs on this matter Nobody hasn't answered me, nobody can answer me, but if you give me a five thousand dollar figure and I pay the five thousand dollars and then you come back and say oh we made a mistake, we did an audit, you are another thousand and I tell you okay I could pay the thousand, but you said yeah you're gonna pay back the thousand plus now, a 1.5 delinquent fee. 0:56:43 If everyone speak at the same time we can't answer the questions because we cannot hear. That's the first thing. This is a personal matter. I'm in the office until around 12 tomorrow. You can stop in. I can't answer a personal question at this time. I'll stop in tomorrow but I also asked Mr. Nibs to address it and he was saying the only how it can change is through legislation because how the law is written it says that you have to pay a 1.5 delinquent fee but I'm being penalized for a figure that I knew nothing about I do not have your records in front of me I cannot answer that question okay sir please give the gentleman an opportunity to ask this question good night so I got a basically my question is I came late I don't know if my question is this is going to affect their former senators former governors Korean governor and judges are they 0:58:02 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 7 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 also going to be affected with this or they'll their The judges, governors, formal governors are going to eat the best part of the pie. Are they going to get a reduction too? Formal governors, current governors, judges, if this happens, is this also affecting them? The governors, the governors, the lieutenant governors are not GRS members. But why they work for the same government? they need to put them at the same level as us I mean what goes for the good goes for the kind that you all create the law you all cannot break the law just put everybody at the same level that's all if we if we fail it's because of them so I mean let's do it right okay Mr. Nib slash the panel, there's a question here, it's two-part but related, first folks please it's going to slow down you getting answers if everybody talks at the same time, all right, first of all is there a way that any member of the GRS retirees membership can determine what loans have been given out and I'm not talking about personals I'm talking about loans with companies or let's say we had a loan with Carambola at one point in time is there a listing somewhere that the employees cannot access to that and they closed off with the fact that they they want to know why we can't go back to having personal loans also for retirees. All of the alternative investments have been reported in my report or in the GRS report of operations since I came aboard. The only time we missed was last year 0:59:31 because we were not invited, but we have all of that information. A lot of it is on the website. You'll have to go to those annual overviews to pick up a lot of that information. What we are still doing is, Carambola has not been closed out officially. We had a one-year period to close out, and we're winding down right now. Okay, the last franchise tax report got to be filed this year. You know, and things like that. 1:01:35 The accountant is working. We had payments after the July 4th purchase. So we're winding down. We're in the process of writing a paper to tell you exactly what occurred with Carambola. The legislature, Senator Barnes, asked us for some information some days ago, and we gave her detailed information about Carambola. So, it's nothing to hide, we have the information, but we are winding down and we're waiting until everything is finished to give out an official report. 1:02:07 Okay, to address the person's question, I will ask that in the responses that are sent out via email, if just a historical listing of loans that have been given out in whatever partnership grs has had not the individuals and the information just so that you could have a listing and you could indicate what's been closed out or what's uh still a uh outgoing uh relationship loan relationship we don't have any problem the only we don't have any more alternative investments carambola has been sold we just closed out for the university all right I understand I understand now we don't have any more alternative investments like that okay one one more thing here we have a member wants to know where can members submit ideas to help make GERS solvent and what would be the guidelines for those submissions if that's if we have a suggestion box let's state the suggestion box otherwise that's one of the things I would like to go put in the follow-up email answers okay you have members that would like to help maybe their ideas could make a difference we also have audited financial statements all of that information that you know the accident they're on our website, they're on our audited financial statements. 