John Mitchel of MVT Investments (Mitchell, Vaught and Taylor, Inc.), issued the following statement as an update to the consolidation of Illinois public pension funds:

 Illinois Consolidated Pension Fund Updates

We at MVT have been closely following the work of the Illinois consolidated pension funds by attending their meetings both in person (when it was safe to do so) and electronically. From time to time we’ll send you updates on what we’ve learned.

Note that while both Funds (Firefighters and Police Officers) are charged with the same responsibilities, they may approach them in different ways.

Illinois Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund (IFPIF)

William Atwood is the Fund’s Interim Executive Director, Steve Zahn is the Chief Operations Officer, and David Zaloga is the Chief Financial Officer. Mayer Brown is the Fund’s General Counsel, and Lauterbach & Amen were retained for Administrative Services. RFPs have been approved for a Portfolio Officer and an Executive Assistant. The Board has established a bank account, has approved a loan agreement to borrow money from the Illinois Finance Authority, has developed a budget, and has adopted hiring and procurement policies. In addition, the Board has approved a lease for an office at 1919 South Highland Avenue, Lombard, IL.

The Board’s Election Committee has developed rules and a timeline for conducting the election of a permanent Board. The schedule calls for electronic nominating petition signatures for participant and beneficiary trustees to be gathered from 7/1/2020 through 9/15/2020, with a subsequent challenge period. Ballots would be mailed on 10/30/2020, with voting from 11/1/2020 to 12/1/2020, and results finalized on 12/7/2020. Vendors have been selected to create the voter file and to develop an electronic nominating process.

The Board will be offering online trustee training, with the first session scheduled for 6/24/2020.

The IFPIF has a website at https://ifpif.org/

Illinois Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund (IPOPIF)

On 6/5/2020, the Board appointed Richard White as Interim Executive Director, and Lauterbach & Amen was approved for Interim Accounting and Payroll Services. Earlier, the Board approved Reimer & Dobrovolny as General Counsel, and Puchalski Goodloe Marzullo as Conflict Counsel. Also, Foster & Foster was selected for Administrative Services. The Board has established a bank account, is in the process of approving a loan agreement to borrow money from the Illinois Finance Authority, and is developing a budget. An RFP has been issued for Fiduciary Counsel.

The IPOPIF has a website on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Illinois-Police-Officers-Pension-Investment-Fund-102374691374141/