The meeting was called to order at noon and the agenda approved

The agenda can be found here:

The committee is discussing converting a chunk of assets to private debt

They are trying to get a better return by investing in "opportunistic" private debt

Now they have $30m in commitments, if they get rid of convertible bonds and get more private debt that would be more like $55m. They're trying to hit a 15% return by the end of the decade. The previous target was 10%

Committee member is concerned that a $20m investment they should have made in June does not appear on the reports issued by the bank (BNY), he wonders where the money is

The presenter seems flustered by this anomaly, and after a short discussion they admit they must reach out to the Bank of New York for clarification.

They're going to go into closed session. Section 20L of public act 314 of 1965 says that a certain body can go to closed session if it concerns proprietary information such as specific funds contents or performance metrics. I'll let you know when they return.

We're back!

The committee just asked a fund manager about the volume of real estate holdings in a given investment

Specifically some concerns about covenants and such. Answer: the funds and managers we're looking at are more upmarket, and they tend to have fewer covenant issues

The consultancy rep is saying that only one of the managers they're looking at is very involved in real estate, and they have a good track record of conservatism and consistency

They voted unanimously to commit the discussed funds to a more risky, but more lucrative investment scheme that is meant to increase ROI by 5% by 2029

They just voted to terminate and liquidate their accounts with a couple of managers, which will yield some needed cash as well as funding for newer investments

They're going around nominating managers for investment

There was some hesitation about shifting any money to real estate holdings, but the committee has assurances from the consultants that underwriting will be closely monitored

They are broadly agreed on a firm called Brightwood and another called Monroe. They are deciding which to go with, if not both

Another concern called Seminal, is of some more concern to some committee members, and there is a suggestion to discuss them more at a later meeting. Seminals fees are very attractive, but they are smaller and may entail more risk

They are going with Churchill, Siguler Guff, Brightwood and Monroe.

They are moving in to discussing Black Rock Short Duration Fund

They are constantly referencing materials that we have not been supplied. We only have a VERY barebones agenda

My man @PerrySylvester6 is right about the "magic packet". Especially in these sorts of meetings, where everything discussed is so in-the-weeds, and deals with precise figures, complex instruments, firms, funds, and managers

@PerrySylvester6

@PerrySylvester6 ""We have to have info... into what they’re doing so that we can actually participate. That’s what it’s supposed to be all about,” Perry said. Without that, government officials aren’t really being transparent, even if they truly believe they are; they’re just checking a box.""

@PerrySylvester6 There's a motion to terminate and liquidate the Black Rock fund and utilize the Bank of New York money market acct

@PerrySylvester6 Passed unanimously

@PerrySylvester6 The volume of "as you can see" referring to documents the committee has but has not made publicly available, is staggering

@PerrySylvester6 Insofar as committee members do not actually vocalize what they're reading, the semantic content of the discussion is obfuscated to the point that it's difficult to report on accurately.

@PerrySylvester6 It seems a firm called Edgewood is underperforming, and has been for some time, and the committee is discussing whether to drop the investment

@PerrySylvester6 There was a discussion of the state of the market. Specifically, the concentration of the market at the moment. The committee discussed that this is why money should be shifted, as the market is set to rebound

@PerrySylvester6 That discussion was led by Mr. Sowerby

@PerrySylvester6 The committee is moving on to the CIO report. Again, every committee member has a copy of this report and they are referencing it constantly, often by page and sometimes even by paragraph.

@PerrySylvester6 "I'd really like to have more information" one committee member just said while pointing at the 50 page-ish packet in front of them. Case in point

@PerrySylvester6 The board is moving on to their evaluation of Kevin Keneally as CIO. They're gonna go into another closed session

@PerrySylvester6 We came back and the meeting was immediately adjourned