Richmond Municipal Code Art. XI Charter (CA)

(Added by election November 3, 1936)

Police and Firemen's Pension Fund

Sec 1. (Amended at election May 11, 1965; May 10, 1977; and November 2, 2004)

(a) There is hereby created a Pension Fund for the benefit of the officers and members of the police and fire departments of the City of Richmond, who were employed prior to October 16, 1964, to be established, maintained and administered as hereinafter provided.

(b) There is hereby created a Pension Board which shall consist of seven members, namely, the Mayor, City Manager, Director of Finance, two members appointed by the Mayor, with the concurrence of five (5) members of the City Council, each of whom shall be and remain a resident of this City in order to be a member of said Board and serve a term of five years, one representative of the Police Department and one representative of the Fire Department.

(Added at the election November 2, 2004) Effective with the November 2008 election, there is hereby created a Pension Board which shall consist of seven members, namely, the Mayor, City Manager, Director of Finance, two members appointed by the Mayor, with the concurrence of four (4) members of the City Council, each of whom shall be and remain a resident of this City in order to be a member of said Board and serve a term of five years, one representative of the Police Department and one representative of the Fire Department.

(d) The representative of the Police Department and of the Fire Department shall serve a term of five (5) years.

(e) Separation from employment with the City of Richmond on the part of either of such department representatives shall result in a vacancy on said Board, and any such vacancy so caused or arising in any other manner shall be filled for the unexpired term of the particular representative who leaves said Board through the following election procedure, except that retirement pursuant to this Article XI by a representative who is on said Board shall not result in a vacancy on said Board.

(f) A new representative for the particular department shall be elected by secret ballot vote of the active members in the Police and Firemen's Pension Fund System of the department and of the retired members of such department, who are receiving pensions pursuant to this Article XI. Such election procedure shall also apply to the election of a representative of the Police Department and a representative of the Fire Department upon the expiration of the terms of such representative. A procedure for conducting such elections shall be established by the City Clerk. Either an active member of the Police and Firemen's Pension Fund System in the department for whom a representative is to be elected or a retired member of such department who is receiving a pension under this Article XI may be elected to said Board to represent the particular department.

(g) Four (4) members of said Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. All action of the Board shall be concurred in by four (4) members.

(h) The City Attorney and the City Clerk shall be ex-officio members of the Board without vote in the proceedings. The City Clerk shall be ex-officio Clerk of said Board and shall keep a record of the proceedings of the Board in the manner provided for keeping a record of the proceedings of the City Council. Said Board shall meet at least once each month.

(i) Said Board shall have exclusive control of the administration and investment of said Pension Fund, except as herein provided for action by the City Council, and shall transmit to the Director of Finance monthly an itemized list of, and showing the authority for, all payments to be made from said Fund for pensions currently payable and all expenses of the Board, and the Director of Finance shall pay all warrants therefore against said fund only when so authorized, and when signed by the Director of Finance and countersigned by the Clerk of the Board.

(j) Said Board shall render annually, on or before the 5th day of July, a report to the City Council for the previous fiscal year, showing all receipts and disbursements, the names of all persons on the pension roll, the amount paid each, and the balance remaining in said fund.

(k) On or after the effective date of this amendment, the City, after hearing the recommendation of the Board, shall employ, on a permanent or retainer basis, an actuary who is a member of the American Society of Actuaries experienced in public employee pension plans or any other competent actuary who is experienced in public employees' pension plans. It shall be the actuary's duty to review at least once every three years, in January of that year, the status of the Fund and to make necessary recommendations to the City and the Board.

Sec. 2. (Amended at election May 11, 1965, and amended at election November 3, 1970)

(a) The term "salary," for the purposes of this Article, shall be defined as the basic rate of pay as set forth in the salary ordinance adopted by the City and does not include overtime, acting or extra-hazardous duty pay, or other salary differential.

(b) Any member of the police or fire departments who shall have served in either such department for a minimum period of twenty-five (25) years in the aggregate in any capacity or rank whatsoever shall, on his petition as hereinafter prescribed, or by order of the Pension Board if it be deemed for the good of the department, be retired from further service in such department, and shall thereafter, during his lifetime, be paid in equal monthly installments from said fund, a yearly pension equal to one-half (½) of the annual salary attached to the rank or position held by him in such department one (1) year prior to the date of such petition, or such order of said Board; provided, that in case of any change in salary at any time after such retirement for such rank or position, the pension shall after each and every such change be one-half (½) of such salary as changed. No involuntary removal of a member from the department shall deprive him of the benefits of this section after said twenty-five (25) years' service except such removal be for habitual drunkenness, notorious insubordination, conviction of a felony, or crime involving moral turpitude, and then only if the Pension Board shall in its discretion order that such removal operate to deprive such member of said benefits.

