Richmond Municipal Code Art. XII Charter (CA)

(Added by election November 8, 1938)

General Pension Fund

Sec. 1. (Amended at election May 12, 1959, May 11, 1965, and May 10, 1977) There is hereby created a General Pension Fund for the benefit of all regular employees of all departments of the City of Richmond not covered by Article XI, said fund to be established, maintained, and administered as hereinafter provided. The word "employee" and "employees" as used in this Article XII shall mean all the regular employees of the City including the regular employees of the public library not covered by Article XI, but shall not mean seasonal employees, and such seasonal employees shall not be subject to the provisions hereof or entitled to any benefits hereunder.

There is hereby created a General 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 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, and two members to be elected by secret ballot vote of the rank and file of such employees and of such employees who have retired and are receiving pensions pursuant to this Article XII every five (5) years under a procedure for conducting such election established by the City Clerk; provided that separation from the service on the part of either of such elected members, except separation from the service by retirement pursuant to this Article XII, shall result in a vacancy on said Board, and such vacancy so caused or arising in any manner shall be filled by election as aforesaid for the unexpired term. Either an individual who is in the rank and file of such employees or any of such employees who have retired and are receiving pensions pursuant to this Article XII may be so elected to said Board. 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. The City Attorney and 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 after the effective date of this amendment. The amendment of this paragraph by virtue of the special Municipal Charter Amendment Election held in this City on May 10, 1977, shall not preclude any members who have been previously appointed or elected to said Board from completing their terms of office.

Said Board shall have exclusive control of the administration and investment of said Pension Fund, 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 thereof against said Fund only when so authorized, and when signed by the Director of Finance and countersigned by the Clerk of the Board.

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 amounts paid each, and the balance remaining in said Fund.

Sec. 2. (Amended at election May 11, 1965) Any such employee who shall have served in the employ of the City of Richmond for thirty (30) years, or who is sixty (60) years of age with a minimum service of twenty-five (25) years in the aggregate in any capacity whatsoever shall, on his petition as hereinafter prescribed, or by order of the Pension Board if it be deemed for the good of the service, be retired from further service 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 average annual salary attached to the position held by him during three (3) years prior to the date of such petition or such order of said Board. No involuntary removal of any such employee from the service shall deprive him of the benefits of this section after said thirty (30) years' service, or after said twenty-five (25) years' service, he having reached the age of sixty (60) years.

Notwithstanding any provision contained in this Article, retirement under this Section shall be compulsory upon such employee reaching the age of seventy (70) years, if such employee is eligible for retirement pursuant to this Article.

Sec. 3. (Amended at election June 4, 1968 and May 10, 1977) In determining the period of service necessary to render any such employee eligible for a pension under the provisions hereof, aggregate service only shall be considered, dating from the date which such employee commenced employment with the City of Richmond, including time served by such employee in a probationary status, subject to the exception stated in the last sentence of this section. Such service need not be continuous and may be in any capacity or capacities, and any rights acquired by service shall not be lost by reasons of resignations or withdrawal from the service except as otherwise expressly provided. For the purpose of determining aggregate service in the employ of said City under Section 2 of this Article XII, where an employee served as an employee of the Housing Authority of the City of Richmond, California, prior to commencing employment with said City, the aggregate amount of time such employee served as an employee with said Housing Authority shall be deemed to be service in the employ of said City and, accordingly to be part of the employee's aggregate service in the employ of said City if such employee contributes to the General Pension Fund of the City such percentage of the total gross salary which the employee earned during the period of employment with said Housing Authority as the employee would have had to contribute had the employee earned such total gross salary as a City employee and been a member of the City's General Pension Fund System during said period, which contribution shall be as determined by the Finance Director of this City.

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 in Section 10 provided.

Sec. 5. (As amended at election May 10, 1955)

(a) Should any such employee, by reason of bodily injury received in, or sickness resulting from, the discharge of his duties, become so physically disabled so 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 average annual salary attached to the position held by him during three (3) years prior to the date of such retirement.

Should any such employee after fifteen (15) 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 thirty (30) years.

(b) After twenty (20) years' service, any such employee 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 average annual salary attached to the position held by such applicant during three (3) years prior to the filing of such application, as the number of years actually served bears to thirty years. For example, if said service has been for twenty-two (22) years, said pension shall be twenty-two thirtieths (22/30ths) of said one-half (½) of said average annual salary.

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 any such employee from the service 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 employee of the benefits hereof.

(c) Any pension granted to any such employee for disability as provided for in this section shall cease when the disability ceases, and such person shall, subject to then existing rules and the provisions of the charger governing the employment of city employees, be restored to active service in the position in which he was serving at the time of retirement, and the time he is not in active service, while receiving a pension hereunder, shall be computed in calculating his aggregate service for all purposes under the provisions hereof.

