Lincoln Board of Trust Fund Commissioners
Minutes of April 23, 2003 Meeting
Carol Caswell, Chair
Donald Collins, Commissioner
John Murray, Commissioner
Paul F. Sagarino, Jr., Assistant Town Treasurer
Joshua Paul, Bartholomew & Co.
Mrs. Caswell called the meeting to order at 7:30 AM and reviewed the morning’s agenda.
The dates for the upcoming year’s meetings were set as 7/16/03, 10/22/03, 1/21/04, and 4/21/04.
Joshua Paul reviewed the operational structure of his firm. He noted that Bartholomew and Co. is a sales office (investment advisor). National Financial Services is the firm that holds all of the Town’s trust fund assets and Commonwealth acts as an intermediary between them, handling all back office work including wire transfers, checks, and statements. Mr. Paul will e-mail a written explanation of this structure to the Commissioners.
A brief discussion followed regarding the trust funds’ asset allocation. Mr. Paul noted that the Town’s investment policy was very liberal in this area with fixed income to be a minimum of 30% and equities and cash to be a maximum of 60% and 10% respectively. The Town’s portfolio has been fairly constant with fixed income representing 40% – 50%, equities at 40% - 50%, and cash generally around 5%. The Commissioners decided to review the Town’s investment policy statement in the future.
Mr. Murray asked who prices the Town’s portfolio and was told by Mr. Paul that it was National Financial Services.
Mr. Paul then discussed changes to the Town’s portfolio since the group last met in January. Mr. Paul indicated that two bonds had been called and two bonds purchased to take their place. He stated that there was an expectation that markets would rally after the war in Iraq but that it did not happen. He is expecting negative economic numbers and plans to keep the bond allocation in the 40%-50% range and to not add equities at this time.
Mr. Collins noted that the advisor had not made any changes to the stock portfolio in over a year. He asked if there had been any equities that had been attractive to the investment advisor over the course of the year. Mr. Paul stated that he did not find any reason to put extra cash in equities and that it was not his intention to manage the portfolio by trading daily. He noted that he did find some stocks attractive including GE and Home Depot but that he didn’t believe that the economy was out of the woods yet. Mr. Collins was surprised that there had not been any changes to the equity portfolio and asked what Bartholomew and Co.’s investment policy was relating to equities. Mr. Paul stated that his firm looks to buy industry leaders and companies that will turnaround first when the economy finally turns
around. Mr. Collins stated that he would like to see more activity on the equity side of the portfolio.
Mr. Paul reported on the portfolio’s investment performance for the period ending March 31, 2003. A copy of the report is attached to these minutes.
Mrs. Caswell made a motion to elect John Murray as chairman of the Commissioner of Trust funds. Mr. Collins seconded the motion.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 AM.
Carol Caswell, Chair _____________________
Donald Collins _____________________
John Murray _____________________
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