The City of Benton Personnel, Health & Safety Committee is scheduled to meet Monday, June 9, 2025, in Council Chambers at the Benton Municipal Complex beginning at 5:00. The meeting will also be available on Facebook Live.

Meeting Agenda:

Personnel, Health & Safety Meeting

Monday, June 9, 2025

410 River Street

Council Chambers

5:00 p.m.

Chair – Bill Donnor

Vice-Chair – Frank Baptist

Staff Liaison – Mandy Spicer & Abtin Mehdizadegan

I. Establish a Quorum / Call to Order

II. Recognition of Attendees

III. Approval of Minutes from May 12, 2025 meeting

IV. Distribution of proposed Safety Plan for approval in July

V. Resolution approving a start date for APERS retirement for non-uniformed employees

VI. Other Business

VII. Adjournment

Previous Meeting Minutes:

Personnel, Health & Safety Meeting

Monday, May 12, 2025

410 River Street

Council Chambers

5:00 p.m.

Chair – Bill Donnor Frank Baptist Jeff Morrow

Vice-Chair – Frank Baptist Ann Spencer-Cole Judd Hart

Staff Liaison – Mandy Spicer Mayor Tom Farmer Trevor Villines

Jeff Hamm

I. II. Establish a Quorum / Approval of Minutes

Council Member Donnor called the meeting to order, recognized attendees, and

established a quorum. He asked for the minutes from the March 10, 2025’s meeting to

be approved. Council Member Morrow made the motion to approve. Council Member

Spencer-Cole seconded it. A vote was taken. All those present were in favor and the

motion carried.

Resolution Approving a Start Date for APERS Retirement for Non-uniformed

Employees

Council Member Donnor gave opening remarks expressing interest in the City of Benton

non-uniformed employees joining the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System

(APERS). He stated that this is a better retirement plan, with better benefits, and less

chance of losing potential new hire candidates due to not being in APERS than the City

of Benton current defined benefit pension for non-uniformed employees. He then

turned the floor over to Mayor Farmer.

Mayor Farmer explained that the cost to move into APERS was built into the 2025

budget which the council approved. He is now coming back to the council to set the

start date to make the move. He pointed out the advantage of moving into APERS is the

3% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) guaranteed each year. In the present system the

amount is fixed, called a defined benefit. The Mayor pointed out years ago that this

move was made for the Police and Fire Department by moving into LOPFI which is the

state retirement system for uniformed employees. The move to APERS is the same type

of move for non-uniform employees. He then told a story about losing a potential

employee solely on the fact that we were not in APERS. He feels this move will help

during the new hire process as well as retain the employees we have by providing the

best retirement benefit. He advised he had met with APERS the previous week and theyhad answered a lot of questions. To move forward a resolution is needed with a start

date on it. He then turned the floor over to CFO Spicer asking if he had left anything

out.

CFO Spicer commented that the proposed start date is July 28, 2025. This gives Human

Resources enough time to educate the employees and allow those eligible for

retirement to make an informed decision before the City of Benton makes the move to

APERS.

Council Member Hart asked how many employees this will affect. CFO Spicer

responded that 88 non-uniform employees will be affected. Mayor Farmer clarified that

this does not include part-time employees. Council Member Hart then followed up

asking what the annual cost will be added to the General Fund for this. Mayor Farmer

said it will be about $200,000 annually. This number could change if any employees

eligible to retire do in fact retire before moving into APERS. Council Member Hart then

asked what the percentage increase would be. Mayor Farmer advised the city portion

paid into the retirement system will increase by 5%. The employee portion will increase

by 2%.

Council Member Morrow gave the scenario if an employee has been with the City for 5

years and the City moves to APERS then what happens to those 5 years. Mayor Farmer

explained that the buy-in must be the same for everyone. We cannot buy different

amounts for different employees. The Mayor explained the difference is with the

current plan an employee must have 15 years of service to be fully vested. With APERS

they will only need 5 years to become fully vested. So, if the City buys in 5 years, then

for the scenario above that employee would be good to go and made whole. Council

Member Morrow followed up asking if the first year would be more of an investment.

Mayor Farmer explained that in the current plan there is already a sum of money to be

used to buy the years in APERS. Since the buy-in must be the same for everyone, we will

have to phase it in. Council Member Hart then gave the scenario that he has 10 years of

service, and Morrow only has 5. The Mayor explained that each person would only get

the numbers of years actually worked with the city. Council Member Hart followed up

asking if we are going to buy the maximum number of years based on the person with

the maximum number of years in the current plan. Mayor Farmer said that is the goal.