(c) In addition to the full retirement allowance hereinabove provided, any member retiring for full service retirement as provided in Paragraph (b) hereof, after the effective date of this section, shall receive an additional bonus allowance at the rate of one and two-thirds percent (1-⅔%) of said compensation for each year of service rendered after the effective date of this section and after qualifying for full service retirement as provided in Paragraph (b) hereof, such additional bonus allowance not to exceed ten (10) years' service, provided that if he, after 25 years of credited service is then under 52 years of age, he continued in service for at least 5 more years; if between 52 and 54 he continues in service for at least 4 more years; and between 54 and 56 he continues in service for at least 3 more years; if between 56 and 58 he continues in service for at least 2 more years; and if 58 or over he continues in service for at least 1 more year.

Should a member, after 25 years of service and after the effective date of this section, and after having earned a bonus allowance of 1 or more years, become incapacitated for the performance of duty, service or non-service connected, and is thereafter retired from service, he shall not in such event forfeit any bonus allowance that he may then have conditionally credited to him.

The bonus allowance provided for herein shall not be transferable to or utilized in the computation of the amount of pension benefit provided for dependents of eligible employees as provided in Section 9 of this Article. All bonus allowances granted herein shall be on a fixed and not on a fluctuating basis; said bonus allowance shall be based on one-half (½) of the annual salary attached to the rank or position held by him in such department (1) year prior to the date of his retirement.

(d) Notwithstanding any provision contained in this Article, retirement under subsection 2(b) shall be compulsory upon such member reaching the age of sixty-six (66) years.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section 2 to the contrary, at any time after a member of the Police or Fire Departments becomes eligible for a full service retirement as provided in Paragraph (b) hereof, he shall have the option to file with the Director of Finance of the City of Richmond a written affidavit, on a form provided by said Director, which declares that rather than receive any bonus allowance whatsoever to which he may be entitled otherwise under Paragraph (c) of this Section 2, he thereby chooses to have the City no longer deduct from his salary the amount which would otherwise be deducted therefrom for pension purposes pursuant to Article XI of this Charter as such Article XI is now or hereafter worded.

(Added at election May 13, 1975) (f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article XI to the contrary, if a member of the Police or Fire Department continues in service after having accumulated the maximum additional bonus allowance provided for in paragraph (c) of this Section 2, there shall no longer be any deduction made from such member's salary by the City for pension purposes under Article XI of this Charter nor any contribution by the City for pension purposes under said Article XI, as such article is now or hereafter worded, in relation to such member's salary during the remainder of such member's employment with the City of Richmond as a member of the Police or Fire Department.

Following the receipt of such affidavit by said Director of Finance, he shall stamp the date of its receipt thereon and such action shall be deemed to constitute the filing of such affidavit with said Director. After the filing of such affidavit, there shall no longer be any deduction made from such member's salary by the City for pension purposes under Article XI of this Charter nor any contribution by the City for pension purposes under said Article XI, as such Article is now or hereafter worded, in relation to such member's salary during the remainder of such member's employment with the City of Richmond as a member of the Police or Fire Department. The exercise of such option through the filing of such affidavit with said Director of Finance shall be irrevocable, and such member shall be deemed to have thereby permanently waived each and every right to any bonus allowance to which he may have been entitled otherwise under Paragraph (c) of this Section 2.

Sec. 3. (Amended at election May 14, 1945 and June 4, 1968) In determining the period of service necessary to render any member eligible for a pension under the provisions hereof, aggregate service only shall be considered dating from the date when the member commenced employment as a member of either the police or fire departments and including any time served by such member in a probationary status in either of said departments. Such service need not be continuous and may be as a member of either said departments, and any rights acquired by service shall not be lost by reason of resignation or withdrawal from either said departments, except as otherwise expressly provided.

All time served by any member of either said departments, who leaves the service of either department to enter the armed forces of the United States, while the United States is engaged in war, or immediately prior thereto, as well as after the termination of hostilities of all wars in which the United States is engaged, shall be included in the aggregate service of such member; provided that such member must apply for employment in either said departments within ninety (90) days after discharge under honorable conditions. This shall apply to all wars involving the United States, past, present and future.