1:02:41 The 2018 statement has not been issued because the government of the Virgin Islands haven't issued their statement, but we're now working on 2019, but all of that information is in our financial statements, on our website also. Okay, good thing. Good thing. Good evening. Next question. this company that we're paying to track and make us aware of those members that are deceased how much are we paying that company I I didn't understand the question that's what for the record could you state the question again it wouldn't you stated a little while ago I cannot hear her because you're disrespecting her. You just stated that we're paying a company to track the deceased members and their company is letting you know who the deceased members are so they can be taken off of the um list of retirees or whatever my question is what amount what dollar amount are we paying this company i think it's between 10 and 20 000 over what period of time over a year every year and how long has this payment being is going on it just started in 2019 2018 and it's between 10 and 20 you don't know if it's 11 or 19 you that's a big range we worked with them before and we 1:04:24 kind of peel back the responsibilities or the scope of work that they had before so it's some i think it was 2019 when we came up with a new scope of work for them and it's only for members who reside in the mainland members who what i didn't understand what you just said the mic is kind of boomy if you could say it again mr you didn't hear it attracts everyone especially those members who living abroad okay so it's between 10 and 20 thousand dollars a year that's the closest number you can figure out. 1:06:25 Good evening, Mr. Nivs and other board members. My name is Cecil Benjamin. I came mainly to register my opposition to your proposal of cutting annuity by 30 percent. I just came in and I noticed, forgive me, that you give the audience one minute. 1:07:40 I'm trying my best to put my thoughts together for that one minute. I hope you will play and let me do maybe more than a minute. Because this is very important. That proposal is unconscionable, outrageous from many standpoints. For many, 1:08:16 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 8 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 many years, this government has always delved into the GRS. Every time, the Retiree's Fund. We have to be backing up for everything, balance budget, a whole lot of stuff like that. And to consider at this time, when our health system is not doing well, most of us seniors are going overseas for health care. some of that same money that you're cutting they need to use that to go over for treatment I'm saying to you now to take this kind of thing into consideration please, secondly I'd like for you to look at the law, I think Senator Brian mentioned it, but let me repeat to look at the law which is like a contract to the employees nobody can just arbitrarily cut that Or else we're going to meet all of us in court Or else we're going to get together and burn this place down I'm telling you now I've been quiet for a while But I'm tired, tired Let you guys come and do this in justice To the people of this territory No, we can't do that There are alternatives Let's look at all the alternatives Before we do this As a last resort You put it on the backs of the poor seniors who's struggling no way are we gonna do this like i said you're ready for a fight you don't get a fight i've been quiet for a long time i'm tired to see the injustices in this damn place about time we think in terms of our own people try to help them and don't turn our backs and cover this nonsense not anymore i am going to give you at least one recommendation an alternative you need to look at this would involve a whole lot of money to bring back solvency it's not our fault we worked for that we upheld this damn system can't take it out we need to set up maybe a commission to study this thing further and we need to go right back 1:08:49 and deal with the excise taxes on oil in this territory from the time leoness opened up we have had this problem over the years and they're telling us we are too small that money is too big for the territory and praise god people like bonach started that fight way back on the serial king until today we cannot get that result so i'm saying i'm saying that me it's a recommendation Thank you. 1:10:48 I'm saying that we can go back there and try to have that billions and billions of dollars there that we have not fought through the political process to get that done. And that's my recommendation. I think Gruff is an organization out there that just started a couple of years ago. And we call ourselves Government Retirees for Fairness. They also have that proposal. I don't know if they brought it to your attention, but we'd like for you to look at that. And let's all join hands. Let's join forces, the legislature, the GRS, everybody. Okay, Mr. Benjamin. And go before the president of our men for that money. 1:11:23 Thank you. Mr. Benjamin. Thank you. All right. Before we get to the next question there, people are submitting their questions here. This is a very simple one. since it was asked, how does a person get on the GERS board? It's by law or it's by stature. There are two members who are members of the Central Labor Council. They are appointed by the governor. I guess recommendation for the Central Labour Council, appointed by the governor, go to the legislature for advice and consent. There are two retirees on the board. They run for election every five years and they don't have to go to the legislature for advice and consent. They represent the retirees. So that's four. And there's one from another one from St. Thomas private sector and one from St. John and those are appointed by the governor. All right thank you. Currently do we have any members whose terms have expired and if so how is that addressed to replace them? 1:12:03 Again, the governor would have to be, they serve the pleasure of the governor, the governor would have to appoint them or reappoint them. How many members, terms have expired, there's one in St. Croix, there's one in St. John, that's two. Only two members right now, terms have expired. are coming up for the retiree retirees in November so only two members terms have expired right now okay thank you sir but three members there was also the central labor council the governor just appointed a member from St Thomas that has to go before the legislature okay sir good evening mr. Nibs and your staff you mentioned earlier of the possibility of an additional rum company to take that as a means to bring in new revenues to make the system solvent correct you mentioned earlier in your presentation that GRS is somehow looking at a an additional rum factory not grs governor okay very well so i'm curious considering that the diagio deal the cost a number of factors cost of molasses uh rising what input did the GRS have in formulating this idea? Was it only the executive branch? 