San Antonio Fire and Police Pensioners Association chartered 1970 San Antonio, Fire and Police Pensioners Association, 11603 W. Coker Loop, Suite 201-A, San Antonio, TX 78216 President’s Comments This website is still being updated! I will continue to complete pages and to add others. Keep visiting your Association’s website! More information will follow. I’ll see you at the next meeting! Pension Board News 05/31/2011 The San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund held its monthly Board Meeting on 5/31/2011. Service Awards were presented to Alex Perez, retired police representative, and Don Wagoner, active firefighter representative. This was the last meeting for both members. Both have served the Pension Fund well over the years. We congratulate both Alex and Don want them to know the Pensioners Association appreciates their service! Pension Board Members building plaque in the background! Health Care Fund Board Meeting June 21st, 2011 Health Care Fund Report I attended this meeting along with Earnest Gay, Chairman of the Pensioners Association’s Insurance Committee. I checked the Health Care Fund’s website before the meeting started. Today’s Board Meeting was not listed. You can check the Health Care Fund website by clicking HERE. The main item on the Agenda was the presentation of the quarterly report from PTRX. PTRX is a pharmacy management company. SaveDirectRx is the pharmacy used by the Health Care Fund. The Health Care Fund contracted with PTRX in 2007. The cost of drugs to our Health Care Fund has dropped significantly since PTRX  and SaveDirectRx entered the scene. They report quarterly to the Health Care Fund’s Board. I was not given a copy of the Report this quarter. I do have most of the past Reports if any member would like to see a Report. You can also contact your Board member. Today’s discussion was centered around the rising cost of medications. The increase in the cost of drugs is already a fact. It is expected to increase significantly in the future. Two main areas of cost increase to fund were discussed. First was increase in Specialty drugs. The drug companies are moving to developing this type of drug because it is easier to make a profit. They can charge more to fewer patients! These Specialty drugs cost several times more than the normal patented drug such as Lipitor. The second cost factor is the use of generic or substitute drugs. The more of us that use generic or substitute drugs the more money the Fund saves. The member also saves money when we use a generic or a substitute drug. Ask you doctor if a generic or substitute drug will work for you and start saving money today! The contract with PTRX came up for review at this meeting. The Fund’s attorney Frank Burney pointed out a clause in the new contract that might be detrimental to the Fund in the future. After a short discussion the clause was removed. A motion was made to renew the contract. The motion to extend the contract was approved. Three members of the Health Care Fund are up for re-election. The retirees Fire Representative Henry Trevino’s position will be up for election. Active Fire Representative Andrew Estrada’s position is up for election as is active Police Representative Robert Martinez’s position. The election will be held in August of 2011. On this subject the method of election for the Health Care Fund will change. The Board voted to hire a third party to handle the election. This is the same method use by the Pension Fund. This means we can vote by mail, telephone or by using the Internet. It is said that the use of this type of voting will increase participation by all members! It said to be cost effective because it re leaves the staff from the many hours needed to complete the entire task of the election. The Pensioners Association is adding a new button to our website menu “Your Health”! We will post much more information on what you can do to save yourself and the Fund money by being smart when it comes to medications. There will me more health information under that button as time goes on! Your President Michael M. Trainer Pension Fund Board Meeting June 28th, 2011 San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund Board Meeting Report 06-28-2011 I attended the monthly meeting of the San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund. The meetings are held at 11603 W. Coker Loop, Suite 201, San Antonio, TX 78216. The meetings start at 9:00 AM. The meeting schedule is on the Fund’s website.  These are open meetings and all members are encouraged to attend. The meeting started on time with the Board going into Executive Session. The Board returned after discussing a litigation and disability pension application. The meeting resumed at 9:30 AM. The first item on the agenda was to swear in the newly elected Board Members. The new Members are Harry Griffin, J.T. Trevino, Jim Smith and Justin Rodrigues. Harry Griffin is the Retired Police Representative. J. T. Trevino is the new Active Fire Representative. Jim Smith is the Active Police Representative. Justin Rodriguez was also sworn in as a Board Member. He is the Mayoral Appointee. Jim Smith and Justin Rodriguez were on the Board during the last term. Harry Griffin was a Board Member as an Active Police Representative for a number of terms. The next item on the agenda was the election of Board Officers. After a nomination and voting process the results are: Chairman of the Board, Shawn Ury. The Vice-Chairman is Justin Rodriguez. The new Secretary of the Board is J. T. Trevino. Past Chairman Larry Reed turned the meeting over to Shawn Ury at this point. The other items on the agenda were normal items of business. The Executive Director’s report showed that the Fund was up 9.75% for the fiscal year so far. The worth as of this morning was 2 Billion 109 Million Dollars. Other items on the Executive Director’s Report were the addition of Fire Cadet Class 2011-A into the Fund also an update on the search for an in-house attorney. The Legislative Committee reported on the hiring of KGB as the Funds Public Relations Firm. The initial contract will be short, three months. Discussions on scope of the job will happen sometime in July. Eyna Canales-Zarate, President of TEXpers and Paul Brown past President of TEXpers were present at the meeting. Eyna gave a presentation to the Board about this past Legislative Session. As we all know there were some Bills presented that were not in the best interest of our Pension Fund. The presentation and later discussions centered on problems associated with decisions and presentation of problems and how the problems were solved. The most important item was that TEXpers is starting NOW to be pro-active in the next Legislative Session. They are forming a committee to identify areas in the failed Legislation from this session that might have a undesirable impact on funds in the future. The next step is to formulate a solution now before the Bill of 2013 start hitting the floor. A good offense is the Best Defense! Meeting adjourned!