The Firefighters Pension Plan Board of Trustees on Oct. 22 reviewed third-quarter investment performance, approved routine minutes and directed staff and consultants to implement a rebalancing that will move securities and cash among managers beginning Friday.

The board heard a remote presentation from Congress Asset Management on the plan’s SMID-growth sleeve and a separate review from Greystone Consulting that summarized portfolio-wide positioning and next steps to implement an updated Investment Policy Statement (IPS).

“The current market value of the portfolio is about $13,100,000. We remain fully invested, focused on high quality growth in this mid cap growth size area,” Zach Zeller, CFA, portfolio manager at Congress Asset Management, told trustees during the review of the account. Zeller said the Congress SMID growth strategy returned about 11.5% year-to-date versus a roughly 10% return for the Russell 2500 Growth benchmark through Sept. 30.

Why it matters: the plan’s total assets are in the hundreds of millions, and quarterly shifts in manager allocations affect both near-term cashflow and long-term risk. Greystone reported that the overall plan market value was about $176.26 million as of Oct. 15 and said Friday’s trades are the operational step to align the portfolio with the newly adopted IPS.

What trustees heard and directed

- Rebalancing and manager flows: Greystone’s Scott Owens told the board that implementation tied to the revised IPS is scheduled to begin Friday. The plan will transfer about $10.5 million in securities and roughly $115,000 in cash from Brown (to the new core allocation) and move about $6.786 million from Sawgrass into the core allocation so that the plan’s target weights better match the updated IPS. Greystone described these numbers as approximate and part of the operational change to place 10% of plan holdings into the new core strategy.

- Performance details: Congress representatives said the SMID portfolio owns 43 names, has been defensively skewed during drawdowns and has outperformed the benchmark in several down-market periods this year. Zeller summarized attribution by quarter and noted the portfolio’s positioning in industrials helped participation in the rally while limiting downside in risk-off periods.

- Real estate redemptions and UBS: Trustees discussed ongoing redemptions from a UBS real estate vehicle. Greystone reported there was a standing redemption queue of $4 million placed in May 2023, with about $2.8 million still outstanding. Trustees chose to continue allowing UBS redemptions to come through rather than rescind the request; the board also agreed to monitor real-estate market conditions before making any manager changes.

- Manager review and searches: The trustees asked Greystone to run a formal search for a replacement or alternatives to Lazard (the international manager) and to present findings at a future meeting. Greystone will bring manager search results for Lazard at the next full meeting; Greystone will postpone any real-estate manager search until trustees have another quarter of data on the real-estate market.

- Cash, payroll and rebalancing mechanics: Staff reported the plan has cash earmarked for payroll and that redemption proceeds have been held in cash earning interest. Greystone and staff said the planned rebalancing will use available cash and transfers to move the portfolio toward IPS targets without requiring forced sales outside of the planned trades.

Votes at a glance

- Adoption of minutes, Sept. 24: Motion to adopt minutes was moved and seconded during the Oct. 22 meeting and passed on a roll-call vote with all trustees present voting yes (Chair Hartley — yes; Vice Chair Joseph — yes; Secretary-Treasurer Griggs — yes; Trustee Snow — yes; Trustee Mushrush — yes). (Motion text in packet: adoption of minutes from Sept. 24.)

Board context and next steps

Trustees directed Greystone and staff to: (1) implement the scheduled manager transfers beginning Friday to align with the IPS; (2) continue accepting UBS real-estate redemptions and monitor the secondary market pricing and redemption queue; and (3) run a manager search for the international allocation (Lazard) and report recommendations at the next meeting (about 90 days). Greystone also said it will review the small-/mid-cap managers (DRZ and others) and provide follow-up analysis on performance drivers tied to the low-quality rally that affected the small- and mid-cap space earlier in the year.

The board’s next regular meeting was scheduled for March 2 for the annual city presentation and for follow-up investment reviews; Greystone will return with the Lazard search and with any recommended changes if market or manager performance warrants them.