1:13:47 What type of input did the GRS have in the process? We don't have any input. I mean, anything that is legal that would give us revenues to put into the GRS, I'm for it. But we don't have that much input because we haven't done any research, we don't have access to information that the governor has and we are not a plan sponsor now. You must remember GRS responsibilities are to receive the contributions, invest the contributions appropriately, and administer benefits. So your position here tonight is you had no idea, no really input in formulating the idea, it was all on the executive branch. No, we didn't. Thank Good evening, everybody. 1:15:36 Good evening. Okay, I have a question. Well, I have a whole bunch of questions, but the way you're answering the question, I don't think I'm going to answer my question. However, my sister sent me over here. She wants to know, because she said, Mr. Canton Watadong, her question, and I'll Watadong, I'll answer. So, I came to ask, but for me first, is it, I was sitting here listening to your presentation, and I don't know your name. So, I was listening to your 1:16:47 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 9 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 presentation. I want to know if I get it right. The governors, the past governors, and some of the legislature screw up, oh sorry, messed up the retirement system, and now we're going to pay for it. That's basically what you're saying? The bottom line, like without all of the nice pretty charts and so, that's like layman's thumb? That's what you're trying to tell me? I didn't say that. Oh, that's not what you meant. But that's why I get sitting on over there. I like to break everything up and just... What I said, two reasons. Two of the major reasons. I don't know why we didn't. But that's not my question. My question is, do you, since you seem to know a lot, know the names of all of the people that were giving our money as that you guys or the board or whoever loan our money to like in these years we know she said it's a little chart keep going up and down like do you know like off your head like you said Carambola you know you sold that and you you loan money he said that they loan money to Carambola paid off the loan and somebody else that he pushed in there that he liked, like it was good. 1:17:46 Okay, thank you. Let Mr. Nibs answer the question. Let me get done. That's not the question. The question is, do you have wait a minute because you can see Sir Benjamin. That's fine. If I misunderstood what the question was, you go ahead and clarify it. No, I didn't say you misunderstood. I said my sister said you water it down. I'm not discussing that. Please talk to Mr. Nibs. I can't answer your question. I'm a retiree just like you. My question is the one that would crush up like this and then open back up all i want to know plain out layman's tongue i don't like too much stupid um what do you call it double talking are you gonna ever give us the opportunity to borrow our own money that's it all right um before the next question is asked this uh mr nibs i have Oh, I thought you didn't answer, Mr. Nebs. Go ahead. My mistake. 1:18:46 I can see that happening. The loan program was suspended indefinitely. I can see the loan program coming back if we were able to get a large infusion of cash to inverse. It couldn't come back. It's still in the books as legislation. So it can come back, but it was suspended indefinitely. All right. Thank you, Mr. Nils. 1:19:56 folks from up here the sound is bouncing back in a way that it's it's hard to hear all right so I ask your indulgence for the questions of other retirees and they would like to have their questions heard I have about four questions here who are asking basically about the same thing and as a retiree and as someone who knows better than to follow rumor, I'd like to know what it really is all about. Is there presently any type of initiative being dealt with at GRS by GRS's actions to cut annuities by 30%? No. The answer is no. That's what you said? No. Okay. Mr. work with me here it's it's hard to hear the way the sound is bouncing so that's why I so I say that because of the questions then move on to the next question sir thank you I'm running got it my time stop when I speak that was thought right now when I'm standing here but when I start to talk to you that's on my time sir thank you no i'm waiting because we are waiting for the question i don't press it until the question starts but i'm saying they're too much nicer i can't control the noise i want my question to be heard i'm simply asking now i didn't get an answer for my first question and since people are talking and you can probably hear mr nips none of them answer my first question 1:20:25 If they can cite me at Delbert M. Bryan, if any authority in the law, that they or the board can take my money annuity under the definition of chapter 27, title 3, and all those of section that speak to salary right, compensation, and credited service. My accredited service speaks for itself. If they doubt it, the attorney Myers, attorney President Williams, and attorney Kathy Smith visit Adele Bob Ryan versus the GERS in 1990, when they told me that I, in order to retire, I have to pay them $84,000. 