Sec. 4. The pension herein provided for shall be payable in equal monthly installments from the date of retirement during the life of the pensioner, unless such pension shall be terminated by the Pension Board as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 5. (a) Amended at election May 11, 1965 and May 13, 1975) Should any member of the police or fire departments, by reason of bodily injury received in, or sickness resulting from the discharge of his duties in his department, become so physically disabled as to render necessary his retirement from active service, the Pension Board shall order and direct that such person so retired be thereafter paid during his lifetime, unless cancelled and terminated by the Pension Board as hereinafter provided, a yearly pension equal to one-half (½) the amount of the salary attached to the rank or position held by him in such department at the date of such retirement; provided, that in case of any change of salary at any time after the date of such retirement for such rank or position, the pension shall after each and every such change be one-half (½) of such salary as changed.

In granting a disability pension, pursuant to the paragraph directly above, the Board shall require, as a condition to his receiving said pension, the pensioner to submit his claim to the Workmen's compensation Appeals Board of the State of California, and in the event that said Workmen's Compensation Appeals Board makes a finding that the disability was non-service connected, then the Board shall review the matter to determine whether or not the said disability pension shall be revoked. The City Council, after the aforesaid finding and the review by the Board, shall also have the right to review the matter and may, on its own motion, grant or revoke said disability pension.

(Amended at election May 13, 1975) Should any such employee after twelve (12) years of service become totally permanently disabled by reason of injury or sickness not received in or resulting from the discharge of his duties as such employee, the Pension Board shall order and direct that such person so disabled be retired and thereafter paid during his lifetime, unless cancelled and terminated by the Pension Board, as hereinafter provided, a yearly pension equal to such proportionate share of one-half (½) of the amount of annual salary attached to the position held by him during the three (3) years prior to the date of such retirement as the number of years actually served bears to twenty-five (25) years.

(b) (Amended at election May 14, 1945) After twenty (20) years' service, any member of the police or fire departments may apply to said Pension Board for retirement, or may, by the Pension Board on its own motion, be retired on a limited annual pension equal to such proportionate share of one-half (½) of the annual salary attached to the rank or position held by such applicant one (1) year prior to the filing of such application, as the number of years actually served bears to twenty-five (25) years. For example, if said service has been for twenty-two (22) years, said pension shall be twenty-two twenty-fifths (22/25ths) of said one-half (½) of said annual salary; provided, that in the event of a subsequent change of the salary of such rank or position, said pension provided for in this Section 5(b), shall be said fractional portion of the salary as changed from time to time.

Upon the receipt of such application, it shall be the duty of the Pension Board to investigate the same and in its discretion to grant or deny such application; provided, that any denial of such application shall be without prejudice to the rights of such applicant. Provided further, that no removal of a member from the department after twenty (20) years' service shall operate to deprive him of the benefits of this section except when such removal be for habitual drunkenness, notorious insubordination, conviction of a felony, or crime involving moral turpitude, and then only in the event the Pension Board in its discretion orders that such removal operate to deprive such member of the benefits hereof.

(c) Any pension granted to any member of the police or fire departments for disability as provided for in this section shall cease when the disability ceases and such person shall, subject to department rules and the provisions of the Charter governing the employment of City employees, be restored to active service in the department of which he was a member at the time of retirement, and the time he is not in active service shall be computed in calculating his aggregate service for all purposes under the provisions hereof.

Section 6. Any person retired for disability hereunder may be summoned before the Pension Board at any time and shall submit himself for examination as to fitness for duty, and shall abide by the decision and order of said Board with reference thereto. In case of great public emergency, any person retired hereunder may be assigned to and shall perform such duties as the Chief of his department shall direct. No pensioner shall be compelled to work in any department other than the one from which he has been retired.

All members of the police and fire departments who shall be retired hereunder shall report to the chiefs of the respective departments in person, or in writing, at such time as may be fixed and designated by resolution of the Pension Board.

Section 7. (Amended at election May 11, 1965) Any member of either the police or fire departments who desires to be retired on a pension shall file with the Pension Board a verified petition which shall contain the name and age of the petitioner, the rank or position held by him on the date of filing the petition, the salary of said rank or position, the rank held and the salary received by said petitioner one (1) year prior to the date of filing said petition, the date of entry into the service, and the aggregate service of said petitioner. If said petitioner desires to be retired on a pension on account of disability, said petition shall also set forth the nature and extent of the disability, when and how received, and there shall be attached to said petition a report of the physical condition of said petitioner by a legally licensed physician, which report shall be subscribed and sworn to by said physician. Such petition may be filed by the legally appointed guardian of any person entitled to a pension hereunder. Upon the filing of such petition, the Board shall fix a date for the hearing thereof and shall notify the petitioner of the date of such hearing.

