City pension board approves three refunds, accepts retirement and reviews beneficiary payout after employee death

The city's pension board approved three post-tax pension refunds totaling $10,001.54 and accepted the retirement of a long‑tenured employee, and discussed how pension benefits will be paid after a recently deceased employee, members said at a recent meeting.

The board approved refunds for Wesley Greenhall and Johnny Fields, both identified in the meeting as sanitation department employees, and Lucas Murphy, identified in the meeting as a Parks and Recreation employee. The board noted one of the refund checks will be reduced by $43.49 to recover city‑owned property that was not returned.

The board also accepted the retirement request of Reagan Murphy, a heavy equipment mechanic in the sanitation department, who indicated a retirement date of Aug. 28 after 12 years of service. The board said Reagan Murphy is in the grandfathered (older) pension plan and is eligible to begin drawing benefits under that plan.

In other business, board members discussed the estate and beneficiary process after an employee recently died. According to the meeting record, the employee was unmarried and the life‑insurance beneficiary listed was the employee's mother. Board staff reported that, after reviewing plan documents, pension contributions for employees in the new plan are payable to an estate if the estate submits a written claim. A staff speaker identified as Cody said, "Cody and I looked at it," and staff confirmed that review supported that interpretation of the plan documents. The board asked staff members, including Tyler Winningham, the city's chief financial officer (who was absent from the meeting), and Charles to confirm the plan language in their review.

A board member noted the mayor had mentioned the employee's death at the City Council meeting the previous night.

No changes to the July 10 meeting minutes were reported; the board approved the minutes and recorded a 4‑0 vote on that motion.

The board handled each item by motion: a member moved and another seconded each approval, and members voted in favor. The meeting record does not show any dissenting votes or amendments to the pension refunds or the retirement acceptance.

Next steps recorded in the meeting: staff will finalize the documentation for the refunds and the retirement paperwork, and staff were asked to confirm the beneficiary/payout language in the new plan documents so the board can determine proper disbursement for the deceased employee's pension contributions.

(Departments and some role identifications are taken from the meeting record when speakers or staff identified them; where a speaker expressed uncertainty in the record about a department, the uncertainty is reflected in the meeting attribution.)