The Caucus is looking for a volunteer to recommend to the Mayor to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Fire Pension Fund. The local Lake Forest Fire and Police Pension Boards maintain responsibility for determination and payment of benefits, as well as administrative expenses. You can find more information about these two boards on the Caucus website (Fire and Police) and additional information about the pensions on the City’s website.
Pursuant to Illinois Statutes, a municipality with a paid fire (Article 4 ILCS) and/or police (Article 3 ILCS) department will establish a fire and police pension fund to track all assets and obligations related to the accumulation and investment of funds held and determination/payment of benefits to pension fund members pursuant to the respective ILCS provisions. Each local fund is administered by a 5-member Board of Trustees consisting of:
- 2 active fund members elected by all active members of the fund
- 1 beneficiary fund member (retiree) elected by all beneficiary members of the fund
- 2 members appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council
Until January 1, 2020, Lake Forest had a tradition of appointing Lake Forest residents with specific investment experience to help guide the Board in investment decisions. On January 1, 2020, the Illinois General Assembly’s Public Act 101-0610 went into effect. The primary purpose of PA 101-0610 was to mandate the consolidation of all local fire and police pension fund assets into one consolidated fund for fire and one consolidated fund for police for investment purposes only.
With the removal of investment responsibilities for local pension boards, one Mayoral appointee with investment experience remains beneficial to provide the active and beneficiary board members an understanding of the investment reports they receive from the consolidated funds. For the second appointee, someone with a medical background could be helpful in situations where a fund member is injured on the job and seeks a disability pension.
Residents interested in serving can contact their Ward Chair or complete a Volunteer Profile Sheet.