Sec. 8. (Amended at election May 11, 1965, and November 6, 1984) No persons shall be retired from disability hereunder or receive any pension therefor unless there shall be filed with the Pension Board certificates of disability subscribed and sworn to by three (3) legally licensed practicing physicians, one to be selected by the petitioner whose certificate of disability shall be attached to the petition as hereinabove provided, one of whom shall be the City Physician, and one of whom shall be selected by the Pension Board; provided that, the Pension Board may grant a disability retirement where less than three (3) certificates of disability are submitted if there is sufficient medical evidence of disability. The Board may require other and additional evidence of disability before ordering such retirement, but only on satisfactory evidence of disability and of the right to be retired as provided herein, said Pension Board shall retire such person. The decision of the Pension Board shall be final and conclusive.

Sec. 9. Whenever any member of the police or fire departments shall die, either:

(a) As a result of any injury received in the discharge of his duty as a member of such department;

(b) From sickness resulting from the discharge of his duty as a member of such department;

(d) While such member is eligible for retirement as a matter of right as herein provided, an annual pension in an amount equal to one-half (½) of the salary attached to the rank or position held by such deceased member at the time of his death or retirement in the cases provided for in subdivisions (a) to (d) of this Section 9, or in an amount equal to the pension provided for by Section 5(b) hereof, or in case of any change of such salary at any time after the date of said death, then in an amount equal to either said one-half (½), or other fractional part of such salary, as provided in said Section 5(b), and as changed from time to time, shall be paid as follows:

(1) If such member shall leave surviving him a widow, such pension shall be payable in equal monthly installments to her during her lifetime, or until she shall remarry. If such widow shall die or remarry and there shall be living a child or children of such deceased member under the age of eighteen years, such pension shall after her death or remarriage be payable to such child or children under the age of eighteen years for its or their exclusive use and benefit, in the manner and subject to the conditions contained in the next paragraph regarding pension payments to child or children.

(2) If there shall be no surviving widow but shall be a child or children of such deceased member under the age of eighteen years, such pension shall be payable to such child or children, or to their legal guardian, in the discretion of the Pension Board, for the sole use and benefit of such children, in equal shares; provided, that such pension shall terminate as to each child upon the death of such child, or when such child reaches the age of eighteen years, or upon the marriage of such child prior to the age of eighteen years, and the portion thereof theretofore payable to such child shall be payable, share and share alike, to the remaining unmarried children under the age of eighteen years.

(3) If such member shall leave surviving him no widow and no child or children under the age of eighteen years, but shall leave a dependent parent or parents, then the Pension Board shall have power upon ascertaining the fact of such dependency, to allow such pension or such part thereof as said Board may fix to be paid to such parent or parents while such dependency shall continue, or until the further order of said Board. Any such order may be modified by said Board from time to time; provided that such pension so allowed shall not exceed the said one-half (½) of the salary as hereinbefore specified; and provided further, that any pension granted either before or after death, on the grounds provided in said Section 5(b), shall not be a matter of right in any event but shall be at the discretion of said Board.

(4) In the event that a member of the police or fire departments who has been pensioned shall have married after being placed on the pension list, upon the death of such member his widow, or any child or children of the issue of said marriage, shall not be entitled to any pension under the terms hereof.

The term "widow" as used in this Section shall not mean or include the wife of any member who is, without cause, living separate or apart from her husband at the time of his death, or who, if divorced, has not by the terms of any interlocutory or final decree of divorce been allowed any amount for her support and maintenance. The Pension Board is empowered to hear and consider the application of such wife and determine in its judgment whether such separation was justifiable on the part of such wife, and said Board may in its discretion allow or disallow to such wife the pension herein provided for, and its decision shall be final and conclusive.

Sec. 10. Whenever any person who shall receive any pension hereunder shall fail to report himself as herein required, or shall wilfully disobey the requirements and orders of the Pension Board, or shall be convicted of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude, become dissipated, or become a non-resident of this State, except by the permission of the Board, then said Board may, after notice to the pensioner, order that the pension payments to him shall immediately cease and terminate, and the pension board, in its discretion, may order the pension to be paid to the dependents of said pensioner, if there be any, in the order of succession set forth in Section 9. The mailing of said notice by registered mail to the last-known address of said pensioner, as shown on the book of said Board, shall constitute service of the notice herein required to be given.

