Surprise commission enrolls multiple police hires into PSPRS under Tier 3

The Public Safety Retirement Commission of the City of Surprise on Oct. 22 voted to enroll a group of new and rehired Surprise Police Department employees into the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System as Tier 3 members.

Staff read the list of employees proposed for PSPRS membership pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes §38-859 and provided reported hire dates for several members. The list included lateral officers, recruits and rehired employees named in the record: Zip Hauser (hired 03/31/2025), Ray Lyons (03/31/2025), Cody Lachin (04/14/2025), Kevin Wallace (rehire, 06/23/2025), Daniel Johnson (08/04/2025), Mikaela Limper, Alexa Carter, Douglas Savage, Carlos Samaniego, Evan Valdez, Eric Pachella and William Gavin Oster (hire dates for some other listed employees were reported as part of the staff presentation). The staff presentation identified which employees were proposed with preexisting conditions and which were not.

A board member moved to approve the listed employees' membership in PSPRS with Tier 3 designations and the noted preexisting-condition statuses; a second was recorded and the motion carried on a voice vote. The commission did not record named roll-call votes in the transcript; the motion passed after the unanimous voice vote in the meeting record.

Why it matters: enrollment in PSPRS determines participation in the state's public safety retirement framework, affects future contribution collection and service-credit accrual, and formalizes each employee's membership classification.

The commission moved on after the vote to the next agenda item.