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Utah County names Prudential as retirement record keeper amid commissioners’ integrity concerns
Summary
After debate over past practices and audit findings, commissioners accepted a consultant’s recommendation and selected Prudential as the county’s retirement record keeper by a 3-0 vote; commissioners asked the consultant to monitor performance and potential conflicts going forward.
The Utah County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 to receive the benefits committee’s recommendation and select Prudential as the county’s retirement plan record keeper, concluding a procurement process that produced seven proposals and a multi-stage evaluation by county staff and consulting firm Soltis.
Robert Baxter, purchasing manager, said the benefits committee and Soltis shortlisted four finalists and recommended three candidates to the commission. Much of the meeting’s discussion focused on concerns raised by a commissioner who said audits had shown several hundred thousand dollars should be repaid to employees and questioned Prudential’s prior conduct and the circumstances of its earlier selection. The commissioner said Prudential had "given up some points" to win business in the past and noted a past campaign contribution tied to a prior selection, framing the objection as an integrity concern for county employees’ retirement funds.
Ralph Barnes of Human Resources said the committee had not been aware of the backstory and defended the evaluation process. Soltis consultants Lindsay Lewis and Brent Moore answered questions from commissioners, explained the scorecard criteria and weightings, and said Prudential edged out competitors on implementation because it is the incumbent; Voya scored better on fees but Prudential had stronger stable-value returns in Soltis’ analysis. Soltis stated it remained concerned about past relationships but recommended Prudential and said it would act as an advocate for the employees and monitor conflicts and performance.
Commissioners asked Soltis for demographic data on who holds stable-value assets and for follow-up reporting on performance. One commissioner said he would have preferred Voya but voted to accept the committee’s recommendation given the close scores and Soltis' oversight role.
The motion to receive the recommendation and select Prudential was moved, seconded and carried 3-0. No public commenters addressed the item during the meeting.
Next steps recorded by staff included formalizing the selection and having Soltis provide additional demographic and performance-monitoring information to the benefits committee.
