Zach O'Grady, a Russell Investments representative, told the New Canaan Retirement Plan Advisory Committee on Nov. 11, 2025, that the retirement plan started the third quarter at about $183.09 million, had net flows of about $1.6 million and "a net investment gain over the quarter of just over $9,600,000, ending balance there of a $191,590,000."

The presentation, led by Russell Investments staff including Justin Owen and Zach O'Grady, reviewed changes the committee approved in a prior meeting and showed that the implemented strategic allocation — described in the packet as "portfolio D" — is largely in place. O'Grady said the packet includes both market-value snapshots (page 6) and strategic-target rollups from the earlier May strategic review (appendix material on page 42), and noted the appendix labels could be clearer. "We lifted the slides that we had from when we did the strategic review earlier this year and put them in the appendix," Russell said during the meeting when a committee member raised the discrepancy.

Russell highlighted the drivers of relative returns in the quarter: international and emerging-market equities led performance year to date, while small-cap allocations were more mixed. The firm noted that currency moves have provided a tailwind to international returns and that corporate earnings remain broadly resilient. On fixed income, Russell cautioned that spreads in investment-grade and high-yield markets are historically tight, which helps explain the sector interest in private credit strategies as a potential source of yield.

On policy and implementation, Russell confirmed the committee's rebalancing framework is designed to act when allocations drift outside roughly a +/-2 percentage-point tolerance band and that the adviser is rebalancing on a monthly basis. Presenters said the committee's U.S. large-cap and certain developed-market exposures are implemented passively (for example, via BlackRock iShares vehicles), while the plan retains active allocations in small cap, emerging markets and certain global equity sleeves.

Russell also reviewed the town's OPEB and scholarship funds. For the OPEB plan they said it is less well funded on a percentage basis than the retirement plan and that timing of cash flows explains some short-term return differences. For the scholarship fund, Russell reported minimal net inflows during the quarter, a market gain reported in the packet, and confirmed the committee's scholarship payout schedule: a first-semester payment of about $21,000 to a freshman recipient, with an annual award totaling roughly $42,000 this year.

Committee members asked for additional reporting and historical context. The chair asked Russell to provide longer historical returns, inflows and outflows going back roughly 10 years (or as far as the firm can recreate) so the committee can compare the current strategy against a longer time series. Russell said the firm has the asset-level data and could recreate the series for committee review. The firm also described its three-year asset-liability study cycle and offered to run a study sooner if the committee desired.

Procedurally, the committee approved the minutes of its May 13, 2025 meeting by voice vote. Before adjourning, the committee agreed to invite the town finance team to the start of the next meeting for a 10–15 minute overview and Q&A about the allocation change and performance. A motion to adjourn was made and seconded, and the meeting was closed.