VMERS Employee & Employer Representative Trustee Seats Filled

      For the first time in its history, the composition of the VMERS Board of Trustees changed. The board composition change was included within Act 139, a general retirement system bill passed by the State Legislature in the 2010 session. The change eliminated the appointee of the Governor seat and replaced it with another employer representative position. The change ensures two board members are employee representatives and two are employer representatives.

     Previously, the board had been comprised of the State Treasurer, an appointee of the Governor, two municipal employee representatives and one employer representative elected by VMERS members. Under Act 139, the Treasurer remains a member. The legislation specified that employer representatives must, during their time in office, be a member of a governing body, the chief executive officer, or a supervisor of an employer participating in the system. One employer representative is to be elected by the governing bodies of the participating employers. The other representative is appointed by the Governor from a list of at least three nominees jointly submitted by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and the Vermont School Boards Association.

     The new legislation also directed that employee representatives be contributing members of the system, have completed five years of creditable service, be elected by the membership of the system, and are not eligible to run for an employer representative seat.

The New Board Members

     The change prompted the VMERS board to quickly initiate an election process. A notice for candidate nominations for one employer representative and one employee representative seats was sent to all individual VMERS members and to the governing bodies within the system. After no employees filed to serve in the vacant trustee seat, the VMERS board solicited letters of interest from qualified employees. At their July 13, 2010 meeting the board voted to appoint James Quinn, a full-time Lieutenant with the Montpelier Fire and Ambulance Department. Quinn was the only person to submit a letter of interest for the employee seat.

     Three candidates were nominated for the non-appointed employer representative seat. Steve Jeffrey, Executive Director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns was elected to the board over candidates Thomas Golonka, a City Councilor with the City of Montpelier, and Terry Macaig, Chair of the Williston Selectboard and state Representative for the Chittenden-2 district. Jeffrey has served on the VMERS board since 1982, most recently as board Chair.

     Both Quinn and Jeffrey will serve four-year terms on the board beginning July 1, 2010. Governor appointee Stephen Rauh stepped down from the board effective June 30, 2010. Thomas Golonka was appointed by the Governor as the new employer representative. He was selected from a list submitted by the VLCT and the VSBA. Golonka will serve a two-year term on the board. His term will expire on June 30, 2012.