Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Administrative Appeal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lawrence County Retirement Board appoints attorney to hear COLA cutoff appeal
Summary
The Lawrence County Retirement Board voted March 24, 2026, to appoint attorney Gianni Floro as hearing officer to conduct an administrative hearing on a retiree's challenge to the board's Dec. 31, 2024 cutoff for cost-of-living adjustments; the board approved the engagement by a unanimous roll-call vote.
The Lawrence County Retirement Board voted March 24 to hire attorney Gianni Floro of Gianni Floro, PC, as the hearing officer to resolve an administrative appeal by a retiree challenging the board's Dec. 31, 2024 cutoff date for eligibility for a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
At a special meeting called by the board's chair, solicitor Jason Madore explained the procedural steps the board must follow after the retiree, through counsel, filed an administrative appeal. "You haven't missed anything," Madore said. "The process is an administrative appeal that the employee has the ability to exercise." He said the board must appoint a hearing officer who will hear arguments from both sides and then submit a recommendation to the board; the board is not required to follow that recommendation, but Madore warned that departing from a hearing officer's recommendation could be detrimental in any subsequent appeal.
The chair read the proposed engagement agreement for Gianni Floro, noting the contract sets the hearing officer's hourly compensation at $250 and runs from March 1, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2026. The engagement document describes the hearing officer's role as conducting proceedings "in a neutral objective manner and in accordance with the standards and requirements of the local agency law and the county pension law" and delivering a recommended disposition to the retirement board.
Board members moved and seconded the resolution to appoint Floro as hearing officer. By roll call the board recorded five "Yes" votes and the chair announced the motion carried. The chair said the agreement would be signed by Floro and the five-member retirement board if the resolution was approved.
The chair opened the floor for public comment and twice invited members of the public to speak; no members of the public attended. The board adjourned after completing the agenda.
The board did not disclose the name of the retiree who filed the appeal during the meeting; the chair explicitly declined to read the individual's name into the record at the request of counsel. The solicitor and the chair described the next step as scheduling a public local agency hearing at a date and time the hearing officer will set after coordinating with counsel for both sides.
