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Wealth manager reports strong returns and fee cut; council discusses drone donation, weight-limit enforcement and cyber protections
Summary
At the October work session, an investment manager reported double-digit returns and a cut to the borough—s institutional fee schedule; the council also discussed a resident donation to fund police drones, enforcement limits on weight-restricted streets and adopting two-factor authentication and cyber insurance.
An investment advisor who said he was representing the borough—s institutional accounts briefed councilors at the October work session and told them the borough—s accounts were up double digits year-to-date. The advisor, introduced as Eric and described in the meeting as the CEO of a wealth management group and a 20-year Franklin Park resident, said investment performance has been driven this year by international and certain growth assets and that the firm was reducing the borough—s institutional fees.
"We're going to be reducing that 17%. So currently, you're at a flat 40 basis points, and we're going to be... down to 33 basis points," Eric said, summarizing the fee change and the stepped fee schedule that will lower fees as assets grow. He reported the police pension plan was up 11.9% year-to-date and the employee plan about 11.4%, and he discussed portfolio positioning for international, small-cap and value exposures.
Public safety and technology items followed. The police chief (unnamed in the transcript) reported a donation offer to start a departmental drone program. The donor, the daughter of the borough—s first police chief, offered up to $10,000 for equipment; the chief said two officers are interested and that licensing and training costs are modest. "She wants to pay for the drone, up to about 10,000. She said she wouldn't go over that," the chief said. Councilors reacted favorably, noting drones could assist in missing-person searches and other calls.
Council discussion also covered weight-restriction signage on Locust Road. Staff explained that posting and enforcing weight limits typically requires a traffic and engineering study, an ordinance and formal posting; without an engineering study the borough cannot legally enforce a posted weight restriction. "For any type of weight restriction, you need a traffic and engineering study," staff said, and noted that enforcement risks reimbursement obligations if a citation is invalid.
On cybersecurity, borough staff and IT representatives discussed implementing two-factor authentication for borough email and other critical services and shopping cyber insurance. Staff reported a cyber-insurance quote in the mid-thousands of dollars (one vendor estimate was cited near $5,600) and said that insurers expect the borough to implement 2FA and other practices; IT staff recommended beginning with 2FA for email and building out device-level controls and backups. Council directed staff to pursue clarifying vendor quotes and to return with cost and implementation steps.
Why this matters: investment returns and fee changes directly affect pension and trust fund performance; drones and cyber protections are operational priorities for public safety and continuity; and properly documented traffic restrictions require engineering backing to be enforceable.
Next steps: staff will circulate final fee schedule details from the advisor, accept the offered drone donation and develop a training and storage plan, and provide costed options for 2FA implementation and cyber insurance.