Council Member Hart then asked if this is all included in the $200,000. Council Member

Morrow reminded the council that there is money from the current fund for the buy-in.

Council Member Hart then asked if this was enough money to buy the numbers of

desired years. He wanted to make sure there would be enough money in APERS for

employees to start drawing on. Mayor Farmer explained the funds in the current

defined benefit plan will be used to buy as many years in APERS as possible for all 88

employees. This will come in the next phase depending on exactly how many years are

bought up front. Mayor Farmer reminded the council that APERS is state funded so if

the city buys 10 years, then everyone with up to 10 years of service are fully funded. If

an employee has worked for 15 years, then an additional 5 years will need to be bought.Council Member Morrow asked to clarify that if someone retires after July 28 then they

will be on APERS, which was correct. He then asked if anyone was scheduled to retire

before July 28. The Mayor responded that 1 non-uniformed employee from the Police

Department is retiring under the current plan.

Mayor Farmer then pointed out that Cindy Stracener, City Clerk, is an elected official

and will have the opportunity to opt in or out according to the APERS lawyer. Mrs.

Stracener explained that currently she is not under the city’s current plan. Her

retirement is based on state law that says after 20 years of service she gets half her

salary. She will have 24 years of service at the end of 2026. The current resolution

states that she shall be in APERS. When she calculated her retirement using their

formula it would be less plus she would have to till she is 65 to start drawing. She will

be 63 next year at the end of her term. She will have to wait 2 more years before she

can start drawing on her retirement. State law says she can start drawing immediately

when she retires. Mayor Farmer interjected that this is why elected officials have the

option because they are not employees. Mrs. Stracener’s concern was in the wording of

the resolution that it did not state elected officials had an option.

Chief Scotty Hodges spoke, stating he felt it would be a benefit for 12 of his non-uniform

personnel and was for the move.

Terry Parsons stated he was in favor of moving to APERS. Citing that he had lost 4

candidates because we were not in APERS. By making the move it will open hiring up to

a new pool of candidates. He felt that the benefits outweighed the cost.

Council Member Villines asked what other cities in our area are in APERS. Mayor

Farmer named a few. The Mayor said there are more in APERS than not.

Council Member Donnor reiterated that by moving to APERS we will open ourselves up

to new candidates to hire. Mayor Farmer also told a story about losing a candidate

during an interview for Parks because we were not in APERS. Council Member Donnor

also pointed out the benefits of the COLA raise each year.

Mrs. Stracener asked what percentage employees are currently contributing. The

answer was 4%. She then clarified that the employees’ contribution will go up an

additional 2%, making the total 6% in APERS.

Bruce Thomas asked what the pay difference would be between the 2 plans if he retired

on July 27 verses July 29. CFO Spicer responded that there are a lot of variables at play

and that each employee will be different. This will be a one-on-one conversation with

employees eligible to retire to calculate the distribution from both plans so they can

make an informed decision before the move takes place into APERS.Council Member Hart asked if employees’ paycheck will be 2% less with the move to

APERS. Mayor Farmer explained the city is getting a 4% raise, so employee’s pay will

increase by 2%.

Council Member Morrow pointed out a key differentiator is in APERS every year there is

3% raise verses a fixed rate with the current plan. CFO Spicer also pointed out the years

in APERS are portable. A new hire can bring their retirement years from another APERS

participating entity with them.

Council Member Donnor asked to confirm that elected officials have the option to join

APERS. Mayor Farmer advised that was correct. Council Member Donnor then asked if

that option could be added to the resolution. Mrs. Stracener was fine with that

solution. The Mayor suggested making a separate resolution just for the elected

officials. Council Member Hart then asked to clarify if they were indeed going to make a

second resolution for elected officials. After a brief discussion, CFO Spicer commented

that she felt that simply changing the wording in Section 2 would suffice. Council

Member Villines made a motion to change the wording to state that elected officials

shall have the option to join APERS. Council Member Hamm seconded it. A vote was

taken. All those present were in favor and the motion carried.

Council Member Donnor then asked for a motion to accept the amended resolution to

join APERS. Council Member Morrow made the motion. Council Member Hamm

seconded it. A vote was taken. All those present were in favor and the motion carried.

III. Other Business

Council Member Donnor opened the floor to other business.

IV. Adjournment

With no further business to discussion, Council Member Donnor called the meeting

adjourned.

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