Sec. 11. In the event of refusal by a widow receiving a pension hereunder to provide for a dependent child or children of a deceased member of the police or fire department, the Pension Board upon satisfactory proof thereof shall have the power to divide the pension as it may deem proper.

Sec. 12. (Amended at election, May 11, 1965) The Pension Board shall in addition to other powers granted herein, have power:

(a) To compel witnesses to attend and testify before it upon all matters connected with its duties hereunder, in the same manner as is or may be provided by law for the taking of testimony before notaries public, and the president of (or) any member of said Board may administer oaths to such witnesses;

(b) To make all needful rules and regulations for its organization and functioning in conformity with the provisions hereof;

(c) To provide for the payment from said Fund of all its necessary expenses; provided, that no compensation or emolument shall be paid to any member of said Board for any duty required or performed hereunder.

Sec. 13. (Amended at election, May 11, 1965) There shall be paid into said fund all rewards or donations of money given to said departments or members thereof for meritorious work or accomplishments in the performance of duty, as well as all other gifts or donations to said Fund from any source.

Sec. 14. (Repealed at election May 11, 1965).

Sec. 15. (Amended at election May 11, 1965) Commencing on the effective date of this amendment, the City shall make contributions annually in the amount of ten percent (10%) of the total annual salary of the members of said departments, and said members of said departments shall make annual contributions in the amount of ten percent (10%) of the said total annual salary to the Fund herein created.

Whenever the actuary, as provided in Section 1, shall report that the Fund is fiscally sound, taking into account such factors as the interest which shall be earned on the contributions, the compensation experience of the members, the probabilities of separation from service for all causes, death after retirement, and any other pertinent factors, then the Pension Board shall decrease equally the percentages to be contributed by both the City and the members of said departments; provided, however, that whenever the annual report of said actuary reflects or anticipates a deficit, then the Pension Board shall recommend to the City Council that appropriate increases be made equally in the contributions of both the City and the members of said departments; and the City Council may make appropriate increases in the contributions of both the City and the members of said departments; provided, further, that in no event shall the said demands for contributions provided herein to be made by the members of said departments exceed ten percent (10%) of the total annual salary of the members of said departments.

Sec. 16. (Amended at election November 8, 1966) All moneys for said Fund shall be paid into the City treasury and kept by the Director of Finance in banks as are other public funds, in accordance with the laws of the State of California and the Charter of the City of Richmond. Said Fund shall be kept inviolate and no portion thereof shall ever be transferred to any other fund or used for any other purposes than those specified herein. Reserves in said Fund not needed in any fiscal year for current payments of pensions ordered by the Pension Board and expenses of the Board may, as directed by resolution of the Pension Board, be invested for the benefit of said Fund as hereinafter provided:

(a) In investments which are authorized by General law for savings banks.

(b) In investments other than those specified in subdivision (a) hereof, including, but not limited to, corporate bonds and securities, common stocks, preferred stocks, investments in real estate and investment trusts, provided that the total amount invested pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the total amount of funds invested pursuant to this section, and provided further that the following conditions are met:

(1) Any stocks or other corporate securities in which funds are invested, except stocks of banks, insurance companies or mutual funds, shall be registered on a national securities exchange as provided by the Federal Securities Exchange Act.

(2) The total amount invested in common and preferred stocks shall not exceed at cost at the time of purchase twenty-five percent of the total amount invested pursuant to this section.

(3) The total amount invested in the common and preferred stocks of any one company shall not exceed at cost of the time of purchase two percent of the total amount invested pursuant to this section and shall not exceed five percent of the outstanding preferred or common stock of that company.

(4) No funds shall be invested in the common stocks of any company unless it has paid cash dividends on such stocks in eight of the ten years immediately preceding its purchase by the Board.

(5) No funds shall be invested in the stocks or other securities of any company other than a bank or insurance company unless it has assets of at least one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000), or in the stocks or other securities of a bank or insurance company unless it has assets of at least fifty million dollars ($50,000,000).

(6) The total amount invested in real estate and other than real estate owned by or leased to the City of Richmond, which amount may include land, buildings, land and buildings or real estate loans, shall not exceed twenty-five percent of the total amount invested pursuant to this section and such investments shall be restricted to first trust deeds which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration or which are guaranteed by the Veterans Administration.

(c) The Board may, when making investments pursuant to subdivision (b) hereof, employ the services of competent investment counsel.

