UPDATE: City Council member Matt Schellenberg will remove John Thompson's name from the legislation as a possible candidate for the Police and Fire Pension Fund board.
Thompson said he thought Schellenberg was asking him to be on the still-to-be-created investment advisory committee. That group of volunteer financial experts will help the board with investment strategies and selection of outside services providers, among other duties.
The council member will add to the legislation the name of “someone else who is suitable” or someone other council members suggest.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Matt Schellenberg hasn’t been happy with the city’s side of the Police and Fire Pension Fund board.
So much so that the City Council member wants the two members replaced.
Schellenberg has filed legislation urging City Council President Clay Yarborough to take Adam Herbert and Walt Bussells off the fund’s board and replace them with George Robbins and John Thompson.
“I want citizens who understand private industry,” Schellenberg said. “Both (Herbert and Bussells) are pensioners … I don’t think they get it.”
The fund board is made up of five members and oversees the public safety pension plan. Two members come from the police and fire side, respectively, while two others serve at the pleasure of the council president. The fifth member, a point of contention in pension talks, is selected by the other four members.
Herbert and Bussells were appointed by former council President Stephen Joost in 2012. Schellenberg said he didn’t agree with the selections at the time, but said he wanted to give them a chance. After a year and a half, he said the two “have not been good advocates for taxpayers.”
Herbert is a former University of North Florida president and, Schellenberg said, a friend of Mayor Alvin Brown who was influential in mayoral appointments.
Bussells is a former JEA CEO and managing director. Both, he said, draw pensions and don’t understand the changes to retirement that have happened over time.
Schellenberg wants them replaced with Robbins and Thompson, who he said he pitched to Joost in 2012.
Herbert and Bussells could not be reached for comment.
Robbins is a longtime businessman who worked for General Electric before several ventures in the chemical industry. He was one of two citizens appointed by former Mayor John Delaney to the Program Administration Committee for the Better Jacksonville Plan, according to his resume.
Former Mayor John Peyton also tapped him as a mayoral fellow in assisting his office in changing city departments “to more business-like operations.”
Thompson is a senior vice president with Wells Fargo Advisors and served on the Retirement Reform Task Force that made recommendations used as a focal point for the newest pension deal. He also served as co-chair on Brown’s Pension Committee during his transition into office.
“They get it, they understand the situation we are in,” Schellenberg said.
Council President Clay Yarborough said he is “very much open” to considering Schellenberg’s proposal on the changes.
He said one of his concerns has been the lack of engagement by Herbert and Bussells with him on the pension issues, including the deal on the table now.
“I haven’t heard from either one of them,” Yarborough said. “It makes me open to considering individuals who would be interested in communicating.”
The resolution will be introduced during tonight’s council meeting.
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