1:22:24 Let them come back and tell you if I paid more than $600. They could tell you anything here, but I'm asking them right in front of all of you. cite me a court case that said that they and the board and the for instance could cut my annuity or make me pay for the way they think they make me speak and I'm saying clearly sir we are sitting down here here in a letter I believe and I think and I had a talk I talk from document and code docket records so they can tell me for the second time what authority they and the board have under what statute of law that authorizes the board that they of death and the employees that they can do what they're suggesting to do from their consultant my question is clear sir yes it's clear so when any of them go answer that question what it's a very straightforward question to me basically does the grs board have some authority statutory or otherwise to be able to change how much of your annuity you're going to get by case law and by statute now when i think now what they believe you got that's understood is that something you want to address now or something that i waited for my answer could i sit down the board has not made any decision it was a recommendation by our actuary the board has not taken any position on any cuts and benefits and have you or any of the attorneys sitting here with you tonight ever read a delbert brand versus the grs in 1990 or the third circuit tell i i understand the salary right credit service and compensation which one i and the board have 1:23:09 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 10 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 authority to reduce that are you can't do that but i'll tell you anything because it depends on who I want a fool. I just want to make clear that I don't have the authority to even tell me if I want a loan tomorrow, I would get the code to make all I would give me a check for whatever month I have to pay back because I know full well a loan from the GERS members have an automatic deduction for compensating the loan to be deducted from the salary or from the annuity. So all our retirees are here, take all our benefits, cut it in percentage, and put it on to all our grandchildren's beneficiaries and see what they're going to do. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bryan. Next question. 1:25:02 Good night. First and foremost, if you wanted to get good sound clarity, you would have a speaker turn to the audience and one turn to you so you can hear. that's the problem why you are not hearing us properly let me go on I would like to understand this WICO situation and I need you guys to answer me because you brought us here for question and answer what's going on with WICO GERS is taking over Havenside is GERS taking over Havenside DRS owns HavenSight on April 1st DRS will take over the direct management of HavenSight okay very good so therefore HavenSight is like a 24 hour run facility right because there are different tenants there you need maintenance you need security all of that so you had waiko had the employees already in place that was running this facility why would you get rid of them and then ask them to reapply when you could have done a transition a smooth transition from waiko to GERS the same way like how you have via buyout choice but via did not let choice employees go they transitioned so now you are out there trying to get these people to come and work for you before now they decide to go and work elsewhere you have to find new employees you have to go and train them to learn this facility you guys drop the ball in my opinion you drop the ball okay i don't think that gers is able to manage haven site don't cut me off no i'm not cutting off to ask a question haven site i don't think that haven site that gers can run haven site mall if you can't handle 1:25:47 the GERS system I believe that you are going to lease out Havenside Mall to a past governor. I want to hear what he has to say. You could talk over everybody but that doesn't help us to hear anything. Okay? The fact of the matter is, Mr. Nibs, you indicated that GERS owns Wycombe Mall. And so in taking over waiko mall is there some transition plan or something that can speak to address how how is this happening if you can state that without um going into anything that's otherwise privileged i'll be very brief there is a transition plan i i don't know where the gentleman got his facts from because everything he said was incorrect okay so if he wants to know he can come and you can ask me but i'll have to sit here for the next hour trying to deter tell you exactly what is occurring but there is a transition plan we're not firing anybody waiko is the one that asks us how many people you need and we were able to identify some of the people are 40 30 years old they're going to retire anyway but they're the ones that ask us how many people do you need there was a reason why we took direct management of waiko our revenues went down from $9 million to $6 million. Our market value of the asset went from $80 million to $41 million. Our expenses stayed at $4 million, close to $5 million. And your revenues went down $3 million? 