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1
Thorne Codding Wadecki Panosky DeGaetano
Rodolico
AYE
EXCUSED
Discussion on a review of applicable labor contracts and retirement documents for Town of
Ledyard employee groups with applicability to retirement eligibility and benefits continued.
2.
Review of Retirement Plan amendments, see attachments.
Mr. Thorne started by saying the last time that the "Retirement Plan for Full-Time Employees of
the Town of Ledyard" was restated was in 2012. There was a minor amendment to it, also
completed in 2012. Mr. Thorne said the idea is to be an overarching instruction however it
doesn't get updated when there is a change to a union plan for example, the 130% calculation for
the Police is not in the defined benefit, nor should it be duplicated here but rather the union
contract should be referenced by the union number and date referring the latest contract. The
plan would need to be updated each time a union contract is amended unless it is updated to read
something similar to "see current union contract". Mr. Thorne added that it's a very worthy
guiding document. Some unions refer to this document since they don't have specific retirement
information in their own contracts. Also, USI also uses this as a guiding document. Mr. Thorne
added that there was an amendment made in 2012 that was never actually added to the document
but rather hangs separate from it. He would like to incorporate the separated amendment to be
contained within the document.
Mr. Thorne offered to put together a draft to change the title to be more precise, refer to the
union contracts and to incorporate the separated amendment(s) within the document. Mr. Thorne
would like to have USI review the draft; Ms. Wadecki agreed that their review would be
beneficial.
On a different subject Mr. Thorne said during the January meeting the Board spoke briefly about
the Police Union Contact, Appendix A:
No later than January 31, 2025, the Town and the Union will convene a working group
comprised of two management representatives and two union representatives to
discuss the
viability of Connecticut's Municipal Employee Retirement System 2.0 ("CMERS 2.0").
At no time
will these discussions be considered negotiations under the Municipal Employee
Relations Act
("MERA") and they will not be subject to the impasse resolution procedures under
MERA. In
addition, this Section shall not be subject to the grievance procedure of this Agreement.
Nothing
in this Section prohibits either party from making any proposals related to this issue
during
negotiations of a successor to this Agreement.
Mr. Thorne asked for clarification. Mayor Fred Allyn III said that the Police Union was possibly
interested going back to MERs. The Town expressed collectively that it is not interested in going
back to MERs. The reformulated MERs plan is supposed to be superior. The Town would like to
wait and see from a funding and from a return standpoint if the plan has improved. There is no
