POLICY-PROCEDURE
Motion/Request:
title
MOTION to adopt a revised and restated “Plan Defined Benefit Document for Eligible Employees of the Town of Ledyard” as presented in the draft dated October 20, 2026; and forwarded by the Retirement Board.
body
Authority:
In accordance with Ordinance #200-010 “An Ordinance Establishing Retirement Plans and a Retirement Board for the Town of Ledyard General Government and Board Of Education Employees” Section 2 - Terms of the Plans
“The specific terms of the Pension Plan shall be set forth in a separate amended and restated plan document adopted by the Town Council. The specific terms of the DC Plan shall be set forth in a separate amended and restated plan document adopted by the Town Council.”
Background:
The Town of Ledyard Defined Benefit Plan is titled: “Retirement Plan for Full-Time Employees of the Town of Ledyard”. The entire document was last updated and restated on July 1, 2012. Since that time there have been three amendments (amendments 2015-1, 2021-1 and 2025-1).
Since it has been 14 years since the Plan Document was fully updated, the Retirement Board felt it was prudent to review the document in its entirety incorporating the above listed amendments and incorporating other changes dictated by individual collective bargaining contracts and/or US Code changes.
As part of this effort, the Retirement Board authorized funding for Robinson & Cole (R&C) LLP to lend their expertise. Robinson & Cole was selected because of their familiarity with the current document as they were the law firm that assisted in its development. The Retirement Board worked with Virginia McGarrity from Robinson & Cole, who was not the lawyer that originally worked with Ledyard, but had all the relevant background information in her files.
Summary of Changes is below
(See attached Retirement letter dated October and Full Plan Document)
1. The title was changed from “The Retirement Plan for Full-Time Employees of the Town of Ledyard” to the “Defined Benefit Plan Document for Eligible Employees of the Town of Ledyard”. This was changed to align the document title with its actual applicability. The document does not cover all full-time employees, just those eligible employees.
2. Instead of the restated document getting amended to institute changes, the document will now go through the more typical revision process with every change resulting in a revision to the document. Revisions will be labeled with a revision date and summarized on the last page of the document.
3. As previously stated, this revision incorporates amendment 2021-1 and 2025-1. Amendment 2015-1 was superseded by amendment 2025-1 and therefore was not incorporated.
4. “Pension Board” was changed to the “Retirement Board” per ordinance 200-010.
5. Language that was specific to a particular collective bargaining unit was move from the core document to the applicable document appendix. Ex. Language regarding the earnings of Firefighters and Police, previously in section 1.10, was moved to appendix G and I respectively.
6. Where appropriate, dollar limits were adjusted for inflation (see section 1.10).
7. A definition of the “Plan Administrator” was added. This position, while discussed and assigned responsibilities in the original document, was never defined.
8. Firefighters were added to section 4.06 (C) at the recommendation of R&C based on the wording in U.S. Code Section 415(b)(1)(A) which treats Firefighters and Police similarly. Our current document does not include Firefighters.
9. The composition and the responsibilities of the “Retirement Board” (section 9.06) was replaced with a reference to Town Ordinance 200-010 which established the Retirement Board. This was to remove any confusion/contradictions between the two documents.
10. Since appendices are bargaining unit specific, appendices should be reviewed whenever contracts are renegotiated. Since this would rarely result in a change to an appendix, the review of appendices after contract renegotiation, has been made an administrative process. An actual change would require a formal revision. (See section 11.08) .
11. In order to ensure that each appendix is in sync with the latest bargaining unit contract, contract effective date language has been added to each appendix. For clarity, Eligible Employee information has been added to each appendix.
Department Comment/Recommendation:
The Retirement Board recommends the revised/updated Plan Document be adopted
Mayor Comment/Recommendation:
(type text here)
Body:
(type text here)