Sec. 17. Every person who is granted a pension hereunder for causes included within the purview of the Workmen's compensation Insurance and Safety Act of 1917, of the State of California, and amendments thereto heretofore and hereafter adopted, and who shall receive compensation under and pursuant to the provisions of said Act, shall be entitled to only such monthly amount hereunder as will when added to the amount allowed and received and to be received monthly under said Act, equal the total monthly pension herein provided for.

Sec. 18. (Amended at election May 11, 1965) If any member of the police or fire departments shall become separated from the service, either voluntarily or involuntarily, then and in that event one-half (½) of all moneys, exclusive of interest, paid into said Fund by such member shall be returned to him.

If any member of either said police or fire departments shall die under circumstances not mentioned in Section 9, without having served in either said departments for a minimum period of twenty (20) years in the aggregate in any capacity or rank whatsoever, then and in that event all moneys, exclusive of interest, paid into said Fund by such member, shall be returned to his estate; or, if he shall die under such circumstances after having served twenty (20) years, and shall leave surviving him a widow or other dependents mentioned in Section 9, the Pension Board shall grant a limited pension upon such death equal to such proportionate share of one-half (½) of the annual salary attached to the rank or position held by the decedent one (1) year prior to his death, as the number of years actually served bear to twenty-five (25) years, to be paid to such dependents in the order of succession set forth in Section 9; provided, that in the event of a subsequent change of the salary of such rank or position, said pension provided for in this Section 18 shall be said fractional portion of the salary as changed from time to time.

Sec. 19. (Repealed at election June 4, 1968).

Sec. 20. (Amended at election May 11, 1965) Said Fund shall not benefit any persons whose employment by the City of Richmond commenced on or after October 16, 1964, and none of the provisions of this Article shall apply to, obligate or benefit any such persons since all members of the police and fire departments of the City of Richmond hired or to be hired, or reinstated or to be reinstated, on or after October 16, 1964, are or will be members of the State Employees' Retirement System.

Sec. 21. (Added by election May 12, 1959) Wherever in this Article XI the words City Treasurer, Treasurer, City Auditor or Auditor appear, such words shall be stricken and there shall be substituted in lieu thereof the words Director of Finance.

Whenever in this Article XI the words widow or surviving widow appear there shall be substituted in lieu thereof the words spouse or surviving spouse, and wherever the words wife or husband appear the word spouse shall be substituted in lieu thereof, and wherever the masculine pronoun is used there shall be added thereto the appropriate feminine pronoun.

It is the purpose and intent of this section to make all of the provisions of this Article XI inure to the benefit of and apply to female members of the Police and Fire Departments.

Sec. 22. (Added at election May 11, 1965) The City Council shall by ordinance adopted prior to December 31, 1965, authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute on behalf of the City, and the Mayor and City Clerk shall execute on behalf of the City pursuant to the provisions of the State Employees' Retirement Law of the State of California, an amendment to the contract between the City Council of the City of Richmond and the Board of Administration of the California State Employees' Retirement System whereby any person who was an employee prior to October 16, 1964, and is not eligible for retirement under this Article as of January 1, 1966, and who is a fireman or policeman within the meaning of said Law and elects to waive his rights under this Article, shall become a local safety member of said System and be entitled to all benefits, rights and obligations thereof in accordance with said Retirement Law and said contract. The effective date of said amendment shall be January 1, 1966. The City Council shall by resolution designate the dates on or before which such election may be made by said persons. In addition to payments made by the City into said Fund pursuant to Section 15 of this Article, the Director of Finance, before January l, 1966, shall pay out of the Treasury of the City into said fund amounts of money equal to all sums which have been paid into said Fund by all persons who become local members of said System, and which under appropriate provisions of said Retirement Law are required to be transferred to said System, and the City Council shall make provisions therefor in its budget. Amounts so paid into the Fund shall not be subject to Section 16 of this Article and shall be transferred by the Board to said System. The City Council shall have the power to do all acts and things necessary and appropriate to perform such contract with said System and to comply with the provisions of said Retirement Law, and to execute such amendments to said contract as may be permitted from time to time under said Retirement Law at the discretion of the City Council. None of the provisions of this Article other than this section shall apply to, obligate, or benefit any person who has elected to waive all his rights under this Article and has become a member of said System pursuant to the amendment to the contract, or who enters or, since October 15, 1964, has entered employment of the City and is or becomes a member of the State Employees' Retirement system pursuant to the amendment to said contract effective on October 16, 1964.