Sec. 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 head 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 such employees who shall be retired hereunder shall report to the heads of their respective departments in person, or in writing, at such times as may be fixed and designated by resolution of the Pension Board.

Sec. 7. Any such employee 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 position held by him on the date of filing the petition, the salary of said position, the position held and the salary received by said petitioner during three (3) years 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 of the City of Richmond, 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. (As amended at election November 6, 1984) No person shall be retired for 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 pension 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. (As amended at election May 10, 1955) Whenever any such employee shall die, either:

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

(b) From sickness resulting from the discharge of his duty as such employee;

(d) While such employee 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 average annual salary attached to the position held by such deceased employee during three (3) years prior to 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 by Section 5(b) hereof, shall be paid as follows:

(1) If such employee 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 a living child or children of such deceased employee 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 employee 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 employee 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 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) or lesser fractional part of the salary as in the beginning of this Section 9 specified; and provided further than any pension granted either before or after death, on the grounds provided in Section 5(b), shall not be a matter of right in that event but shall be at the discretion of said Board.

(4) In the event that any such employee who has been pensioned shall have married after being placed on the pension list, upon the death of such employee 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 word "widow" as used in this section shall not mean or include the wife of any employee 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.

If an employee or retired employee who has served more than fourteen (14) years but less than twenty (20) years shall die from sickness or injury not received in or resulting from the discharge of his duties as such employee, to the widow, child, children, dependent parent, or dependent parents, of such employee shall be paid a proportionate part of the pension benefits provided by this Section 9 as the number of years actually served by such employee bears to thirty (30) years.

Sec. 10. Whenever any person who shall receive any pension hereunder shall fail to report himself as herein required, or shall willfully 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 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 books 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 employee, the Pension Board upon satisfactory proof thereof shall have the power to divide the pension as it may deem proper.

Sec. 12. 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;

(d) To employ an actuary who shall render a report of the cost of maintaining upon a reserve basis the pension system as herein provided, for the information of said board.

Sec. 13. For the purpose of establishing and maintaining said Pension Fund on a reserve basis, the City Council shall make provisions in its budget each fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year 1939-40, and continuing throughout the future, for the payment by the Finance Director semi-monthly into said fund for an amount equal to the semi-monthly contributions of all such employees, as the City's contribution; and the Finance Director shall deduct three (3) percent from the semi-monthly salary of each of such employees beginning July 15, 1939, and continuing throughout the future, and pay the amounts thereof into said Fund, as such employees contribution; provided that for the period of ten (10) years ending June 30, 1949, said contributions by the City and by such employees shall remain intact in said Fund, or be invested for the benefit of said Fund during said period as hereinafter provided. There shall also be paid into said Fund all gifts or donations to said Fund from any source.

Sec. 14. For the purpose of meeting all current demands during said ten (10) year period, for the payment of pensions ordered by the Pension Board and the necessary expenses of the Board, the City Council shall make further special provisions in its budget each fiscal year during said ten (10) year period, for payment by the Finance Director into said Fund, as required, such amounts as shall be sufficient to meet all said current demands.

Sec. 15. (a) After the completion of said ten (10) year period, and until June 30, 1953, the City Council shall not further make the special provisions in its annual budgets, as prescribed in the preceding section to bear solely the cost of pension payments ordered by the Pension Board and the expenses of the Board, but the same shall thereafter be paid out of said Fund as herein otherwise provided to be established and maintained; provided that after the completion of said ten (10) year period, and until June 30, 1953, whenever said Fund shall be insufficient to meet said costs, the Pension Board shall have the power to make demands upon the City Council, and equally upon all such employees for additional payments into said Fund of amounts sufficient to meet the same, and the City Council shall accordingly make provision in its budget each fiscal year for its half of the amount of such demands which shall be paid into said Fund by the Finance Director, and the Finance Director shall deduct and pay into said Fund from the salary of each of such employees his pro rata part of the other half of the amount of such demands, but in no event shall said demands for additional payments to be made by the City exceed ten (10) percent of the total annual payroll of such employees of said departments, and in no event shall said demands for additional payments to be made by such employees exceed ten (10) percent of the total annual payroll of such employees.

(b) (Amended at election May 11, 1965) Commencing on the effective date of this amendment, the Director of Finance, the Pension Board and the City Council shall be empowered and required to do the following:

(1) (Amended at election May 11, 1965) The Director of Finance shall deduct from the salary of each such employees benefited by the Fund ten percent (10%) of his total annual salary and the Director of Finance shall pay the same into said Fund.