1:28:09 Come on, do the math. Okay, thank you. Next. Good evening. I'm a retiree and I retired in 2015 take care of my dad and we all know that your retirement check is much lower than what you get paid as an active employee now you all are making money okay you got good salaries we who have retired did not make the salaries that you all are making okay so when you're talking about cutting 30 percent, and I'm trying right now to keep my head above water. You have retirees who have to decide, do they pay their WAPA bill or do they buy medicine? Do you all have a conscience when you're making these decisions? Have you thought about people, retirees, who cannot afford to buy medication, who can't afford to pay their light bills. Do you all think about these people? 1:29:55 Good evening, sir. Good evening. I came here to get a couple answers. My wife is not here. I have many friends who are not here and they asked me to get some answers for them. I have this very simple question. Is there a plan to cut our benefits by how much and when? Is there a plan to cut our benefits by how much and when? Simple question. I don't, sir, I don't know of any plan to cut your benefits. There was a recommendation made to the board. The board have not acted on anything. The board have discussed this legally. We have discussed it many times, but there's no plan in place that I know of for the boards of DRS to cut your benefits. What is your recommendation? The recommendation from the actuary was 30% effective October 1, 2020. 1:31:10 go ahead please yes good evening I just I would like to go back to the information about the board Firstly, how many members are required by law to be on that board? Seven. 1:32:14 How many? Seven. How many? Seven. How many do you have now? Seven. Seven? Okay. What are their term limits? Five years. Five years? Because it seems that some of your board members have been on that board longer than five years. The term is five years and you have to be reappointed, but it can solve no more than two terms. Yes, I understand. What are the functions of the board members? Do they have different functions or do they all just make decisions for us? What are the operations, in other words? 1:32:45 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 11 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 board oversees well the board oversees the system okay their main concern is the investments and policy okay the administrator runs the entire operation and is supervised by the board okay how long have you been on the board i am not on the board you're not on the board no i am the administrator of the system oh you're the administrator and how long have you been administrator. How have I been? Yeah. How long? Since October 29, 2007. 1:33:27 2007. Okay. Is there any term limits for you as administrator? Well, it could be term limits if the board is not satisfied with my performance, they can ask me to leave and they have never said anything to me like that. Yeah, yeah, because it seems like we still keep going over the same minutiae over and over and over and no changes real changes are being made and like the lady our arm the mistakes that the board has made are forcing you now to take money from our retirement and that's not fair because let me explain something too okay miss we have some other people who like to ask a question it's okay to follow up i understand that but we could move on to our other persons all right thank you thank you good evening canton i'm going to listen to you talk so if i run out of time you're going to talk into yourself thank you okay i'm really disappointed at how this developed because we haven't reached to any type of resolution with the problem that we're facing and been facing for years and you've been told that the problem was coming for years but everybody ignored it now what is happening here tonight is it went a wire because of the ignorance of the people you are really asking questions that you could find out by going to the board meeting that you can find out by building up the website that you can find 1:34:04 out however you don't need to come here to ask those questions that you're asking the people are telling you they're losing 200 million dollars a year I understand that because they have to take it out of the investment because number one the central government is not paying as it's supposed to, and the time is supposed to, and Mr. Nave's jumping anytime, I said something wrong. And because we have the unfunded liability, and because we have a government that tells us we got 2,000 vacancies, but ain't hiring nobody. They're giving contracts to their friend and that is not helping the grs system now as much as y'all want to blame the people who come to tell you that you're going to be in problem soon and let me make sure correct that that we going be in problem because i'm a retiree too but you want to kill the messenger instead of listening to the message. It is the legislature. I don't care who one of them who's sitting in there now tell you. They are part of the institution that created this problem. 