South Windsor presenters ratify updated investment policy; advisors report April-May recovery

Chair called the meeting to order at 9:00 and confirmed a quorum before the advisory presenters reviewed the quarterly investment deck and sought ratification of modest updates to the town's Investment Policy Statement (IPS).

The Presenter told the group that the deck on the screen focused on the fiduciary governance calendar and the IPS and that the past two months, “April and May, have been quite a nice recovery, after, tumultuous March.” The Presenter noted the IPS would be updated to reflect earlier changes in asset allocation and asked the group to ratify the edits.

Under the changes approved at a prior meeting, the fixed-income allocation had been increased from 32.5% to 40% and some minimum/maximum weightings were adjusted. The Presenter moved to "ratify and update the IPS," the Chair seconded, and the Chair called a voice vote. The motion passed with vocal assent and no opposition; the Presenter said, "We will send over a clean version of that, in short order." The vote was recorded in the meeting by voice; no roll-call count was provided in the transcript.

The Presenter also outlined near-term reporting and valuation work: an actuarial review will be updated as part of the 2026 valuation, and the Presenter reported "meaningful improvement in the funded status" after multiple years of actuarial gains and investment returns above the 6% actuarial assumption.

On markets, the Presenter summarized a volatile start to the year (a strong January-February, a March sell-off tied to geopolitical events, and a subsequent April-May recovery). Key data presented for performance through May included: U.S. large caps +10.9% year to date, U.S. small caps +18.2% YTD, developed international +9.4% YTD, and emerging markets +25.6% YTD; South Korea was singled out for strong semiconductor-led gains. For the town plan specifically, the Presenter reported the plan was up 2.2% in May (versus a blended benchmark return of 2.6%) and up 6.4% year to date; the deck listed beginning-of-year assets as "$47,500,000" and an end-of-May balance of "$49,026,000." The Presenter cautioned that fixed income remained muted and was roughly 2.6% below target due to equity outperformance, but the allocation remained within IPS ranges and staff would continue monitoring rather than triggering an immediate dedicated rebalance.

Manager-level commentary noted modest outperformance from risk-spread exposures (BlackRock and Artisan were cited for positive contribution; BlackRock was described as up about 1.8% relative to an index), while Glenmede faced a difficult relative environment despite durable long-term returns. Presenter also described Vanguard and Dodge & Cox international exposures and explained that Vanguard's underweighting of South Korea reduced relative performance given that market's strong YTD gains. Fidelity real estate (now indexed) and DWS real assets performed in line with expectations.

The meeting concluded with the Chair scheduling the next meeting for Wednesday, 09/16/2026 at 9 a.m. in the South Windsor Town Hall Madden Room, taking a motion to adjourn, and adjourning after a voice vote with no opposition.

The advisory group's formal ratification of the IPS update and the reported month-to-date recovery will be reflected in the clean IPS document to be circulated to committee members.