(2) The City Council shall make provision in its budget for each fiscal year for an amount equal to the payments made into said Fund pursuant to subdivision (1) above, and the Director of Finance shall pay said equal amount out of the Treasury of the City into said Fund.

(3) The City Council shall make provisions in its budgets for each fiscal year commencing in fiscal year 1953-54 for such amount which, in addition to the payments made into said Fund pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of this section and the money on hand in said Fund shall be sufficient to amortize over such period of years as is from time to time determined by the City Council but not extending beyond 1993, the actuarial value of all of the benefits provided by this Article to be paid out of said Fund to the persons entitled thereto. The Director of Finance shall pay such additional amounts annually out of the Treasury of the City into said Fund. The amounts so to be paid pursuant to this subsection shall be computed on the basis of reports to be obtained by the City Council at intervals of not longer than five years from competent actuaries to be selected by the City Council.

(As added at election May 11, 1965) Whenever the actuary 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 employees, 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 employees; provided, however, that whenever the 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 employees; and the City Council may make appropriate increases in the contributions of both the City and the employees; provided, further, that in no event, shall the said demands for contributions provided herein to be made by said employees exceed ten percent (10%) of the total annual salary of the said employees.

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 or 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 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. If any employee shall become separated from the service, either voluntarily or involuntarily, then and in that event all moneys, exclusive of interest, paid into said Fund by such employee shall be returned to him; and in the event that he shall thereafter re-enter the service as such employee in any capacity, he shall repay into said Fund, upon such re-entry, an amount equal to the sum returned to him at the time of his separation from the service, and neither he nor members of his family shall be entitled to any benefits hereunder until said amount has been repaid into said Fund.

If any such employee shall die under circumstances not mentioned in Section 9, then and in that event all moneys, exclusive of interest, paid into said Fund by such employee shall be returned to his estate; or, if he shall die under such circumstances after having served twenty (20) years and without having made application for a pension under Section 5(b), and shall leave surviving him a widow or other dependents mentioned in Section 9, the Pension Board on its own motion may, in its discretion, grant a limited pension after death on the grounds provided in Section 5(b) to be paid to such dependents in the order of succession set forth in Section 9.

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

Sec. 20. (Added at election May 12, 1953) Said Fund shall not benefit any person whose employment by the City of Richmond commenced on or after July 1, 1953, and none of the provisions of Sections 1 through 11, or Section 13 through 19 of this Article shall apply to, obligate or benefit any such person.

Sec. 21. (Added at election May 12, 1953) The City Council shall by resolution adopted prior to December 31, 1953, authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute on behalf of the City and the Mayor and the City Clerk shall execute on behalf of the City, a contract pursuant to the provisions of the State Employees' Retirement Law of the State of California with the Board of Administration of the State Employees' Retirement System whereby any person who was an employee prior to July 1, 1953, and who elects to waive all his rights under the said Fund, and all employees whose employment commences on or after July 1, 1953 shall become local members of said System and be entitled to all benefits, rights and obligations thereof, in accordance with said Retirement Law. The City Council shall by resolution designate the dates on or before which such election may be made by persons who were employees prior to July 1, 1953. Any such person shall not be required to make any contributions to said System except the normal contributions provided by said Retirement Law. In addition to the payments made by the City into said Fund pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 15 of this Article, the Director of Finance shall pay out of the Treasury of the City into said Fund amounts of money equal to all sums which pursuant to Sections 20522 and 20525 of said Retirement law are required to be transferred to said System by reason of such election by any person who was an employee prior to July 1, 1953, and the City Council shall make provisions therefor in its budgets. The City Council shall have the power to do all acts and things necessary and appropriate to perform such contract with the System and to comply with the provisions of said Retirement Law.

Sec. 22. (Added by election of May 12, 1959) Wherever in this Article XII 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.

Wherever in this Article XII 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 whenever 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 XII inure to the benefit of and apply to female members of the General Pension Fund.

Sec. 23. (Amended at election May 13, 1975, May 10, 1977, and November 6, 1984) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article to the contrary, the minimum pension for employees or their dependents presently retired on the date of the adoption of this section, or placed on retirement after the date of the adoption of this section, shall, commencing January 1, 1985, be Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per month.

Sec. 24. (Added at election May 12, 1981; deleted at election November 6, 1984)

Sec. 25. (added at election November 6, 1984) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article, the pensions of retired employees or their eligible dependents shall be increased annually by two percent (2%) on January 1 of each year commencing January 1, 1985. In addition to said automatic two percent (2%) increase, the City Council may increase annually said pensions by an additional amount of up to three percent (3%) on January 1 of each year commencing January 1, 1985. In no event shall the total increases in said pensions exceed five percent (5%) in any year.