1:35:56 And they are the part that have to find a solution. Not them. All they're supposed to do is manage the investment. Okay? they you're here because they're looking to tell you that it gets into a point where you're coming to zero and they are putting a plan to help to maintain that we get something instead of coming to the point next year where we get nothing all right thank you very much mary your points are well we had a meeting of the St. Croix government retirees earlier there was a suggestion made because we see that the resolution has to come from the executive branch meaning the governor and or the legislative branch we said we would go out in the morning and lock down the entire block that houses the legislature and the governor to make a point that you want something done to address the problem but if you don't want that well then we going sit down and wait till the whole damn thing collapse because that's worth going I don't know you could serve a one thank you so much I don't I don't don't control the mic on and off and even if I did I wouldn't turn it off because the points made are clear and and that is that the board has a function I'm coming to you sir the board has a function and everything is traced back to the enabling legislation and whatever changes have been made as to what can be done and so it don't make sense to beat up on the folks who don't have the power mr mr for my good evening listen i disagree with mary okay i've been blowing the kangshell i retire for 20 10 years right now 208 2010 i was screaming this thing going under 1:37:37 geis continue to say we got nine unfunded liability they didn't file a court case yet they ain't trying to get the money he talked about people retire who still living today and collecting an unfunded liability what have they done to force the government to pay them we can't continue to ball and win and I got to applaud Mr Nip so coming here being the whipping child at the board when I see the board go to the legislature and the people them are incompetent saying they don't know we need to stop i have a good night mr foy thank you mr foy since 1984 the grs has been in court with the government of the virgin islands just yesterday we had a hearing again with judge romez this week or next week he's going to rule and that a deck whether it's due to us or not that's over two billion dollars okay two billion he's going to rule next week okay sir you have a question yes good evening good evening um i have a question and a statement please the question is that why are none of the board members here tonight on the panel You said there were seven members. I don't see none or all of you work for the board. Where is the board? 1:39:56 That's the question. The statement I'd like to make now is that all of us that are retired, this talk about 30%, you notice they gave you a deadline. They're saying they want it done by November 1st, 2020. They're going to wait until the middle of the night, like they do for everything else, and pass it. I, as a retiree, am asking all other retirees who have already voted on it, to have an X amount, a number of people already committed to come out tomorrow morning, 5.30 in the 1:41:44 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 12 of 13 GERS Retirement System (Board of Trustees) · GERS Townhall Meeting, St. Croix - March 10 morning Florence William Library and we're going in front of government house and so conveniently the first branch is across the street. We are going to stay there and we're going to demand solutions from the governor. I don't care if he got to the PFA, float bands, float ships, but we understand they are the ones responsible for where we are today like they said the board members the board members sorry about that tomorrow morning 5 30 florence william library all retirees not active workers retirees those that are going to be immediately affected don't bring up school children people that got work don't come people that already retired they're the one they're going to hit first okay tomorrow 5 30 meet at florence williams library 5 30 a.m in the morning and we're going in front of government house in front there where the legislature and the government is today you want black after area we have to get some kind of solution whether pfa they did float bans The other day, they find six million, bam, get WAPA. WAPA still went out and wanted to double dip. We have to come out. 5.30, we already have people that voted for it that are committed. We understand you cannot disrupt and create civil distress, but we have a right to protest. That is our right. We are willing to be taken away read our rights if they choose to do so now I'd like to answer the question please why isn't there none of the board members here the scenario you're working for them I understand you're the messenger what they told us it was a board meeting the board will have a meeting I'd like to know how come the board none of the board members here tonight thank you sir thank you thank Thank you for your question. There are two board members in the audience. And we have board meetings, Ellen Bowery and Dr. Cohen. There are two board members in the audience. On the fourth Thursday of each month, there are board meetings. You're welcome to come to the board meetings during the regular session. 1:44:46 Board meetings are also broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook. If you have a question, come to the mic, please. I just wanted to say for the record that when I was asked to be a moderator, I was told it was at town hall meeting which is distinctly different from a board meeting. Any more questions? If there are no more questions then I'm going to return it to you Mr. Nibs and the members of the panel as to any closing statements that need to be made. I want to thank everyone who has come out and participated and I hope we're going to have more town hall meetings and I hope we can get to the core of what can be done for our GRS. Thank you. Mr. Nibs, closing remarks? Well, we'd like to thank all the members who came out tonight. 1:45:21 We're just letting you know what the facts are, the state of the system. So tomorrow night, will be on Thursday night we'll also have a tongue-hole meeting in St. Thomas. On behalf of the panelists and the GRS, thank you for coming. Good night. 1:46:37 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 13 of 13